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COPPER SELLER GUIDE
How Much Copper Is in a House?
A typical house holds hundreds of pounds of copper across its wiring, plumbing, and HVAC. Here is where it hides — and what it takes to recover it.
Where the copper is.
Wiring: branch circuits through every wall and ceiling, the service entrance cable, and dedicated runs to appliances — the largest single category in most homes. Plumbing: copper supply lines in homes built before PEX took over (roughly pre-2000s, varying by region). HVAC: refrigerant line sets and the coils inside condensers and air handlers. Plus: grounding wire, plumbing valves and fittings (brass), and appliance cords.
What changes the total.
Age matters most: older homes have more copper plumbing and heavier-gauge wiring. Size matters linearly — more square footage, more wire. Heating type matters: electric-heat homes run heavier circuits than gas-heat homes. And some homes have aluminum branch wiring (common in the 1960s–70s) — worth recovering, but valued well below copper, so identify it before you count your payday.
Recovering it: strip or sell as-is.
The labor question decides everything. Insulated wire has real value as-is; stripping it to bare bright raises the grade but costs hours. The rule: strip the heavy-gauge wire where the math works, sell the small-gauge insulated as-is. Our copper-finding guide walks through the strip-or-sell math step by step — including which wire sizes are worth your time.
Sell it the straightforward way.
Photograph what you have — nameplates, labels, and overall condition — and send it to Ironcrest for today’s offer. We buy nationally and coordinate pickup from your site.
Sell your copper to Ironcrest → | Call or text 312-880-8174 | Send photos →
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions, answered.
How many pounds of copper wire are in an average house?
It varies widely by age and size, but hundreds of pounds across wiring, plumbing, and HVAC is typical for a standard single-family home. Older, larger homes hold more.
Does copper plumbing count as scrap value?
Yes — copper pipe and fittings are clean, high-grade copper. Homes with full copper plumbing hold significantly more recoverable copper than PEX-plumbed homes.
Is it worth stripping the wire from a house?
For heavy-gauge wire, usually yes; for small branch-circuit wire, often no. Run the labor math: the value gained per hour of stripping has to beat your time.
What about aluminum wiring?
Recover it and sell it as aluminum — but do not count it as copper. It is worth substantially less per pound, so sort it separately.
When should the copper come out — before or during demolition?
Before. Once the structure comes down, clean recovery becomes nearly impossible. Pull the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC metals first, then demolish.
THE STOCKPILE
Every house is a copper inventory.
Wiring in the walls, pipe in the floors, coils in the HVAC — a house is copper in three different forms.
New: Explore the Ironcrest Copper Resource Center — grades, markets, identification guides, and interactive tools.
HOW SELLING WORKS
Three steps to an offer.
Material review
We review what the material is, its condition and quantity, and whether it fits a direct purchase.
Receive an offer
For qualifying material, we discuss a direct purchase offer and the next steps.