If your Phoenix-area home was built before 1990, there's a decent chance your plumbing is on borrowed time. Galvanized steel and polybutylene pipes were standard for decades, and both have well-documented failure rates. Here's how to know if repiping is in your future.
1. Rust-Colored Water
If you turn on a faucet and see brown or orange water — especially after the water has been sitting overnight — that's rust from the inside of your pipes. It means the galvanized coating has worn through and the steel is corroding. Running the water until it clears is a temporary fix. The corrosion is getting worse every day.
2. Low Water Pressure at Multiple Fixtures
A single slow faucet is usually a local problem — a clogged aerator or a bad valve. But when pressure drops across the whole house, it often means mineral buildup is narrowing the inside of your supply lines. We see this constantly in older Phoenix homes because of how hard our water is.
3. Recurring Pinhole Leaks
One pinhole leak is bad luck. Two is a pattern. When copper or galvanized pipes start developing pinhole leaks, it's a sign of systemic corrosion. Patching each leak individually is like playing whack-a-mole — the pipe is failing, not just one spot.
4. Visible Corrosion on Exposed Pipes
Check the pipes under your sinks, in your garage, or in your water heater closet. If you see green discoloration on copper, white buildup on galvanized, or any flaking or bubbling, the pipes are deteriorating. What you can see on the outside is usually worse on the inside.
5. Your Home Has Polybutylene Pipes
Polybutylene (poly-B) is the gray flexible piping that was used heavily from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. It was the subject of a massive class-action lawsuit because it reacts with chlorine in municipal water and becomes brittle over time. If your home has it, repiping isn't a question of if — it's when. Most insurance companies in Arizona are now requiring repipe before they'll renew a policy on a poly-B home.
What Repiping Actually Involves
Modern repiping uses PEX-A tubing, which is flexible, corrosion-resistant, and rated for Arizona's water conditions. A typical 1,500 sq ft home takes 1-2 days. We cut small access points in the drywall, run the new lines, pressure-test everything, and patch the openings. It's less invasive than most people expect.
If any of these signs sound familiar, give us a call at (480) 555-0234. We offer free repipe assessments — we'll look at your system, tell you what you're dealing with, and give you a straight price.