As professional plumbers, we’ve seen new and old pipe materials in many of our customers’ homes. From copper to galvanized steel, and even lead, there can be pipes of all different materials in a home depending on how old it is.
However, some of these pipe materials can be pretty bad and can start leading to leaks or problems depending on the material type.
Today, we’d like to focus on some pipe materials that are not really in circulation anymore. When compared with newer pipe materials like PVC or copper, these older materials are both expensive and don’t hold up in terms of their safety and reliability.
If you’re noticing a trend where your older home has a lot of old pipes made out of unreliable materials, then you might be the perfect customer to call us for repiping in Appleton, WI.
Three Pipe Materials and What They Mean
We have quite a few older homes in our area, which can be full of older pipe materials. Even though there have been pretty large technological advancements made in the plumbing industry over the past few decades, we still come across the following pipe materials all the time. Here’s why they might signal the need to start prepping the plumbing system in your home, and our team can help you with that.
Lead Pipes
Lead pipes have been used in plumbing systems since ancient times. In fact, the ancient Romans used to use lead pipes to draw in freshwater from the aqueducts system thousands of years ago. Lead is plentiful, malleable, and easy to work into all sorts of plumbing shapes.
Unfortunately, in the 1960s it became clear that lead pipes can be harmful to people when transferring freshwater. Lead can leech into the water and cause numerous health problems, the most important being lead poisoning. That’s why it was phased out as a plumbing material over half a century ago.
If you notice lead pipes in your home, they’re likely over 50 years old and need to be replaced. If they’re freshwater pipes, then you’re also likely putting your family in danger by having them there.
Galvanized Steel
Galvanized steel was used as an alternative to lead in the 1960s. It was strong, durable, and wouldn’t leech any harmful chemicals into the water through heavy use. It could even be used for hot water based on how strong the material was.
Unfortunately, galvanized steel is expensive to produce and not quite malleable enough to be a proper plumbing material. They can fall apart due to corrosion in a pretty short amount of time.
Plumbers usually steer clear of this material for these exact reasons, and if you’ve got galvanized steel pipes, then you might want to consider replacing them.
Copper
Copper is hands-down one of the best plumbing materials available. Unlike the others on this list, it’s still heavily used by plumbers everywhere. Copper is malleable and lightweight, naturally resistant to corrosion, and doesn’t leech any harmful chemicals into the water.
However, copper can lose structural integrity after a few decades, so be sure to get your very old copper pipes replaced with new ones.
With Tureks Plumbing Services, you get Terrific People, Terrific Service. Contact us today for repiping and more!