Replaced Main Home Water Line with Copper Line

REGGIE N
by REGGIE N
Main Water line Replaced from House; from house to tie in to main city water supply
*Options I considered for this project:
1. Find the Leak, drill down into concrete, fix leak and patch up driveway
2. Burrow underneath driveway to find leak and repair
3. Replace Line
*Questions and unexpected events that arose during the project:
How to find the leak - need listening device from professional plumber
How to repair once leak was found - how much concrete to tear up and replace
Cost of Copper Line and whether that was good investment
* Cost Comments:
Plumber to Find Leak - $200
Copper Line Installed including digging - $1400
*My motivation to do this project:
A leak developed in main pvc pipe for water line of house. The water line was located underneath the driveway which made it a very complicated repair process
*Project Steps:
Noticed water leaking from flower bed near house; low water pressure
Hired plumber to help find leak and diagnosis and suggest repair
Since a lot of digging was to be done; local plumber wanted $2500-3000 so I found a guy that was primarily had crews to dig. The repair was going to be easy..getting to it was the hard part.
Hired local contractor to borrow underneath driveway to find leak
Once leak could not be located decided to install new copper line
Digging continued but new route was established to shorten length under driveway
New Line was installed and connected to city water line
(project was in some rainy winter so this created extra issues)
Recommend Copper - not as prone to breaks like pvc but expensive
Advice:
Do's
If leak is under concrete take your time to get estimates and plan a project that limits damage to concrete. this is very expensive to repair
Do stay on site while contractors working so you can key eye on work and workmanship
Take pictures and video o document for future reference if needed
Make sure all new water line connections include any to your sprinkler system - the forgot and had to come back and tie in. Also be aware they may turn off the main valve to your sprinkler system so remember to turn back on
Don'ts
Try to find a company that has specialized equipment to borrow under concrete. My guy did not and basically dug a major tunnel under my driveway and then repacked after the line was done. I've worried that the ground underneath was not stabilized afterwards. Luckily no problems to date (almost 2 years ago now)

Initial digging near flower bed and underneath driveway
new copper line
new line under driveway
new line; routed to nearest flower bed and down yard; under sidewalk to main city tie in
Tie into city main line; they had to come back; the pvc line is my sprinkler system which they forgot to tie back in; I showed this picture and they knew right where to dig to repair
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2 of 6 comments
  • Hudson Designs Hudson Designs on Oct 24, 2010
    Your old line, why was it leaking? I have seen many times in the past that sand in the water can over time cut into copper and cause the leak. Any reason you did not use PVC or Pex piping?
  • Lrc225795 Lrc225795 on Nov 08, 2013
    Solder joints under ground are not allowed on many water systems because the minerals will over time leech the minerals out of the solder, then a solder joint leak. Flare or compression fittings are usually required. There are some great non-solder joint fittings available. The ProPress fitting may work but there are some leak issues. Must not have all the "bugs' worked out like the crimp fittings on PEX.
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