Old house - replacing GI pipes to PVC

[kalidas]

Friends,

We have a 16-year-old house in Bengaluru south. Everything is fine, other than the fact that the GI pipes (from water tanks to each of the bathrooms/kitchens/solar etc) are getting rusted especially due to the borewell water. Now we are planning to replace the GI pipes with UPVC/CPVC etc. Could someone who is knowledgeable pls provide some insight into how to go about it? All the external places - it looks like a direct replacement. But for pipes that are hidden inside the walls, I assume we need to break them and replaster /paint them - right?


Thanks,
Kalidas

[ardesarchitects]

Hi kalidas,
The only option to replace the concealed GI pipes is to break open the tiles / wall plastering and replace them. Few things to note while changing the GI pipes
1. Never make any joints between cpvc and GI pipes inside the wall in case you find the GI pipe inside the wall are all in good shape.
2. Gi pipes are usually laid deep in the walls, sometimes its better to abandon the GI pipe and give new routing using CPVC at a new location( if possible ) , this will save you on labor cost.
3. GI pipes have a good scrap value to cover some of your new CPVC pipe expenses.
4. You can use OLD GI pipes as cloth dryer rods in terrace or balcony by painting them from outside, it's far better than those sagging wires.

Regards,
Ar.Praveen.N
Ardes Architects and Interior designers
ardesarchitects@gmail.com
www.ardesarchitects.com
https://www.instagram.com/ardesarchitects

[kalidas]

Thank you, Praveen for your valuable input... I think your suggestion of abandoning the existing GI pipe and using a new route for CPVC makes a lot of sense.