My wife and I close on a house in West Memorial (Houston) in a few weeks. The house was built in the late 60's and is in great condition with quite a few improvements having been made by the current owners. However, one improvement that they did not make was replacing the galvanized pipes which likely need to be replaced in the near future.

I know there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but do any of you have input on whether to go with PEX or copper?

i did pex in my old house when we repiped.

it's much easier to retrofit in and minimized the amount of holes needed

PEX but more specifically I would use Uponor pipe and fittings.

PEX
Advantages - cheaper, easier to install (minimal drywall damage, easy tool)
Disadvantages - only been in the U.S. for 10 years (30 years in Europe), ugly (can make pretty by stubbing out with copper)

Copper
Advantages - tried and true, pretty
Disadvantages - expensive, difficult to install (drywall damage, soldering)

Regarding the central manifold system...I personally don't care for it...well...depends on how the rest of the plumbing is done. I've seen houses where the manifold is the only way to cut off water to _____ fixture. If you simply want to work on a single plumbing fixture...say on the opposite side of the house from the manifold system...it's nice to have a shut off valve at that fixture so you aren't having to trek back and forth a million times. I've also seen (and own a property) that has both a central manifold system and individual valves at each plumbing fixture. This isn't a horrible concept but in my opinion it's overkill and just one more thing that can (and eventually will) break, need repair, etc.

Going to have to redo the plumbing in my old farm house out in the country, where there are mice. Evidently, you have to put metal collars around tubing for holes in studs or sheathing to make eating through the stud more attractive than eating through the tubing. Since any 60+ y/o home has probably had a mouse or two, it is something to consider.

Think I'll stick with copper for the hot water, and minimum of sch 40 PVC for everything else.

you can still install shutoffs at the individual faucets, toilets, etc.

I know...that's how a property I own was done...overkill if you ask me. No point in having the central manifold system AND valves at each fixture...just more stuff that can break.

Really, it's all just a matter of convenience and to some degree cost. I saved a ton of money with this as a DIY project, adding shutoffs in both spots didn't matter much.

I built manifolds for each bathroom in my house. It saved me some time this past weekend when I reconfigured the master bathroom toilet that is also inline with an outside spigot.

And yes to Uponor! Great products.

The central manifold eliminates all fittings and you should have a run of pex from the manifold to the fixture. Pex is inexpensive. I get your point.

If you have a tankless hot water heater and add a recirculation pump then you will always have hot water at each fixture when it is turned on. Theoretically, less waste of water.

I'm not sure why you replied to my message (maybe because my previous message wasn't very clear so I made an edit), but yes that would create less waste. Frankly my house isn't large enough and is configured as such that I typically have hot water within a few seconds.

I've been contemplating tackling this project for our 3/2 ranch stye in Houston house. Any advice on how to fixture connections at impossible locations (kitchen and bathroom faucets under the cabinets)? Did you guys have to cut out holes inside the cabinets? Our 2 showers are both tiled all the way to the ceiling and I'm hoping not to take off any tiles.

yeah they cut holes under our cabinets but they patched everything up.as part of the job.

for showers they went in behind the fixture but ours were easy to access. the master shower already had a hole cut out in the wall from someone replacing something in the past, and the shower we had upstairs had attic space behind it.

jaggiemaggie said:

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I've been contemplating tackling this project for our 3/2 ranch stye in Houston house. Any advice on how to fixture connections at impossible locations (kitchen and bathroom faucets under the cabinets)? Did you guys have to cut out holes inside the cabinets? Our 2 showers are both tiled all the way to the ceiling and I'm hoping not to take off any tiles.

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As sts7049 said, you basically cut holes where you want/have to your connections. I still have holes that I'm in the process of patching. For showers/bath tubs, you will want to access from the back side of the wall, as well as in the attic since you need to run pipes to the connection. Unless you are very fortunate, you will probably need to get a little creative for a few of the connections. I had some challenges in the master bathroom and the kitchen.

Yeah I've been trying to figure out how to do our master shower because right behind is the other bathroom shower wall, so I can't access it without taking tiles off... then the kitchen sink is an exterior wall side with a window...

Yeah that is interesting. So you have tile on both sides of the wall at the shower connections? Are both of these showers only or is one a tub? If that's the case I'm not sure how you would redo the connections without tearing out tile. I think patching up the tile is a fairly simple job, but of course you want to avoid adding extra work to an already labor intensive job.

For the kitchen, I also had a window in the way of my connection to the sink. So I ran PEX hot and cold to a side of the window and out the hole I cut in the back wall of the cabinet, which for me was just sheetrock. Then ran an exposed hot and cold line to where I needed to connect to the sink and dishwasher (exposed in the sense that it is outside the wall but not visible as it's in the cabinet). I saw a video on youtube where a plummer pulled out the dishwasher, ran lines behind it and then an exposed line to the sink.

I'll say this though, I had a really good time with the project. With all the challenges of the connections, hours of work in the hot attic, the frustrations with not getting the pipes up through just right, etc. It was actually a fun job and very rewarding when we turned on the water in the new system for the first time.

Yeah both sides of the wall is tiled. Both bathrooms are tubs. As far as connections, did you go with shark bites?

No. I used Uponor/Wirsbo products (ProPEX). I was told by a couple of different folks that you want to use PEX-A material (PEX has 3 different ratings A, B, C). And they both independently said use Uponor. The downside to Uponor is the required tool for making connections is about $400. I still saved thousands though. I got 2 quotes to redo the pipes from different companies (one was copper and one was PEX) and they were both over $7500. I spent a little more than $1400 on materials.

I don't know what rating the Sharkbite system is given. It's going to be PEX-A or PEX-B though. I believe PEX-C is for non-potable water. Don't trust me on that though because I stopped paying attention to a lot of that stuff when I knew I was going with Uponor.

Get it done before you move in. I had my house fixed with Pex. Plumber loved he didn't have to turn water back on, he finished faster and could work later at night if he wanted. And since your walls will be opened and you'll have to patch and paint, might as well cut some more holes and install all the surround sound speakers you want and add extra lighting and fans if needed.