Golden HOA Condo Polybutylene Repipe

The Problem: Skyrocketing Commercial Insurance Rates

An HOA board managing a 12-unit condominium complex in Golden, CO reached out to Just Plumbing in a crisis. The building, constructed in the late 1980s, was plumbed with polybutylene piping. Over the past two years, three separate units had experienced burst pipes, resulting in severe water damage that leaked through ceilings into the units below.

Following the third claim, the HOA's commercial insurance carrier issued an ultimatum: completely replace the polybutylene building-wide within 90 days, or face cancellation of their master policy.

The Master Plumber Solution

Commercial repiping requires complex logistics to minimize disruption for multiple families. Shelly Clark coordinated a strict, phased schedule with the HOA board and tenants, while Bill Clark engineered the plumbing layout through our dedicated HOA & condo repiping division and multifamily repiping team.

• Phased Tenant Execution: The project was broken down into vertical stacks (4 units per phase). Water was only shut off to the active stack during working hours, leaving the rest of the building undisturbed and fully pressurized.
• Commercial Grade Uponor PEX-A: We extracted the main polybutylene risers and replaced them with commercial-diameter Uponor PEX-A (backed by a 25-year manufacturer material warranty and 5-year workmanship warranty), pairing lines with rigid Type L Copper at boiler and mechanical transitions.
• Individual Unit Isolation: We installed dedicated ball valves and sub-metering shut-offs for each condo. In the future, if a unit undergoes kitchen or bath work, the entire building's water will no longer need to be shut off.
• Turnkey Drywall Restoration: Our patching crew followed one day behind the plumbers, repairing drywall in the common hallways and inside tenant units to ensure zero lingering mess.