If you are experiencing water leaks in your home, you may be in need of a re-pipe.
Depending on the type of piping in your home you could be at risk of unexpected leaks costing you thousands of dollars in repairs.
Polybutylene piping will become brittle over time as the plastic liner inside the pipe degrades and ultimately fails with leaks in your house. Generally, when polybutylene piping begins to leak it will be repaired only to start leaking another place shortly after.
Most of the problematic polybutylene piping is grey in color and subsequently referred to as grey poly. Grey poly is not to be confused with blue poly, which is found outside your house in the ground used for your water service line between your water meter and your house. Both types of polybutylene pipe are known and documented as being prone to failure.
Copper can corrode over time due to electrolysis and improper grounding of the water system causing pinhole leaks to start popping up. If you start seeing green, white, or black corrosion on your copper piping you could be at risk of pinholes. This could be a result of electrolysis from the copper reacting to dissimilar metals, proper grounding of the water system, poor installation practices including excessive use of solder flux.
In general pin holes will begin leaking in areas with less use such as a hose bib rather than high use areas such as kitchen sink due to low chlorine residuals causing higher counts of sulfate reducing bacteria according to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. If you are experiencing water leaks inside your home, call Serv’All Plumbing today to schedule a free on-site personalized re-pipe consultation.