The plumber arrives!

After much anticipation and delay - the plumber has finally arrived. Not only has he arrived - but he has completed all of the rough-in work! So - I guess the title of this post should really be "the plumber has left the building!"

And the work actually looks really good. All of the new water pipes are using the "PEX" pipe instead of copper. At first I was skeptical of this, but after some investigation, I was convinced. Apparently, they have been using it in the northeast for about 15 years or so. It's flexible. It's color coded (blue for cold and red for hot). It mates to the existing copper without using a torch or solder (lead isn't good in your drinking water...). And it can expand to over quadruple it's original size so frozen water won't bust the pipe. How cool is that? And it has a 25 year warranty on the pipe AND the fittings. Can't complain about that. So in the end, I was convinced that it is at least as good (if not better than) copper.

Red and blue PEX pipes for the new sink
They are almost finished - just need the shut-offs installed!

New supply line for the fridge. No more running
the pipe behind the cabinets back to the sink!

The fittings tying the PEX back to the original copper.

There was a significant amount of PVC work to do as well. The sink drain had to be moved. The drain vent had to be moved. And the original drain vent was tied into the upstairs bathroom drains which meant that it had to be moved too. There's nothing like the smell of PVC cement to make you glad you aren't a plumber!

And with the plumbing complete - the drywall is now ready to go up! WOO HOO! We are now to the point where things are starting to go back together!