"Andrew" wrote in message
ups.com...

I'm rehabbing a bathroom on the second floor of my old house in
Philadelphia, and I'm running all new supply lines. I'll be tapping
into copper in the basement, and I have a wide open chase to get to
the second floor. What should I run? Copper is getting awfully
expensive these days, and I'm curious about the cpvc and pex. The
simplicity really appeals to me. What's the word on the reliability
of the plastics? Are they really easier to work with? What about
durability? Am I going to have to make sure that all the connections
are easily accessible? I'm just curious about general opinions people
have and what to watch out for. Thanks,

Andrew


I'll take copper over PEX any day. PEX is along the same lines as all the
disposable products that are dominating the market. It's just another low
cost item to make somebody more Money. It's probably a very small factor in
the price of a house. PRICE, TIME, QUALITY any two but not all three. Best
not to feed the mice use copper.

On Mar 2, 8:59 pm, "Sacramento Dave" wrote:
"Andrew" wrote in message

ups.com...



I'm rehabbing a bathroom on the second floor of my old house in
Philadelphia, and I'm running all new supply lines. I'll be tapping
into copper in the basement, and I have a wide open chase to get to
the second floor. What should I run? Copper is getting awfully
expensive these days, and I'm curious about the cpvc and pex. The
simplicity really appeals to me. What's the word on the reliability
of the plastics? Are they really easier to work with? What about
durability? Am I going to have to make sure that all the connections
are easily accessible? I'm just curious about general opinions people
have and what to watch out for. Thanks,

Andrew

I'll take copper over PEX any day. PEX is along the same lines as all the
disposable products that are dominating the market. It's just another low
cost item to make somebody more Money. It's probably a very small factor in
the price of a house. PRICE, TIME, QUALITY any two but not all three. Best
not to feed the mice use copper.

These are all great comments. I'm curious about this "feeding the
mice" that you mention (and others allude to). Has anyone really seen
mice eat through PVC? Incidentally, I took a pass by Home Depot the
other day and noticed that they don't even sell PEX. I guess I'd have
to go to a plumbing supply place?

Andrew wrote:
[...]

These are all great comments. I'm curious about this "feeding the
mice" that you mention (and others allude to). Has anyone really seen
mice eat through PVC? Incidentally, I took a pass by Home Depot the
other day and noticed that they don't even sell PEX. I guess I'd have
to go to a plumbing supply place?


Must be your HD. We bought all our PEX pipe at our HD. They even had
a few PEX fittings as well.

--
Grandpa

"Grandpa" wrote in message news:QXoGh.152$iD4.2@trnddc06...
Andrew wrote:
[...]

These are all great comments. I'm curious about this "feeding the
mice" that you mention (and others allude to). Has anyone really seen
mice eat through PVC? Incidentally, I took a pass by Home Depot the
other day and noticed that they don't even sell PEX. I guess I'd have
to go to a plumbing supply place?


Must be your HD. We bought all our PEX pipe at our HD. They even had a few
PEX fittings as well.

--
Grandpa

HD in my areas absolutely doesn't sell PEX either, they sell tons of PB, but
no PEX. Last time I asked, the answer I got was "PEX is for trailer homes,
we don't sell it here."

Has anyone really seen mice eat through PVC?

I've never heard of a mouse eating PVC pipe, but they'll chew through just
about anything if they have a reason. Better to get rid of the mice than
worry about whether they'll eat your plumbing. (They'll eat your food too,
but you don't avoid food because of it).

I took a pass by Home Depot the other day and noticed that
they don't even sell PEX.

We have a Lowes and three Home Depots in our area. I think I have seen a
roll of PEX at Lowes, and maybe one of the Home Depot's. But, it was on a
bottom shelf, you had to look hard for it.

We bought all our PEX pipe at our HD.
They even had a few PEX fittings as well.

And that's the catch. PEX isn't of much use without the appropriate
fittings, manifolds, and the crimping tool. Even if I was lucky enough to
find the PEX I needed at the home centers, I couldn't do anything with it
unless I had the fittings and the tool.

You could always order everything you need online, or at a local plumbing
supply, but that isn't much help if you spring a leak and need to make
emergency repairs. Sure, leaks shouldn't occur under normal circumstances,
but accidents happen. You could accidently pierce a pipe in a wall with a
nail while hanging a picture, or the fabled mouse could chew a hole in the
pipe. Using CPVC makes it easy to go to any local store and get the
supplies I need to fix it. And since no special tools are required, I can
easily keep a few supplies on hand just for those kinds of emergencies.

Anthony

"HerHusband" wrote in message

And that's the catch. PEX isn't of much use without the appropriate
fittings, manifolds, and the crimping tool. Even if I was lucky enough to
find the PEX I needed at the home centers, I couldn't do anything with it
unless I had the fittings and the tool.

A local hardware chain, Aubuchon's carries some PEX and has compression
fitting for it. In my case, I needed to do a 6' patch where the copper was
a problem. It is a situation where it is difficult to get to solder, can't
get the right fittings, etc. PEX was a simple fix. While Sacramento Dave
like copper because it is a lifetime job, this particular setup has failed
twice because of a bad setup from the original plumbing job.