Your home's plumbing pipes are designed to last for decades, but they don't last forever. If your home was built before 1990, there's a good chance you have galvanized steel or polybutylene pipes that are nearing, or past, the end of their useful life.
Sign 1: Frequent leaks. If you're experiencing multiple leaks in different parts of your home, it's often more cost-effective to repipe the entire house than to keep chasing individual leaks. Frequent leaks indicate systemic pipe deterioration.
Sign 2: Low water pressure throughout the house. Corroded galvanized pipes develop mineral and rust buildup on the inside, gradually reducing the pipe diameter and your water pressure. If your water pressure has been declining over the years, pipe corrosion is likely the cause.
Sign 3: Rusty or discolored water. If your hot and cold water has a brown, yellow, or rusty tint, it's likely coming from corroded pipes. This is especially common with galvanized steel pipes that are corroding from the inside out.
Sign 4: Your home has polybutylene pipes. Installed from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s, polybutylene pipes are known for premature failure. If your home has gray, blue, or black plastic water lines, they may be polybutylene and should be evaluated.
Sign 5: Your pipes are visibly corroded. If you can see green, blue-green, or white mineral deposits on exposed pipes in your basement, crawlspace, or utility room, the corrosion is likely just as bad, or worse, in the hidden sections of pipe.