Plumbing Tight Spots

This is a blog post aimed at anyone who might be thinking of "finishing" or "renovating" their house, basement, bathroom, or kitchen (or anything that might "hide" plumbing piping or make it less accessible).

First some pictures.

These pictures were taken back in October.  The job was to replace the main shut-off valve, the inside shut-off for the hose bibb (outside water faucet), and the hose bibb itself.

Here are the before pictures:

The picture above is the inside shut-off valve for the outside hosebibb.  Good idea  - as it allows you to shut-off your outside tap.  However, it is in a very bad location and the piping arrangement does NOT allow for an easy replacement.  But as I always say to my clients, with enough time and money, most things are possible.

As you can clearly see, these valves are in some "tight spots".  The valve in the 3rd picture was particularly difficult to replace because it was so close to the "Tee" fitting and the "Tee" fitting was obstructed by the structure.  As well, there were several wires obstructing the actual replacement process.

Why should you be concerned about my difficulties as a plumber?

Well, because whatever takes me more time (to think about and to do "safely"), will be reflected in our price.

Here are the after pictures of the same job.

The above picture shows the new main shut-off valve (red handle) for the house (lower left part of picture) and the new inside shut-off (red handle) for the outside hosebibb (upper middle part of the above picture).

If you look at the lower part of the picture (between the blue and orange wires), you will see that I decided to cap off the Tee and source the water for the hose bibb (leading outside through the concrete) from a more accessible location (the red handle near the top of the picture above this picture).

The above picture shows the outside hosebibb connection (in the ceiling) with the flexible white Uponor PEX tubing and copper (the horizontal piece that is behind the orange wire going from right to left).

Here is a wider picture of that same hosebibb.  What I like to do, is loop the Uponor PEX so that future hosebibb repairs can possibly be made outside (by unclipping the white PEXtubing and pulling the hose bibb outside to repair it).

Here is a wider camera shot of the whole project (for the exception of the outside part - hose bibb handle and spout).  As you can see, most of the hosebibb service took place inside.



Needless to say, I think most plumbers (ones who are proud of their work anyway), would want as much exposed and accessible plumbing as possible.  It definitely makes sense from a "time" and "cost" perspective.  This would also allow plumbing to become a more beautiful trade (beyond the looks of the plumbing fixtures).


Thank you,

Jay Bortnik
Journeyman Jay Plumbing
780-266-3939