jgohlke
My other hobby
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2004
- Messages
- 991
I posted a couple of weeks ago about re-plumbing my house. We had an under-the-slab leak in the back bathroom. I did some research on the replacement options and decided to go with PEX tubing, with an oxygen barrier, "home run" style installation. The installation process is pretty straightforward. The water is re-routed into the house from the street and into a manifold. The manifold is plumbed to the hot water heater. The manifold has many cold and hot water ports and each fixture gets a dedicated line (no breaks, no fittings other than each end), one tube for hot, one tube for cold. The manifold has an on/off valve for each port (satisfies code, no valves at the termination end). I took 4 days off work (Thur-Fri, Mon-Tue) and with my son's help, we ran 1500 feet of 1/2inch PEX tubing through our attic (no basements in Florida). This method is the replacement method for the Polybutylene piping that was used 10 years ago (and caused some problems). The new method uses a different pipe chemistry (Crosslinked PolyEthylene) and also different fittings (brass instead of copper) while retaining the same (easy crimp fittings) install mechanisms.
Day 1 (Thursday - morning) – Visiting the local plumbing store
I get there at opening and load up the truck with all the supplies (knowing I’ll be back for sure). I buy 2000 feet of PEX tubing, a manifold and various fittings. $850.
Thursday Afternoon - Digging
I spend most of the afternoon digging up my front yard so I can move the water main to the house. It enters the house in the slab right in the center of the living room. I need it to come in somewhere I can get to…so I plan to move it to the garage. I dig up the old line and then dig a trench to the garage (tunneling under the sidewalk). Fortunately, Florida is very sandy and I don’t have to worry about freezing, so I only have to dig down 1-2 feet. Unfortunately, it’s early afternoon by now and I have dig through some tree roots.
This takes most of the afternoon (please note that it is August and the front yard has little shade).
Day 2 – Friday
Most of this day is spent cutting holes in the house. Everywhere there is a plumbing fixture, I need a hole in the wall to work. Since I can work from either the front or the back, I try to cut holes in the plaster where it will be least noticed and easiest to patch. For sinks, this is under the sink, in the back of the vanity (where the water comes in now). For showers and baths, it’s the wall behind the fixture (I don’t want to have to repair the tile front of the bath). Fortunately, many of these places are closets and laundry areas. Since the tubing will come down through the wall, we take off the bathroom mirrors and cut access holes behind the mirrors. We use a drywall hand saw, try to be neat about it (and not cut through anything important like electrical wires) and this pretty takes all day. Bonus – Most of the work is inside work and we get to hang in the air conditioning during the early morning. We do spend some time in the attic from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, running pipe and it is unbelievably hot by the time I crawl out of the attic for good at about 2:00 pm. I bend at the waist, my son strips my sweat-soaked and insulation covered t-shirt off me and I throw it away. I feel like I just chain smoked a dozen cigars.
Day 3 – Saturday
Not wanting to make the same mistake as yesterday, we get an early start on the attic work. I wear a filter mask as well. Up and going at 6:30 AM we start to run the pipe in earnest. The PEX pipe is stiffer than a garden hose, but more flexible than PVC. It comes in 500 foot coils that offer no easy way of uncoiling. We open 3 of the rolls and try to feed them from the inside of the coil+. We are running them 2 and 3 at time and the long runs become hopelessly tangled in the garage. I untangle them at least 6 times wasting valuable morning time (when it’s relatively cool in the attic). We take turns spending 20-40 minutes in the attic, drinking a full glass of water when we come down. By 8:00 AM we are both soaked with sweat and unable to drink enough to replace the sweating. I take a remote thermometer up in the attic to monitor the temperature. By 10:00 AM the sun is hitting the roof and the temperature starts to climb quickly. By 12:00 it is 102. About 3:30 we call it quits for the day and it is 116 in the attic by then. I have a raging headache and spend the rest of the day drinking water and Gatorade. I only pee once despite drinking over a gallon of water. The day is a big success though, we have pipe to almost all of the fixtures!
Utility Sink
Master bath sink – the back wall, behind the washer/dryer
Wall behind the master bath toilet, washing machine (this is in a closet in the utility room)
Closet behind the master bath shower
Kitchen sink – behind the dishwasher. I almost cried when plumbing this one. It was very difficult to reach (right at the edge of the house where the roof is very close and there is no room to work). I was lying down on my stomach in the attic, leverage was very poor and the tubing would only go so far…almost but not quite. We made the hole bigger and discovered a wire in our way. By the time this was done, I was panting, sweating and had invented some new curse words….but at the end, it was mostly just grunting and wimpering….
Full shot of the kitchen sink. If you look closely, you can see the puddle of water....one of many!
Pool bath sink (back of vanity)
Access hole behind the mirror, pool bath.
Day 1 (Thursday - morning) – Visiting the local plumbing store
I get there at opening and load up the truck with all the supplies (knowing I’ll be back for sure). I buy 2000 feet of PEX tubing, a manifold and various fittings. $850.
Thursday Afternoon - Digging
I spend most of the afternoon digging up my front yard so I can move the water main to the house. It enters the house in the slab right in the center of the living room. I need it to come in somewhere I can get to…so I plan to move it to the garage. I dig up the old line and then dig a trench to the garage (tunneling under the sidewalk). Fortunately, Florida is very sandy and I don’t have to worry about freezing, so I only have to dig down 1-2 feet. Unfortunately, it’s early afternoon by now and I have dig through some tree roots.
This takes most of the afternoon (please note that it is August and the front yard has little shade).
Day 2 – Friday
Most of this day is spent cutting holes in the house. Everywhere there is a plumbing fixture, I need a hole in the wall to work. Since I can work from either the front or the back, I try to cut holes in the plaster where it will be least noticed and easiest to patch. For sinks, this is under the sink, in the back of the vanity (where the water comes in now). For showers and baths, it’s the wall behind the fixture (I don’t want to have to repair the tile front of the bath). Fortunately, many of these places are closets and laundry areas. Since the tubing will come down through the wall, we take off the bathroom mirrors and cut access holes behind the mirrors. We use a drywall hand saw, try to be neat about it (and not cut through anything important like electrical wires) and this pretty takes all day. Bonus – Most of the work is inside work and we get to hang in the air conditioning during the early morning. We do spend some time in the attic from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, running pipe and it is unbelievably hot by the time I crawl out of the attic for good at about 2:00 pm. I bend at the waist, my son strips my sweat-soaked and insulation covered t-shirt off me and I throw it away. I feel like I just chain smoked a dozen cigars.
Day 3 – Saturday
Not wanting to make the same mistake as yesterday, we get an early start on the attic work. I wear a filter mask as well. Up and going at 6:30 AM we start to run the pipe in earnest. The PEX pipe is stiffer than a garden hose, but more flexible than PVC. It comes in 500 foot coils that offer no easy way of uncoiling. We open 3 of the rolls and try to feed them from the inside of the coil+. We are running them 2 and 3 at time and the long runs become hopelessly tangled in the garage. I untangle them at least 6 times wasting valuable morning time (when it’s relatively cool in the attic). We take turns spending 20-40 minutes in the attic, drinking a full glass of water when we come down. By 8:00 AM we are both soaked with sweat and unable to drink enough to replace the sweating. I take a remote thermometer up in the attic to monitor the temperature. By 10:00 AM the sun is hitting the roof and the temperature starts to climb quickly. By 12:00 it is 102. About 3:30 we call it quits for the day and it is 116 in the attic by then. I have a raging headache and spend the rest of the day drinking water and Gatorade. I only pee once despite drinking over a gallon of water. The day is a big success though, we have pipe to almost all of the fixtures!
Utility Sink
Master bath sink – the back wall, behind the washer/dryer
Wall behind the master bath toilet, washing machine (this is in a closet in the utility room)
Closet behind the master bath shower
Kitchen sink – behind the dishwasher. I almost cried when plumbing this one. It was very difficult to reach (right at the edge of the house where the roof is very close and there is no room to work). I was lying down on my stomach in the attic, leverage was very poor and the tubing would only go so far…almost but not quite. We made the hole bigger and discovered a wire in our way. By the time this was done, I was panting, sweating and had invented some new curse words….but at the end, it was mostly just grunting and wimpering….
Full shot of the kitchen sink. If you look closely, you can see the puddle of water....one of many!
Pool bath sink (back of vanity)
Access hole behind the mirror, pool bath.
:thumbs: 
