PPR and PVC Pipework in Nairobi: Repiping, First Fix and Repairs

Why old Nairobi houses need repiping

Galvanised steel was standard in Nairobi housing for decades. It corrodes from the inside, so the bore narrows for years before anything leaks: which is why an older house in Lavington or Parklands can have good pressure at the tank and almost nothing at the shower. By the time it weeps through a wall, the whole run is due.

PPR replaced it because it does not corrode, handles the pressure and heat, and is heat-fused rather than threaded, so a correctly made joint is as strong as the pipe.

The word “correctly” is doing a lot of work

Almost every PPR failure we attend is a bad fusion joint: the socket was under-heated, over-heated or twisted while cooling. It holds for months and then lets go, usually inside a wall. Fusion is a timed process and it is not something to rush at the end of a day.

We time every joint, we pressure-test every run before it is covered, and we hand over the test result. If a joint we made fails, we come back.

What we do

• Full repiping of older houses, staged so the house stays usable
• First fix on new builds and extensions
• PVC waste, soil and vent lines with the falls actually set rather than assumed
• Replacing failed galvanised sections where a full repipe is not yet justified

On falls

Waste pipework fails more often from wrong fall than from bad joints. Too shallow and solids settle; too steep and the water outruns the solids and leaves them behind. Both end as a blocked drain that gets rodded repeatedly instead of corrected once.