I would be grateful for a response.
I am wondering if it is common to replace plumbing stacks in townhouses as well?
I am considering buying a townhouse. It has 2 floors with a bathroom upstairs and a guest toilet and kitchen on the ground floor.
There are 10 households in the townhouse row.
It was built in 1993. I have the impression that in multi-family houses with several floors, plumbing stack replacements are typically done after 40-50 years.
I am wondering if it is common to replace plumbing stacks in townhouses as well?
I am considering buying a townhouse. It has 2 floors with a bathroom upstairs and a guest toilet and kitchen on the ground floor.
There are 10 households in the townhouse row.
It was built in 1993. I have the impression that in multi-family houses with several floors, plumbing stack replacements are typically done after 40-50 years.
Yes, sooner or later pipe replacement is needed in all residences. Apartment, townhouse or villa doesn't matter.P Pelle333 said:
So a new house should have plastic pipes that remain in good condition for many more years. Worse with houses from the 70s and older.
In terraced houses, as well as in villas, people often take the opportunity to replace pipes in connection with bathroom renovations anyway, so it's not as disruptive as it can be in apartment buildings.
The pipes used in 1990 are likely to last significantly more than 40 - 50 years.
There were problems with the first generation of plastic sewage pipes that came out in the late 60s and were used until around 1975. It was a relatively light gray variant of plastic. They were much thinner than today's pipes and had glued joints. In many cases, the gluing began to leak after just a few years. And the plastic became brittle, now referred to as "eggshell pipes."
What came after them is of much better plastic quality, and they now have joints with seals made of age-resistant "rubber" (plastic). During renovation, we have removed eggshell pipes from the early 70s and more modern pipes from 76 - 78 (a bit uncertain). The pipes from the late 70s were still in mint condition when we tore them down in 2009. The eggshell pipes didn't leak, but you could break them with your hands without tools.
Plastic pipes of the newer types don't age at all, in principle. Or how they will look in 200 years is perhaps not something we should say much about. But they are subjected to mechanical stresses and can suffer from fatigue damage. This is especially true for mainlines in multi-family houses, where there might be 10 times as many toilets connected to one pipe. Due to the drop height in a tall building, the flush water also has much higher energy when it reaches the bend at the bottom of the mainline, increasing with the square of the height.
In older multi-family buildings in particular, there are cast iron pipes, which simply rust. Rusting is only marginally affected by how much they are used.
I believe cast iron pipes are still used in some multi-family houses today, partly because they withstand mechanical wear better, and plastic pipes are often not allowed to pass between floors due to fire safety reasons.
There were problems with the first generation of plastic sewage pipes that came out in the late 60s and were used until around 1975. It was a relatively light gray variant of plastic. They were much thinner than today's pipes and had glued joints. In many cases, the gluing began to leak after just a few years. And the plastic became brittle, now referred to as "eggshell pipes."
What came after them is of much better plastic quality, and they now have joints with seals made of age-resistant "rubber" (plastic). During renovation, we have removed eggshell pipes from the early 70s and more modern pipes from 76 - 78 (a bit uncertain). The pipes from the late 70s were still in mint condition when we tore them down in 2009. The eggshell pipes didn't leak, but you could break them with your hands without tools.
Plastic pipes of the newer types don't age at all, in principle. Or how they will look in 200 years is perhaps not something we should say much about. But they are subjected to mechanical stresses and can suffer from fatigue damage. This is especially true for mainlines in multi-family houses, where there might be 10 times as many toilets connected to one pipe. Due to the drop height in a tall building, the flush water also has much higher energy when it reaches the bend at the bottom of the mainline, increasing with the square of the height.
In older multi-family buildings in particular, there are cast iron pipes, which simply rust. Rusting is only marginally affected by how much they are used.
I believe cast iron pipes are still used in some multi-family houses today, partly because they withstand mechanical wear better, and plastic pipes are often not allowed to pass between floors due to fire safety reasons.
Isn't it cast iron with plastic inside that you have? That is, essentially plastic pipes but wrapped in iron for fire/sound reasons?M MagHam said:
I think it's good to have if it passes through a room. We rerouted an old cast iron pipe from the upstairs toilet that goes "through" the kitchen. Bare plastic pipe lets you hear everything. I had to insulate and cover it with OSB and plasterboard, then it became "quiet".
What is the form of ownership in the townhouse? Freehold? Cooperative apartment?
Regardless, I would divide the pipe replacement into two parts in a townhouse, the one that runs in the house and the one that connects the house to the rest of the sewage network (it probably first connects with your neighbors).
If it's a cooperative apartment, the association is responsible for maintaining at least parts of the sewage system. If it's freehold, there might be a community association that maintains the shared pipes.
Regardless, I would divide the pipe replacement into two parts in a townhouse, the one that runs in the house and the one that connects the house to the rest of the sewage network (it probably first connects with your neighbors).
If it's a cooperative apartment, the association is responsible for maintaining at least parts of the sewage system. If it's freehold, there might be a community association that maintains the shared pipes.