Poly B in Richmond: how many homes are affected?
Richmond’s housing stock, read against the years Poly B was installed in Canada.
The 30-second answer
Roughly 35% of Richmond’s 81,080 occupied homes, on the order of 28,378 dwellings, were built in periods overlapping the 1978 to 1998 Poly B installation window. Not every home from those years got Poly B, and plenty have been repiped since, but this is the pool where it lives. The most common construction period in Richmond is 1961 to 1980.
When Richmond was built
Occupied private dwellings by period of construction, 2021 Census. Red bars overlap the Poly B era; the 1961 to 1980 bucket only partially overlaps and is weighted accordingly in the percentage above.
The city average hides the street-level story
A city-wide percentage flattens what actually matters: which side of town your house is on. Cities grow in rings and phases, so Richmond contains whole subdivisions built squarely inside the Poly B window alongside districts that predate it entirely. The address checker reads the census build-era data for the immediate area around any Richmond address, which is the sharper question to ask.
How to check a Richmond home
If your home was built or replumbed between 1978 and 1998, look where pipe is visible: unfinished basement ceilings, under sinks, at the hot water tank, and at the main shut-off. Poly B is usually grey, flexible, and stamped PB2110. The identification guide walks through it with photos, and the service line page covers the buried pipe from the street, which can be polybutylene too.
If you find it
Why it fails explains the chemistry, the insurer tracker shows what coverage looks like right now, and the cost guide has honest replacement ranges. Buying or selling in Richmond? The disclosure chapter covers the rules.
Sources for this profile
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population, period of construction of occupied private dwellings, census subdivision level
- Statistics Canada, 2021 Census population and dwelling counts
This profile describes Richmond’s housing stock as a whole, never a specific address. Confirmation is always a look at the pipe.
Published by Poly B Plumbing Guys
This library is maintained by the team that replaces Poly B every day across Alberta and BC. Red Seal certified plumbers, full remove-replace-restore service including drywall and paint, a 25-year warranty, and the completion certificate insurers ask for.
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