New home - hybrid copper / CPVC or PEX?

You can get some copper and fittings and build your own manifold. Infact you could make one all frpm PEX fittings...it would B larger but it would still work the same.

dont take me personally

sorry about getting off the subject of this thread...


You are probalby worrying too much, or are having buyers remorse......you see troubles all around you and it starts to wear on you.....


But dont worry

Once Hillary Clinton gets elected,
then all our troubles will be over...LOL

When my parents bought the house I grew up in, they opted to not finish the entire second floor...no insulation, wallboard, fixtures, subdivided into rooms, nothing. To get an occupancy certificate, you need kitchen, bathroom, bedroom(s)...you dont' need the whole place fiinished. If there is a den or master suite downstairs, you may be able to use the den as a bedroom until you can get the money to complete the upstairs, or even part of the upstairs. You could save tens of thousands by not finishing all of the areas, and get to it when you can later. Your tax bill would be lower too, since many places tax you on the quantity of bedrooms and bathrooms (and finished) floorspace.

Typical contractor fees around here range anywhere 10 to 20%. It's none of my business really, but if your acting as your own contractor and you've done a good job managing your costs, then you should still be in the black even with the minor overuns you described.

I'm curious though - does your lender's appraiser work off of straight square footage/area or will they be considering that this is a custom home? In a lot of appraisers eyes, details add nothing to the value of a home. To them, custom cherry cabinets have no more value than your basic contractor grade nor do they add for copper and subtract for PEX.

Apologies for contributing to the thread drift.

Good luck.

-Sam

sjsmithjr said:

I'm curious though - does your lender's appraiser work off of straight square footage/area or will they be considering that this is a custom home? In a lot of appraisers eyes, details add nothing to the value of a home. To them, custom cherry cabinets have no more value than your basic contractor grade nor do they add for copper and subtract for PEX.

Apologies for contributing to the thread drift.

Good luck.

-Sam

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I'm not sure how they worked it out. I was told by the bank that frequently houses when appraised based on stated amenities and content frequently are lower because they take into account that you could paint every room pink or whatever. They typically appraise higher after completion if the quality is there. I don't know if having copper in the walls will help or not. I wish I'd paid more attention to details on costs before starting, because some of my material and labor estimates were low. I've managed to pull some costs back out to compensate, but it's been a struggle to both do the work and research enough to pull costs out AND a full time job and raise kids. I'm getting burnt out really...

Redwood said:

I have a lot of copper in my garage in barrels that has come out of the homes that you speak of... Its going to take that foul brew they have in their well a long time to eat through the PEX I installed. Water can eat copper better than any mouse could eat PEX.

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I'm putting PEX in my addition (3+ bathrooms).

I'm obviously optimistic that the tubing will last. From a material science perspective, the stuff is solid and very inert. If there are going to be problems, I'm willing to bet it will be at the connections. I'm not sure what the logic is that Cu would be less reactive to hard water, Chlorine, etc. I defies my engineering training and my experience as a hydraulic systems engineer.

I initially installed a home store version of PEX connections. Based on outside reviews, comments from this thread, and feedback from a few industrial plumbers who have used the PEX in labs, I changed to WIRSBO. I like the tubing and fittings much better than *******. I strongly recommend the Wirsbo system. It took a few tries to get the hang of it, but the rings are cheap. I have ripped out all other brands of PEX in my system. (I'm not sure what to do with the scrap, maybe a heck of a sprinkler system).

Just to be safe I have used Cu in the walls and PEX in the basement. I actually connect in wall, but I located the connection below the height of the baseboard. If I have to replace a fitting later, the repair damage will be hidden by the baseboard.

I have used a ton of bend supports (Wirsbo brand is the best I have found) to make the system neat. There are not any 'winding bends'. I've also supported the PEX every 24 inches and used suspension clips where the PEX passes through floors and studs. It seemed like it looked a lot neater this way.

My inspector recommended that I place arresters at all stub outs. It seemed like overkill, but I have placed Sioux Chief arresters at all connections.

I use a Manablock manifold. I'm not sure I would recommend this brand again. It just seems flimsy. I like the concept, though.

I did not choose PEX because it was cheaper. I choose PEX because it seemed much easier to run in an old hose with a low head height basement.

Let me know via a private message if you want a recommendation for online vendors I have used.

Steve

Well, i just made this argument academic. There was a big sale at ******* locally, and i picked up enough copper to do the whole house. Apparently the cost per stick was a couple bucks cheaper than wholesale. I don't know how they can sell it this cheap. So I'll stick to copper for now.

As far as the copper longevity question, copper is vulnerable in an acidic environment, where it will develop pinholes. We have alkaline water, due to hardness. I'm running a water softener anyway.

Thanks for the advice guys.