City officials will continue to ban the use of PVC pipe in residential and office buildings, despite the state's decision to lift the 25-year restriction and building officials' recommendation that the city adopt those changes.
After council balked at the PVC pipe provisions, Hayward building official Margret Elliott said she planned to resubmit her proposal Nov. 20, but without the provision allowing PVC pipe.
The California Building Standards Commission voted in January to end a 25-year restriction and allow the use of chlorinated PVC pipe in the construction of homes, apartments, hotels and motels in the state.
Until 2000, CPVC was not permitted in California.
Since then, it has been permitted only where water and soil conditions weaken copper piping. It also has been restricted to buildings no taller than two stories.
Based on 2005 housings starts, California represents a potential market of 40 million pounds of CPVC annually, or 450 million to 500 million feet of pipe. Currently CPVC pipe accounts for 13 percent of pipe sales in California, compared with a nationwide average of 32 percent, said Dave Walls, executive director of the CBSC.
