New slab construction

I need your oppinions. My dad and I have been discussing (arguing) over a new house we're building. He wants to put the hot and cold lines under the slab. I think it would be easier to run them through the attic and down the walls. My thinking is, if they ever leak they are easier to fix. His thinking is the cold water (well water) would get condensation on it running through the attic. I figure this could be fixed by pipe insulatation. Are there any real pro's or cons to either one? In your words..which way would the "professionals" do it. Its a single story house. Thanks
Jeremy

I believe most builders have given up on running copper under the slab, because there are just too many down-sides. In the Southern Califorinia area, there are many LARGE companies whose sole business is repiping. The two main culprits are PB and slab copper.

slab pipeing

running the pipes in the slab are the most commonly used method to do it...

Are you in an area that gets below 30 in the winter time????

if you are , the pipes can freeze in the atic too.....and thats not good at all.




basically if you run copper in the slab , if you rellly want it to last

all you got to do is insualte the pipes with rubber aramaflex

just insualte both the hot ant the cold for the total run under the concrete
and most likely it will last you about 50 years or more.

most problems under the slab are because they only install the rubber aramaflex where the pipes go through the concrete at the floor.

just go the extra mile and totally protect the pipe for the full runn under the concrete and then it is extra good.

If you really want to do a bang up job you could also run it out of commercial K copper... 50 bucks more...

the extra expence for the aramaflex will be only about 50 dollars and is well worth it...

if its yoiur own home, why not spend a little more and do it extra good?


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others are going to mention the Wirsbo---pex stuff too....

its all good under the slab, but should in my opinon be insulated with

armaflex too just for fun and extra protection.

pipes

Around here, if the plumbers use copper tubing it goes under the slab in armorflex insulation. If the use PEX it goes in the attic. Pipes in the attic get very hot in the summer time so the customers learn to live with very warm and hot water, not hot and cold.

question about the hot attic water

just wondering about the lines going through the attic.

have you ever had problems with the tempering shower valves

not functioiing properly because of the rush of hot water from both the hot

and cold sides of the valve????

of course this would only be a situation that would last till all the hot water in the cold lines is totally out, and that would depend on how long the runs are in the attic...
something you would just have to get used to in the desert

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I once had a SIMMONS tempering valve in a commercial situation that didnt work properly because the plumber actually ran hot to the hot side and ran
a luke warm water to the cold side instead of real cold, cold water.

He tied in a return line from the recircualtion pump for the water heater to the incomming cold lien to the tempering valve.
This totally messed up the simmons valves operation. It bounced all over the place. Had to be changed to only COLD incomming water..
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A non commercial simmons tempering tub or shower valve , would it mess up or act erratic with hot water comming down from the attic??

A Delta Pressure balanced valve functiosn by a change in pressure only,

or does temperature have a role in the function of the valve???
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only a temporary inconvienance, but still a pain


and

I guess some scumbag could claim that they were scalded too....


any opinions about this....

Live in SC

I live in South Carolina, it does get below freezing some, rarely but every now and then. So basically I should either run insulated copper in the slab, or insulated PVC in attic. Would copper be better in the attic too?

Jeremy,

I live north of you in DE. Our home had the pipes moved to the atic before we purchased it, some are copper others cpcv. They are covered with insulation wrap, and blown in insulation.

Freezing nor summer heat have been a problem. Depending on your water conditions, copper can give you a problem if untreated. Here on the eastern shore our water is on the acid side.

Paul

wirsbo or pex in attic

you should really just put in wirsbo or pex in the attic....

if going in the attic is the way yoiu want to do this....

the Wirsbo can freeze up but it will never split and break

where the copper will freeze and break. leaving yoiu with substantian damage