1800 sq ft Home built in 1984 has copper plumbing in the slab. My plumber says that is a “no no” and wants to replace with pex and run it thru the walls. He did not like the pipe coatings in copper pipe either. Most of the sheet rock has been removed during the remodel already.
Your thoughts?
Van
Tom:: Copper under a slab is exactly how it was done for a million years and still is. The thing about copper, when you run it in the ground you want to make sure it’s a tubular copper that has no fittings under the slab. If you run from point A to point B in a slab underground and you come up through the concrete about a foot or so, and then that’s where your fittings go on to continue into the bathrooms or kitchens, that’s perfectly kosher. That is to code, and that’s the way it’s done for a long, long time and it’s still done today.
As far as the coatings on the inside, that’s great, but that’s not going to help you if you have copper in the ground and you have a problem. What happens if you get a problem in the ground, it’s because the aggressive soils, the metals in the soil, will eat through the copper. If it hasn’t happened by now, I don’t think you have a soil problem, so I think it’s fine.
Charlie:: He says here the Sheetrock has been removed, so is this truly a case where repiping would be the way to go?
Tom:: If you need to repipe. What I’m questioning, the fact is, do you need to repipe?
Charlie:: I get it.
Tom:: OK. When you got a guy telling you, “Hey, that’s really a no-no, it’s bad,” but what’s he’s telling you is, “Hey, let me sell you a job.”
Charlie:: What I’m hearing is, it’s time for a second opinion.
Tom:: There you go.
Charlie:: Just saying.
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