Agent, 买房的各位童鞋，请注意，如果你买卖的房子是在1978年到1994年之间built的， 那么有可能internal水管是Polybutylene的。加州的房子，在那段时间extensively used polybutylene which is a plastic piping system。下图是它的typical look。 虽然也有白色和黑色，但大部分都是灰色的。
During the past years, Polybutylene caused leaks of substantial water damages. Lawsuits against the manufacturers在1995年得到了settlement。Although manufacturers have never admitted that poly is defective, manufacturers同意fund the Class，所以大部分的homes, town homes and condos都基本得到补偿进行了repipe。就我所知，10年之内都有funding。 剩余漏掉的那部分，估计如果有漏的话也换掉了。就算没有换，repiping就相当于recarpeting，并不复杂。
对于buyer agent, ask the listing agent if the home has poly. If it does, ask if they are going to replace it with copper or reduce the price of the home. Agent也可以在conduct visual inspection的时候注意查看under the toilet and kitchen sinks as well as the water heater for gray pipes. 最后也可以叫home inspector确认。Most home sellers are willing to at least split the cost.
对于seller agent, keep in mind, homes with copper sell faster and with much less headaches, so talk to your seller, explain the issues, let them know that an average replumbing takes about a week. Most importantly, they will now be able to feature a home with copper and a 40 year warranty. That's a powerful selling point. Repiping的cost, is about $2000-3000 for a condo, $4500 for a 1500sqft SFH and $8000-9000 for a SFH of 3000 sqft.
编后按：我自己2010年买的一个投资房，是1988年建的，当时房屋检测时inspector说在楼上阁楼里看到poly, 认为这个condo用的是poly, 还连连说"cannot believe the original poly is still working"。 昨天和tenant打招呼，进去自己check the water heater、bath and kitchen sink的接口，都已经换成铜管了。阁楼里的两段poly, 一拉就出来了，根本没有接上，估计是当时repipe后没有dispose留下来的。看来有些inspector也可以不是那么懂的。
对于buyer agent, ask the listing agent if the home has poly. If it does, ask if they are going to replace it with copper or reduce the price of the home. Agent也可以在conduct visual inspection的时候注意查看under the toilet and kitchen sinks as well as the water heater for gray pipes. 最后也可以叫home inspector确认。Most home sellers are willing to at least split the cost.
对于seller agent, keep in mind, homes with copper sell faster and with much less headaches, so talk to your seller, explain the issues, let them know that an average replumbing takes about a week. Most importantly, they will now be able to feature a home with copper and a 40 year warranty. That's a powerful selling point. Repiping的cost, is about $2000-3000 for a condo, $4500 for a 1500sqft SFH and $8000-9000 for a SFH of 3000 sqft.
编后按：我自己2010年买的一个投资房，是1988年建的，当时房屋检测时inspector说在楼上阁楼里看到poly, 认为这个condo用的是poly, 还连连说"cannot believe the original poly is still working"。 昨天和tenant打招呼，进去自己check the water heater、bath and kitchen sink的接口，都已经换成铜管了。阁楼里的两段poly, 一拉就出来了，根本没有接上，估计是当时repipe后没有dispose留下来的。看来有些inspector也可以不是那么懂的。