LindaT

Hi,

Sorry to ask - anyone know of a plumber or renovation person I can contact to initially ask a question - who speak English. Maybe someone here has an idea possibly as well - briefly in a tight timeline to put an offer in on a small townhouse - built in 1989 more than likely will need plumbing re-done now or in next few years (original copper I believe in house - hard to get answers).

For two bathooms and kitchen - double storey - what type or approximate figureswork am I looking at to get it all re-done (ballpark figure so I have a rough idea to square up against asking price). I really have no idea what roughly I'm looking at...

Can't help no worries, hope life treating you all well. Three months in and enjoying living in Algarve - right decision to come here, but yikes, properties are getting expensive and hard to find so mild panic on. Thanks!

macliam

Not in the Algarve, so can't help with a name - but why should copper plumbing need replacement? Iron, maybe (almost certainly...) but copper should be OK. I'd speak to neighbours and see if they have a problem.....

If replacement required, it's not just the replacement plumbing cost, but since pipework is "hidden" it will mean extensive re-plastering/redecoration.

LindaT

Hello,

thanks so much......I might be totally incorrect - more than likely am (I thought that after 30 years it might be an issue). My understanding is not iron - trying to pinpoint that but possibly all okay in Portugal with copper lasting at least 50 years - not sure if water more 'aggressive' here as at ocean however one formulates that. Area outside armacao de pera. When we asked agent - he said usually 25 - 30 years best to replace/redo before moving in with all that entails as you said - (however he was not that sure of timelines but said they were 'copper'). Working on trying to get an answer if copper usually good for many more years down here (each case different I get) just trying to get a 'feeling' as have no time to do much homework (should have). thanks again...

macliam

If you are looking to replace kitchen/bathroom then factor in for pipe replacement ..... as part of an extensive re-do (re-tiling, etc.) it won't cost an arm and a leg - but be aware that it might also go underfloor. Neighbours would know - and might have other useful info too

If there are obvious damp spots or other issues, then it's more of a problem...

As the agent has mentioned it, use it as a bargaining point on price....

peterfc

Hi LindaT

From my experience i had a wall rendered on a gable end of my kitchen. I had an English guy and his mate come to see what needed doing and they quoted a total of a day and a half from start to finish. They quoted including materials 280€ i then found a builder doing work in my village for a friend. The Portuguese builder had a look and said it was one man and one days work. His man started before 8am the next day and by a little after 5pm the whole job was finished the workman was more that happy for me to watch and take pictures. When his boss came down to check i was happy i asked the price 95€ he said i then said how much for the materials and he said 95€ was the total for the job. The finish i found was perfect and should i find myself in need of a builder i will use him again.

Peter

macliam

Sounds about right, English guys charging what they can get away with, locals charging what they charge.

Problem is, people feel "comfortable" with their own.......

liveaboard

Copper is not commonly used for plumbing in Portugal; I don't think it ever was [feel free to correct me, anyone].
Thick wall threaded PVC was used in my house, built around 25 years ago. It would have lasted for a long, long time if they'd used PVC or brass unions, but they used galvanized iron so I changed it all.
And the wiring...

Later installations are done with PEX plastic tube threaded through tubes embedded in the walls. With that setup, the plumbing tubes can be pulled out and new ones put in with little effort.

So it's very hard to say what's in there. Your best resource is a surveyor who can get the information from the architectural plans, if there are any [my house had no such paperwork].

MrBife

Older houses have (normally) steel pipework with threaded calked bends and a simple distribution system usually inside the floor slab to feed WC, Sink, Bidet, Bath locations as well as a hot water tank. The feeds from the hot tank to taps was then done in a similar way using the same metal pipework.

Current practice is (thankfully) much better with PEX plastic pipes run to a manifold divided into hot and cold sides. Further plastic PEX pipes inside a conduit so they can be changed easily then run to each appliance.

Clearly to change things over disrupts the decor somewhat so there may be an element of re tiling + old Portuguese baths tend to be set in concrete which makes them difficult (impossible) to access so there could be some secondary work involved with changing the whole water system.

Plastic pipe and conduit is cheap enough so the labour to do the job becomes the significant factor.

For a townhouse with a couple of bathrooms I would guess you could get it done for around 3000 euro but if you tell the seller it will cost you 5000 then you will have some leeway.

Some good companies around in the Algarve right now doing exactly this kind of refurb.

LindaT

Ahhhh thanks - great info and I will now make inroads, try to hold off an offer or go lower in case until I get the info from the home. Thanks for explanations makes it all much easier to understand and I will let the forum know regardless, what the townhouse has and route I take. This forum is immensely helpful, and although I'm not settled enough to start to contribute yet with answers to questions, hopefully can reciprocate. Am in Lagos now but found, possibly, a small place in Alpachinhos more affordable although quieter...hmmm....making a decison so hard as it's not like buying an icecream one flavor today another tomorrow :-) Thanks a lot again!

macliam

My house was originally steel piped in the 50s, but was re-done in copper before I bought it - although in the latest work they have used plastic. They still used copper for the central heating.

We re-plumbed my in-laws flat near Lisbon 20 years ago and that was all done in copper apart from the entry-point from the public mains (their responsibility). My father-in-laws house in the North was also piped in copper when renovated at about the same time.

People learned about the problems with steel pipework, but plastic wasn't popular. I remember buying the copper pipe well,because is was sold in "half polegada" or half-inch (literally half-thumblength), at a time where the UK was changing (or had changed) to metric measurements. Made me smile that a metric country used imperial sizes, whereas the stubbornly imperial UK used metric!

However, steel was cheap, so it depends what the constructor was like. That's why I'd suggest a chat with the neighbours......