Galvanized, copper or PEX: what is behind your walls?
The pipe inside your walls depends on when your home was built. Knowing which you have changes how a repair is done.
Galvanized steel
Common in older homes. Galvanized pipe is steel with a zinc coating, and over the decades the inside corrodes and narrows. The usual symptoms are low water pressure and rusty or discolored water, especially at the first draw in the morning.
Copper
Copper has been used for supply lines for a long time and holds up well. Older copper can develop pinhole leaks, and hard water can affect it over time. Early copper is still in many foothill neighborhoods.
PEX
PEX is flexible plastic tubing used in many newer homes and repipes. It runs in long continuous lengths with fewer fittings, which means fewer joints to leak.
How to tell what you have
- Look at the pipe where it enters the water heater or at the main shutoff
- Gray metal with threaded fittings is usually galvanized
- Reddish-brown metal is copper
- Colored plastic tubing — often red and blue — is PEX
Knowing which is behind the wall changes the repair, the parts on the truck, and the price we quote.
We repair leaks, replace main water lines, and repipe older supply systems. See our pipe repair and repiping services.
