A 1923 bungalow, fully rep-iped.
A craftsman bungalow with original heart-pine flooring, a clawfoot tub, and eight decades of accumulated plumbing — including polybutylene from a 1986 remodel — replaced with Type L copper over nine working days.
Three eras of pipe, all at the end of their service lives.
The original 1923 galvanized was still in the walls. A 1986 remodel had added polybutylene to the bathroom additions. A 2004 service had patched in PEX-B at the water heater. Pressure was low at the second bath, water at the kitchen sink came out the color of weak tea, and the homeowners had stopped having guests over.
Minimum drywall cuts. Maximum copper.
The original heart-pine baseboard was non-negotiable. We mapped the supply runs from the crawl space and worked upward — copper home-run manifold in the basement, branches snaked through the original wall cavities, three planned drywall openings (later patched by the homeowner's painter, blind to where we'd been).
The clawfoot tub stayed. Its supply lines got period-appropriate Rohl Edge cross-handle fittings. The kitchen got new Type L hot and cold to a single Rohl R7505 pull-down. We removed 380 feet of polybutylene from inside walls and replaced it with copper running through the basement and up to the fixtures from below.
| Removed | Galvanized supply (est. 60 ft) · polybutylene (est. 380 ft) · PEX-B (est. 24 ft) |
|---|---|
| Installed | Type L copper throughout · brass dielectric isolators at heater |
| Water heater | Replaced 1991 A.O. Smith with Bradford White RG250H6N (50 gal) |
| PRV | Watts LF25AUB-Z3 set to 55 psi · new expansion tank |
| Hammer arrestors | Added at every quarter-turn fixture (8 locations) |
| Kitchen finish | Rohl R7505 pull-down · Rohl A1408 angle valves |
| Bathroom finish | Rohl Edge cross-handle (3-piece widespread, polished nickel) |
| Drywall openings | 3 planned, all in linen-closet or behind-vanity locations |
The clawfoot is happy. So are the owners.
Pressure at the back bath now reads 56 psi static, 51 dynamic with all fixtures open. The kitchen water has been clear since day one. The homeowner emailed at six months to ask if it was normal that nothing had gone wrong. We confirmed that, yes, that is normal.