Supply piping is the only building system that fails by flooding the finished parts of your house. It also gives plenty of warning, if you know what the warnings look like. This is how to read them, and how the repair-versus-replace decision actually works out in a Florida house.
Seven signs your supply piping is finished
- Repeat repairs. More than one pinhole leak in twelve months is not bad luck. It is the system telling you the whole run has reached the same age.
- Discoloured water at first draw. Rusty or yellow water from taps that have been sitting overnight points at galvanised steel corroding from the inside.
- Falling pressure over years. Gradual loss across the whole house — as opposed to one fixture — usually means internal scaling narrowing the bore.
- A warm spot on the floor. Classic hot-water slab leak.
- The meter moves with everything closed. Shut every fixture, watch the meter's low-flow indicator for fifteen minutes. Movement means a leak somewhere on the line.
- Water sounds with no water running. Especially at night when the house is quiet.
- Known problem material. Polybutylene, early-generation CPVC fittings, or galvanised steel in a house of a certain vintage.
Pipe materials and their real lifespans
| Material | Era | Expected life | Failure mode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galvanised steel | Pre-1960s | 40–60 years | Internal corrosion, scaling, flow loss |
| Copper (type M) | 1960s–present | 20–50 years | Pinholes, especially in thin wall under slab |
| Copper (type L) | 1960s–present | 50+ years | Pinholes where water chemistry is aggressive |
| Polybutylene | 1978–1995 | Failing now | Fitting and pipe embrittlement — replace on sight |
| CPVC | 1980s–present | 40–50 years | Brittleness with age, chemical incompatibility |
| PEX-A | 2000s–present | 50+ years expected | UV damage if exposed; rodents in rare cases |
The material that decides itself is polybutylene. Grey flexible pipe with plastic or crimped fittings, installed widely between the late 1970s and mid 1990s: it fails without warning, insurers frequently refuse or surcharge it, and buyers' inspectors flag it every time. If you have it, plan the replacement rather than waiting for the event.
Which material to repipe with
For most Florida repipes we specify PEX-A with expansion fittings or type L copper. PEX-A is flexible, so it can be pulled through existing wall cavities with far less demolition; it tolerates the local water chemistry well and has no soldered joints to fail. Copper remains excellent, particularly where lines run exposed or in mechanical rooms, but costs more in both material and labour. CPVC is code-compliant and cheaper still, though it grows brittle with age and dislikes contact with certain sealants and insulations.
Slab leaks: locate before you demolish
Most Florida homes are built on slab-on-grade, so supply lines frequently run in or under the concrete. When one leaks, the water follows the path of least resistance and can surface metres from the failure — which is why a competent locate is worth several times what it costs.
The locating sequence
- Isolate. Close the water heater and individual fixture stops to determine whether it is the hot or cold line.
- Pressure test. Isolate sections and pressurise with air or water to identify which run is losing.
- Acoustic detection. Ground microphones pick up the characteristic hiss of a pressurised leak through concrete.
- Thermal imaging. Effective for hot-water leaks, which show as a plume across the slab.
- Tracer gas. For difficult cases, a hydrogen-nitrogen mix is introduced and detected at the surface.
Three ways to fix it
- Spot repair. Open the slab at the leak, cut out and replace the section. Cheapest where the line is otherwise sound and young.
- Reroute. Abandon the failed run and route a new line overhead through the attic and down the walls. Usually the best value on a single failure in an older house.
- Full repipe. All supply lines replaced. The right answer once the second or third failure appears.
A spot repair on a fifty-year-old under-slab copper line fixes today's leak on a pipe that is identical in age and condition along its whole length. That is why we quote reroute or repipe on old systems: it is the only option that ends the problem instead of scheduling it.
How a whole-house repipe actually runs
Owners imagine weeks of upheaval. A well-organised repipe on a typical three-bathroom house is three to five working days, and water is off only for part of that.
| Day | Work | Water |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Protection, layout, access openings cut, new lines started | On most of the day |
| 2 | New manifold and distribution lines pulled and connected | Off for part of the day |
| 3 | Fixture connections, pressure test, plumbing inspection | Restored by evening |
| 4–5 | Drywall patching, texture, paint touch-up | On |
Two questions to ask any repipe contractor. First: who patches the drywall? If the answer is "we leave that to you," the price you are comparing is not the same product. Second: where do the access holes go? A good crew places them in closets, above ceilings and in inconspicuous locations, and can show you the plan before cutting.
What it costs
| Scope | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Leak detection and locate | $350 – $900 |
| Single slab-leak spot repair | $1,200 – $3,500 |
| Single-line reroute | $1,800 – $4,500 |
| Whole-house repipe, 2 bath (PEX) | $6,500 – $11,000 |
| Whole-house repipe, 3–4 bath (PEX) | $9,500 – $18,000 |
| Whole-house repipe in copper | Add 35–60 % |
| Drywall patch, texture and paint | $1,200 – $3,500 (often included) |
Run the maths honestly. Two spot repairs and one water-damage restoration in a single year regularly exceeds the cost of a repipe — and that is before the deductible, the insurance claim history, and the weekend spent with fans running in the hallway. Once a system starts failing repeatedly, replacement is usually the cheaper option within about five years, with certainty attached.
Keeping the new system healthy
- Regulate the pressure. Anything above roughly 80 psi stresses fittings, appliances and valves. A pressure-reducing valve is inexpensive and worth checking every couple of years.
- Install a whole-house shut-off you can reach — and make sure everyone in the household knows where it is.
- Consider leak detection. A flow-monitoring shut-off valve at the main closes automatically when it sees a continuous flow pattern that looks like a burst line.
- Replace supply hoses. Washing machine and toilet supply hoses are a leading cause of indoor flooding; braided stainless hoses on a five-year replacement cycle cost almost nothing.
- Flush the water heater annually and replace the anode rod on schedule.
- Keep the plan. Photograph the new pipe runs before the walls close. It is worth an hour of somebody's time in ten years.
