# How do you identify lead pipes and other pipe materials?

> How to identify lead pipes, galvanized steel, copper, polybutylene, CPVC and PEX with a magnet and a coin, plus Columbus's lead line map and what each means.

URL: https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/how-to-identify-pipe-material/

Learn

A refrigerator magnet, a coin and a flashlight answer most of the question. This guide shows what each pipe looks like, how to check safely, where Columbus's map helps, and what each material means for the house.

Last Updated: October 29, 2026

Learn

A refrigerator magnet, a coin and a flashlight answer most of the question. This guide shows what each pipe looks like, how to check safely, where Columbus's map helps, and what each material means for the house.

Last Updated: October 29, 2026

Find where the water line enters the house, usually through the basement wall near the inside meter. A lead pipe is dull gray, soft, and a magnet will not stick to it; a gentle scratch with a coin shows shiny silver. Galvanized steel is gray, threaded at its joints, and magnetic.

[Slate Repiping Columbus](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/) offers and manages [galvanized pipe replacement](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/galvanized-pipe-replacement/), repiping and [lead service line replacement](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/lead-service-line-replacement/) across Columbus and nearby Franklin County communities, carried out by licensed and insured plumbing contractors. This guide covers every common water pipe material in Columbus houses, how to check it without risk, and what it means.

Key takeaways

- Start where the service line enters, near the inside meter, then follow the pipe through the basement.
- A magnet sticks to galvanized steel, not to lead, copper or plastic.
- A light coin scratch shows shiny silver on lead and bright copper on copper.
- Plastic pipe is identified by its print: PEX, CPVC or a PB stamp.
- Columbus's interactive map shows the service line material on record for most City water addresses.

## Before you start: keep it safe

The checks here are the same ones the US EPA describes in its [Protect Your Tap guide](https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/protect-your-tap-quick-check-lead). They need nothing more than a flashlight, a fridge magnet and a coin or key. A few rules keep them safe:

- **Scratch lightly.** A gentle scrape is enough. Never use a knife, file or sandpaper, and never cut, heat or bend a pipe.
- **Leave corroded or leaking pipe alone.** Old steel or lead that is wet, flaking or already weeping can be thin enough to start leaking if it is scraped.
- **Stay away from electrical connections.** Water pipe often carries a ground wire clamped to it. Do not touch, loosen or remove clamps or wires, and do not test pipe near wiring if you are standing in water.
- **Do not crawl into tight spaces.** If the only view of a pipe is in a low crawlspace or behind a finished wall, let a plumber look.
- **Wash your hands** after touching pipe that might be lead, and keep children away from it.

## Where to look

In most Columbus houses the service line comes through the basement wall near the inside water meter; the City says so in its customer notices. Look at the short length of pipe between the wall and the meter, and the first few feet after it. That is the service line, and it is the pipe the City’s program cares about. Then follow the main from the meter across the basement ceiling to the water heater and the branches. A Columbus house often shows a mix: steel near the meter, copper where an earlier owner fixed a leak, and steel again further on.

## Identifying each material

| Material | Color and look | Magnet | Gentle scratch | Joints and clues |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lead | Dull gray, sometimes painted | Does not stick | Shiny silver, soft | Often a rounded, bulb-shaped joint; may bend or sag |
| Galvanized steel | Gray to silver-gray, often rusty at joints | Sticks | Still gray, hard | Threaded joints and fittings |
| Copper | Penny brown, green patina in places | Does not stick | Bright copper | Soldered or pressed fittings |
| Polybutylene | Gray plastic; blue or black for some service lines | Does not stick | Not needed | Often stamped PB2110; crimp rings of copper or aluminum |
| CPVC | Rigid cream, tan or light yellow plastic | Does not stick | Not needed | Glued fittings; printed CPVC and ASTM D2846 |
| PEX | Flexible red, blue, white or gray tubing | Does not stick | Not needed | Printed PEX and ASTM F876; crimp, clamp or expansion fittings |

### Lead

Lead service lines were used in many older Columbus neighborhoods. Columbus stopped allowing new lead or galvanized service lines in December 1963, and the City says a line installed after 1964 is likely not lead or galvanized. Lead is soft enough that a coin leaves a bright mark easily. If you find lead, the [Columbus lead service line program guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/columbus-lead-service-line-program/) explains the City’s replacement schedule and LEAP loan.

### Galvanized steel

Galvanized steel was the standard supply pipe in many Columbus houses built before the 1960s. A magnet grabs it firmly. Rust at threaded joints and low flow at fixtures are typical. The [guide to whether galvanized pipes are safe](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/are-galvanized-pipes-safe/) explains why galvanized downstream of a lead line is a lead concern too.

### Copper

Copper took over from mid-century. Clean copper is easy to spot, but painted copper and painted lead can look alike from a distance, which is when the coin scratch helps. Copper itself is not a lead source, but its joints may be: lead solder was banned in home plumbing in 1986, and the City advises that homes built before 1989 may have copper joined with lead solder. Solder cannot be judged reliably by eye.

### Polybutylene, CPVC and PEX

All three are plastic and none is magnetic, so the print matters. Polybutylene appears in some homes built or remodeled in the 1980s and 1990s, and the [polybutylene pipe replacement](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/polybutylene-pipe-replacement/) page explains why it is usually replaced as a system. CPVC is rigid and glued; the [CPVC guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/cpvc-pipes/) covers how it ages. PEX is flexible and printed with its standard; the [guide to whether PEX is safe](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/is-pex-safe/) explains what that print means. A blue or gray line with no readable print can be either PEX or polybutylene, and in that case a plumber can usually tell from the fittings.

## Brass, fittings and lead-free rules

Brass valves and fittings show up in every kind of system. Brass is a yellowish metal and not magnetic. Older brass is a lead source of its own: according to the City of Columbus, brass could contain up to 8% lead until 2014. Fittings and valves sold for drinking water now have to meet the federal lead-free limit, and products certified to NSF/ANSI 372 carry that mark. Old faucets and valves cannot be judged by look, which is one reason a repipe that also replaces valves and stops removes more than just pipe.

## Columbus’s lead line map and records

Inside the City water system, Columbus publishes an [interactive service line map](https://www.columbus.gov/LSLR) that shows the material on record for each address. The City’s map shows possible lead or galvanized lines at roughly 50,000 to 60,000 homes. Its inventory covers Columbus and the suburbs Columbus serves directly, such as Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, Whitehall and Worthington.

Some suburbs keep their own records. Bexley, Gahanna and Reynoldsburg buy Columbus water through master meters, and Westerville runs its own water system, so the Columbus map has almost no points there. Owners in those places should check with their own city.

The Franklin County Auditor’s property records list permits for each parcel, which can show past plumbing work such as an earlier service line or repipe. A notice on a Columbus water bill about the line’s material is an inventory notice, not a water test.

## What each material means for the house

| What you found | What it can mean | Where to read next |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lead service line | Eligible for the City’s replacement program inside Columbus | [Lead service line program](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/columbus-lead-service-line-program/) |
| Galvanized service line or interior pipe | Possible lead in scale if lead was upstream; low flow; rust | [Galvanized pipe replacement](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/galvanized-pipe-replacement/) |
| Copper with old joints | Possible lead solder before 1986; pinholes in some runs | [Copper pinhole leaks](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/copper-pinhole-leaks/) |
| Polybutylene | Fitting failures; usually replaced as a system | [Polybutylene replacement](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/polybutylene-pipe-replacement/) |
| CPVC or PEX | Usually modern; check age, support and listing | [CPVC guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/cpvc-pipes/) |

## When to stop and call

If the pipe is hidden, painted in a way that resists a light scratch, or the results do not match any row in the table, a plumber can identify it in minutes. The same goes for a mixed system where it is unclear what feeds what. Knowing the material is the first step; tracing the whole system is what decides the scope. The [repiping assessment](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/tools/repiping-assessment/) turns what you found into a starting point, and the [rusty water guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/rusty-water-from-pipes/) helps if discolored water is what started the search.

## Questions about this guide

### Can lead pipes look like copper?

Not when they are clean, but paint and grime can hide either one. Lead is dull gray and soft; copper is the color of a penny. If a pipe is painted, a gentle scratch with a coin through the paint shows the metal underneath: shiny silver means lead, bright copper means copper.

### How do I tell PEX from polybutylene?

Read the printing. PEX is marked PEX with an ASTM standard such as F876. Polybutylene is usually gray, sometimes blue or black for service lines, and often stamped PB2110. If a plastic line has no readable print, a plumber can identify it from the fittings and the house's history.

### Does a notice on my Columbus water bill mean my water has lead?

No. The City sends an annual notice about the material on record for a property's service line. It tells you the line is listed as lead, galvanized or unknown; it is not a water test result. It is a reason to check the line and look at the City's map.

## Related service

### Galvanized pipe replacement

Old threaded steel water pipe inside the house replaced with PEX or copper, with the transitions, the loosened scale and the flush handled as part of the job.

## More guides

- Learn [Are galvanized pipes safe for drinking water?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/are-galvanized-pipes-safe/)Galvanized steel is not a lead pipe, but it can collect lead from one. Here is how that happens, why federal rules now treat some galvanized lines as replace-required, and what old steel does to flow and water color.
- Learn [How does the Columbus lead service line replacement program work?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/columbus-lead-service-line-program/)What the City replaces, when it reaches a street, who has to sign, how to check an address on the map, and how to time an interior repipe so the house is opened once.
- Learn [Should CPVC pipes be replaced?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/cpvc-pipes/)CPVC is an approved water pipe, and sound CPVC can stay. What changes the answer is how it has aged: brittleness near heat, joints that let go, and repairs that crack the pipe next to them.
- Learn [Is PEX safe for drinking water?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/is-pex-safe/)PEX sold for drinking water is tested and listed for it. Listing is not the end of the story, though: product choice, sunlight, chlorine exposure, fittings and installation decide how a PEX system behaves over time.
- Learn [Why is rusty water coming from my faucet?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/rusty-water-from-pipes/)Brown, orange or yellow water has three usual sources: the water heater, corroding steel pipe in the house, or work on the City's mains. A few minutes with the taps usually tells you which.