Repiping FAQS

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

John Moore’s Whole-home repipes are carried out using Uponor’s AquaPEX® Piping and ProPEX® Piping connections. Our process can be broken up into 5 steps: learning your schedule, preparing to repipe, installing the new potable water distribution system, the changeover, and clean-up.

1. Learning your schedule - Between school, work, and whatever else life throws at you, John Moore understands that family time and time to yourself is precious. And repiping a whole-home can be a somewhat intrusive job; there’s usually a team of licensed plumbers using tools, getting on ladders, and carrying equipment through your home— not the ideal setting for a family dinner, or even a quiet night to yourself after a long day of work. So the very first thing we do is communicate with you and your family to learn the best times to be in your home, and we stick to those time frames.
2. Preparing to repipe - Repiping a home with PEX pipe is a minimally invasive procedure. That being said, your home still becomes a low-level construction site complete with ladders, tools, and holes being sawed into your ceilings and walls. We never want to make or leave a mess in anyone’s home, so before we begin working, we cover up your floors, furniture, and any of your belongings with a drop-cloth. And before we leave your home for the day, we make sure to clean up our mess so you and your family can spend time in a home that doesn’t look like a construction site.
3. Installing the new pressurized potable water system - After we learn your schedule and create a safe space to work, we begin installing a completely new pressurized potable water piping system in your home. Unless otherwise specified, we build the new piping system with Uponor’s AquaPEX® Piping and ProPEX® connections, using copper pipes only when the piping needs to exit the wall or enter a wall. We install this new system while the old system is still running, and on the final day, we changeover to the new system.
4. Changeover - This is the longest step of the whole-home repiping process. The changeover is when we finally turn off the old system, unplug all tie-ins from the water service line to your home’s old pipes, and tie in the new system. Once again, we understand that you and your family probably appreciate as little disruption to your daily routine as possible, so if we foresee the changeover process taking longer than a day, we work with your family to changeover the most important faculties first so that your family still has access to water to drink, cook with, wash with, and bathe in.
5. Clean-Up - After we’ve changed the water service line over to the new system, we clean up any mess- sawdust, tools, stray rust, water, or dirt- that may be left over from the repipe process. Our goal is to leave your home looking nicer than we found it— inside and out.

Before we begin repiping your home, we will also go over options for ways to make the most of your whole-home repipe, including new faucets and fixtures as well as patching, texturing, and painting packages to fix any holes we made to install your new pressurized potable water distribution system.

Even though it takes us two days to a week to repipe an entire home, the only time we shut off your home’s potable water supply is when we make the changeover. While we’re installing your home’s new piping system, we leave the old piping system in place and running unless the damage to your pipes is so bad that water cannot run through the old system. If the latter is the case, we recommend that you and your family stay with relatives or in a hotel while we install a new system.

Before we do flip the safety shut-off valve to begin the changeover process, we will determine whether or not we can complete the changeover in a few hours, or if we have to change over some faculties now and some later. If we do foresee a changeover taking an extra day- which is typical of homes with 3 or more bathrooms- then we will learn what faculties are most important for you and your family to carry out your normal routine and change those over first. For instance, if your home has a master bathroom, a bathroom connected to your child’s room, and a guest bathroom, we will changeover the pipes in the master bathroom, kitchen, and your child’s bathroom pipes first, and save the guest bathroom pipes for the next day.

For cost and convenience sake, we typically leave the old pipes in your walls and attic. We do make sure to drain these pipes of any extra water or rust during the changeover.

If we are doing a horizontal repipe, we will cut out the horizontal lengths of pipes we’re replacing, and safely dispose of them ourselves when needed.

If you are worried about your old piping system staying in your home, we can discuss options to remove and dispose of your old pipes.

John Moore’s whole-home repipes are typically carried out using Uponor’s AquaPEX® pipes as distribution pipes and copper tie-ins for any pipes that go into or out of a wall. Our repipes include all new shut-off valves underneath lavatories and toilets; new supply lines to fixtures; hot and cold water lined that tie directly into the shower valve; brand new hose bibbs and spigots on the outside of the home; a new ice-maker box; a new washing machine box with shut-offs and supply lines; and type-L commercial grade copper hard pipes from your water heaters.

Our whole-home repipes do not include new fixtures or repiping of your home’s sewage line. For new fixtures, see Renovations. And for fixing sewage lines in your home, see Sewage Line Repairs and Sewage Line Replacements.

Although our process for repiping a home with PEX pipe is minimally invasive, some small holes will be made around your home. Patching, texturing, and painting these holes is not included in the price of a whole-home repipe, but we do offer various packages to cover service holes, and texture and paint them to look like new.

If you see brown tinted water coming out of your sink and tub faucets; if the water is coming out of your sink and tub faucets at a lower pressure than usual; or if you see rust spots or notice watermarks on your ceiling, these are all signs that your homes piping system has rusted all the way through or there is a faulty connection of pipe in your home. If we determine that it’s merely a faulty connection causing the low water pressure or leak, we can fix it, but more than likely, any of the three signs above indicates you should have a new pressurised potable water distribution system installed in your home.

Another circumstance in which we strongly advise having a new potable water distribution installed is if you are planning on remodeling your bathroom or kitchen. The last thing any homeowner wants is to install new tubs, counters, cabinets and sinks to have them damaged by rust in the water or torn up later after a major leak. The wisest choice to make before you remodel the kitchen or bathrooms in your home is to assess your homes piping system, and have a new water distribution system installed if there are any signs of rust eating away at your pipes.

Some Houston homes, particularly in Sugarland and Missouri City neighborhoods, have looped slab copper water distribution systems located underneath the home. If your home has a looped slab copper system, there are two options: a whole-home repipe using PEX pipes or a single line reroute. Although we highly recommend a whole-home repipe if there are any signs of leaking, especially due to rust, in your potable water pipes, a single line reroute will temporarily stop the leak as an immediate solution.