Should sellers replace polybutylene pipe?
Q: Our home has polybutylene water pipes and we’re afraid this will prevent us from selling the property. We’ve never had any plumbing problems, but our neighbors have had several major leaks. Do you recommend replacing polybutylene pipe with copper before selling a home? If not, how will this disclosure affect buyers?
A: Polybutylene plastic pipe was commonly installed in mobile homes and low-budget housing, mainly during the 1970s and ’80s. As you’ve learned from your neighbors' experience, polybutylene pipe is prone to leakage. This can occur as slow seepage at loose fittings, or as major outpouring from broken lines. A water pipe may simply rupture, causing a torrent to spew wildly within a wall or inside the attic. Surprise leaks can attack at any time or not at all. Polybutylene can waken you with a collapsing ceiling in the middle of the night, or merely worry you over an expected leak that never happens. It’s totally unpredictable.
The choice to replace or disclose polybutylene pipes when selling a home involves two sets of differing concerns: the prospect of possible leakage and the concerns of individual homebuyers.
Homeowners rarely repipe a home for the sake of marketing. Your primary responsibility as a seller is to disclose all known conditions that might be of concern to buyers, including the potential for plumbing leaks. If you choose to repipe, that’s OK, but keep in mind that many buyers are willing to assume risks that are fully disclosed. Some might insist on a repipe or ask for a price reduction on the property. A few might even withdraw their purchase offer entirely. On the other hand, you might find a buyer who is planning to remodel the home entirely, in which case costly repiping prior to sale would be a wasted investment.
In the final analysis, there is no single decision that fits all situations. Just be sure to inform buyers of the presence of polybutylene pipe.
Q: In a previous column, you discussed the shortcomings of two-prong, ungrounded electrical outlets, common in many older homes. But you never mentioned that old outlets can be replaced with modern grounded outlets, which can be grounded to the box. Another alternative would be a plug adapter that can be connected to the screw that holds the outlet faceplate. Do you agree with these methods?
A: Old two-prong outlets can only be upgraded to three-prong outlets if a ground wire is already provided. In many older systems, the romex wires contain two lines only, a hot wire and a neutral wire, but no ground wire. In homes where three-prong outlets have been added without a ground wire, the receptacles give the impression of being grounded, when they actually are not. Adapters are of no advantage in such cases. If there is no ground wire, the screw on the faceplate is not grounded.
• Distributed by Action Coast Publishing. Questions to Barry Stone can be emailed to barry@housedetective.com.