Plumbing

You guessed it, it's Eamonn posting again, Cacky still won't post.

I need to catch up a bit here so I figured I would post our plumbing project. All of the pipes in the house were galvanized steel, we hardly had any water pressure.  I knew that they rusted from the inside out but I had no idea just how much the pipes would close up in the process. I couldn't fit my pinkie finger inside most of the pipes. We used my new angle grinder with cut off wheel on it to cut out all of the old pipes (thanks Garrett, it's a great tool). You can see yellow angle grinder on the washing machine.  as well as some of the connectors we used for the project.

Dan had done some plumbing in the pas and recommended that we use PEX pipes this time. Pex pips are plastic put a little bit flexible at the same time.  It is easy to work with and supposedly can't burst if water were to freeze in it.  Every time to hook up a piece of the pex to another piece you need a connector with ribs on it and a clamp. There are different size clamps for each size of pipe.  We used 3/4in pipe for the main supply around the basement and then everywhere we branched it off we used 1/2in pipe.  You can see below how this system work, slide the pex over the fitting and slide a compression ring over the pex. You then use special crimpers to crimp the compression rings so that they won't come off. You only get 1 shot, once it's crimped you have to cut it off.  The process is so easy it's amazing. 

Here is the plumbing pro at work

I have also been introduced to ball valves,  No more of those stupid screw valves that we are used to seeing on our hoses on the side of the house.  Below is a picture of the main valve in the house, so smooth, works like a champ. I will never go back to screw valves.

We also put a basin sink in the basement. I am not sure why, but Cacky wanted one and I have to say it seemed like a good idea.



There are still some things to do as we have ripped apart the kitchen (post coming soon) already and some things in the bathroom are still going to get redone.  I only managed to completely soak us once. Not to bad in my opinion. One bit of advice, when you are crawling around all day remove your keys from your pocket, If you do not you will wake up the next day with a very bruised leg!