improper water line on a flipped home in Dover, De

the International Residential Code (IRC) do not have PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe on their list of approved water distribution pipe. The building codes make a distinction between water “service” pipe, which means pipe that delivers water to the house, and water “distribution” pipe, which is the pipe inside a house that runs to the plumbing fixtures. Pipe changes from the supply to distribution category once it enters the house and, although PVC is rated for service pipe, it is not rated for distribution. The reason for not allowing PVC for distribution pipe is that it is not rated to withstand the thermal expansion stress caused by hot water. Even cold-water pipe inside a home can end up with hot water in it, because the heat inside a water heater transfers backward through the water in the cold-water supply pipe.