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A PEX In Time

When we bought our house over a year ago, we knew that the plumbing was going to need an overhaul. The galvanized pipes a both in terrible shape and the wrong size for the house as well. The sheer number of Ts that they used in different areas to add fixtures is alarming.

You get the idea.

One thing I was not expecting was to have no outdoor water. Sadly, due to them not draining the pipes sufficiently, the outdoor cooper pipe burst at an elbow, leaving us with no outdoor water.

It is hard to try and grow grass during a drought with no outdoor water. Ours did not.

So, with two projects in the horizon I ordered the first bit of tools and materials a for this huge and ongoing project. I will be switching everything from galvanized steel and copper to PEX tubing. While I will not be running individual lines to every level, I will probably use a number of smaller manifolds to keep a more constant pressure around the house.

We are fortunate that most of the plumbing is relatively accessible. Besides the second floor bathroom, everything else I can easily get at from the basement with no demo needed. I will also be working in stages, using transition pieces in order to by myself time and keep water flowing to the rest of the house.

The “opening shots” of this battle will be adding a new frost-free sillcock so that we have outdoor water again. Hopefully all of the needed supplies will be here this week and the project will go smoothly.

Otherwise, this could get very interesting very fast.