Are you wondering if you can repipe your plumbing pipes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The short answer is that it depends. If you have active leaks and low water pressure, then a repipe may be in order to help ensure you have clean running water for your residents, but if you’re just having the work performed to restore your existing pipes and extend their useful lifespans, it’s probably better to wait.
Plumbing Is Considered an Essential Business, According to the Federal Government
When you think about essential businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably think about delivery services, groceries, pharmacies and gas stations. The good news is that plumbing is also considered an essential business, according to the US Federal Government. In Illinois, there have been several Executive Orders passed to help deal with the novel coronavirus, including Executive Order 2020-8, Executive Order 2020-10 and Executive Order 11. A complete list of 2020 Executive Orders can be found on the Illinois.gov Website that deal with both the Coronavirus and other Illinois issues.
Essential Business Precautions
Even though plumbing is considered an essential business, it’s important to understand that certain precautions must be taken, including maintaining 6 feet of separation between individuals, sanitizing surfaces and frequent handwashing.
Here at NuFlow, serving Chicago and the greater Chicago area, we are taking these precautions to the next level. Each morning we take our pipe lining technicians temperatures and record them before they enter our building in the morning. We record the results, and we have our technicians and staff members sign a sheet stating that they are not experiencing any flu-like symptoms or symptoms of a respiratory infection. Anyone who has a temperature or cough or any symptoms of a respiratory infection is sent home.
Plumbing and Pipe Lining Work that Can Be Completed During the COVID-19 Pandemic
If you have active leaks or broken plumbing pipes, this is considered essential work. Your residents and staff must have clean running water in order to clean their living spaces, office and common areas, take showers and wash their hands and cook. If you are experiencing any signs of a leak, like puddles where there shouldn’t be any puddles, wet drywall or ceiling tiles, low water pressure or extremely high water bills that cannot be explained, you most likely need an immediate plumbing repair.
While you may be tempted to call for a traditional plumber to replace broken pipes, you may want to consider pipelining as an affordable and potentially safer method of repair. This is because we can try to locate access points that are not in occupied spaces. A few places where we often find pipes that are in non-livable areas include on the roof, in hallways and in public spaces. By locating access points in spaces that are not occupied by your staff or residents, we are helping to keep everyone safe from COVID-19.
Getting Pipelining if Your Building Is Shutdown
If you have a building that is completely closed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, we can line those pipes safely and efficiently. This is because there’s no one in your building, and there is no work being performed in the building that would be interrupted by the pipelining process. The advantage of getting your commercial or industrial building’s pipes lined during this time is that we can accomplish the work during the day rather than at night, which means you’d be charged straight time versus having to pay for labor charges that include an overnight premium.
Understanding Non-Essential Plumbing
If you are not experiencing an active leak or any obvious plumbing problems, a good rule of thumb is to wait. Non-essential plumbing work, including performing upgrades and getting preventative maintenance, does not need to be completed immediately. However, you can still start the process of scheduling your non-essential plumbing work.
Ensuring Your Non-Essential Pipe Lining Get Completed in a Timely Manner after the Stay-at-Home Orders Have Been Lifted
Here at NuFlow, we are happy to be able to take care of your immediate and long-term pipelining needs during and after this global crisis. While the pandemic is going on, we do have jobs that are slated to begin as soon as the stay-at-home orders are lifted. These jobs cannot be completed immediately because we do not want to accidentally expose your residents or employees to the virus, and we want to keep ourselves healthy and virus-free. Of course, this means that you may want to start the process of setting up your pipelining project now rather than waiting until after all the stay-at-home orders have been lifted. The good news is that we can start the process of getting your pipes lined via phone calls, video chats and emails rather than having to visit your building in person.
To learn more about pipelining and getting plumbing work completed during and after COVID-19, give us a call at 815-790-9000.
If you are looking for updates on COVID-19, please checkout the CDC, WHO and NIH websites for updates. If you are experiencing symptoms of a respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms, please contact your family doctor or preferred medical practitioner.