Repiping In Columbus

Look at the material first. Galvanized steel over 40 years old, polybutylene from 1978 to 1995, or any lead piping all mean repipe rather than repair. Symptoms confirm it: rust-colored water, low pressure at multiple fixtures at once, recurring pinhole or slab leaks, and temperature swings when another fixture runs. A single leak in otherwise sound plumbing is a repair. Three in two years isn’t. Plumbers can identify your pipe material in minutes during a brief inspection.

Most whole-house repipes run $4,000 to $15,000 for a 1,500 to 2,500 square foot home. PEX is cheapest at $4,500 to $10,000; copper runs $8,000 to $18,000; CPVC sits between. Per square foot, that’s roughly $3.50 to $7 for PEX and $8 to $14 for copper. Prices fall in these ranges. Add $1,500 to $4,000 for drywall repair, which many quotes exclude. Each extra bathroom typically adds $1,000 to $2,500 above a two-bath baseline. Permits are usually extra too.

PEX for most homes. It costs 30% to 40% less, installs 30% to 40% faster, flexes through walls with far fewer joints, and handles freezing better because the tubing expands. Copper lasts 70 to 100 years, resists UV and heat, and is still preferred in some regions and by some inspectors. Neither is a wrong answer. Some contractors run a hybrid copper at the main entry, PEX through the walls. Ask about that when you compare bids.

Three to seven days for most homes; one to two days on a small single-story, seven to ten on a 4,000 square foot house. PEX runs faster than copper. Most families stay put: crews shut water off during the day and restore it each evening, with one longer outage of 8 to 12 hours at the main cutover. Drywall patching often happens on a separate return visit. Contractors should give you a day-by-day schedule before the work starts.

Rarely. Insurance covers sudden accidental water damage from a pipe failure, not the cost of replacing the pipes. Some policies specifically exclude damage from polybutylene, galvanized, or lead piping. The direction is going the other way too: carriers increasingly flag or refuse coverage on homes that still have polybutylene, and some premium quotes now approach what a repipe costs. If your carrier has raised this, plumbers can provide documentation of the replacement for your underwriter to review.

Yes, in essentially every jurisdiction. Replacing supply piping is permitted work with an inspection before walls close up, and the contractor should pull it rather than you. Inspectors verify pipe material, sizing, supports, and connections. Skipping the permit means unpermitted work surfaces at resale and can complicate insurance claims. Confirm requirements with the building department and ask each bidder whether permit fees are included in their number or billed separately. The difference usually shows up on the final invoice.

Often yes. Updated plumbing typically recovers 70% to 90% of the project cost in higher offers and faster closings, and homes with modern supply lines sell more easily than those with galvanized or polybutylene. The bigger factor is negotiation: disclosed plumbing problems routinely trigger inspection-period reductions of $5,000 to $15,000, which can exceed the repipe itself. If you’re listing soon, ask agents and plumbers how local buyers react to old piping before you decide.