In front is an ACTUAL water pipe from Flint. In the back are what they should look like.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. Yeah. I was surprized to see lead pipes in a building I was doing a project on in Chicago.

It's a 100 year old six flat just like the one I live in.

The plumber was changing out a main shut-off valve on a 1 inch line in the basement. While doing that he disturbed the lead pipe coming out of the concrete floor. A little leak sprung at the floor. That stuff is really soft and fragile.

To fix it temporarily he was able to tap the leak with a hammer. Trick of the trade I guess. This stopped the leak until he came back to bust out the floor and replace the small portion in the concrete.

This building and my building have newer copper piping inside but, apparently, they all have lead coming from the street. *gulp*

I'm glad I was smart enough to not offer to have my guy fix the original problem for these people. Changing the valve piece was a relatively easy job - if not for the nightmare scenario of touching the pies and having leaks spring at the floor. Yikes. Dodged a bullet.