Pex VS. Cooper to replace Galvanized pipes in an old house.

[LosAngeles]

Hi, my house in Los Angeles, CA built in 1948 has mostly galvanized pipes that have issues. I asked an estimate to replace the galvanized pipes with cooper. The quote was 12K for a 2,000 sq. ft home with 1.75 bathrooms. The plumber said PEX might be cheaper but didn't give me a quote.

1. Does this estimate sound right?
2. Is it worth it to replace the pipes?

I had a previous post about my hot water pipe busting and two months ago my water heater busted. Thanks in advance!

 

[pcride]

No one could tell you of thats a good deal or not without looking at it, or understanding the scope of work.

To go into a finished home and rip into walls, ceilings, floors etc... Fish pex tubing throughout, remove all old galvanized, put new valves on every faucet etc.. It's going to be expensive. As an example.. A quarter turn 1/2 to 3/8 standard valve for under a kitchen sink to hook up your faucet, you'll need 2 of them. They cost about $9 each. Every fitting, joint, tee, etc runs $2-$5.

What I'm getting at is plumbing is costly, plus the time to navigate existing built home. I can tell you it won't be easy.

Go out and get 3 more bids, then you'll know what a good price is. Normally they bids should be fairly close to each other.

I recently got 4 bids on a new driveway I wanted. All 3 came in at about $1400, one of them was $2200.

Hope this helps.

 

[pcride]

Also unless you have serious problems, you may not need the entire house re done. But other problems could arise in the future.

I'd consider the investment of your home and what you might gain from it down the road.

Overall I would say the bid is high. I would guess around $7000 MAX. But I'm not a plumber.

 

[braddabug]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but are galvanized pipes still an option? I just ask because now they say that copper causes Alzheimer's and it's probably only a matter of time before they say that PEX leaches dangerous chemicals.

 

[pcride]

I'll no doctor but I did some quick math. In America there are 313 million people, which a lot of that will be houses with copper plumbing. 5 million people in America have Alzheimer's which is 1.5%. So I doubt copper causes Alzheimer's.

As far as leeching I never thought of that. Very few if any contractors will install galvanized today. It requires threaded pipe fittings and it would probably cost more.

Copper has been used for years, I think all the other chemicals in this world are more to be concerned about; your food to start with.