In my last post, I talked about receiving an outrageous quote for the plumbing work I needed for my bathroom remodel. It really pissed me off and made me more motivated to learn how to complete the plumbing myself. I am done setting the drains, and now I am ready for the more difficult part, rerouting the water pipes for the shower and wall mounted tub faucet. Additionally, I am going to try to add valves to the water pipes so I can have easy access water shut-off for the tub and shower water lines.
Water line pipes and pipe fittings
Water pipes can be made of many materials. Most common is copper, but you may also have cPVC, galvanized steel, or pex.
My bathroom currently has 1/2″ copper piping, so to keep it simple (hopefully) I am sticking with the copper pipe. In the past, the only way to connect copper pipes was to solder the fittings using a blowtorch. That’s a hard pass for me. Luckily, there is new technology in the filed of pipe fittings.
Push fittings
Push fittings allow you to join copper pipe without the use of soldering. Just like other copper pipe fittings, they come in a variety of shapes and types to fit any of your needs.
I used this tool on the end of the pipe. It makes a mark on the pipe to ensure your fitting is pushed in enough.
See the line? So far, pretty simple.
All you have to do is push the fitting up to the line to ensure a proper fit.
Now that I had a better idea of what I was doing, it was time to roll up my sleeves and get started…
Cutting the pipe
I honestly thought this would be a lot more complicated than it turned out to be. One quick google search and I landed on a simple copper pipe cutter.
I used a 1/2″ copper pipe cutter designed for small spaces. There are many pipe cutters available, however, I needed this one as I would be cutting the pipe in the wall and some of those spaces are really tight.
I simply slid the pipe cutter into place and turned counterclockwise about a million times until the pipe was cut through. The pipe cutter does a nice job of cutting the pipe squarely, which is needed when attaching the pipe fitting. Sometimes a bur or bumps are left on the edge of the pipe, so I filed them until they were smooth. Here is a quick video…
It’s really that simple! No need for large or loud tools… Finally!
Rerouting the shower water pipes
The shower water pipes were relatively simple to reroute. I chose an exposed shower system, so I only need to set two of the water pipes and I don’t need to worry about the traditional shower head pipe.
Shower head consideration
A couple things about the exposed (also known as retrofit) shower systems that I learned the hard way. First, some of them do not come with the valve, or the thing you turn the water on and off with. I ordered one online at first and had to return it. Second, many of the exposed shower systems that come with valves do not come with a thermostatic system. This is a big problem because that doesn’t meet building code, and there is a potential for scalding water to come out when someone else is using water in other parts of the house (i.e. flushing the toilet).
To begin I cut the existing pipe at the height I wanted the new shower valve to be located using my pipe cutting tool.
Next, I removed the anchors and pulled it out.
The shower system requires 2 1/2 inch female adapters to attach to. I created two of these by precisely measuring the pipe so that the push fitting had enough excess pipe to fit correctly.
I attached a 90 degree elbow pipe fitting to the existing water pipes, then attached the female adapters to the elbow. To anchor the water pipes, I cut and attached a piece of 2×4 between the studs.
Finally, I attached my new shoer valve to adjust the placement of the valves. This was a bot tricky because I needed to take into consideration the thickness of the finished wall to ensure the pipes stuck out enough (or not too much).
After many attempts, I anchored the water pipes into the appropriate spots.
That wasn’t too bad… It only took an hour of my time. However, I still need to check if it works, then I can pat myself on the back.
Rerouting the tub faucet water pipes
When rerouting the water pipes for the tub faucet, I had to first get the old one out.
Easy enough… But now I needed to figure out where to put the new one. The previous Jacuzzi tub had a crazy frame built into the wall. Because of that, there were a ton of additional 2x4s added to the wall framing, as you can see above.
I decided on moving the faucet valve to the other side of the stud. To do this, I needed to cut a hole in the stud so the water pipe could reach the valve.
I attached the valve to the wall by cutting a 2×4 and placing it between the studs. Just like the shower, I had to take into account the depth of the finished wall and place the 2×4 appropriately. This really sucks for me because I am horrible at math.
I attached the valve to the wall by cutting a 2×4 and placing it between the studs. Just like the shower, I had to take into account the depth of the finished wall and place the 2×4 appropriately. I attached with screws and ensured it was level.
TBH, this was relatively easy except for the parts where I needed to use my math skills. That part really hurt my brain.
I figured out where I needed the hole in the stud without any math skills involved. Thank goodness!
I cut my hole using a 1-inch hole saw. To cut all the way through the stud, I had to drill from both sides. Done and done!
This valve required a male adapter fitting. When attaching the adapter, I wrapped with thread sealing plumbers tape, then attached it to the valve.
I used a wrench to tighten the connection and had a minor freak out when the threads were not completely covered. However, a few google searches helped me to understand that the some threads can show and the seal will still be tight. Phew!
All that was left was to cut appropriate pipe lengths and attach them with the push fittings.
Luckily, the holes were already cut in the studs for the water pipes on the other side. I repeated the process of cutting at attaching pipes on the other side.
A couple things made this part insanely frustrating. First, my horrible math skills bared their ugly teeth. I miscalculated the depth at which the faucet should be mounted by 1/4 of an inch. So I had to undo everything and add a piece of plywood to the 2×4 as you can see below.
Additionally, the screws made the faucet mount in an upward slant, which was minor. However, when I attached the faucet, it was noticeable. So, again, I unscrewed the mount… with a few swear words. I attached metal washers behind the screws to stabilize the position and it finally was right!
Adding nail guards
To protect the pipes from potential damage, I installed nail guards on the studs with water pipes in them.
They are metal with spikes on the end which allows you to hammer them into place.
Attaching the valves
Now that the water pipes are attached I need to test them to make sure there are no leaks. To do that, I need to attach water shut-off valves so I can turn the water off. Here goes nothing…
To start, I turned off the main water supply to the house. Then I turned on all of the faucets to drain whatever water was left in the lines.
I cut and attached water pipes with push fittings to ensure there would be enough room to fully push the valve fittings into the pipe.
Using the pipe cutting tool, I cut the cap off of the pipe… No turning back now!
I filed the ends of the pipe to ensure there were no bumps or burs.
Additionally, there was metal left from when the plumber soldered the caps on. To ensure the proper fit, I filed the metal until it was gone.
Finally, I attached the quarter-turn valve by pushing it on each end of the pipe, Then repeated the process for the other pipe.
Testing the valve
Now it was time to test… I was incredibly nervous. This could be the moment Where I prove I can do this, or where I end up hiring out the rest of the bathroom remodel.
I attached the shower and tub faucets and made sure they were in the off position. My husband stayed in the bathroom, and while on the phone, I slowly turned the water supply on. It went something like this…
“Ok… Turn it on…”
“Turn it off, TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!”
Turns out I missed a little bit of the soldered metal which cased the seal of the valve to leak.
I removed the valve, filed the metal, and reattached the fitting. Ok, second try… This was really it.
Our second trial went swimmingly! The valves held, and the water pipes and fittings did not leak. Holy shit, I did it!
Installing access panel
The last thing I had to do was to create an access panel where we can actually access the valves I just put in.
I cut a 14×14 inch hole in the drywall using an oscillating power tool.
More holes in my closet…
Then I put a bead of adhesive along the perimeter and attached the access panel.
And that’s how I roll. In your face plumber! Next up, Leveling the subfloor.