# Whole-House Repiping in Chicago

> Whole-house repiping in Chicago and nearby suburbs: every hot and cold supply line from the main shutoff, in copper to the City code. Get an estimate.

URL: https://chicagolakerepiping.com/whole-house-repiping/

Whole-house repiping replaces every hot and cold supply line from the main shutoff to the fixtures in the material the local code lists, then pressure tests it before the walls close.

Last Updated: October 25, 2026

**Copper** The water distribution pipe the Chicago Plumbing Code lists for the inside of a building. PEX is not on the list.

**$150** City of Chicago Express plumbing permit per dwelling unit for replacing existing piping

**80 psi** Static pressure above which Chicago's code calls for a pressure-reducing valve, for permit applications from December 1, 2026

**0.25%** Maximum weighted average lead content for drinking-water pipe, fittings and valves under NSF 372

[Chicago Lake Repiping](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/) replaces the water supply piping in Chicago houses, two-flats and small multi-unit buildings, and in nearby Cook County suburbs. A whole-house repipe takes every hot and cold line out of service from the main shutoff to the fixtures and replaces it in the material the local code lists. Inside the City of Chicago, that material is copper. The work is done by licensed and insured plumbing contractors, and the job is planned around the walls, the people living in the building and the permit.

The reason for doing all of it at once is practical. Galvanized steel supply pipe corrodes from the inside along its whole length, so a leak or a slow upstairs shower in one spot says something about the rest. Replacing one section at a time keeps old pipe in service next to new, with more cutovers and more openings over the years. If only one bathroom or one riser is the problem, a [partial repipe](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/partial-repiping/) can be the better scope, and the [Chicago repipe cost guide](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/repiping-cost-chicago/) shows how the two compare on price.

## What happens on the first visit

The first visit follows the water from where it enters the building. It starts at the meter and the main shutoff in the basement, where the service line comes through the wall. Whoever walks the house notes what the service line is made of, because a lead or galvanized service line can be the real bottleneck for pressure and is a separate project (see [lead service line replacement](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/lead-service-line-replacement/)).

From there the walk-through traces the main to the water heater and up each riser: what the pipe is on every floor, where earlier repairs already changed it to copper, and how many fixtures each branch feeds. It looks for the routes the new pipe can take: open basement joists, closets stacked above one another, pipe chases, the back of a kitchen cabinet. It notes where plaster, tile or built-ins would have to open.

Static pressure is read at a hose bibb or test point, and flow is compared at the lowest and highest fixtures with two taps running. Those numbers separate a building where old pipe chokes the flow from one where street pressure, a half-closed valve or a failing pressure-reducing valve is the cause. The visit ends with what the repipe would include, where the walls would open and what would stay as it is. Drains, vents and the sewer are separate systems and stay out of a supply repipe unless the quote names them; the [guide to whether repiping includes drains](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/does-repiping-include-drains/) shows where the line falls.

## Why old supply piping gives out

Chicago’s housing is old: 38.8% of its units were built before 1940, by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Galvanized steel shows up in the City’s own permit records too, where 109 permits issued since 2019 describe replacing galvanized water piping with copper. Where a building still has steel supply pipe, the zinc coating wears through from the inside and the steel beneath it rusts. Rust and scale build up on the pipe wall, so the bore narrows year by year while the outside can still look sound. The first sign is flow, not a leak: the second-floor shower fades when the kitchen tap opens, or the first draw after a weekend away comes out brown. The hot side can show it first because warm water speeds corrosion.

Threaded joints are the weak point. The threads cut away part of the pipe wall, so the joints rust through before the straight runs do. Homeowners report that plumbers are reluctant to repair or warranty small fixes on galvanized, because turning one fitting can crack the next. That is one reason a corroded joint in a ceiling turns into a broader conversation about the piping.

Copper is not immune. Pinhole leaks in copper have more than one cause, including water chemistry, high velocity and the way the original joints were made, and a [copper pinhole leak guide](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/copper-pinhole-leaks/) covers how to read them. Chicago treats its Lake Michigan water with corrosion control that coats pipe interiors, which works in copper’s favor, but it does not make every copper system last forever.

None of these symptoms proves the cause on its own. Low pressure can come from the pipe, the service line, the meter valve, a pressure-reducing valve or the fixture itself. That is why the [low-pressure guide for older Chicago houses](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/low-water-pressure-old-chicago-house/) starts at the street, and why a repipe is never sold as a guaranteed pressure fix. When the question comes from a home inspection during a sale, the [guide to whether repiping is worth it when buying or selling](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/is-repiping-worth-it/) covers how to read that note and price the options.

## When a leak has already caused water damage

Supply pipe is under pressure around the clock, so a drip inside a wall keeps going whether anyone is running water or not. The signs can turn up some distance from the pipe: a brown ring on the ceiling below a bathroom, paint that bubbles, a baseboard that swells, a closet that smells musty. A water meter that keeps turning with every fixture closed points to a leak somewhere on the supply side.

Stopping the water comes first, which is why it pays to know that the main shutoff turns before anything leaks; the [main shutoff replacement](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/main-water-line-shutoff-replacement/) page covers valves that have seized. Drying out wet framing and repairing plaster is separate from the plumbing, and a quote should say which openings the plumbing contractor closes.

One leak does not prove the rest of the system is about to fail. It does expose the pipe at that spot, and the cut section shows its inside wall. Where it shows heavy scale or a thinned thread, the question moves from one repair to a [partial repipe](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/partial-repiping/) or the whole house, and the first visit sorts out which.

## Copper inside Chicago, and what changes in the suburbs

The Chicago Plumbing Code’s table of water distribution materials, Table 18-29-605.5, lists copper and copper-alloy pipe and tube, brass and galvanized steel. It has no entry for PEX. CPVC and polypropylene appear only for secondary water in process applications, not for drinking water. So a whole-house repipe inside the city is a [copper repipe](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/copper-repiping/), in Type L or Type M tube above ground depending on the design, and Type K for any buried service.

Since the City’s 2021 code amendments, copper can be joined with lead-free solder and flux, brazing, press-connect fittings pressed with a tool the fitting maker certifies, or listed push-fit fittings. Press fittings avoid an open flame inside a finished wall, which matters wherever old, dry framing sits behind the plaster. Every pipe, fitting and valve that carries drinking water must meet NSF 372, with a weighted average lead content of 0.25% or less. Where new copper meets galvanized pipe that is staying, the code calls for a brass converter or dielectric fitting so the two metals do not corrode each other at the joint.

The suburbs set their own rules. Oak Park adopts the Illinois Plumbing Code, which lists PEX for water distribution, so an owner there chooses between PEX and copper on price, routing and access; see [PEX repiping in the suburbs](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/pex-repiping/) and the [Oak Park page](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/service-areas/oak-park/). Evanston’s amended code lists copper for new water distribution, with Type L as the minimum above grade, and Park Ridge requires Type L copper above ground. The material on a quote follows the code for the address, and the [guide to PEX in Chicago](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/is-pex-allowed-in-chicago/) explains why plumbers in the city decline it.

## What modernizing the supply system means

Modernizing a water supply system means more than laying new pipe along the old path. A repipe is the point where the valves, the layout and the pressure controls can be matched to how the building is used now.

- **Shutoffs.** A main shutoff that works, plus valves where the new piping meets each fixture group, so one bathroom can be closed off while the rest of the house keeps running. Each shutoff is labeled.
- **Layout.** Branches can be resized or rerouted for a bathroom added later or a kitchen that moved. Inside Chicago, in-kind replacement goes through the Express Permit; changing the layout sends the job to plan review, which starts with a $600 non-refundable deposit.
- **Pressure control.** Where static pressure is above 80 psi, the updated code calls for a pressure-reducing valve on permit applications from December 1, 2026. The [Chicago water pressure and PRV guide](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/chicago-water-pressure-prv/) explains how that reading is taken.

None of this guarantees stronger flow upstairs. The service line, street pressure and the fixtures still set limits, so the first visit measures before anyone describes the result.

## Getting new pipe to every fixture

Homeowners report that wall and plaster repair is their biggest worry, and that some quotes leave out wall cutting and patching altogether. A repipe cannot be done without openings: the new pipe has to reach every fixture, and the old pipe sits inside finished walls. What changes from one building to the next is how many openings there are and where.

Basements with open joists take the main and the trunks. Stacked closets, pipe chases and the space behind kitchen cabinets can carry risers between floors. Plaster on wood lath is cut in clean rectangles at the points where a fitting or a turn has to be made, rather than opened along the whole run. Tile walls are the hardest case, and the plan tries to reach a shower valve from the back side, through a closet or the room next door. The [plaster walls guide](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/repiping-plaster-walls/) goes further into how openings are planned and closed.

The quote should list the openings, say who closes them and say whether paint is included. Old pipe that cannot be pulled out without more demolition is cut, capped and abandoned in place, and the quote should say where.

## Crawlspaces, attics and freeze exposure

Winter decides some of the routing. By NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 climate normals, Chicago O’Hare averages 121.3 days a year with a low at or below 32°F and 43.4 days that never rise above freezing. Chicago’s plumbing code says new concealed water pipe, and any pipe exposed to low temperatures, shall be protected from freezing. Copper or PEX, the material does not change that; the [winter pipes article](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/blog/getting-old-pipes-through-a-chicago-winter/) covers the older lines.

### Where a house has a crawlspace

Where a house has a crawlspace, under a rear addition, an enclosed porch or a room built off the back, the line to that part of the house can cross space that is not heated. Whether a crawlspace stays above freezing depends on how it is closed in and insulated, not on how warm the rest of the house feels. A repipe can bring that branch up from the basement side and along an interior wall instead of across the cold floor. Where the pipe has to cross the crawlspace, it is insulated and kept against the warm floor above, away from outside walls. A low or tight crawlspace also takes longer to work in, and that shows in the labor on a quote.

### Pipe runs in an attic

A finished attic with a bathroom needs a riser and branches above the top floor. The exposure is in the parts of the attic outside the heated rooms: knee-wall spaces, unfinished floor sections and anything above the ceiling insulation, where the pipe gets outdoor cold instead of the house’s heat. The better routes keep new lines inside the heated rooms, up a stacked closet or an interior partition, and below the insulation where they cross a ceiling. Where a run has to pass a knee wall, it stays on the room side and is insulated. Reaching a knee-wall space or lifting attic flooring belongs on the quote’s list of openings, and a spot that froze in a past winter is worth pointing out on the first visit.

## Pressure testing, flushing and the inspection

Before any wall or ceiling closes, the new piping is pressure tested with the fixtures isolated, so a weak joint shows on a gauge rather than behind new plaster. After the cutover, the lines are flushed to clear debris from the work, and the aerators and fixture screens are cleaned, because scale knocked loose from old valves can travel to the first faucet downstream.

Replacing existing piping in a Chicago building goes through the Department of Buildings’ Express Permit Program when the work does not alter or extend the system: $150 per dwelling unit, $150 more per unit when risers are replaced and $75 when a water heater is replaced. The permit names the Chicago-licensed contractor who does the work, and a City inspector checks it. Work on the water meter or the service line needs a separate water permit. The [Chicago repiping permit guide](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/chicago-repiping-permit/) covers what the application asks for and what happens when work starts without a permit.

## Living in the house during the work

Water is off while each section is cut over from old pipe to new, and the rest of the time the house can keep running on whatever piping is still connected. The quote should give the shutoff windows in advance. In a two-flat, one basement main can feed both units, so the cutover has to be planned for both households at once; the [two-flat repiping](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/two-flat-repiping/) page covers that staging, and in [Austin](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/service-areas/austin/), on the West Side, 46.8% of housing units sit in buildings of two to four units. In a condo building, riser shutoffs reach every unit on the stack, and the association plans them with the contractor. The [guide to living through a repipe](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/living-through-a-repipe/) lists what to ask about dust, access and water-off time.

## What the City’s lead programs pay for

Chicago’s lead service line programs bring a new copper line from the water main into the building. They do not pay for the piping inside. The City’s Breaks and Leaks program, for example, excludes interior piping more than two feet from where the service enters the house. No City, state or federal program was found that pays toward an interior repipe. Planning the two together still pays off: the new service line decides where the main shutoff sits and what the new copper connects to. [Lead service line replacement](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/lead-service-line-replacement/) explains how the City’s programs and the interior work fit together.

## What's included

- Hot and cold distribution piping from the main shutoff to every fixture connection
- Connections at the water heater, laundry, kitchen, bathrooms and hose bibbs the piping serves
- New shutoff valves where the new piping meets each fixture group
- A brass or dielectric transition anywhere new copper must meet pipe that stays
- The City of Chicago or village plumbing permit and its inspection
- Pressure test and flush before walls and ceilings are closed
- Labeled shutoffs at the main and at each branch
- A written list of wall and ceiling openings and who closes them

## How the scope changes by building

|  | Single-family house | Two-flat | Condo unit or riser stack |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| What the repipe covers | The main from the shutoff, the hot and cold trunks, risers and every branch | The shared basement main, both units' risers and branches, and each unit's water heater connection | The unit's branches, plus the building risers when the association replaces them |
| Chicago Express permit fee | $150 for the dwelling unit | $150 per dwelling unit, so $300 for both | $150 per unit, plus $150 per unit served when risers are replaced |
| Who has to sign off | The owner | The owner, with both households planned around | The condo association, by a signed approval letter for the City permit |
| Extra paperwork | An existing-condition photo and the water efficiency form | The same, for each unit | A drawing of the whole riser showing size and material |
| Can the owner do it | Yes, the owner living in a detached single-family home may do their own plumbing, inspected | No, it has to be a Chicago-licensed plumbing contractor | No, it has to be a Chicago-licensed plumbing contractor |

## Related resources

- Cost Guide [How much does it cost to repipe a house in Chicago?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/repiping-cost-chicago/)Typical ranges for a single-family house and a two-flat, what sits inside the price, the City's permit fees, and why two quotes for the same house can differ.
- Learn [Galvanized pipes in Chicago homes: what to do about them](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/galvanized-pipes-chicago-homes/)How to tell whether a Chicago bungalow, two-flat or greystone home still has galvanized steel supply pipe, what its symptoms do and do not prove, and how Chicago's code, permits and lead rules shape the fix.
- Learn [Do you need a permit to repipe a house in Chicago?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/chicago-repiping-permit/)What the Department of Buildings' Express permit covers when repiping a Chicago building, what pushes a job into plan review, the documents a riser or condo job needs, and what the suburbs do differently.
- Learn [How are plaster walls opened and patched during a repipe?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/repiping-plaster-walls/)How new supply pipe gets through a lath-and-plaster house, where the openings go and why, and how to read the restoration lines on a repipe quote so nothing is left to assumption.
- Learn [Can you stay home during a repipe, and how long is the water off?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/living-through-a-repipe/)Why the water stays on through the bulk of a repipe and goes off only when a section is switched over, what the quote should name in advance, and how to plan a house or a two-flat around it.
- Learn [Who is allowed to repipe a house in Chicago?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/who-can-repipe-in-chicago/)Why a state plumbing license is not enough inside the city limits, what the single-family owner exemption allows and doesn't, how to check the contractor on your permit, and why some plumbers turn the work down.
- Learn [Why is the water pressure low in my old Chicago house?](https://chicagolakerepiping.com/guide/low-water-pressure-old-chicago-house/)Weak water flow upstairs has more than one possible cause, and a repipe only fixes one of them. Here is the order to rule them out, from the street to the shower head.

## How a repipe runs

1. First call What you are seeing, the building type, how many units and fixtures, and any inspection, sale or City notice.
2. Walk-through from the meter The service line material, the main shutoff, the pipe on each floor, and where walls, floors and ceilings can open.
3. Permit and repipe The permit filed for the address, new lines run and connected, then pressure tested and flushed before anything is closed.
4. Inspection and closing up The City or village inspection, labeled shutoffs, and the openings closed as the quote describes.

## What this work looks like

New copper trunk line along the joists of a brick basement, with branches dropping to a run along the wall

Two new copper water lines running up the stud bay of an opened closet wall

A pressure gauge on a brass test fitting below a new copper line strapped to a basement joist

Four new copper branches with brass ball valves and blank tags on a basement block wall

Before

After

## Whole-house repiping questions

### What does a whole-house repipe replace?

The pressurized hot and cold water piping from the main shutoff to each fixture: the basement main, the trunk lines, the risers between floors and the branches to every sink, tub, toilet, laundry and hose bibb. Drain and vent piping, the sewer and the buried service line from the street are separate work, and the quote should say so.

### How long does a whole-house repipe take?

There is no single figure that holds for every building. The fixture count, the number of floors, how much plaster or tile stands in the way and when the inspection can be scheduled all set the schedule. A sound quote gives the working days, says when the water will be off and says how long each shutoff lasts.

### Do I need a new main shutoff or pressure-reducing valve when I repipe?

The main shutoff is where a repipe starts, so its condition is checked on the first visit, and a corroded or seized valve can be replaced as part of the job. A pressure-reducing valve is needed when static pressure runs above 80 psi, the threshold in Chicago's updated code for permit applications from December 1, 2026.

### Can a whole-house repipe be done in stages?

Yes. The work can run floor by floor or unit by unit, with the old and new piping joined at temporary transitions until the last section is cut over. Each stage still has to be tested, and the permit and its inspection cover the whole scope. Staging can lengthen the job, so ask how it changes the schedule and the price.

### Who does a whole-house repipe in Chicago?

Chicago Lake Repiping offers and manages the work, and licensed and insured plumbing contractors carry it out. Inside the city, the contractor must hold a City of Chicago plumbing contractor license and accept the job on the permit. In the suburbs, the village's own registration and permit rules apply.

## Related services

### Galvanized pipe replacement

Galvanized pipe replacement swaps restricted steel supply pipe for copper, with code-listed transitions wherever old pipe stays and a flush after every cutover to clear loosened scale.

### Two-flat repiping

The shared basement main, both units' risers and branches, and a shutoff in each apartment, planned around two households and one cutover.

### Partial repiping

A partial repipe replaces a defined part of the supply piping, such as one bathroom, one riser, the hot side or one floor, with every joint to the pipe that stays named on the quote.