I have a place that's only one bathroom. It has 40 year old copper pipes buried under the slab.

I've never had any leaks at this place but I just had a pinhole leak at another place that was built in the '80s.

I was thinking of pre-preemptively re piping this one bath house while the tenant is there, sometime over the next year or so, with PEX. I would use a plumber to do this, I don't have the skills for this.

Do you think I'm on the right track with this idea? I think it would cost about 2K because there is only one bathroom.

No way!! Wait until it's vacant.

$2 grand would be a deal for this kind of work by a licensed plumber in my area.

We had an old galvanized kitchen drain line go bad under a slab recently and it was $1,300 since they had to move the cabinets, jackhammer the slab, replace pipe, and re-concrete it in. All for about a 4-5 foot run of DRAIN line. A complete re-pipe? Get a ROCK SOLID quote before proceeding.

"PEX is so easy, I would take measurements and have it builtin the cieling with tenant there - one day cut and connect to fixtures - yes there will be refinishing after those holes are cut in walls, if you can operate scissors you can do PEX"

I’ve done a bathroom remodel with a tenant in there. It went fairly smoothly, but, I am very chill about life’s little upsets, and that tenant and I communicate very well. Other tenants, I wouldn’t have tried that. The other thing in my favor, my tenant runs a business around the corner, where her sister lives above. So, when, oops! I dropped the perfectly good toilet, and cracked it, I was able to text the tenant to have her kids go to Auntie’s place when they got off the bus while I ran out and got another toilet. ( Btw, never be alone in a unit with tenant’s kids without another adult present. I just was going to be working later that day.)

If you can plan ahead, try to think of all the contingencies, then this might be very do-able. But, I have never dealt with a house on slab, so that can have pitfalls I don’t know about. My tenant has been with me since I bought the house in 2014, and I don’t see her leaving any time soon. Great tenant, and, yes, at market rent.

When I have done big projects with a tenant in place, I often will spring for dinner (subs usually,) and, of course, one needs to be very aware/ careful about disturbing any of the dangerous stuff. My husband says PEX is very easy, but, I have very small hands, along with arthritis, so crimping and squeezing anything aren’t in my skill set. Add to that, I don’t learn quickly if it involves flips, turns, slides ( spatial reasoning,) so, I would have the pro, and one that I have worked with before, come in and get things done quickly with a tenant in place.

For a landlord to hire things out is a great goal. To not know how to do it to begin with is a great disadvantage.

I am a landlord and licensed plumbing contractor too. Last year I had to re-pipe a duplex I owned built on a slab. The bathrooms and kitchens were on outside walls. Only the water heaters were on an inside wall.

So I ran exterior copper pipes along the outside walls, drilling into the stucco to run the new supply pipes for the toilets and sinks. I had to open up the walls behind the bathtubs and showers to connect the new pipe to those fixtures. I then installed an access exterior metal door for service access.

Before turning off the water I had run around 90% of the new pipes to each fixture general area. On the day of the final connection, tenants were alerted that between 10 AM and 12 PM, they would have no water. Then from 12 PM to 2 PM the would have the use of 1 bathroom each. I installed exterior ball valves down stream from the first bathrooms along the run so they would have use of one bathroom upstairs and downstairs.

As I connected pipes to the kitchen and other bathrooms, I would install isolation ball valves between the runs.

When the piping was completed, I caulked the pipes coming into the units through the walls. On the outside I used exterior stucco caulking too. I then installed pipe insulation around the copper pipes.

This job took me 3 partial days. The tenants were without water (bathroom) for 2 hours.

Wise words, NE.

You will want to eventually repipe w/ PEX, but should really verify whether this is a potential problem that needs to be addressed so soon. Pinhole leaks in copper are not just a simple function of age. Turbulence, too-short distances between fittings, and pH of the water are (arguably more) important factors.

NO WAY. I've done 2 of these for collapsed drain lines.... I had tenants stay for 3-5 years after the first sign of trouble... they didn't move out and the lines ultimately failed and we had to do the work while they were occupied. Was a total, total mess. One tenant was put in a motel for a week, one was compensated to stay away... and both made daily trips into their house / work zone.... looking around, interrupting work, etc... it would be very foolish to preemptively do this work in an occupied unit.... I wouldn't touch this until 1. unit empty and 2. remodel to be completed....

This would not be the right move.

NO WAY. I've done 2 of these for collapsed drain lines.... I had tenants stay for 3-5 years after the first sign of trouble... they didn't move out and the lines ultimately failed and we had to do the work while they were occupied. Was a total, total mess. One tenant was put in a motel for a week, one was compensated to stay away... and both made daily trips into their house / work zone.... looking around, interrupting work, etc... it would be very foolish to preemptively do this work in an occupied unit.... I wouldn't touch this until 1. unit empty and 2. remodel to be completed....

This would not be the right move.

If you go pex make sure you know what type your municipality wants. Mine wants A because it is supposed to reshape if crinkled. I think B is the type that resists chlorine better which occurs from oxidation thru the pipe walls. If you do get a plumber make sure they use a complete system that has all like kind warranty parts. Mainly fittings and pipe. Upanor is one brand of pipe you may be required to use but then if you get fittings from the box store they are not covered and the whole job is not warranted.

"I usually repipe when it’s empty. Our repipe companies can do it in one day but inspection takes a day or more and then patch and paint is two or more days. The tenant must cooperate."

Yes, the drywall stuff actually took longer than the repipe. I've had this done once on the first house I bought--it had polybutylene and the I needed to repipe to be able to get insurance.

The only time I would cut walls is when there's an emergency leak inside the wall.

Your plumbing isn't leaking. Leave it alone.

Thank you. I think I'm just going to wait since there hasn't actually been a problem yet.

We all have our own comfort level with doing our own repairs. I do a fair amount of stuff. Some here may consider it piddly stuff -- painting, replacing ceiling fans, vanities, small drywall repairs -- but I did have to learn how to do it correctly. And there's a difference between a person like me doing a major system update and a person like Robert J who is a licensed contractor with many years of experience.