Wow, its been 2 months since my last post, where does the time go. No wonder people keep asking me what is going on. So what have I been doing all that time? Plumbing. Ok, there was some time off to get ready for our big family Easter party, and a couple of play days in there, but for most evenings and weekends my world has revolved around plastic pipe. The DWV piping is pretty much done, with the exception of hooking up one upstairs bathtub and the master shower. I also have to plug a couple of drains and pressure test the system but that is pretty quick to do. It took me a lot longer than I though it would to get the DWV done, hopefully its all done right!
A couple of weeks ago I moved onto the supply piping. This moved much faster as I'm using PEX which is flexible. This means I can bend it around 
corners and don't have to spend lots of extra time making sure all the holes through joists line up perfectly. I also went with red and blue PEX so all my piping is color coded. The stuff is great to work with, when I need a fitting or tee I just use a special tool to expand the pipe, slide the fitting into the pipe, and then use another tool to slide a clamp sleeve over to lock everything together. Here is the master bath dual sinks.
corners and don't have to spend lots of extra time making sure all the holes through joists line up perfectly. I also went with red and blue PEX so all my piping is color coded. The stuff is great to work with, when I need a fitting or tee I just use a special tool to expand the pipe, slide the fitting into the pipe, and then use another tool to slide a clamp sleeve over to lock everything together. Here is the master bath dual sinks.On the master bedroom side of the house I'm 
using a manifold system for the hot and cold water. The water flows into the manifold and then a separate line goes out to each fixture (its also know as a home run system). This keeps the pressure higher to all the fixtures by cutting down the on the number of fitting the water has to pass through. You will also notice the open port on the hot water manifold, this is for the return loop. The return loop line goes to a pump and then back into the hot water tank. This circulates the hot water so I don't have to wait forever for hot water to get to the shower.
using a manifold system for the hot and cold water. The water flows into the manifold and then a separate line goes out to each fixture (its also know as a home run system). This keeps the pressure higher to all the fixtures by cutting down the on the number of fitting the water has to pass through. You will also notice the open port on the hot water manifold, this is for the return loop. The return loop line goes to a pump and then back into the hot water tank. This circulates the hot water so I don't have to wait forever for hot water to get to the shower.Speaking of the master shower, I've gone a little bit overboard. Its amazing how much money 
you can spend on a shower. Originally I was just going to have a shower head on each wall but when I started looking around I found all these neat things you could have. So now I have 3/4" lines feeding into a thermostatic valve that controls temperature (that's the big hunk of brass in the picture). Out of that valve the line splits into three lines each with their own control valve that turns on and off the water. Those will feed a shower head on each wall and a "rainfall" head that will be mounted in the ceiling. If I paid retail for all the parts it would have cost me half my plumbing budget just for the shower (good thing I'm a good shopper).
you can spend on a shower. Originally I was just going to have a shower head on each wall but when I started looking around I found all these neat things you could have. So now I have 3/4" lines feeding into a thermostatic valve that controls temperature (that's the big hunk of brass in the picture). Out of that valve the line splits into three lines each with their own control valve that turns on and off the water. Those will feed a shower head on each wall and a "rainfall" head that will be mounted in the ceiling. If I paid retail for all the parts it would have cost me half my plumbing budget just for the shower (good thing I'm a good shopper).The supply plumbing is about 90 percent complete. I'll finish it off once I've got the hot water tank installed. Of course that doen't get intalled until the radiant heat distribution panel is in. That is currently on order and should be here in a couple weeks. In the mean time I'll be working on the upstairs radiant heating coils, outside trim & siding and electical. Me busy, nah, not at all!
