Replacing polybutylene under slab with PEX

beike623 · Mar 13, 2016

Hi. I live in South Florida and just purchased a house with polybutylene piping. I was told by my home owners insurance that it all needs to be replaced or they will drop coverage. The piping is setup in what I believe is a submanifold configuration with PB running under or within the slab between the kitchen and two other bathrooms. The PB is run within a sleeve in these cases. I wanted to know if it is possible to pull the polybutylene out of the sleeve, attaching a line to is as it is pulled, and then pull PEX through with the line. I didn't want to get into the work of tearing things apart only to find that I wont work in the first place for some reason. Any suggestions?

frodo · Mar 13, 2016

the sleeve you are seeing..is most likely , i would bet a stale donut. just a short sleeve thru the concrete slab to protect it

not, sleeved in its entirety. my advice is to run the piping overhead and insulate it

beike623 · Mar 14, 2016

It looks like I might have to break down and pay someone to do the job because of time constraints. Anyone know a general range of what it should cost for a repipe to PEX on a 1300 sqft home with 2 bathrooms?

frodo · Mar 14, 2016

have no idea about labor in an area i dont even know where

prices are different all over the us,,,call for 3 estiments minimum of 3 do not have someone do the work without d, checking them

do not let someone work on your house with just a hand shake...sign a contract

put in the contact you can change your mind with in 72 hours.

do a background check during hthat 72 hours...see who is doing your wofk

Mr_David · Mar 14, 2016

Cheap bids are just that. Get a feel for who you want to hire.

JerryB41 · Mar 14, 2016

In addition to the excellent advice above, be sure the contract says "time is the essence," or similar language. This will give you recourse if the provider takes things apart and does not put them back together within the allotted time to completion.