# What kind of pipes does my house have?

> What kind of pipes does my house have? Identify galvanized, copper, polybutylene, CPVC, PEX and Kitec at the water heater, shutoff, sinks and attic.

URL: https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/what-kind-of-pipes-do-i-have/

To find out what kind of pipes your house has, look where the pipe shows: at the water heater, the main shutoff, under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, behind toilets, and in the attic or crawlspace. Color, stiffness, the way joints are made and the printing on the pipe identify almost every material. [Grackle Repiping Austin](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/) repipes houses with each of these materials, and this guide shows how to tell them apart.

Key takeaways

- Check the water heater, main shutoff, sinks, toilets, attic and crawlspace
- A magnet sticks to galvanized steel and nothing else in a house water system
- Plastic pipe is identified by color, joints and the printed line
- Kitec is a layered plastic and aluminum pipe, often orange and blue, with brass fittings
- Many houses carry more than one material, so one spot is a clue, not proof

## Where to look

Pipe is exposed for a few inches at almost every fixture, and those few inches tell you a lot.

- **Water heater.** The hot and cold connections on top of a tank heater, or the lines under a tankless unit, are the easiest place to start. They are often changed when the heater is, so look past the first foot or so.
- **Main shutoff.** Where the line from the street enters the house, at an outside wall, in the garage or near the water heater.
- **Under sinks and behind toilets.** The stub coming out of the wall behind the shutoff valve shows the branch material, if it has not been replaced with a short adapter.
- **Attic.** In a slab house that has been repiped or had a line [rerouted after a slab leak](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/slab-leak-reroute/), the newer lines usually run overhead.
- **Crawlspace.** In a pier-and-beam house, the whole distribution system may be visible from underneath.

Use a flashlight, look for printing on the pipe, and note anything that changes from one spot to the next.

### Crawlspace piping in older Austin houses

Pier-and-beam houses expose pipe that a slab house hides. In five years of City of Austin residential plumbing permits, pier-and-beam and crawlspace wording appears most often in 78751, 78703, 78704, 78757, 78722, 78731, 78756 and 78702, the older central neighborhoods. Under one of those houses, look for threaded galvanized lines with rust at the joints, old copper, sections of newer pipe spliced in, and pipe hung on wire or resting on soil. Note any pipe that touches dirt, sags between supports or sits close to a vent where it could freeze. The same access that makes a crawlspace easy to inspect makes a repipe there simpler, as the [partial repiping page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/partial-repiping/) explains.

## Identifying each material

Austin’s own permit records show which materials come up when water pipe is replaced. Across five years of City plumbing permit descriptions, PEX is named 225 times, copper 87, galvanized 83, Kitec 13, CPVC 10 and polybutylene once. Those are counts of words in permit text, not a census of what is inside Austin walls.

| Material | Look | Joints | Quick test |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Galvanized steel | Dull gray or silver, sometimes rusty at joints | Threaded fittings | A magnet sticks |
| Copper | Penny brown, green or blue crust with age | Soldered or pressed fittings | Scratch shows bright copper |
| Polybutylene | Gray, sometimes blue or black, flexible | Crimped metal bands on plastic or copper fittings | Print line, if any, reads PB |
| CPVC | Cream, tan or off-white, rigid | Glued socket fittings | Print line reads CPVC |
| PEX | Red, blue or white, flexible | Crimp, clamp, expansion or press rings | Print line reads PEX |
| Kitec | Often orange (hot) and blue (cold), flexible | Brass compression fittings | A cut end shows an aluminum layer |

### Galvanized steel

Galvanized steel is steel pipe coated with zinc and joined with threaded fittings. It is heavy, hard and gray, and a magnet sticks to it. It rusts from the inside once the zinc wears through, which narrows the bore and causes low flow and brown water. In Austin plumbing permit descriptions, galvanized is named most often in 78757, 78703, 78702 and 78704. Austin Water has also flagged 738 residential meters with galvanized pipe on the owner’s side of the meter for replacement. The [galvanized pipe replacement page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/galvanized-pipe-replacement/) covers the work.

### Copper

Copper is brown when new and develops a darker or green-blue surface over time. Joints are soldered, or on newer work, pressed with a tool. Rigid copper is often printed with a colored line showing its wall thickness. It can last a long time but can develop pinhole leaks; the [copper pinhole guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/copper-pinhole-leaks/) explains why, and the [copper repiping page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/copper-repiping/) covers replacing it.

### Polybutylene

Polybutylene is a flexible plastic, usually gray, installed in houses from the late 1970s into the 1990s. It is joined with crimped copper or aluminum bands on plastic or copper fittings, and printed PB2110 where printing survives. It earned a reputation for failing at fittings and from within, and buyers and insurers ask about it. Homeowners report polybutylene missed by inspections and found after closing. The [polybutylene replacement page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/polybutylene-pipe-replacement/) covers replacement.

### CPVC

CPVC is rigid, cream or tan, and glued at every joint. It can turn brittle with heat and age. Orange CPVC is usually fire sprinkler pipe, a separate system. The [CPVC guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/should-i-replace-cpvc-pipes/) explains when it needs replacing.

### PEX

PEX is flexible tubing, usually red for hot and blue for cold, or white throughout. It is printed every few feet with PEX, its type and its ratings. It is the most common material in new work and repipes, and in Austin permit descriptions PEX is named 225 times in five years, more than any other material. The [PEX safety guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/is-pex-safe-for-drinking-water/) explains what its printed certification means.

## Kitec

Kitec is a layered pipe: an aluminum core between two layers of plastic, sold for hot and cold water and often colored orange for hot and blue for cold. It is joined with brass compression fittings, and the product name is often printed along the pipe, though similar layered pipe was sold under other names. The clearest clue is a cut end or a fitting where the thin aluminum layer shows between the plastic layers.

Kitec was installed in some houses built from the late 1990s into the mid-2000s. Homeowners in Austin report finding it after buying, sometimes missing from both the disclosure and the inspection. Austin plumbing permits name Kitec 13 times in five years, in descriptions such as “replacing kitec plumbing … full house repipe.” Whether and when to replace it depends on the fittings, the leak history and the pressure, the same questions as any other material, and the [Austin repipe cost guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/repipe-cost-austin/) explains what a repipe typically costs. The [whole-house repiping page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/whole-house-repiping/) covers that decision.

## Galvanized, lead and what Austin found

Galvanized steel and lead are often confused, and they are not the same. Lead pipe is soft and dull gray, scratches to a shiny silver and does not attract a magnet. Austin Water says lead service pipe was banned on the public side in 1952 and lead in private plumbing in 1964 (the same page also gives 1967), and that its 2024 field investigations found no lead service lines. Houses built before 1986, when federal rules limited lead in pipe and solder, have long been considered most at risk from lead solder on copper joints. Austin’s galvanized service line program, and how to sign up, are on the [Austin Water lead page](https://www.austintexas.gov/water/lead).

## What the build year suggests

Build year is a first guess, not an answer. Repairs, remodels and earlier partial repipes mix materials in many houses.

- **Before 1960.** Galvanized steel was common, sometimes with later copper. In Austin, 78722, 78756 and 78703 have the largest shares of housing built before 1960.
- **1960s.** Galvanized or copper. In 78757, about 60% of housing was built before 1970.
- **1970s and 1980s.** Copper, polybutylene from the late 1970s, and some CPVC. 78750, 78759, 78731 and 78745 have the heaviest concentration of 1970s and 1980s housing.
- **1990s and 2000s.** Copper, CPVC, Kitec in some houses, and PEX increasingly.
- **2010s onward.** PEX is the usual choice for new work.

Across the City of Austin, the median house was built in 1994, and 28.3% of housing predates 1980. Round Rock, Cedar Park, Kyle, Leander and Georgetown are much newer, with median build years from 2002 to 2013.

## Leaking joints and what each material tends to need

Each material fails in its own way, and joints are usually where it starts:

- **Galvanized:** rust through at threaded joints, low flow, brown water.
- **Copper:** pinholes, green crust at solder joints, splits in a freeze.
- **Polybutylene:** leaks or bursts at crimp fittings, splits in the pipe.
- **CPVC:** cracks at glued joints, brittle pipe that breaks when cut.
- **PEX:** leaks at improperly set crimp rings or fittings, damage from sunlight in attics.
- **Kitec:** leaks or crust at brass fittings, which can corrode from inside.

One leaking joint is a repair. Leaks at several joints over a few years, or a material at the end of its life, turn the question toward a [partial](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/partial-repiping/) or whole-house repipe. When metal pipe is replaced with plastic, the electrical ground that may have been clamped to it needs attention from an electrician. The [what is repiping guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/) explains how a repipe decision gets made, and the [repipe assessment](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/tools/repipe-assessment/) walks through it for your house.

## Questions about this guide

### How can I tell PEX from polybutylene?

Read the print line. PEX is printed with PEX and its standards and comes in red, blue or white. Polybutylene is usually gray, sometimes blue or black, and printed with a PB code such as PB2110 if it is printed at all. Polybutylene fittings are often gray plastic or copper with crimped metal bands.

### What does Kitec pipe look like?

Kitec is a flexible layered pipe, often orange for hot water and blue for cold, joined with brass compression fittings. The name is often printed along the pipe, but similar layered pipe was sold under other names, so the surest clue is a thin aluminum layer visible between the plastic layers at a cut end or fitting.

### Why was polybutylene listed on a disclosure for a newer house?

Polybutylene fell out of use for new house plumbing by the mid-1990s, so a mark on a disclosure for a house built well after that deserves a second look. The gray pipe may be PEX, a utility service line, or a leftover section from a repair. Reading the print line settles it.

## Related service

### Polybutylene replacement

Gray polybutylene supply pipe identified, then replaced throughout the house with PEX or copper, separate from Austin Water's work on its own service lines.

Details →

## More guides

- Learn [What is repiping, and does an Austin house need it?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/)Repiping means replacing a house's water supply pipe. This guide covers the pipe Austin homes were built with, why it fails, what Austin's code requires, and how to decide between a repair, a reroute and a whole-house repipe.
- Decision Guide [Should I replace my CPVC pipes?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/should-i-replace-cpvc-pipes/)CPVC does not need replacing just because it is CPVC. This guide explains how it ages, which signs mean it is reaching the end, how it compares with PEX, and how to choose between a repair, a partial repipe and a whole-house repipe.
- Learn [What causes a pinhole leak in copper pipe, and when is it time to repipe?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/copper-pinhole-leaks/)A pinhole in copper is the last step of a wall slowly thinning from the inside or outside. This guide explains the mechanisms, what they look like, what Austin's water and soil add, and how the leak pattern decides between a repair and a repipe.
- Decision Guide [PEX vs copper: which pipe should an Austin house be repiped with?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/pex-vs-copper/)Neither pipe wins everywhere. This guide compares PEX and copper on the things that decide an Austin repipe: price and access, attic heat and freeze, the water your utility delivers, joints and the layout of the house.
- Decision Guide [Is repiping worth it, or should I keep fixing leaks?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/is-repiping-worth-it/)Repiping is worth it when the pipe itself is the problem: leaks keep coming in different places, the material is known for failing, or the house is being bought or sold with it. When one line has failed in otherwise sound pipe, a repair or reroute is the better buy.