Poly B pipe replacement

[SilverRex]

Not sure if this was discussed some where here as I couldnt find much information on it. However looking for advice or anyone that may either have replaced all of their poly B grey water piping or perhaps knows a good plumber that can do this stuff at a reasonable cost and quality

So it started with my good neighbors who was looking into replacing all of his poly B early this year, reason is that our pipes are 25 years old, and more and more insurance companies are now avoiding or costing a premium to cover this stuff. My own home insurance is with TD and after they continuously jacking up prices year after year my home insurance will be up to 2400 this year from 2000 last year. I had a friend who works with All-State and he says if I switch over to them my home could be knocked down to 1157 / year on the condition that I have to replace all the grey pipping stuff within 12 months.

The things I hear from my neighbor's own investigation was that, some of the quotes to replace all of the pipes were between 5000-7000 dollars for a 1500-2000sqf house. However later he had a quote from Peter the plumber who initially gave him quote for around 6000 (only replacement not refilling or fixing the drywalls), later turned into 18k because they started to point out all other issues and had to replace other stuff related to plumbing.

My neighbors is planning to wait until next year because the hot real estate market isnt helping as he cant even get a good appointment scheduled up properly and he senses a lot of these companies are intentionally giving high estimates because they are too busy or cannot commit.

So it really has got me thinking about replacing all my own poly B stuff.

[ThePenIsMightier]

If it hasn't leaked in 25 years, I honestly think you're in the clear and you don't have one of the bad batches.
But, that's easy for me to say and I'm also not your insurer. Isn't there an option to install an excessive amount of leak detectors to appease the thieving overlords?

[ExtraSlow]

So you can easily do this work yourself. Just tear all the drywall put of the building and run new pipes. Easy.

[jutes]

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So you can easily do this work yourself. Just tear all the drywall put of the building and run new pipes. Easy.

This is just crazy. All you need to do is cut enough to gain access to the support brackets, so small holes in drywall. Once all the supports are disconnected just tape the new pipe to the old and pull it through. Re-mount in same location and patch drywall. Should take no more than a solid weekend.

[The_Penguin]

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If it hasn't leaked in 25 years, I honestly think you're in the clear and you don't have one of the bad batches.

That's my thinking. I live in a neigbourhood that has mostly 24-year-old houses, and some people have recently replaced it. I have not heard of any real issues with leaks.
My understanding is that if the pipe used was sitting out exposed to UV, it will be compromised. Others say it's chlorine that causes it to break down, but that doesn't really explain how some last 20+ years without incident. We had an insurance inspector come and have a look when we switched companies about 8 years ago, he didn't say shit about it. Had 2 guys from Pete the Plumber replace 2 water heaters and add a softener, they didn't say anything either. I was expecting "OMG Poly-B, you should have us replace that"

[SilverRex]

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That's my thinking. I live in a neigbourhood that has mostly 24-year-old houses, and some people have recently replaced it. I have not heard of any real issues with leaks.
My understanding is that if the pipe used was sitting out exposed to UV, it will be compromised. Others say it's chlorine that causes it to break down, but that doesn't really explain how some last 20+ years without incident. We had an insurance inspector come and have a look when we switched companies about 8 years ago, he didn't say shit about it. Had 2 guys from Pete the Plumber replace 2 water heaters and add a softener, they didn't say anything either. I was expecting "OMG Poly-B, you should have us replace that"

that was the initial thought after doing some basic research, dont fix whats not broken however, that may be diff from what the insurance company are saying truth or no truth, sadly if I wanted to switch insurance policy to save cost I have to deal with it, my current policy is pretty expensive and the Poly B stuff is probably grandfathered in and they dont tell you jack shit about why the premiums are going up.

My Allstate rep tells me one reason why the insurance industry sees Poly B a huge risk is the fact they dont just spring a big leak that may be obvious, rather it pin size hole leak gradually spreading water behind your walls and you dont know about it causing rust, mold and contamination. Regardless, what Pete the plumber told my neighbors is that yes all they do now is drill a small hole and feed the new stuff thru and leaving the old stuff behind and they even told him if you hear any noise knocking behind your walls its probably because the new pipes are not fasten due to this technique.

[tirebob]

My buddy had it in his home since new and never an issue… Until 3 months ago he came home to a huge flood and insurance claim on top of having to pay out of pocket to remove and replace it all. It is never an issue until it is…

[ExtraSlow]

@jutes yeah, you got it.

[zieg]

Been thinking about this too. Drop ceiling in basement means it's really easy to redo everything on the first floor, it's just the second floor that looks like a pain. I assume there is a tee from a cold line to each toilet, but not sure how I'd get at it. Going through the floor would suck, but even worse would be going through the popcorn ceiling below...

[G-ZUS]

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My buddy had it in his home since new and never an issue… Until 3 months ago he came home to a huge flood and insurance claim I. Top of having to pay out of pocket to remove and replace it all. It is never an issue until it is…

My buddy and brother in law both have it in their 90s built homes. They started getting small leaks here and there recently and have gone down the rabbit hole of changing it over to pex themselves

[vengie]

Your home insurance would likely go down if you replaced proactively.

[FishPoo]

Parents recently went through this, found a plumber to do it for under 5k for a 1800 sq ft house. Took 2-3 days and yea lots of holes in the main floor ceiling cause there was some weird routes. Basement was mostly a drop ceiling so yea expect a lot of drywall repair.

With the PolyB, Lot of little random leaks everywhere, couldn't run water at full pressure and also had lots of issues with hot water temp so finally swapped all the polyb.

One other thing to consider is if you have an issue and your pipes leak or whatever, insurance will cover the cost of the damage but your pipe replacement will still be on you as its considered part of the home owner maintenance.

[SilverRex]

appreciate all the inputs and advice here. If anyone know of a good plumber to recommend please forward so I can gather a few quotes, will be leaning towards getting this done some time next year.

[riander5]

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This is just crazy. All you need to do is cut enough to gain access to the support brackets, so small holes in drywall. Once all the supports are disconnected just tape the new pipe to the old and pull it through. Re-mount in same location and patch drywall. Should take no more than a solid weekend.

This is probably no more than an 8 hr job. I say go for it and keep us updated in a thread

[SilverRex]

Update: replaced all my Poly B stuff with PEX last week. The company I used was Caper plumbing, was recommended by my All-state insurance agent as he had quite a few clients doing the same. Price was pretty good 4200.00 + GST, all poly B + removal. They finished in 2 days. So far so good no leaks, he caution both bath tubes valve would need to be replaced 375 +GST each, if they started to leak after installing the new stuff. Now I have 3 ceiling and 6 dry wall holes to fill. I did pull a quote from Triple H interiors which my good neighbor was using to take down their ceilings in the basement in preparation of doing the same thing. and they quoted me around $4120.00, will probably hold off as long as I could until I am absolutely certain there are no further issues behind walls. At least this is one chapter I can close which will help me sleep better at night.