

Polybutylene is a man-made material that is also commonly referred to as polybutylene or PP. Florida Loss Public Adjusters will review your homeowner insurance policy and recover the maximum allowed compensation.A polybutylene lawsuit is one of the class action lawsuit options available in the United States. If the PB piping failure strikes before this is done, call us immediately. This can be costly, in the range of $10,000 or more for a typical 4-bedroom house. The only real solution is to re-pipe the home. The situation is in flux, and the State of Florida is interested.Īs experienced South Florida public adjusters, we tell homeowners to act before PB piping fails. They exclude coverage for PB piping failures, or charge extra for policies that do cover it. Needless to say, property insurance companies don’t want to insure houses with PB piping. POLYBUTYLENE PIPING AND FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANIES In time, the pipe fails and water gushes out. These chemical reactions leave tiny cracks in the piping material. The problem with polybutylene (which PVC does not have) is it reacts with chemicals like chlorine that the public water supply commonly adds. And one joint failure is all you need for disasterous water damage. The PB piping was as prone as always to failure at these joints. Rather, they’d have one or two joints where the structure demanded a sharp turn the flexible piping couldn’t make. Turned out that most of these systems were not totally jointless. Also in 1989, a totally different design emerged which used flexible pipiing. These modified designs used the same PB pipes, but with upgraded joints. The damage claims, of course, were hitting the insurance companies’ bank accounts hard.īuilders responded by updatingPB piping systems in 1983. Leaks that caused serious damage to homes and their contents. POLYBUTYLENE PIPING FAILURESīy the 1980 homeowners, insurance companies, and builders began to realize that polybutylene piping systems were prone to failures. PVC piping has no history of unexpected failures. The piping failures we discuss here involve only polybutylene piping. Note that polybutylene (PB) is NOT the same as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Home builders stopped using PB piping in 1996. Especially in Sun Belt states such as Florida. They began using it instead of copper in new home construction. Hence, builders saw polybutylene piping as “the pipe of the future”. Polybutylene (PB) is a type of synthetic plastic resin. Polybutylene piping failures, like their cast iron cousins, have been causing water damage galore. This time, inside the houses and as the main bringing water into the homes. Ironically, by 1978 Florida developers began installing another plumbing “time bomb” in new homes. The premature failure of cast iron plumbing has led to innumerable insurance claims and to lawsuits. Cast iron was used until 1975 by Florida home builders for wastewater pipes.

We discussed cast iron piping failure in an earlier post.

For further information, please read our blog below. If you are looking to join a class action lawsuit, try searching for a Law Firm online. Important Message: Florida Loss Public Adjusters can only assist you IF you have a polybutylene pipe that is leaking or has recently leaked.
