Chicago plumbing, explained

Chicago required lead for water services until the 1986 federal ban, so assume pre-1986 homes have one until proven otherwise. Risk is managed day to day with certified filters and running the tap; the long-term fix is replacement. The city offers free water testing and several programs: free full replacement for income-qualified homeowners, permit-fee waivers up to $5,000 if you hire your own contractor, and mandatory full replacement whenever a line breaks. As of a 2023 state law, repairs must replace the whole line, not part of it. For buyers: identify it, test it, price it, and negotiate accordingly, but do not let it kill a great house on its own.

Steel pipe dipped in zinc. The zinc wears away, rust builds inward, and after 50+ years the pipe is a straw: weak pressure, brown water after vacations, and leaks at the threads. It also sheds rust into the water. Galvanized supply in a home you love means a repipe conversation, often done in PEX with modest wall repair. Not an emergency, but a known, quotable project.

The gold standard for decades. Type L (thicker) outlasts type M. Watch for green crust at joints (past weeping), pinhole leaks in older thin-wall pipe, and pre-1986 lead solder (managed the same way as other lead sources). Copper theft history matters in long-vacant buildings. Otherwise: quiet, proven, and nothing to fix.

Flexible plastic supply tubing is the repipe standard across most of America, but Chicago writes its own plumbing code, and inside the city, copper remains the standard for drinking-water piping. City repipes are done in copper; PEX shows up legitimately in radiant floor and boiler loops (different rules) and in suburban homes (different codes). So read the material by the address: "new PEX supply" in Naperville is an upgrade; unexplained plastic supply lines in a Logan Square two-flat are a permit question worth asking. Either way, the question costs nothing and the permit record is public.

Expected lifespan 50 to 100 years, so Chicago is full of stacks in their final decades. It rusts from the inside and from the bottom of horizontal runs. Flaking, patches, damp streaks, or a musty closet backing the stack are the tells. Spot repairs are routine; full stack replacement is a renovation-scale job worth knowing about in advance. One cost-saver worth knowing: since the city's 2021 plumbing code amendments, PVC drain and sewer pipe is allowed in residential buildings up to 60 feet tall, so replacing a dead cast iron run no longer has to mean new cast iron.

Corrosion-proof but jointed every few feet, and tree roots find every joint. The camera scope tells you whether you have annual-rodding roots or a collapsed section. Fixes range from maintenance rodding, to trenchless lining, to excavation. This is the single most valuable inspection add-on on any older Chicago home.

Basements that used to flood often got a conversion: an overhead sewer or a flood-control system with a check valve and ejector pump. In a listing, these are upgrades worth real money. Ask when installed, whether permitted, and how the pump is maintained, then enjoy the dry basement.