Silco Plumbing

When Should You Replace Your Home’s Plumbing Pipes?

If you are tired of leaks, rust-colored water, or pressure that keeps falling, you’re probably beginning to think: “Do we need to replace the pipes?”

There isn’t one age that makes the decision. In Kalispell and throughout the Flathead Valley, many homes were plumbed decades ago. Original lines can be near the end of their life without a single dramatic failure.

That’s because different materials last different lengths of time, and what you see at the faucet is not always what is in the wall.

Here are the signs we want you to tell us about.

1. Frequent Leaks

One leak can be a fitting. Leaks that keep showing up in different places are often the pipe itself.

2. Discolored or Metallic Water

Rust-colored water, or a metallic taste, can mean corrosion on the inside of the line. It is not something to diagnose from the color alone. It is something to tell us.

3. Low Pressure Through the House

Pressure that has been falling for years, in more than one fixture, can mean the inside of the pipe is narrowing. That is a different conversation from a single weak showerhead.

4. Visible Corrosion

If you can see corrosion on exposed pipe, that is useful. Take a photo. You are not expected to name the material.

How long pipes last. Different materials last different lengths of time. Galvanized steel is often talked about in the forty-to-fifty-year range. Copper often lasts longer. PEX is in a similar range to galvanized. Age on its own does not mean a line has failed. It does mean what the pipe is made of matters more.

Many older homes around Kalispell were built decades ago, so plenty of original plumbing in this valley is in that conversation already.

Repair, or replace. Not every bad pipe means a whole-house repipe. Whether a repair makes sense depends on the age and condition of the system and what has failed. The best way to answer that is to have the system looked at.

Same symptom. Different house. Different job. One homeowner may need a section replaced. Another may be better served by a larger replacement while the walls are already going to be open for a remodel. It is normal for those two recommendations to be different.

What should you have ready when you call? You don’t need to know what the pipe is made of. Just tell us what you can see:

• What you are noticing: leaks, color, taste, pressure, or corrosion
• How old the house is, if you know it
• Whether this has been happening in more than one place around your home
• Photos of any exposed pipe or discolored water

Pipe Replacement in Kalispell & the Flathead Valley. Silco Plumbing helps homeowners evaluate and replace plumbing pipes in Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Whitefish and surrounding areas—from a single bad run to a house that has been leaking for years. Have questions? Ask us. You don’t have to decide on a full repipe before you call, and you can send a message instead of calling.

406-471-1851 | silcoplumbingmt.com