What a whole-home repipe is actually like
Most of the anxiety about this job is about dust and disruption rather than plumbing. Here is the honest version for a normal Ottawa house.
Walkthrough and quote
An hour or less. The plumber traces what is visible, checks fixture locations, opens a vanity or two, and works out where new lines can run. Ask them to mark on the quote where they expect to open walls.
Permit
A plumbing permit is normally required for a whole-home repipe in Ottawa and the contractor should pull it. Do not accept a quote that skips this to save you money — the inspection is the thing you will want later, for your insurer and for a future buyer.
Protection and access
Floors covered, furniture moved off walls, dust barriers at doorways. Then the openings: usually small rectangles in drywall, a few ceiling cuts in the basement, occasionally a closet back panel.
New PEX in, old pipe out or abandoned
The bulk of the work. Water is off for most of each working day and usually back on overnight. Ask for that in writing if anyone at home needs a working bathroom during the day.
Connect, pressure test, inspect
Every fixture goes onto the new system and the whole run is pressure tested before anything is closed up. The city inspection happens while the pipe is still visible — which is the entire point of it.
Drywall, tape, prime, paint
A separate trade and often a separate week. Confirm the finish level: patched and taped is not the same as primed and painted to match your existing colour, and neither is texture-matched ceiling.
Timeline for a normal house
| Home | Plumbing | Drywall and paint |
|---|---|---|
| Townhouse or bungalow, open basement | 2–3 days | 2–4 days, often the following week |
| Bungalow, finished basement | 3–4 days | 4–6 days |
| Two-storey, 3 baths | 4–6 days | 5–8 days |
Things worth asking for while the walls are open
- Individual shut-off valves for each bathroom, so the next repair does not mean draining the house
- A central manifold, if the layout suits it — easier diagnosis for the next thirty years
- A proper recessed laundry box, if yours is still a pair of hose bibs on the wall
- A frost-free outdoor hose bib, given what Ottawa winters do to the old ones
- Pipe insulation on long runs through cold crawl spaces or garage walls
Winter work
Repipes happen year round in Ottawa and there is no real penalty to booking one in February — the work is indoors. The practical notes are that exterior hose bibs get dealt with in spring, and that January and February are often the quietest weeks in a plumber’s calendar, which can show up in the price.
Ready to see a real number
Six questions about the house is all it takes to start.