Re-route or Re-pipe

So… The question comes up…. Should you re-route the leaking pipe? Or should you just bite the bullet and replace all of the copper lines that are under your concrete slab or in your walls?

Re-routing your slab leak with copper water pipe may seem like the right think to do. In my area, a single line re-route would cost between $1200 to $2500.  Re-routing the leaking pipe would be much quicker and easier on the wallet. Hopefully, the insurance will take care of the damage that was caused. But are your worries over?

We had a customer, very recently, who had a large water leak that flooded their kitchen. The reroute was completed, the cabinets, counter tops and wood flooring was replaced. Drywall, texture and paint was new. The same weekend that their kitchen was completed…. We received that phone call. There's another leak. A completely different pipe that had been rerouted around.

Another home in Rancho Santa Fe we did an above slab repair of a copper line with a pinhole leak. The customer just wanted the copper leak fixed but not replaced. Seems reasonable and fairly inexpensive. The wall was repaired, textured and the faux finish was completed. Within a month, we received the call again. Another leak! Oddly enough, this leak was 6” away from the repair we did for the previous leak. This house was 20,000+ square feet. We re-piped the entire house. 

Let's compare the cost. Consider a basic single level home with one master bathroom (toilet, shower, bathtub and 2 sinks), one basic bathroom (toilet, shower and 1 sink), basic kitchen, laundry, water heater, an outdoor faucet in back and faucet in the front. 

This house can have as many as 21 under concrete separate copper water lines. To pick a round number, $1500 per single line reroute can cost $31,500. This doesn't include the drywall repair and paint, each time the plumbers & other contractors comes out. And certainly your time, inconvenience and frustration has a dollar value. True that one home might have a slab leak and not have another for 10 years, while the home next door may be plagued with one or more every year. I've heard the comment from a homeowner saying “I've had my leak already, so it won't happen again”. I wish that was a guarantee.

Repipe? The same example home. 2 bathrooms, laundry, kitchen, water heater and 2 outdoor faucets. Here in my neighborhood a repipe would cost between $5,000 and $10,000 if they use pex water lines. A bit more if they use copper.

Pex or copper? Which pipe should I use? 

Re-route or re-pipe? There's a lot to consider……If you want to talk about it, give us a call or use the contact form to the right.

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Plumbing Re-route | Copper Repipe | Pex Repipe

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