Galvanized steel supply pipe has a service life of about fifty to seventy years. Most Austin houses built before 1975 still have some. By now, the zinc coating on the inside is long gone and the steel is corroding. Here are the signs it's time.
1. Brown or rusty water in the morning. Especially the first draw at a fixture that hasn't been run overnight. That's oxidized iron settling in the standing water.
2. Water pressure that dropped over the years and never recovered. Corrosion narrows the pipe from the inside. The pressure loss is gradual and permanent.
3. Pinhole leaks that show up as a wet spot on drywall or a discolored patch on a ceiling. One pinhole is a warning, not a fix — the next one is coming.
4. Different fixtures giving different water quality. If the guest bath tastes fine but the kitchen tastes metallic, you're seeing the branch runs failing at different rates.
5. Insurance quotes coming in with exclusions. Insurers are getting stricter about galvanized. If your policy explicitly excludes water damage from failing pipe, that's a market signal.
The fix is a repipe. See our service page — we do PEX-A whole-home repipes with drywall patch and texture included.