Whole-House Repipe Plumber in Houston

PEX is an acronym for polyethylene that has been crosslinked. In other words, PEX is a unique plastic material that is specifically designed for piping, repiping, and piping insulation purposes.

When looking for a vendor of PEX piping solutions, John Moore found that Uponor provided an unmatched product and service guarantee when compared to other PEX manufacturers. Uponor’s AquaPEX® piping system utilizes their patented ProPEX® expansion fittings. When compared to other PEX and metal pipe connection methods, ProPEX® expansion fittings are the only connection fittings designed to strengthen over time. How? Because Uponor PEX pipes have the ability to always return to their original diameter, they can form a tight seal around the expansion fitting, essentially squeezing around the fitting with over a thousand pounds of force. Unlike connections and tie-ins used in all other piping systems, ProPEX® connections are one of the strongest parts of a PEX piping system.

Typically, you will notice pinhole leaks and rust on these pipes first because 1) they are usually the only exposed water distribution pipes in your home, and 2) there is usually more horizontal pipe in a home than vertical pipe in the walls. But even though there’s a high probability that you will notice leaks coming from your horizontal pipes, there is still a likely chance that the branching lines and vertical pipes in your home are also rusting, and even leaking, which is why John Moore recommends having your whole-home repiped if you notice leaks caused by rust anywhere in your home.

The first thing we do is shut off your home’s main water service pipe by switching off the main safety shut off valve. After that, we cut out the old horizontal pipes in your attic, taking care not to shake the rust from these pipes into the branching lines. Finally, we install new PEX pipe, tying them into the old galvanized or copper stubs.

Although John Moore technicians are trained to prevent rust from entering the rest of your pressurized potable water system, when we cut through your old galvanized horizontal pipes, some rust will be shaken up in the vertical water distribution pipes in your home. Typically after a horizontal repipe, your sink, bath, and drinking water will be brown when you first turn them on, but will return to normal after you allow the water to run for a few moments. And even though your water will seem clearer, there is still a high chance that there are more rusty pipes in your distribution system, which is why we only recommend horizontal repipes as an immediate fix for attic leaks.

During a whole home repipe, licensed John Moore plumbers build an entirely new pressurized potable water distribution system for your home. Now, this may sound like a lot of work, and it is, but because we use mainly PEX pipes to build the new system, John Moore has refined the whole-home repipe process to be as clean and as minimally invasive as possible.

Although we use PEX piping for most of the pipes we install in a whole-home repipe, copper piping is still used anytime we go into or come out of a wall. Why? Because it won’t expand and damage your sheetrock like PEX would. Another reason why we use copper pipes when going outside of your home is that some of PEX pipes’ only mortal enemies are found outside: UV rays and Western conifer seed bug. UV rays from sunlight makes PEX pipes brittle, and some grass feeding insects like the western conifer seed bugs have mouth-pincers strong enough to pierce through PEX.

Once we show up to begin a whole-home repipe, we cover up any furniture and areas of your home where we will be working with a dropcloth so that your floor, furniture, and personal items do not get covered in dirt, rust, and sawdust. Before we leave for the day, our service team of technicians will pack everything up- we take our tools, clean our mess, and leave your home at least as livable as we found it.

While we install the PEX pipes that will make up your home’s new potable water distribution system, we leave the old system running so you and your family can still have access to water. In worst case scenarios- if you wait too long to have your home repiped, and your home’s entire pressurized potable water system fails- you and your family may have to stay in a hotel or with a friend, neighbor, or relative.

On the last day of a whole-home repipe, we make the changeover from your home’s old potable water distribution system to your new PEX system. During the changeover, we shut down your home’s old water system with the safety shut off valve, disconnect the old tie-ins to the water service pipe, then tie-in the new system. Depending on the size of your home, the changeover process could take two days. If we determine the changeover cannot be completed in one day, and we have to leave overnight, we will work with your family to changeover the most important faculties first so your family can still bathe, cook, and drink water.

Typically, we leave the old pipes in your home if they’re out of the way. But while we are changing over to the new system, we make sure to drain your old water lines into a bucket before installing and anchoring new copper stub outs to completely rid the system of old rust before changing over to the new potable water distribution system.

Whole-home repipes typically take from two days to an entire week to complete, depending on the size of your home and the type of piping system already in place.

Although PEX is a very cost-effective piping solution, whole-home repipes can be very expensive. But when it comes to the water in your home, John Moore feels that no homeowner should compromise clean water and a safe water delivery system because it’s not immediately affordable, which is why we offer financing solutions to qualifying customers.

Like galvanized pipes, copper pipes used in a looped slab system are susceptible to rust, but the signs of a failing copper system are little different. Because most lopped slab copper systems are underground, leaks and water spots resulting from pinholes are found on lower walls and towards the floor, rather than on the ceiling. Another common sign of a failing looped slab copper system is a significant increase in your water bill cause by water dripping out of your copper pipes and into the ground or protective sheath around the copper pipe. If you notice any of those signs, it may be time for a whole-home repipe, where we’ll upgrade your looped-slab copper water distribution system with a PEX system.

But if you want an immediate solution to a leak in your looped slab copper system, a single reroute should do the trick. A single reroute of a looped-slab copper distribution system is where we identify the line in your copper system that has a leak, shut off that line, and reroute it using a branching line constructed from PEX pipe.

Like a horizontal repipe, this is just an immediate solution. It’s likely that if one area of your copper piping system has rusted to the point of leaking, other areas aren’t far behind. So although we will reroute a line of pipe as a quick solution, John Moore highly recommends having your whole-home repiped is any area of your looped slab copper potable water distribution system is leaking.

Another great advantage of PEX pipe’s flexibility is how few holes have to be made to install a PEX system. The John Moore repiping team has a number of techniques we use to install an entire PEX system through a handful of small holes that we cut around your home.

Typically, the holes we make are underneath sinks, behind fixtures, and in ceilings. The holes we make underneath sinks and behind fixtures are usually hidden from plain sight, so oftentimes homeowners will simply ask for these holes to be patched, but not textured or painted. For the visible holes we make in your home’s ceilings and walls, the John Moore Renovation and Remodeling department offers several packages where we will patch the holes and then texture and paint the area so it looks like new. Before we begin a whole-home repipe, we will go over options to patch, texture, and paint the subsequent holes around your home.

A lot of times, we repipe a home before a homeowner remodels their kitchen and bathrooms. But even if you don’t want a new tub or sink, we highly recommend that homeowners have new faucets installed on their sinks and showers after a whole-home repipe. The only pipe we don’t replace during a whole-home repipe is the pipe that connects the stub-out for your tub to the showerhead. This pipe is not a part of your home’s pressurised potable water distribution system because it’s not pressurized. But if you purchase a new showerhead and tub spout package from John Moore, a new shower-riser is also included.