Ottawa homes built 1978–1998
Is this the pipe running through your basement?
Pick the one that matches what you can see. It takes a second, and it is the question every Ottawa homeowner asks before anything else.
Ottawa is full of this pipe, and most owners find out at the worst moment
Poly B went into Canadian houses from the late 1970s until manufacturing stopped at the end of the 1990s. That maps almost exactly onto the decades when Kanata, Barrhaven, Orléans and the Gloucester suburbs were built out.
Sources and dates are set out on our insurance page. Poly B was never banned from homes — it was withdrawn as an approved material.
The reason this became urgent has nothing to do with plumbing
Poly B does not usually fail like a burst copper line in a cold snap. It fails quietly: chlorine and other oxidants in treated municipal water attack the pipe wall from the inside while heat and sunlight work on the outside. The plastic acetal fittings used in some installations go brittle. Over-crimped rings leave a stress point that holds for thirty years and then does not.
By the time it lets go, the pipe is usually behind a finished wall, and the bill is a water-damage restoration bill rather than a plumbing one. Insurers have noticed. Depending on the company and the policy, a house with Poly B in it can now attract a premium surcharge, a written deadline to replace it, an exclusion that removes water-damage coverage entirely, or a declined renewal.
That is the real clock. Not the pipe — the policy.
What replacing it actually involves
A whole-home repipe means running new PEX from the main shut-off to every fixture, abandoning or removing the old grey lines, reconnecting everything, pressure testing, and then patching the holes that had to be opened along the way. On an Ottawa bungalow with open basement joists, much of the work is visible and quick. On a two-storey with a finished basement ceiling, the access planning matters more than the pipe.
Three things separate a good quote from a cheap one: whether the drywall and ceiling repair is included or left to you, whether every fixture is on the new system or a few awkward runs get left behind, and whether the price survives contact with the first opened ceiling.
Read the day-by-day version, or see what it costs by house type.
Questions homeowners ask first
Does Poly B have to be replaced?
Nothing forces you to replace it. Plenty of Poly B is still holding water after forty years. What has changed is the cost of being wrong: insurers have tightened how they treat it, and a supply line that lets go while you are away is a restoration claim, not a plumbing bill. Most Ottawa homeowners replace it on a planned schedule for that reason.
How do I know whether I actually have it?
Look in the least finished part of the basement, at the shut-offs under sinks, and around the water heater. Poly B is a flexible grey pipe, usually held on with a crimped copper or brass ring, and it is sometimes stamped PB2110 or CSA B137.8. Kitec looks entirely different — orange and blue with brass fittings.
What does a whole-home repipe cost in Ottawa?
For a typical Ottawa home, plumbing labour and materials usually land in the four to eleven thousand dollar range, with larger two-storey homes and fully finished basements pushing past that. Drywall and ceiling repair is a separate line item and is often where a quote moves most. Our cost page breaks the ranges down by house type.
Do I have to leave the house during the work?
Usually not. Water is off for a good part of each working day and there will be dust and open drywall, but most repipes on a normal Ottawa home run two to five days and people stay put. Larger homes with awkward access take longer.
Is this free, and what is the catch?
The form is free and there is no obligation. The contractor pays us a referral fee when we send them a homeowner. That is the whole business model, which is why your details go to one company only and we do not resell them.
Why go through us instead of ringing round yourself
You can absolutely do that, and some people should. Here is what we add.
They already do repipes
The contractor we send your details to does whole-home Poly B and Kitec replacement as regular work, not as a favour between service calls.
Matched to your house
Basement finish, storeys, bathroom count and how fast you need it decide who is right for the job — an open-joist bungalow and a finished two-storey are not the same work.
One call, not six
Your details go to a single company and then the form closes. Your number does not get resold to a call centre, and you will not be fielding calls for months.
You owe nobody anything
The contractor pays the referral fee. If the quote looks wrong to you, walk away — or tell us and we will introduce you to someone else.
Where we refer work
Ottawa and the surrounding communities. Pick your area to see what the housing stock there usually hides.
Find out what your house would cost, this week
Answer six questions about the property. One Ottawa contractor who does this work every week comes back with a real number.