Hear from Our Customers
Your insurance company stops treating your home like a liability. Most carriers either won’t cover properties with Kitec or they hit you with higher deductibles on water damage claims. Replace Kitec pipes, and those restrictions disappear.
You stop wondering if today’s the day your plumbing fails. Kitec brass fittings corrode from the inside out when exposed to hot water. The pipes look fine until they’re not. One day you’re running the shower, the next day you’re dealing with a flooded bathroom and ruined drywall.
Your home value stops taking a hit. Buyers see Kitec during inspections and either walk away or demand you cover replacement costs before closing. Getting ahead of this means you control the timeline and the contractor, not some buyer’s inspector.
Mountain winters become less stressful. Tahoe’s freeze-thaw cycles put extra pressure on already-weakened Kitec joints. When you’re away and temperatures drop, you’re not getting that call from a neighbor about water pouring out your front door.
We’ve been handling Sunnyside-Tahoe City’s plumbing challenges since before Kitec was even installed. We’ve seen what happens when mountain homes are left with failing systems, and we’ve pulled out enough burst Kitec to know it’s not a question of if, but when.
We’re not based in the valley and we don’t charge extra to drive up the hill. Our trucks are already here, stocked for Tahoe’s specific conditions. When you call with an emergency, we typically respond within 60 to 90 minutes, not three hours from now when someone finishes a job in Sacramento.
You’ll work with plumbers who understand how sub-zero nights affect your pipes and which sections of your home are most vulnerable during winter. That knowledge comes from five generations of working in this exact area, not from reading a manual.
We start with a full inspection of your existing Kitec system to map out where every pipe and fitting runs. This tells us exactly what needs to come out and how to route new lines with the least disruption to your walls and floors.
Once we’ve got a plan, we coordinate water shutoffs around your schedule. If you’re only up on weekends, we work around that. If you’ve got renters in the property, we time it so they’re not without water any longer than necessary.
The actual replacement involves removing all Kitec pipes and fittings, then installing either copper or PEX depending on your home’s layout and your preferences. We use advanced tools that let us access pipes through smaller openings, which means less drywall repair and less mess overall. Every connection gets pressure-tested before we close anything up.
After the new system is in, we walk you through what we did and show you where shutoffs are located. You’ll know exactly how your plumbing works and what to do if you ever need to turn water off in an emergency.
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You get complete removal of all Kitec pipes and brass fittings throughout your home. We don’t leave sections behind or try to splice new pipe into old. The entire system comes out.
New piping goes in using either copper or PEX, both of which are code-compliant and built to handle Sunnyside-Tahoe City’s mountain climate. Copper lasts decades and handles temperature swings without issue. PEX is flexible, freeze-resistant, and often easier to route through existing walls. We’ll recommend what makes sense for your specific property.
Every connection point gets secured properly and tested under pressure. We’re checking for leaks before your walls go back together, not after. If we need to open walls or floors for access, we coordinate with you on whether you want us to handle the patching or if you’ve got your own contractor for finish work.
Homes built between 1995 and 2007 in this area are the most likely to have Kitec. If your place was built during that window and you’ve got orange or blue plastic pipes with brass fittings, you’re looking at a system that was recalled in 2005 and taken off the market by 2007. The class action deadline passed in 2020, so replacement costs are out of pocket now. Most homeowners in Sunnyside-Tahoe City are paying between $5,000 and $15,000 depending on home size and how accessible the pipes are.
Look for plastic pipes that are bright orange, blue, or gray with brass fittings. Kitec is usually visible near your water heater, under sinks, or in unfinished areas like basements and crawl spaces.
The pipes are often stamped with “Kitec” or “KTC” directly on them. If your home was built or renovated between 1995 and 2007, there’s a higher chance Kitec was installed since that’s when it was widely used.
If you’re not sure, we can come out and identify your plumbing system during a quick inspection. It’s worth knowing, especially if you’re dealing with insurance or planning to sell.
Most insurance policies won’t pay to replace Kitec before it fails. They treat it like a maintenance issue, not a covered loss. Where insurance becomes a problem is after Kitec fails and causes water damage.
Some carriers will still insure homes with Kitec but apply higher deductibles specifically for water damage from plumbing failures. Others refuse coverage entirely or non-renew policies once they find out Kitec is present.
If you’re buying or selling, this becomes a bigger issue. Lenders sometimes require proof that Kitec has been replaced before they’ll approve financing. Getting ahead of replacement means you avoid those complications and often get better insurance rates once the system is upgraded.
Most Kitec replacement projects take two to four days depending on the size of your home and how accessible your pipes are. Single-story homes with open crawl spaces go faster. Multi-story homes with finished basements take longer.
We’re not just swapping pipes. We’re mapping your system, coordinating shutoffs, removing old materials, installing new lines, pressure testing everything, and making sure your water is back on and working correctly before we leave.
If your home is a vacation property and you’re only here certain weekends, we can break the work into phases. We’ve done plenty of projects where we coordinate around your schedule so you’re not stuck without water when you actually want to use the place.
If Kitec fails during winter, you’re usually looking at significant water damage before anyone notices. A lot of homes in Sunnyside-Tahoe City are vacation properties that sit empty for weeks or months during cold weather. A pipe bursts, water runs for days, and by the time someone checks on the place, you’ve got flooding, ruined floors, damaged walls, and potentially mold.
Tahoe’s freeze-thaw cycles make this more likely. Pipes that survive a few cold snaps can suddenly fail during a particularly harsh stretch. The brass fittings are already weakened from corrosion, and when ice forms inside the pipe, the pressure finishes them off.
We offer 24/7 emergency service throughout winter, including during storms. If something does fail, we can get there fast. But replacing Kitec before winter hits means you’re not dealing with emergency calls, water damage, and insurance headaches when you should be enjoying your property.
You can, but it doesn’t solve the problem. If one section of Kitec is failing, the rest of the system is aging at the same rate. The brass fittings corrode from exposure to hot water, and that’s happening throughout your entire plumbing system, not just in one room.
Partial replacement also creates complications when you eventually do the rest. You’re paying for mobilization, inspections, and labor twice instead of once. And if you’re replacing Kitec to satisfy an insurance requirement or a buyer’s inspection, partial replacement usually doesn’t meet their criteria anyway.
The most cost-effective approach is replacing the entire system at once. You’re done with Kitec, your insurance situation improves, and you’re not wondering which section is going to fail next. We price full replacements transparently so you know exactly what you’re spending upfront.
We’re already here. A lot of plumbing companies service Sunnyside-Tahoe City from the valley, which means longer response times and often extra charges for the drive. We’re local, our trucks are stocked for mountain conditions, and we respond to emergencies in 60 to 90 minutes, not half a day.
We’ve been doing this for five generations. We know how Tahoe winters affect plumbing, which pipes freeze first in mountain homes, and how to route new lines so they’re protected. That’s not something you get from a company that mostly works in Sacramento and occasionally drives up the hill.
Our pricing is transparent. We give you a clear estimate upfront, and customers regularly mention that final costs came in at or below what we originally quoted. No surprise fees, no diagnostic charges that disappear into the final bill. You’ll know what you’re paying before we start, and we’ll stick to it.
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