# Repiping German Village and the Brick Neighborhoods South of Downtown > Repiping in German Village, Merion Village and Schumacher Place: prewar brick homes and doubles, galvanized pipe, the City's service line work and the permit. URL: https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/german-village/ Last Updated: October 29, 2026 Last Updated: October 29, 2026 43206 German Village **City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services** issues the plumbing permit (City of Columbus) **Ohio Plumbing Code (OAC 4101:3)** decides the water pipe **Columbus Water & Power** supplies the water **639 residential plumbing permits in ZIP 43206, 2023 to 2025** ## What starts a repipe in German Village ### The City is replacing the service line on your street The City's crews swap lead and galvanized service lines up to the house. Galvanized pipe inside the basement and walls is still yours to deal with. ### Two front doors, one basement In a double, both halves may share a main or have pipes that cross the party wall, so the scope has to say which side each line feeds. ### A brown first draw after a weekend away Rust that clears after a minute of running usually comes from corroded steel pipe, not the street. It is worth tracing before deciding anything. ### Plaster walls you want to keep Original plaster can be worked around with routes through the basement, closets and stacked baths, so the openings stay small and few. ## Services in German Village ### Whole-house repiping Every hot and cold supply line from the main shutoff to the fixtures, replaced in PEX or copper, pressure tested and inspected under a City or suburban plumbing permit. ### 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. ### Old house repiping Repiping planned for prewar houses: routes through basements, closets and chases, openings in plaster kept few and listed, and the old valves and fittings brought up to date. ### Commercial and multi-unit repiping Water supply replacement in buildings of four or more units and small commercial spaces, with risers, unit shutoffs, plan review and the schedule for the people inside planned together. The brick streets south of downtown hold some of the oldest housing in Columbus, and much of its original plumbing. [Slate Repiping Columbus](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/) replaces water supply piping in German Village, Merion Village, Schumacher Place and the Brewery District: whole-house and partial repipes in PEX or copper, galvanized replacement, and repipes in doubles and small buildings, carried out by licensed and insured plumbing contractors under a City of Columbus permit. Age is the starting point here. In the 43206 ZIP that covers these neighborhoods, the Census Bureau counts 56.1% of homes as built before 1940, against 12.0% for Columbus as a whole. Nearly 70% are two stories or more on the County Auditor’s records, and about one in five homes sits in a building of two to four units. Those three facts shape most repipes in the area: old pipe, a climb between floors, and lines that may serve more than one household. ## What the City’s service line records show about 43206 Columbus keeps a public inventory of every service line, the buried pipe from the water main to the house. Inside 43206, 21.4% of the lines are galvanized on the customer’s side and about a third are lead on the City’s side. The City stopped allowing new lead or galvanized service lines in December 1963, so a galvanized service line is a strong hint about the era of the plumbing it feeds. A service line is not house piping, and its material does not prove what is inside the walls. It is still the best public clue there is, and it lines up with what a basement in this area usually shows: threaded steel near the meter, copper where a past owner fixed a leak, and steel again further up. The [guide to whether galvanized pipes are safe](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/are-galvanized-pipes-safe/) explains what that mix means for flow and water quality. ## When the City’s line crews reach your street The City’s lead service line program replaces lead and galvanized service lines on both the City side and the owner’s side, street by street, during a twelve-year project. Its map shows 1,072 signed work agreements in 43206, second only to the Hilltop. Owners in the area are therefore deciding about service lines now, and the interior pipe comes up in the same conversation. The City’s work stops at the house. Its program notes that interior lead hazards are not replaced, so galvanized branches, lead-soldered copper joints and old brass valves stay as they were. Some owners use the replacement as the moment to plan an interior repipe, because the water is already being shut off and the basement is already being opened near the meter. The [Columbus lead service line program guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/columbus-lead-service-line-program/) covers how the two jobs can be sequenced without one undoing the other. ## How a repipe usually runs in a German Village house Most homes here have a full basement, 79% of the Columbus-city parcels in 43206 on the Auditor’s records. That is where the work starts: a new main from the shutoff along the joists, branches to the kitchen and laundry, and the water heater reconnected. The climb to an upstairs bath is the harder part in a brick house, because exterior walls are masonry and interior walls are often plaster on lath. The best routes are usually a closet stacked under the bath, a kitchen chase or the space beside an old soil stack. In a double, the first job is to find out which half each line feeds. Some doubles have two meters and two mains; others share a main with branches that cross the party wall. A scope that covers only one side has to say where the boundary is and what old pipe stays connected, or the new side can still draw rusty water from the old one. The [commercial and multi-unit repiping](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/commercial-repiping/) page covers buildings with more units and more households living in them during the work. Cold is the other thing a route has to respect. Columbus averages about 103 nights a year at or below freezing at the airport station, by NOAA’s climate normals, and the City’s building code sets a frost depth of 32 inches. Old supply pipe in a brick house sometimes runs inside or against an exterior wall, where a hard January can freeze it. A repipe is the chance to move those lines to interior walls and heated chases, and to insulate any run that has to stay near the outside. New pipe does not remove freeze risk by itself; where it runs does. German Village is a City historic district, and its architectural review applies to exterior changes. We found no rule that brings interior plumbing under that review, so a repipe goes through the regular City plumbing permit. Anything that changes the outside, such as a relocated hose bibb on a front wall, is worth checking with the City before it is drawn into the scope. ## Permit, inspection and price These neighborhoods are inside the City of Columbus, so Building and Zoning Services issues the plumbing permit and inspects the work. For a 1, 2 or 3 family home the permit is $275 with two inspections, and the City recorded 639 residential plumbing permits in 43206 from 2023 through 2025. A building of four or more units moves to the multi-family permit, which is $550 with one inspection or $700 with two. Price follows the house more than the ZIP. Two stories, plaster, a double’s two sets of fixtures and the choice of copper all push toward the upper part of the typical Columbus-area range of $4,000 to $15,000 or more for a whole-house repipe. The [Columbus repipe cost guide](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/repiping-cost/) breaks down what sits inside that number, and the [cost estimator](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/tools/repiping-cost-estimator/) gives a planning range without a phone call. ## Nearby Owners in German Village often compare notes with the [Hilltop](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/hilltop/), where the City’s line program is busiest, with [Bexley](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/bexley/), which runs its own water system and inventory, and with [Clintonville](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/clintonville/), where the houses are a generation younger. The [service areas page](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/) covers Olde Towne East and the other near-east neighborhoods, which share much of this housing stock. ## Neighborhoods and coverage - German Village - Merion Village - Schumacher Place - Brewery District ### Landmarks - Schiller Park - South High Street ### Routes - I-70/I-71 split - South High Street - Parsons Avenue 1. 1. Bexley 2. 2. Clintonville 3. 3. German Village 4. 4. Grandview Heights 5. 5. Hilltop 6. 6. Upper Arlington ## German Village questions ### How much does it cost to repipe a German Village house? A typical Columbus-area range for a whole-house repipe is $4,000 to $15,000 or more, and larger multi-bath, copper or complex homes run higher. Two-story brick houses and doubles tend to sit toward the upper part of that range because of the climb between floors and the plaster patching. The City permit for a 1, 2 or 3 family home is $275. ### Does German Village's historic review apply to a repipe? German Village is a City historic district, and its architectural review covers exterior changes. We found no rule that brings interior plumbing under that review. A repipe still needs the regular City plumbing permit, and any exterior work, such as a new hose bibb on a front facade, is worth checking first. ### If the City replaced my service line, do I still need a repipe? Possibly. The City's program replaces the buried line from the main to the house. It does not touch the galvanized pipe, old fittings or lead-soldered joints inside, and the City notes that interior lead hazards are not part of its replacement. ### Can each half of a double be repiped separately? Yes, if each half has its own main and shutoff. Where the halves share a main or lines cross the party wall, doing both together avoids leaving old pipe feeding the new side. The walk-through traces which half each line serves. ### Who issues repiping permits in German Village, Merion Village and Schumacher Place? All three are inside the City of Columbus, so Building and Zoning Services issues the plumbing permit and inspects the work. The permit is pulled by a State-licensed, City-registered plumbing contractor, or by an owner doing the work on a single-family home they live in. ## Related guides - 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 [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 invasive is repiping a house?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/how-invasive-is-repiping/)Where the openings go and why, how plaster and drywall differ, how dust is kept in one room, what to clear out beforehand, and the scope question that decides who closes every hole. - Cost Guide [How much does it cost to repipe a house in Columbus?](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/guide/repiping-cost/)Typical Columbus-area ranges for a whole-house repipe in PEX or copper, what sits inside the price, the permit fees by office, and why two quotes for the same house can differ. ## Nearby service areas - [Hilltop](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/hilltop/)City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services permits, Ohio Plumbing Code (OAC 4101:3) - [Bexley](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/bexley/)City of Bexley Building and Zoning Department, with Franklin County Public Health plumbing plan review and inspection permits, Ohio Plumbing Code (OAC 4101:3) - [Clintonville](https://slaterepipingcolumbus.com/service-areas/clintonville/)City of Columbus Building and Zoning Services permits, Ohio Plumbing Code (OAC 4101:3)