We just bought a 1927 house in the San Francisco Bay Area and it has galvanized pipes. It also needs a lot of other work (electrical, floors, kitchen, etc). We decided to do some minimal things in each area so we can move in and then continue to upgrade over time as energy & money are available.

The first call was to the plumber as there was no hot water to the kitchen sink or a downstairs bathroom and the upstairs bathroom had very low water pressure (took a long time to get the hot water flowing).

Given that we couldn't put $4K towards replacing all the galvanized before we moved in- the plumber suggested blowing out the lines. He did that for the kitchen and upstairs bathroom but he was worried about the pipes breaking in the downstairs bathroom. We had hoped that maybe he could replace SOME things with copper (kitchen ; upstairs bath) but he said that wasn't possible.

I have used him in the past and generally trust him- but trying to figure out if there are other options available to us... The house is pretty small (1400 s.f.) and the downstairs bathroom is immediately adjacent to the hot water heater.

Also, we had discussed replacing with copper but I see many mentions of PEX on this forum... is that a better choice? Is it okay in california? anything else I should ask?