The Poly B replacement process, start to finish
A repipe sounds like demolition. Done properly it’s choreography: two to nine days on site, water off for stretches you can plan around, and a house that looks untouched when the painter leaves. Here’s every stage.
The 30-second answer
Eight stages: site visit, permit, protection and drywall access, pipe replacement, pressure test, municipal inspection, restoration, paperwork. Typical full homes run two to nine days on site with water off roughly one to two days in stretches, and most families stay home throughout.1 The stage most owners underestimate is restoration; the one they most often forget is the paperwork, which is the part your insurer actually reads.
The eight stages
- 1Site visit and quote. A walkthrough establishes access: which ceilings are open, where tile and vaulted spaces complicate things, fixture count, and whether the buried service line is also polybutylene. Fixed pricing after a site visit is the standard to look for; phone quotes are guesses.
- 2Permit. The plumbing permit is pulled before work starts, by the contractor in most cases. Every municipality we have verified requires one for a repipe; the permit centre has your city’s specifics.
- 3Protection and access. Floors and furniture get covered, then the crew opens drywall at planned locations: ceiling strips and access holes where runs and fittings live. A typical home takes dozens of openings, and a good crew cuts clean rectangles that repair invisibly.
- 4Removal and repipe. The Poly B comes out and the new system goes in, PE-RT or PEX in long continuous runs. Water is typically off in stretches totalling one to two days, and most families stay in the home for the whole job.
- 5Pressure test. The new system is pressurized and held to prove every joint before anything is closed up. This is also what the municipal inspector wants to see.
- 6Municipal inspection. The rough-in inspection happens with pipe still visible. Only after sign-off does drywall close. A contractor who wants to close walls before inspection is waving a red flag.
- 7Drywall, texture, paint. Restoration is most of what you see and a big share of what you pay: patching, taping, matching the ceiling texture, and painting to blend. This stage separates repipe specialists from plumbers who subcontract the mess.
- 8Paperwork. The completion certificate stating full removal and the replacement material, the permit and inspection record, and the pressure test result. This package is what changes your insurance position, so it is the actual product of the job.
Living through it
The rhythm from the homeowner’s side: noise and dust during access days, water outages announced ahead and mostly clustered mid-job, and rooms coming back one by one through restoration. Clear the areas under sinks and around the water heater before day one, plan for pets to be away during the loudest days, and expect the crew to need every room at some point since supply lines go everywhere. The cost guide shows how access drives both price and duration, with real completed-job numbers.
What done-properly looks like
Full removal rather than abandoning live lines, a permit and passed inspection on record, texture you can’t find afterward, and the complete document package in your hand. The contractor questions guide turns each of these into things to ask before you sign, and the insurance chapter covers exactly what to send your insurer when it’s over.
Common questions
Do we have to move out?
Usually not. Most families stay through the job; water comes back on each evening in a well-run project, and bathrooms are sequenced so one is always usable. Ask your contractor for the outage plan up front; it’s a fair test of how organized they are.
Why not just leave the old pipe in the walls?
Dead Poly B left in place is normal and harmless once disconnected; live Poly B left connected because a run was hard to reach is a different story, and it’s why the completion certificate says “full removal.” An insurer reading “partial” treats the house as still a Poly B home.
Can the drywall really be invisible afterward?
Texture matching is a genuine trade skill and the most common complaint against crews that treat restoration as an afterthought. Ask to see photos of finished ceilings from recent jobs, and ask who does the texture work, the plumbing crew or a dedicated finisher.
Sources for this page
- Poly B Plumbing Guys completed-job records and field process, 1,547 replacements across Alberta and BC
- Municipal permit and inspection requirements as verified in the permit centre
Stages and timelines reflect how the publisher’s own crews run a compliant repipe; scope varies by home and by contractor. The paperwork stage is not optional anywhere.
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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