If your home has polybutylene supply lines or old cast iron drain lines, repiping before you list usually pays for itself, because many insurers will not write a policy on the old pipe and a buyer who cannot get insurance cannot close. If your plumbing is copper, CPVC or PEX and in good condition, you do not need to repipe to sell.
The hard part is that most owners do not know which one they have. Here is how to find out and what to do about it.
The three kinds of pipe that cause trouble
- Polybutylene. A gray or sometimes blue plastic supply line installed in a great many homes from the late 1970s through the mid 1990s. It became brittle and failed often enough that it was the subject of a large class action, and many insurers now decline it outright or require it be replaced. If your home was built in that window and has not been repiped, there is a fair chance this is what you have.
- Cast iron drain lines. Common in homes built before the mid 1970s. Cast iron corrodes from the inside over decades, and in Central Florida's soil it can fail below the slab, which is an expensive repair. Insurers increasingly ask about it, and buyers' inspectors often run a camera through the drains on older homes to check.
- Galvanized steel supply lines. Also found in older homes. They corrode internally, lose pressure, and eventually leak. Less of an insurance flag than the first two, but a buyer's inspector will note it.
How to tell what you have
Look where the pipe is exposed: under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, at the water heater, and where the main line enters the house. Polybutylene is a dull gray plastic, often stamped with PB and a code beginning with 2110. Copper is copper colored. CPVC is a cream or tan rigid plastic. PEX is a flexible plastic, usually red, blue or white. Cast iron drain lines are black or dark gray metal, heavy, and you will see them below sinks and in the garage or where the drain exits. If you cannot tell, a plumber can confirm in a short visit, and the 4-point inspection an insurer requires will identify it regardless.
What insurers do
The 4-point inspection that most carriers require on a home past roughly 20 years old covers the plumbing, and polybutylene in particular is a common reason for a decline. Some carriers will write the policy with a surcharge; some will not write it at all. The buyer finds this out during their contract period, usually a week or two before closing, which is the worst possible time to discover the home needs a repipe. We cover the roof side of the same inspection in a separate post on roof age and insurance.
Repipe or offer a credit?
Repiping removes the objection. The home goes on the market as a home with new plumbing, the buyer's insurer has nothing to flag, and the inspection report is shorter. It also lets you choose the plumber and control the cost, rather than having a buyer price the job for you.
Offering a credit keeps your cash in hand until closing, but it puts a number on the table that every buyer will negotiate upward, and it does not fix the insurance problem. A buyer who cannot get a policy on the current pipe may not be able to close even with a credit, because the lender needs insurance in place first.
Our general advice: if the pipe is polybutylene, repipe before listing. If the drains are cast iron and a camera inspection shows deterioration, the same. If everything is sound, document it and move on.
Even if you are not selling
Polybutylene and old cast iron do not get better with age. A supply line that fails inside a wall, or a drain that fails under the slab, means water damage, drying out the house, and often a mold remediation on top of the plumbing repair, and it can make the home harder to keep insured. If you own a home from that era and plan to stay in it, repiping on your own schedule, with a plumber you chose, is almost always cheaper and far less disruptive than repiping after a leak. It also means that whenever you do decide to sell, the question is already answered.