If your plumbing could talk, it might tell you it needs some attention. Pipes don’t last forever, and if yours are aging, deteriorating, or just flat-out failing, they’ll start dropping hints. The trick lies in recognizing those hints before the system fails, leaving you wondering where everything went wrong.
Here are some major red flags that you need to call Star Heating & Cooling, the most trusted plumbers in Carmel, IN, about repiping your home sooner rather than later.
Is Your Carmel Plumbing Trying To Tell You Something?
Repiping your home means replacing all the pipes. Although it’s reasonable to expect your system to last for decades without much trouble, eventually, everything will wear out and need replacing. Staying alert to the repiping signs and symptoms that will spell big trouble if you don’t address them soon can prevent an expensive disaster.
1. Your Water Doesn’t Taste Right
You should be able to pour a refreshing glass of water right from the tap. However, if you take a sip and it tastes metallic, rusty, or just plain gross, your pipes could be corroding from the inside out. That means contaminants like tiny bits of metal or rust now float around in the drinking water, so you consume impurities and bathe and clean with less-than-pure water.
Whole house repiping ensures that your water stays clean and tastes fresh.
2. Discolored Water
If your water runs brown, yellow, or reddish, that indicates you have rusty and corroded pipes. While you might expect some temporary discoloration from time to time, such as when there’s an issue with Carmel’s municipal water lines, persistently murky water is a major red flag. Investing in home plumbing replacement before the pipes fail ensures you don’t have to deal with bigger problems than dirty-looking water.
3. Low Water Pressure
Have you ever stood under your shower, expecting a nice, refreshing blast, only to be met with a sad trickle? Consistently low water pressure could mean buildup, leaks, or full-blown corrosion inside your pipes, especially if it affects multiple fixtures. When the problem’s more than just a clogged showerhead, repiping your home can restore flow.
4. Leaks, Leaks, and More Leaks
A single leak is annoying but fixable, but if frequent issues with your plumbing feel like you’re constantly playing a game of whack-a-mole, it clearly indicates that the pipes are wearing out. Continuing to patch leak after leak only delays the inevitable, and the repiping benefits and costs are almost always the smarter (and less costly) choice.
5. Noisy Pipes
If it sounds like there’s a marching band inside the walls with all the banging, whistling, and rattling you hear every time you turn on the water, something is wrong, and the plumbing needs some attention. Air pockets, pressure issues, or deteriorating pipes remain some of the most common reasons for those sounds in Carmel homes and a sign to look into residential repiping services.
6. Old Plumbing
The average house in Carmel is about 35 years old, meaning there’s a good chance that your pipes are nearing the end of their lifespan. In fact, the most common pipes in homes built from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, polybutylene, tend to fail and are no longer in use. Plumbers also recommend galvanized steel and copper pipe replacement since those metals can deteriorate.
In short, if your plumbing is over 30 years old, schedule an inspection and consider repiping your home.
7. Unexplained Spikes in Your Water Bill
Unless you suddenly use more water than ever, a rapidly rising water bill could mean water is escaping somewhere it shouldn’t be. Hidden leaks waste gallons upon gallons of water without you realizing it, and repiping might be the best solution.
8. Frequent Clogs
Occasional clogs are normal. But if your drains clog constantly, even after repeated attempts to clear them, there might be deeper issues. Deterioration and corrosion in old pipes can catch and trap debris, making blockages more frequent and stubborn and making repiping inevitable.