Hear from Our Customers
Kitec pipes installed between 1995 and 2007 are breaking down from the inside out. A chemical process called dezincification corrodes the brass fittings, weakens the structure, and eventually causes catastrophic failure. We’re talking complete pipe bursts, not slow leaks.
If your home has those bright orange and blue pipes behind the walls, you’re living on borrowed time. Insurance companies know it too. Some won’t cover homes with Kitec at all. Others charge higher premiums or require inspections before they’ll renew your policy.
Replacing Kitec plumbing in Lotus, CA isn’t just about avoiding a flood. It’s about protecting what you’ve built. Your home value takes a hit when buyers find out Kitec is still installed. Mortgage companies hesitate. Inspectors flag it. And if you don’t disclose it during a sale, you’re opening yourself up to legal trouble down the road.
We remove the old system completely and install Type L copper or PEX piping that actually lasts. You get a home you can insure, sell, and sleep in without wondering if tonight’s the night your water heater finally pushes those pipes past their limit.
We’ve been handling emergency plumbing in Lotus, CA and throughout El Dorado County since 2009. We’re not a franchise. We’re a small team that lives and works in the same community you do.
Lotus is a tight-knit area with around 630 residents, and most of the homes here were built during the exact window when Kitec was being installed across California. That means a lot of properties in this area are sitting on the same ticking clock. We’ve seen what happens when those pipes let go, and we’d rather replace Kitec pipes in Lotus before that happens to you.
We show up when we say we will. We quote the job upfront so there’s no surprise bill at the end. And if something goes wrong at 2 a.m., we’re available. That’s not marketing talk—it’s how we’ve built a 4.7-star rating and stayed busy for over two decades.
First, we come out and assess your system. We need to see where the Kitec lines run, how much of your home is affected, and what access points we’ll need to open up. Most Kitec is hidden behind drywall or under floors, so there’s going to be some wall work involved.
Once we know the scope, we give you an exact price. Not an estimate that balloons later—an actual number that includes the piping, the labor, the permits, and the patching. If you approve it, we schedule the work.
The kitec pipe replacement in Lotus, CA typically takes one to two days depending on the size of your home. You can stay in the house while we work. We shut off water to specific sections as we go, replace the old Kitec with copper or PEX, pressure test everything, and then patch the walls back up.
After the install, we handle the final inspection and make sure everything is up to code. You walk away with a system that won’t fail in five years, a lifetime warranty on the work, and documentation you can show your insurance company or future buyers.
Ready to get started?
This isn’t just a pipe swap. When we replace Kitec plumbing in Lotus, CA, you’re getting a full system overhaul. That includes removing every section of defective pipe—hot and cold lines—and replacing them with materials designed to handle California water conditions and high temperatures without breaking down.
We use Type L copper or PEX depending on your home’s layout and your preferences. Both are durable, code-compliant, and built to last decades. We also handle all the permitting, which matters more than most people realize. El Dorado County has specific requirements, and unpermitted work can come back to haunt you during a sale or refinance.
Because Kitec runs behind walls and under floors, we open up access points where needed, complete the replacement, then patch and finish the drywall so it’s ready for paint. Some contractors quote the piping but leave you to deal with the aftermath. We don’t.
Lotus homeowners also care about property value, and for good reason. The median household income here is over $80,000, and people have invested heavily in their homes. Kitec plumbing kills resale value and makes buyers nervous. Replacing it removes that obstacle entirely and gives you documentation that proves the problem is solved.
Most full Kitec plumbing replacement jobs in Lotus, CA run between $5,000 and $15,000. That range depends on the size of your home, how much Kitec is installed, and how accessible the pipes are. If we need to open up more walls or work around complex layouts, the price goes up. If your system is simpler, it comes in lower.
We give you an exact quote before we start. No ballpark numbers that change halfway through the job. You’ll know what the piping costs, what the labor costs, what the drywall repair costs, and what the permits cost. If something unexpected comes up during the work, we talk to you before we proceed.
Some companies around Sacramento have quoted $10,000 more than their competitors for the same job. We keep our overhead low because we’re a small local business, and that savings gets passed to you. But we’re also not the cheapest option out there, and that’s intentional. You’re paying for licensed work, quality materials, and a lifetime warranty. Cheap replacements come back to bite you.
Probably not. Most insurance companies won’t cover the cost to replace Kitec pipes in Lotus because they consider it a maintenance issue, not sudden damage. They’ll cover the water damage if your Kitec fails and floods your house, but they won’t pay to remove the system before that happens.
That’s frustrating, but it’s also why replacing Kitec now makes financial sense. A full replacement might cost $10,000. A flooded home can easily cause $50,000 or more in damage, and your insurance might not cover all of it—especially if they find out you knew about the Kitec and didn’t replace it.
Here’s the bigger problem: some insurance companies in California are refusing to insure homes with Kitec at all. Others are raising premiums or requiring inspections. If you’re trying to get coverage and the inspector finds those orange and blue pipes, you might get dropped or denied. Replacing the system removes that risk and makes your home insurable again. We can provide documentation after the job that you can submit to your carrier.
Most kitec replacement jobs in Lotus, CA take one to two days. Smaller homes with straightforward layouts can sometimes be done in a day. Larger homes or properties with Kitec running through multiple floors and hard-to-reach areas might take two full days or slightly more.
You can stay in your home while we work. We shut off water to sections of the house as we go, so you won’t have full access to all your fixtures at once, but you’re not displaced. We try to keep disruption to a minimum and work efficiently so you’re not living in a construction zone any longer than necessary.
The timeline also includes drywall patching. We don’t leave holes in your walls and call it done. Once the piping is installed and pressure tested, we close everything back up and finish it so it’s ready for paint. If you want us to paint it too, we can talk about that, but most people handle the cosmetic finish themselves or hire a painter separately.
Your pipes will fail. It’s not a matter of if. Kitec has a well-documented failure rate, and the brass fittings degrade over time due to a process called dezincification. Hot water accelerates it. Most water heaters run hotter than Kitec was designed to handle, which means every time you use hot water, you’re pushing your system closer to failure.
When Kitec fails, it doesn’t leak slowly. It bursts. You get flooding, structural damage, ruined floors, soaked drywall, destroyed belongings. We’ve seen it happen, and it’s not a small mess you can mop up. It’s the kind of damage that requires major restoration work and can displace you from your home for weeks.
Even if you get lucky and your pipes hold for a few more years, you’re still dealing with the insurance problem and the resale problem. Buyers don’t want to inherit a Kitec system. They’ll either walk away or demand a massive price reduction to cover the replacement cost themselves. You’ll also have to disclose it, and if you don’t, you’re opening yourself up to legal action after the sale. Replacing it now is cheaper and smarter than waiting.
You shouldn’t. Kitec replacement in Lotus, CA requires a licensed plumber and permits through El Dorado County. This isn’t a DIY project. You’re dealing with pressurized water lines, code requirements, and a system that needs to be installed correctly or it’ll cause problems down the road.
Handymen aren’t licensed to do this kind of work, and if they do it anyway, you won’t have any recourse if something goes wrong. You also won’t have documentation to show your insurance company or future buyers that the work was done to code. That matters more than people realize. Unpermitted plumbing work can kill a home sale or force you to redo everything during an inspection.
We handle the permits, the installation, the pressure testing, and the final inspection. You get a paper trail that proves the job was done right. You also get a lifetime warranty on the work, which means if something goes wrong with our installation, we come back and fix it at no cost. A handyman or a DIY job won’t give you that protection, and it’ll cost you more in the long run when you have to hire someone to fix the mistakes.
Look for bright orange and blue pipes. Kitec was color-coded—orange for hot water lines, blue for cold. You’ll usually find it near your water heater, under sinks, or in the basement or crawl space if your home has one. Most of the piping is hidden behind walls, but the visible sections near fixtures or mechanical areas will give it away.
Kitec was installed in homes built or repiped between 1995 and 2007. If your Lotus home was built during that window, there’s a good chance it’s in there. It was marketed as a cheaper alternative to copper, and a lot of builders in California used it during that period.
If you’re not sure, we can come out and take a look. We’ll inspect your plumbing system, identify whether you have Kitec, and let you know how much of your home is affected. There’s no charge for that initial assessment, and it gives you the information you need to make a decision. Even if you’re not ready to replace it today, at least you’ll know what you’re dealing with and can plan accordingly.
Local Resources
Other Services we provide in Lotus
