If you were to plumb a new house.........

Kenneth Brown

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What would you use? PEX is interesting. It works out to be about the same price as copper. Copper fittings are cheaper but its more expensive per foot. Copper is tried and true while PEX is starting to be known as a quality material. This is for a 2 story home, 1800 sqft, 2 full baths, a half bath, and other normal utilities built on pier and beam.
 

Terry Olson

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

I was in a home plumbed with PEX recently. The runs looked great and I can see how it saves time and labor. I don't know how it holds up over time but what I've seen and read about it is all positive. It looks easy to work with too. I bet it flows quieter than copper too.<br /><br />Not that I have any special basis to know about it but if I were building I'd look at it too.
 

Boomyal

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

I vote for Pex KB.
 

Kenneth Brown

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

Lets throw a wrench in the program. Why not use just comman CPVC? Any problems with that? Water quality is a maybe issue so the copper I kinda worry about pinhole leaks. CPVC is as easy as it gets except for corners.
 

tommays

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

Ken<br /> i have a lot of time with plastic pipe the PEX looks like a good system BECAUSE you should be able to make runs with only a starting and ending connecton NOTHING in the middle to leak<br /><br />When you have to start glueing around corners and such it really leaves a LOT more places to have problems<br /><br />I love copper BUT there are issues comeing up with pinhole leaks<br /><br />AND in places i have worked that ise a LOT of water i have seen it need to be replaced within 15 years<br /><br />tommays
 

Xcusme

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

tommays, what issues are there with pinhole leaks?? Is this something new lately??
 

tommays

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

If you google it a lot of stuff comes up one issue is coldwater grounds causeing galvinic FUN another is it just wears OUT<br /><br />Then there are places with nasty water that leach out the copper :( <br /><br /><br />In the plants i work in we use more water in a week then most people might in a YEAR so i get to see a lot of stuff that might take 30 years in a house<br /><br />tommays
 

Paul Moir

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

The only place I've ever seen pinholes in copper is where it came in contact with a dissimilair metal and galvanic corrosion resulted. Usually the copper was the wrong thickness as well (Schedule M rather than L). Other than that, perfectly functional 100 year old copper is fairly common here.<br />PEX looks like the real deal that will knock copper off the throne. Sweeping turns rather than 90 elbows is one of the largest benefits. You might want to ask your plumber about a manifold system with seperate lines to each bath, washer, etc.<br />EDIT: CPVC is apparently allowed now but it never caught on here.
 

waterinthefuel

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

PVC is a plumbers tinker toy. I would vote for it any day or anything else out there!!
 

Kenneth Brown

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Re: If you were to plumb a new house.........

Thats were I'm headed Paul. I'll be doing the install myself. I've plumbed several houses before using copper and plain PVC. The plain PVC was my current house. They say its a no-no but its held for 6 years now, knock on wood. I'll be doing the PEX with several manifolds I think. The biggest drawback I see right now with the pex is the tool cost. A set of tools for the PEX costs several hundred, even on fleabay. Looks like I'll be buying them, and selling the more expensive ones later, and keeping some cheap ones for emergencies. <br /><br />Round two- Electrical
 
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