When we decided to to remodel our hall bathroom last year, part of the idea was to replace the 50 year old galvanized pipes since we had experienced a few leaks under the vanity. The problem was we had no access to the pipes because they were behind the tile walls, which were behind the vanity. So we we started the project with roto hammers, sledge hammers and crowbars. Along with the tools of destruction we needed strong boots, leather gloves, hearing protection, eye protection and hats to keep all the tile chips and dust from injuring anyone. So we started smashing walls, and tugging on rebar until we revealed rusty old pipes and rotten wood beams. They were just hanging there, totally rotted away after years of water leaking. And the smell was worse than an old haunted house!
As we started shoveling the tile, wire and concrete debris into buckets to remove it from the room, I accidentally sheared off the shower pipe with the tip of the shovel. Of course the water wasn't turned off and it was like the Yellowstone Park Geyser - shooting water straight up and all over, making a muddy mess. I quickly ran outside and turned off the water source to the house. Now we had to call the plumber. On a Saturday for an emergency plumbing repair. Good luck getting a deal on that. It ended up costing us $500 just to cap off that one line.
When we asked the plumber to fix a couple other bad spots that's when he suggested we just re plumb our whole house, since all the pipes were rusty and old. It ended up doubling the cost of our bathroom remodel but in hindsight it was the best thing we did. Now we have peace of mind knowing those pipes behind the new walls will last as long as I'm in this house.
I am participating in a blogger campaign for Bucks2Blog about plumbing repair and was compensated. However, the views and opinions are my own.