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AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
  Architecture & Style
  Building Records
  Chimneys & Fireplaces
  Electrical Components
  Flooring Materials
  Foundation Materials
  Framing Materials Age
  Framing Methods Age
  Framing Size & Spacing
  Heating Equipment
  Insulation Materials
  Nails and Hardware
  Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall
  Plumbing Materials & Fixtures
    CESSPOOL AGE ESTIMATION
    OIL TANK LIFE
    PIPING AGE
    SEPTIC LIFE EXPECTANCY
    SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LIFE
    WATER HEATER AGE
    WATER HEATER Life Expectancy Comparisons
  Roofing Materials
  Saw Cuts, Tool Marks
  Sears Kit Houses
  Siding Materials
  Windows & Doors
AIR CONDITIONING & HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS
  AGE of AIR CONDITIONERS & HEAT PUMPS
APPLIANCE EFFICIENCY RATINGS
ASBESTOS IDENTIFICATION IN BUILDINGS
ATTIC LEAKS, CONDENSATION & ATTIC MOLD
CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR
ELECTRICAL INSPECTION, DIAGNOSIS, REPAIR
  KNOB & TUBE WIRING
EXTERIORS of BUILDINGS
HEATING SYSTEMS
  AGE of HEAT PUMPS
  AGE of HEATERS, BOILERS, FURNACES
INSULATION IDENTIFICATION GUIDE
INTERIORS of BUILDINGS
PLUMBING TOPICS
  AGE of Plumbing Materials & Fixtures
SEPTIC SYSTEMS HOME
CESSPOOL AGE ESTIMATION
SEPTIC LIFE EXPECTANCY
STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS
WATER PUMPS & TANKS

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Re-bath tub reliner (C) Daniel Friedman

How to Determine The age of Building Plumbing Piping, Drains, Materials & Fixtures
InspectAPedia®  -    

  • Guide to plumbing system age determination
  • Age of building supply and drain piping
  • Age of plumbing fixtures, sinks, tubs, toilets
  • Age & life expectancy of water heaters
  • How to determine the age of a building
Our site offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest. We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices, false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at InspectAPedia.com/appointment.htm.

Here we provide a photo guide to determining the age of a building or its plumbing system and fixtures by examination of visual clues. The age of a building can be determined quite accurately by documentation, but when documents are not readily available, visual clues such as those available during a professional home inspection can still determine when a house was built by examining its components, building materials, even nails, fasteners, and types of saw cuts on lumber. Here we list some helpful clues to answer the question "how old is the house?" and we provide photographs of key visual clues useful for determining the age of a building. Also see AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine.

© Copyright 2010 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Guide to the Age of Plumbing Materials & Plumbing Fixtures as Indicators of Building Age

PHOTO of gas light fixture which we discovered still was fed by an active gas line in an 1860 New York Home

Photograph of an active gaslight found in a 1900 home in New York.

Often old gas lines have been disconnected entirely and sometimes they have been re-used to route electrical wiring to new light fixtures or to gaslight fixtures which have been converted to electric.

Don't assume that an old gas fixture or valve on a wall or found in a fireplace are inactive.

We turned-on and lit this fixture which gave a bright surprise to everyone.

Age of Supply & Drain Piping: Chart of Dates When Different Types of Plumbing Piping Were Used in Homes

Chart showing when different types of piping were used in homes (C) CarsonDunlop

Prior to 1800 in Northameria pipes were made of wood, from hollow trees or carved from solid wood hewn from trees. Cast iron piping was not produced in the U.S. before ca. 1825.

Plumbing fixtures and piping materials offer considerable age in dating a building, including easy clues such as the presence of a date of manufacture stamped into many toilet tanks to the periods of use of types of water supply piping (lead, galvanized steel, black iron pipe, copper, plastic piping) and building drain piping (lead, cast iron, copper, plastic, clay).

Often on older buildings multiple types of piping will be present as repairs and changes have been made in the building plumbing system.

Chart of plumbing types and years of use courtesy of Carson Dunlop

Lead water pipe and cast iron drain (C) Daniel Friedman

Cast iron piping used for in-building drain piping as well as sewer lines is shown at How to Locate the Main Building Drain, and at How to Use a Power Snake on Building Drains you can see a common splice-in of ABS plastic drain piping into an existing cast iron sewer line.

Clay drainfield piping or "drain tiles" is shown in fragments in our article on sewer line replacement, at Determining Need for Replacement. We also provide this photo of another type of octagonal clay sewer and septic piping that was often used in drainfields as disjointed sections.

Lead water entry piping connecting a building to the street water main is shown in our photo (left) where you can also see gray-painted cast iron drain piping. See LEAD IN DRINKING WATER, HOW to REDUCE.

Orangeburg piping, most widely used in drain piping and septic fields, was made of ground wood fibers bound with an adhesive mastic (coal tar), typically looking like black"tarred" piping. Orangeburg piping was first used in Boston in 1865. Orangeburg pipe is not orange - its name comes from its main producer, the Fibre Conduit Co., in Orangeburg, New York. After 1948 the company changed its name to Orangeburg Manufacturing. Black coal-tar impregnated fiber piping was widely used in North American from 1950 to 1970.

Orangeburg drain piping and sewer piping was not made just by Fiber Conduit. Other manufacturers included American Piping Co., J.M. Fiber Conduit, Bermico (Brown Manufacturing), and American Manufacturing

Bathubs Help Determine the Age of a Building

While nearly any home inspected in North America will have an indoor bathroom at present, in 1921 only one percent of homes had an indoor bathroom.

Claw foot tub (C) Daniel Friedman Claw foot tub (C) Daniel Friedman
  • Claw-foot cast iron bath tubs - 1835 - 1903. Our photos (above) show an antique cast iron claw foot tub that we salvaged, cleaned, and re-installed during restoration of an 1860's house in Wappingers Falls, NY. Free-standing cast iron or replica claw foot bath tubs and similar freestanding tubs without the feet are still available, as we show in this photo of a modern free-standing bathtub. In 1883 Standard Manufacturing and Kohler began producing cast iron bath tubs in the U.S., initially described for use as a hog scalder or horse trough (but suitable for bathing). Wikipedia cites five styles of claw-foot bathtubs:
    • Classic Roll Rim, Roll Top, or Flat Rim tubs
    • Slipper tubs - one end is raised and sloped
    • Double Slipper Tubs - both ends of the bathtub are raised and sloped
    • Double Ended Tubs - where both ends of the tub are rounded.
    • Pedestal Tub - Pedestal tubs, unlike the styles above, do not have claw feet but rest on a pedestal that is in floor contact all around the tub - dates to Crete, 1000 BC.
  • Porcelain covered cast iron bathroom tubs - ca 1905 to present.
  • Colored porcelain bathroom fixtures - 1928 (Crane Mfg.) to present
  • Porcelain coated pressed-steel bath tubs - ca 1960 to present
  • Fiberglass bath tubs - ca 1975 to present
  • Solid acrylic bath tubs - ca 1980 to present, vacuum molded from sheets of acrylic reinforced with fiberglass;

Re-bath tub reliner (C) Daniel Friedman

  • Bath tub re-lining processes - e.g. Re-Bath, using a 1/4" thick polymer-cover that is dropped into and re-covers an existing tub.

    Re-Bath™ stocks 1000 tub shapes and can fit nearly every tub shape made in the U.S. since 1920 with a new liner. Because the Re-bath liner is a molded copy of the original bath tub (now hidden below the liner) you might have difficulty determining when this product has been installed. There are several clues, but the simplest is to notice the Re-Bath name on the tub overflow control.

    Another bath tub rejuvenating option is bath tub refinishing using a combination of tub scratch filler, surface etching, a primer, and an acrylic urethane top coat, or an epoxy tub paint.

Can the Age of a Water Heater Tell Building Age?

How can we determine the age of a residential water heater? By looking at and decoding data on the water heater's label. It would be unusual to find an original water heater in a building built before 1970 in the U.S. so don't assume that the water heater age is the building age for an older home.

Rheem water heater (C) Daniel FriedmanNearly all modern water heaters, electric, oil fired, or gas fired, include data tags and stickers that indicate the year and month of manufacture of the water heater.

That doesn't tell you exactly when a water heater was installed in a particular building but it does indicate the age of the water heater itself.

However most manufacturers encode the year and month of manufacture of their water heater in the product's serial number so that the water heater age is not immediately obvious, but it can be decoded. .

Our photo (left) shows a gas-fired Rheem™ water heater. The label containing the unit's serial number is probably at the water heater top left. The label above the gas control at the water heater bottom typically contains water heater lighting instructions.

For details about determining the age of water heaters, see AGE of WATER HEATERS where we include a chart which Scott LeMarr has generously shared. For the most complete and very detailed HVAC and water heating equipment data tag and age decoding information anywhere, Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, offer Carson Dunlop Weldon & Associates Technical Reference Guide to manufacturer's model and serial number information for heating and cooling equipment ($69.00 U.S.). At Water Heater Life Expectancy Comparisons we list factors that determine the life expectancy of a water heater.

How to Use the Date Stamp in Toilets as A Way to Date the Age of A Building

Antique toilet (C) Daniel Friedman Date stamp shown in a modern toilet tank lid (C) Daniel Friedman

Does the toilet date stamp tell the age of a building? Well not exactly, but lots of toilets include a date stamped or embossed into the interior of the toilet tank, often in the toilet tank lid, as we show in our photo (above right). That embossed date stamp indicates the year of manufacture of the toilet. If the toilet is original to the home that may give us a clue about the age of the building. Of course if the toilet has been installed during a plumbing update it will be newer than the home. In our example the example toilet was manufactured 30 July 1994 but the toilet was installed in a home built in 1920.

Sir John Harington is credited with invention of the first flush toilet (for Queen Elizabeth I in 1596), but the flush toilets were not produced in volume before the water closet designed by Alexander Cummings - 1775.

Indoor toilets using a high wall-mounted local water reservoir (and a pull chain flush valve) have been in use in the U.S. since around 1890. An early wall-tank flush toilet is shown in the sketch at left.

Flush valve toilets that operated by (high) municipal water pressure (and excluded a local water reservoir tank) have been in common use in the U.S. since around 1920.

Modern tank type toilets that incorporate their water reservoir right atop the bowl have been in common use in the U.S. since around 1940. Reader Kathy Bohon points out that the date stamp on a toilet tank or lid is a useful age indicator provided that the building plumbing system has not been renovated. Of course since the toilet will have been manufactured before it was installed, or if the toilet was re-used from another structure, in either case it's date will be a bit earlier than that of the building.

History and Dating of Low Flush Toilets

Low-flush toilets that reduce the quantity of water used began in popular use in the U.S. by 1980, but you may need to look closely inside the toilet tank to identify some models.

low flush toilet information stamp (C) Daniel Friedman low flush toilet information stamp (C) Daniel Friedman

Toilet low flush indication (C) Daniel Friedman
Look for a label (photos shown just above) in the tank lid stating "This toilet complies with ASME / ANSI A112.19.2M. This fixture qualifies according to ANSI test procedures as a low consumption water closet with an average consumption per flush of 1.8 gal or less." As this tag may have been removed, also look on the toilet tank or base for a low flush designation included in the porcelain coating such as we show in our photo (left).

Simple plastic retrofit internal reservoirs allowed toilet manufacturers to leave the toilet exterior size and shape intact even when going to a low-flush water savings design. At TOILET OVERFLOW EMERGENCY you can see one of these toilet models.

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Technical Reviewers & References

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
  Architecture & Style
  Building Records
  Chimneys & Fireplaces
  Electrical Components
  Flooring Materials
  Flooring Materials
  Foundation Materials
  Framing Materials Age
  Framing Methods Age
  Framing Size & Spacing
  Heating Equipment
  Insulation Materials
  Nails and Hardware
  Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall
  Plumbing Materials & Fixtures
    CESSPOOL AGE ESTIMATION
    OIL TANK LIFE
    PIPING AGE
    SEPTIC LIFE EXPECTANCY
    SEPTIC DRAINFIELD LIFE
    WATER HEATER AGE
    WATER HEATER Life Expectancy Comparisons
  Roofing Materials
  Saw Cuts, Tool Marks
  Sears Kit Houses
  Siding Materials
  Windows & Doors

  • Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
  • Thanks to reader Kathy Bohon for suggesting additional details about determining the age of a home by looking for a date stamp in the toilet tank or lid. Ms. Bohon points out that if a building's plumbing system has not been renovated, the toilet date stamp can be a reliable indicator of approximate building age. (7/30/2009).
  • Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, have provided us with (and we recommend) Carson Dunlop Weldon & Associates' Technical Reference Guide to manufacturer's model and serial number information for heating and cooling equipment ($69.00 U.S.). Technical Reference Guide, Carson Dunlop Weldon & Associates, Ltd., 120 Carlton St. Suite 407, Toronto, Ontario, M5A 4K2 Canada, ISBN 1-895585-90-2 165pp.
  • America's Favorite Homes, mail-order catalogues as a guide to popular early 20th-century houses, Robert Schweitzer, Michael W.R. Davis, 1990, Wayne State University Press ISBN 0814320066 (may be available from Wayne State University Press)
  • American Plywood Association, APA, "Portland Manufacturing Company, No. 1, a series of monographs on the history of plywood manufacturing",Plywood Pioneers Association, 31 March, 1967, www.apawood.org
  • Asbestos products and their history and use in various building materials such as asphalt and vinyl flooring includes discussion which draws on Asbestos, Its Industrial Applications, D.V. Rosato, engineering consultant, Newton, MA, Reinhold Publishing, 1959 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 59-12535 (out of print).
  • Building Research Council, BRC, nee Small Homes Council, SHC, School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, brc.arch.uiuc.edu. "The Small Homes Council (our original name) was organized in 1944 during the war at the request of the President of the University of Illinois to consider the role of the university in meeting the demand for housing in the United States. Soldiers would be coming home after the war and would be needing good low-cost housing. ...  In 1993, the Council became part of the School of Architecture, and since then has been known as the School of Architecture-Building Research Council. ... The Council's researchers answered many critical questions that would affect the quality of the nation's housing stock.
    • How could homes be designed and built more efficiently?
    • What kinds of construction and production techniques worked well and which did not?
    • How did people use different kinds of spaces in their homes?
    • What roles did community planning, zoning, and interior design play in how neighborhoods worked?
    "
  • Isham: "An Example of Colonial Paneling", Norman Morrison Isham, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 6, No. 5 (May, 1911), pp. 112-116, available by JSTOR.
  • Manufactured & Modular Homes: Modular Building Systems Association, MBSA, modularhousing.com, is a trade association promoting and providing links to contact modular builders in North America. Also see the Manufactured Home Owners Association, MHOAA, at www.mhoaa.us. The Manufactured Home Owners Association of America is a National Organization dedicated to the protection of the rights of all people living in Manufactured Housing in the United States.
  • Re-Bath, tub lining products is a bath tub relining manufacturer and distributor located in Tempe, Arizona - see rebath.com
  • Pergo AB, division of Perstorp AB, is a Swedish manufacturer or modern laminate flooring products. Information about the U.S. company can be found at http://www.pergo.com where we obtained historical data used in our discussion of the age of flooring materials in buildings.
  • Plank House Construction: webslog from plankhouse.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/plank-house-construction/ and where plank houses were built by native Americans, see
    Large 1:6 Scale Plank House Construction / P8094228, Photographer: Mike Meuser
    06/12/2007 documented at yurokplankhouse.com where scale model Museum quality Yurok Plank Houses are being sold to raise money for the Blue Creek - Ah Pah Traditional Yurok Village project.
  • Scott C. LeMarr has provided his file of keys to decode Furnace and Water Heater Age from the data provided on the manufacturer's equipment labels. Mr. LeMarr is a professional home inspector, Certified Professional Inspector/President, MASTER Indoor Environmental Specialist (MIES). Vice President of Wisconsin NACHI. He and his company, Honest Home Inspections, LLC. can be reached at 262-424-5587 or by email to scott@honesthomeinspections.com
  • Sewer History - great resource for the history of sewer piping - see http://www.sewerhistory.org
  • Weaver: Beaver Board and Upson Board: Beaver Board and Upson Board: History and Conservation of Early Wallboard, Shelby Weaver, APT Bulletin, Vol. 28, No. 2/3 (1997), pp. 71-78, Association for Preservation Technology International (APT), available online at JSTOR.
  • Wikipedia entry on bathtubs: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub
AGE of a BUILDING, how to determine
  Architecture & Style
  Building Records
  Chimneys & Fireplaces
  Electrical Components
  Flooring Materials
  Foundation Materials
  Framing Materials Age
  Framing Methods Age
  Framing Size & Spacing
  Heating Equipment
  Insulation Materials
  Nails and Hardware
  Plaster & Beaverboard & Drywall
  Plumbing Materials & Fixtures
  Roofing Materials
  Saw Cuts, Tool Marks
  Sears Kit Houses
  Siding Materials
  Windows & Doors

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List of Online Articles Giving Detailed Information & Reference Materials for Determining the Age of Buildings

AGE of a BUILDING - how to determine
INTERIORS of BUILDINGS

STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS

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