Polybutylene Pipe Replacement in Raleigh & Wake County
Polybutylene is the gray plastic water pipe installed in homes from 1978 to the mid-1990s. It fails from the inside, where you can't see it. We'll check your pipe, show you what we find, and replace it with PEX-A.
No trip charge. No estimate fee. No obligation to buy.
Polybutylene pipe: the short answer
What polybutylene is, why it's a problem, and what to do about it
If your home was built or plumbed between 1978 and the mid-1990s, there's a real chance the water lines inside the walls are polybutylene. It doesn't mean a leak is coming tomorrow. It means you should know what you have and plan for it instead of finding out from a wet ceiling.
No test can tell you how much life is left in a polybutylene pipe. That's why we recommend a planned replacement instead of waiting for it to fail.
- What it is
- A flexible plastic water supply pipe, usually gray inside the house, often stamped PB2110. It was installed in U.S. homes from 1978 until the mid-1990s.1 A court settlement notice estimated it went into about six million homes.7
- Why it's a problem
- It has a history of material failures and is no longer an approved plumbing system.1 Research shows the disinfectant in treated water attacks it from the inside wall first.4,5
- Can anyone predict a failure?
- No. A dry pipe or a passed pressure test only tells you it isn't leaking today. Not every system fails, and nobody can say when one will.
- What we recommend
- A planned whole-house repipe. Once one leak has happened, we recommend it strongly: the rest of the pipe is the same material, the same age, carrying the same water.
- How ARC does it
- PEX-A pipe. Typically 2–4 days for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home. At least one working bathroom every night. 1-year warranty. A $250 home-cleaning gift card with every whole-house repipe. Free in-home quote.
Check your own pipe
Is it polybutylene? How to tell
You can often answer this yourself in five minutes with a flashlight. Look where the water lines are exposed. Read the printing on the pipe if you can. Printed markings tell you more than color does.
Where to look
- Crawlspace or unfinished basement: the long runs under the floor.
- At the water heater: the lines going into and out of the top.
- Under sinks and behind toilets: where the pipe comes out of the wall to the shutoff valve.
- Where water enters the house: near the main shutoff.
A copper stub-out under a sink, or one section someone already replaced, doesn't tell you what's behind the wall. We check more than one spot before we tell you what you have.
What rules it out
- Printed "PEX": cross-linked polyethylene. A different material from PB.3
- Rigid cream or tan plastic: usually CPVC, glued at the joints.
- Copper: rigid metal pipe with soldered joints.
- Gray or silver threaded metal: usually galvanized steel, which is aging for its own reasons. We repipe that too.
| What you see | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| "PB2110" printed on the pipe | The strongest evidence. PB2110 is the polybutylene material code.2 Take a photo of it. |
| "Qest" or "Vanguard" brand name | These were the U.S. polybutylene brands.2 One catch: Qest later sold PEX too, so read the material code, not just the brand. |
| Flexible gray plastic pipe with crimped rings at the joints | A strong hint, not proof. PB is commonly gray inside the house, but color alone doesn't identify a material. |
| Gray plastic fittings (elbows, tees) | The early plastic fittings used on PB systems were acetal, and they had poor resistance to hot chlorinated water.2 A leak at one of these is a warning about the whole system. |
| Copper or brass fittings with copper-colored crimp rings | Later PB systems used metal fittings.2 That fixed one weak point. The pipe between the fittings is still polybutylene. |
Not sure? Checking your pipe is part of our free in-home quote. We photograph what we find, show you, and write down which areas we could and couldn't see.
What happens inside the pipe
Why polybutylene fails from the inside
Most people expect old pipe to look old. Polybutylene doesn't work that way. The damage starts on the inner wall, where the water is, and the outside can look normal right up until it leaks. Here's the sequence researchers found, in five steps.
Step 1: A new pipe
Polybutylene is made with stabilizers (antioxidants) blended into the plastic to protect it from oxidation. They're shown here as yellow specks spread through the pipe wall.
- Stabilizer in the plastic
- Disinfectant in the water
- Brittle, oxidized layer
Illustration. The timescale is compressed from years into seconds and the wall is drawn thicker than real pipe so you can see it. Real timing depends on water chemistry, temperature, pressure and how the pipe was installed. Nobody can predict when a specific pipe will fail. Based on a NIST workshop report4 and laboratory studies of polybutylene pipe in chlorinated water.5,6
What the research shows
Two weak points: the fittings and the pipe itself
Polybutylene failures showed up by the 1980s, and the plastics industry describes them as premature oxidative, brittle failures in drinking-water systems.2 They happened in two places.
Weak point 1
The early plastic fittings
The first PB systems used gray acetal plastic fittings. Acetal had poor resistance to hot chlorinated water. It could degrade quickly, lose its toughness and crack.2
Manufacturers switched to copper or brass fittings. That removed the plastic-fitting problem at the joints. It did not change the pipe between them.
Weak point 2
The pipe wall, from the inside out
A NIST workshop report links early PB and acetal failures to damage "highly accelerated by the presence of the chlorine in drinking water," and shows a pipe crack that started at the inner surface.4
Laboratory studies found the stabilizer used up in a thin layer at the inner wall, a brittle layer forming there, and cracks starting from it. Pipe in chlorinated water failed sooner than pipe in plain hot water, even at low chlorine levels, and water pressure added to the damage.5,6
It isn't only the water
North Carolina's home inspector board lists improper installation, handling and storage alongside chemical reactions with the water supply as causes of PB failures.1
What's in local water
Raleigh and Cary disinfect with chloramine (chlorine combined with ammonia) most of the year and switch to free chlorine for several weeks each year.13,14 Disinfection is what keeps your water safe to drink. The published PB studies tested chlorinated water.
Why there's no countdown
Lab tests show how the damage happens. They can't tell you when your pipe will fail. Water chemistry, temperature, pressure and installation vary from house to house.
Local numbers
Why so many Wake County homes have polybutylene
Polybutylene's run, 1978 to the mid-1990s, lined up with a building boom in Wake County. We find PB all over the Triangle. It's especially common in Cary and in many parts of Raleigh, in houses built in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
How to read those numbers: the Census groups homes by decade, so 1980–1999 is wider than the PB years, and many homes from that period have other pipe or have already been repiped. The numbers show how many homes are in the window, not how many have PB. The only way to know about your house is to look.
It isn't just a Cary and Raleigh issue. We also find it in Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Morrisville, Wake Forest and Knightdale.
Local history: in 1996, a federal court in North Carolina heard claims over PB installed in the 212-unit Huntington Apartments in Morrisville. The claims were dismissed because they were filed after the state's six-year product-liability deadline, not because the pipe was found reliable.15
Found a leak, or just found PB?
What we recommend depends on what we find
We won't invent an emergency. We also won't tell you a PB system is fine because it's dry today. Here's how we match the recommendation to what's actually in your house.
Leaking right now? Shut off the main water valve, turn off the water heater, and move valuables away from the water. Then call (919) 888-3500. We run 24-hour emergency service across Wake County.
| What we find | What we recommend |
|---|---|
| An active leak or wet building materials | Stop the water and fix the failed spot now. Then we give you a separate, written price for replacing the rest of the PB, and show you exactly what's still in the house. |
| PB that has already leaked or been patched before | A whole-house repipe. A leak means the pipe has degraded to the point of failure. The rest of the system is the same material, the same age and carries the same water. |
| PB with no leaks yet | A planned replacement quote, on your schedule. No countdown clock. The recommendation rests on the material's history and on what a leak would cost, not on a guess about when. |
| Pipe over finished rooms, costly floors or cabinets, or a home that sits empty for stretches | Give it more weight. These don't make a leak more likely. They make one more expensive and slower to find. |
What an inspection can and can't tell you
- No visible leak means no leak in the places we could see, today. It isn't a remaining-life test.
- A passed pressure test checks today's conditions. It doesn't promise years of future reliability.
- A home inspection can't fully judge PB either. North Carolina's suggested inspector language calls it a latent defect that "was not possible to adequately assess."1
- High water pressure adds stress. The NC plumbing code caps it at 80 psi,12 and we check yours. Fixing pressure helps, but it doesn't repair pipe that has already degraded.
Why a small leak can be a big bill
The average homeowners insurance claim for water damage and freezing was about $15,400 from 2019 to 2023.10 That covers every cause and every pipe type, not just PB, and it's an average. Yours could be much smaller or much larger, depending on where the water goes and how fast it's found.
Water can reach drywall, insulation, flooring and subfloor, and cabinets, and can mean drying equipment or time out of the house. The plumbing repair is often the smallest part.
| Steady leak | Water released |
|---|---|
| 0.1 gallon per minute | 48 gallons |
| 1 gallon per minute | 480 gallons |
| 5 gallons per minute | 2,400 gallons |
Simple arithmetic (gallons per minute × 60 × 8), not measured PB leak rates.
The ARC repipe
How an ARC whole-house repipe works
A repipe replaces the water supply lines that run through your walls, floors and crawlspace, hot and cold, out to every fixture. Here's what happens from the first visit to the last day.
Free in-home assessment
We confirm what pipe you have and photograph the markings, find how far the PB runs, check your water pressure and show you where your main shutoff is.
No trip charge. No estimate fee.
A written scope and price
You get exactly what's being replaced, what isn't, and the price, in writing, before you decide. Ask us why about anything on it.
A plan for your household
We map the pipe routes and the order of work so the fewest walls get opened and you always have a working bathroom.
New PEX-A lines
Most 3-bedroom, 2-bath homes take 2 to 4 days. Levels and crawlspace access change that. At least one bathroom works every night, and we restore as much as we can at the end of each day.
Test and check
We test the new lines and check the fixtures before we finish, then show you what was done.
Wrap-up
You get your $250 home-cleaning gift card, the name of a local painter who can quote the patching, and our 1-year warranty on the repipe.
| How long | Typically 2–4 days for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home, depending on the number of levels and how accessible the crawlspace is. |
|---|---|
| Water while we work | Water is off in stages while we work. At least one working bathroom every night, and as much of the house back on each evening as we can manage. |
| Drywall openings | We cut only where the pipe route needs access, keep openings as small as we can, and cut so the pieces stay intact when possible, which makes patching easier. |
| Patching and paint | Not included. We don't patch or paint, but we'll give you the name of a local painter who can quote it and take care of it. |
| Pipe we install | PEX-A cross-linked polyethylene. It's a different material from polybutylene, even though both are flexible plastic.3 |
| The line from the meter to the house | In our experience it usually isn't polybutylene. If yours needs replacing, it's a separate water line quote and can be done at a different time. |
| Warranty | 1 year on the repipe. |
| Gift card | $250 toward a standard home cleaning, handed to you when a whole-house repipe is complete. Details. |
Why PEX-A
PEX-A is flexible, so it can be pulled through walls and floors in long runs with fewer joints hidden in the walls than rigid pipe needs. Fewer joints behind the drywall means fewer places to fail and fewer holes to cut.
It's cross-linked polyethylene, a different material with its own standards, not a newer version of polybutylene.3
Good times to do it together
- Water heater near the end of its life? Replacing it during the repipe saves a second disruption. See water heater replacement or tankless options.
- Remodeling a kitchen or bath? The walls are already open. See remodel plumbing.
- Worn shutoffs, faucets or toilet supplies? New lines are a good time for new fixtures and valves.
- Buying the house? Before move-in is the easiest time. One of the reviews below is from a buyer who did exactly that.
Your options
Spot repair, partial repipe or whole house?
We do all three. Each one does something different, and we'll tell you plainly what each leaves behind.
Fixes one spot
Spot repair
We cut out the failed section and connect new pipe with fittings approved for joining to polybutylene.
What it leaves: every other foot of PB in the house.
Makes sense when: you need the water back on today, or a full repipe is already scheduled.
Fixes one area
Partial repipe
We replace the PB in one part of the house, like one floor, one bathroom group or the crawlspace runs.
What it leaves: any PB outside that area.
Makes sense when: part of the house was already repiped, or you're remodeling one area now.
Removes the problem
Whole-house repipe
We replace the PB water lines throughout the house with PEX-A.
What it leaves: no PB supply lines inside the house. The line from the meter is quoted separately.
What we recommend, especially once one leak has happened. Includes the $250 cleaning gift card.
Not polybutylene?
We repipe other aging systems too
Most of the repipes we do in Wake County replace polybutylene. We also repipe homes with galvanized steel, failing copper and CPVC. The process, the PEX-A pipe, the one-bathroom-every-night rule and the free in-home quote are the same.
- Galvanized steel: threaded gray metal pipe, common in older homes.
- Copper: worth a look if you're seeing repeated pinhole leaks or green corrosion at joints.
- CPVC: rigid cream or tan plastic that has started cracking or leaking at fittings.
What a repipe costs
Why we don't post a repipe price, and why the quote is free
Two houses with the same square footage can need very different repipes. Price depends on:
- How many levels the house has, and whether it sits on a crawlspace or a slab
- How easy the crawlspace and attic are to work in
- How many bathrooms, fixtures and appliances need lines
- Whether some sections were already replaced
- Where the walls, cabinets and finished ceilings sit on the pipe routes
A number posted online would be wrong for most homes. So we come out, look, and give you a written price for your house.
Free in-home quote
No trip charge. No estimate fee. No obligation to buy. You learn the price before you decide whether to spend anything. That's part of the ARC Promise.
Already have a repipe quote?
Repipes are big decisions. If the price or the scope doesn't sit right, we'll come out and give you a free second opinion. We may agree with it. We may see another option. Either way, you'll understand what you're paying for.
Mention "second opinion" when you call.
Included with every whole-house repipe
A $250 home cleaning, on us
A repipe means a crew in your home for a few days and openings in the drywall. When we finish, we'd like the house to feel like yours again.
- A $250 gift card to a local home-cleaning company we partner with, good for a standard basic cleaning
- Handed to you when the repipe is complete
- Use it within 6 months of the date you receive it
- Included with whole-house repipes; spot repairs and partial repipes aren't eligible
A repipe is a big decision. You should understand it before you make it.
We built ARC so the person looking at your pipes has no reason to talk you into more than you need. Read the full ARC Promise.
- Our technicians aren't paid based on how much you spend. If a spot repair is the right call today, we'll say so.
- We don't charge you just to give you a price. No trip charge, no estimate fee, no obligation.
- A quote shouldn't come with a countdown clock. Think about it. Compare it. Call us when you're ready.
- Ask why. If we can't explain why we're recommending something, we shouldn't be recommending it.
From repipe customers
What homeowners say about their ARC repipe
5.0★ across 401 Google reviews. Here are three from whole-house repipe customers.
★★★★★
"Clay and his team were outstanding for our whole home repipe. Very professional, transparent, and responsive with excellent customer service. I highly recommend ARC and Clay for a whole system repipe or any plumbing needs."
★★★★★
"We had a whole house repipe, installation of new water heater and some additional work done before moving into our new home and the team was very professional, performed the work quickly and according to our timeline. They even were very accommodating with a small adjustment in schedule on our end and we’re still able to complete the work timely for us. So appreciative!"
★★★★★
"Performed full house repipe, tankless water heater installation, toilets installation etc. Very pleased with the response and communication. Will definitely use their services again."
Real estate and insurance
Buying, selling or insuring a home with polybutylene in North Carolina
If you're selling
The NC Real Estate Commission's position is that PB's mere presence isn't automatically a "material fact" a broker must disclose. It becomes one when the broker knows, or should know, of a probable defect, like past leaks.11
Talk to your broker or attorney about your situation. A documented repipe removes the question from the conversation.
If you're buying
Home inspectors in NC are given suggested language that says PB is "no longer an approved plumbing system" and can't be fully assessed during an inspection.1 The Commission also advises buyers to talk with their insurer about PB before making an offer.11
Before move-in, while the house is empty, is the easiest time to repipe. See our plumbing tips for home buyers.
Insurance
Only your agent or adjuster can say what your policy covers. Damage from a sudden leak, the cost to fix the pipe, and a preventive repipe can each be treated differently.
We won't promise coverage or tell you a claim will be denied. We'll give you a written scope and photos you can share with your insurer.
About the old lawsuits: the national class-action settlement over PB plumbing dates to 1995.8 Its last claim deadline was May 1, 2009,7 so old ads for "free settlement repipes" no longer apply.
Questions we get
Polybutylene and repiping FAQ
What is polybutylene pipe?
Polybutylene (PB) is a flexible plastic water supply pipe, usually gray inside the house and often stamped “PB2110.” It was installed in U.S. homes from 1978 until the mid-1990s. North Carolina’s home inspector board describes it as no longer an approved plumbing system because of a history of material failures.
How do I know if my house has polybutylene pipe?
Look where the water lines are exposed: the crawlspace, the lines at the top of the water heater, under sinks, behind toilets, and where water enters the house. “PB2110” printed on the pipe is the strongest evidence. Gray color alone isn’t proof, and pipe printed “PEX” is a different material. Checking your pipe is part of ARC’s free in-home quote.
Why does polybutylene pipe fail?
Research shows the disinfectant in treated water uses up the stabilizers in the plastic, starting at the inner surface. The inner wall then oxidizes into a brittle layer, and cracks start there and grow outward under water pressure until the pipe leaks, often with no warning on the outside. Early systems also used acetal plastic fittings that cracked in hot chlorinated water. Installation, handling and storage problems contributed too.
My polybutylene has worked for 30 years. Do I need to replace it?
That history is useful, but it can’t tell you what shape the inside of the pipe is in or how much life is left, and no test can. Not every PB system fails. Because the damage starts on the inside and a leak can be costly, ARC recommends a planned replacement on your schedule instead of waiting for a failure.
My polybutylene has copper or brass fittings. Is that OK?
Metal fittings fixed the weak point of the early plastic acetal fittings at the joints. The pipe between the fittings is still polybutylene and is still exposed to the same water. First we confirm the fitting body is metal, not just the crimp ring around it.
If I find one leak, can I just fix that spot?
Yes, ARC can do a spot repair with fittings approved for joining to polybutylene, and sometimes that’s the right first step. It fixes that one location and leaves the rest of the PB in place. Once a leak has happened, ARC recommends a whole-house repipe, because the rest of the system is the same material and age, carrying the same water.
Will a water filter or softener protect polybutylene pipe?
No. Water treatment can’t reverse damage that has already happened inside the pipe, and adding a filter doesn’t make the remaining polybutylene reliable.
I’m on well water. Does polybutylene still matter?
Yes, it’s still worth checking. Most of the published research tested chlorinated water, but North Carolina’s home inspector board also lists installation, handling and storage as causes of PB failures. Not having routinely chlorinated water doesn’t prove a PB system is sound.
How long does a whole-house repipe take, and will I have water?
A typical 3-bedroom, 2-bath home takes 2 to 4 days with ARC, depending on the number of levels and how accessible the crawlspace is. Water is off in stages while we work, but you’ll have at least one working bathroom every night, and we restore as much of the house as we can each evening.
Do you patch and paint the drywall?
No. ARC cuts only the openings the pipe routes need, keeps them as small as possible, and cuts so the pieces stay intact when possible to make patching easier. We don’t patch or paint, but we’ll give you the name of a local painter who can quote the work and take care of it.
What pipe does ARC use to repipe a house?
PEX-A, a cross-linked polyethylene tubing. It’s a different material from polybutylene. Because it’s flexible, it can run long distances with fewer joints hidden in the walls.
How much does it cost to repipe a house with polybutylene?
It depends on the house: number of levels, crawlspace or slab, access, number of fixtures, and whether some sections were already replaced. That’s why ARC doesn’t post one price. The in-home quote is free, with no trip charge, no estimate fee and no obligation, and if you already have a quote from someone else, ARC will give you a free second opinion.
Is the water line from the meter to the house polybutylene too?
In ARC’s experience it usually isn’t. If yours needs work, it’s quoted separately from the interior repipe and can be done at a different time.
What warranty comes with an ARC repipe?
ARC warranties repipes for 1 year.
What is the $250 cleaning gift card?
Every ARC whole-house repipe includes a $250 gift card to a local home-cleaning company ARC partners with, good for a standard basic cleaning. It’s handed to you when the repipe is complete and expires 6 months after it’s issued. Spot repairs and partial repipes aren’t eligible.
Does homeowners insurance pay for a polybutylene repipe?
Only your insurance agent or adjuster can answer that for your policy. Coverage for sudden water damage, for fixing the failed pipe, and for a preventive repipe can each be different. ARC won’t promise coverage or a denial, but we can give you a written scope and photos to share with your insurer.
Do I have to disclose polybutylene when I sell my house in North Carolina?
According to the NC Real Estate Commission, the mere presence of polybutylene isn’t automatically a material fact for broker disclosure, but it becomes one when a broker knows or should know of a probable defect, such as past leaks. Ask your broker or attorney about your situation.
More questions? See the ARC Plumbing FAQ, contact us, or call (919) 888-3500.
Sources
Where these facts come from
Reviewed September 30, 2026 by ARC Plumbing (NC Plumbing Contractor License #36473). Numbers point to the notes on this page.
- North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board (NC Office of State Fire Marshal). Suggested reporting language for polybutylene, October 13, 2017. ncosfm.gov
- Plastics Pipe Institute. "Plastic Pressure Pipe Materials in US and Canada," presentation to the International Code Council, October 30, 2023. iccsafe.org (PDF)
- Plastics Pipe Institute. Technical Note TN-31, "The Difference Between PEX and PB." plasticpipe.org (PDF)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology. NISTIR 5826, workshop report on hygrothermal effects on the performance of polymers, April 1996, pp. 10–12. nist.gov (PDF)
- Lundbäck, M. et al. "Polybutene-1 pipes exposed to pressurized chlorinated water: Lifetime and antioxidant consumption." Polymer Degradation and Stability 91 (2006): 842–847. doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2005.06.015
- Fujii, T. et al. "Influence of residual chlorine and pressure on degradation of polybutylene pipe." Polymer Degradation and Stability 167 (2019): 1–9. doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2019.06.012
- Chancery Court for Obion County, Tennessee. Cox v. Shell Oil Co., Civil Action No. 18,844, Notice of Class Action and Settlement, March 11, 2008. Court notice (PDF)
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Richard v. Hoechst Celanese Chemical Group, 355 F.3d 345 (2003). law.justia.com
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates, Table B25034, Year Structure Built: Wake County, Town of Cary and City of Raleigh, NC. data.census.gov
- Insurance Information Institute, using ISO/Verisk data. "Facts + Statistics: Homeowners and renters insurance," Average Homeowners Losses 2019–2023. iii.org
- North Carolina Real Estate Commission. "Polybutylene Pipes: Is the Mere Presence Material?" eBulletin, September 2025. ncrec.gov
- NC Office of State Fire Marshal. Plumbing code interpretation 312.5, "Testing at Working Pressure," citing the 80 psi maximum in section 604.8. ncosfm.gov
- City of Raleigh, Raleigh Water. Annual flushing of the water distribution system (temporary chlorine-only disinfection). raleighnc.gov
- Town of Cary. Annual water disinfecting change (chloramines and the temporary switch to free chlorine). carync.gov
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina. National Property Investors III v. Shell Oil Co., 950 F. Supp. 710 (1996). law.justia.com
Find out what's in your walls before it finds you.
We check your pipe, show you what we find, and give you a written price. Then it's your call. No trip charge. No estimate fee. No obligation to buy. Already have a quote? We'll give you a free second opinion.
Where we repipe
Homes across Wake County from our shop at 2406 Waco Commercial Ct in Fuquay-Varina: Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Morrisville, Wake Forest and Knightdale. We also cover Clayton, Angier, Lillington, the city of Durham and the RTP corridor, and the town of Chapel Hill.
Not sure we cover you? See the full service area or call with your address. Related services: water line repair and replacement · water heaters · 24-hour emergency plumbing · all plumbing services.
ARC Plumbing · 2406 Waco Commercial Ct, Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 · NC Plumbing Contractor License #36473 · About ARC · Page updated September 2026
2406 Waco Commercial Ct
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
(919) 888-3500
Serving Wake County, Durham, Chapel Hill & the Clayton area