Should I re plumb guest bath while updating that room?


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Old 03-25-16, 05:06 PM
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Should I re plumb guest bath while updating that room?

A few years ago I had my house interior completely renovated, except the guest bath was left vintage. At that time the kitchen and master bath were entirely replumbed, and the plumber also ran new hot/cold water supply lines in the attic up to and over the guest bath, but we did not replumb the guest bath at that time, opting instead to leave the old plumbing in the guest bath. So the new guest bath supply lines are still waiting in the attic to be hooked up to the guest bath fixtures (bathtub/shower and sink).

Now I want to update the guest bath too. I want to do the wall and floor tile work myself. But I will call a plumber to do any/all plumbing.

One option (the easiest) is to not redo the guest bath plumbing, instead just redo wall and floor tiles. In this case the guest bath will look good but have the old plumbing, and the new supply lines above will still be unused.

A second option is to also tear out the drywall hiding the old sink and bathtub plumbing fixtures and go ahead and replace the bathtub/shower fixtures (the sink is new, but valves are old) and hook them up to the new supply lines up in the attic waiting just above the guest bathroom. If I did this, the entire house would now be new plumbing.

The existing guest bath plumbing seems to work fine, except that blue stains had formed around the bathtub drain before I bought the house. I don't know if those stains portend a need to replumb the guest bath plumbing or not.

Should I go the extra step (while I'm updating this bath anyway) and hook up the new supply lines above the guest bath and therefore have the house entirely finished/replumbed? Or leave the old guest bath plumbing alone because it's still working fine and just update the walls and floors?

Thanks
 
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Old 03-25-16, 06:35 PM
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If the existing feed lines are in the slab & you don't plan to move anytime soon, the answer is yes.
 
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Old 03-25-16, 06:40 PM
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Now is the time to update. The cost is minimal now with the walls open vs then everything is closed up. To me a no brainer. Check back on your tile project we can assist on that as well.
 
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Old 03-25-16, 07:28 PM
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hook them up to the new supply lines up in the attic waiting just above the guest bathroom. If I did this, the entire house would now be new plumbing.
The plumber was smart in planning ahead, you have new feeds available. But that doesn't address the problem of how to abandon the existing pipes.
It doesn't make sense to cap the old pipes off at the bathroom, that leaves charged pipes in the slab or some other place where leaks could develop.
You would need to cap off the old pipes at the source and then use the new lines.
 
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Old 03-26-16, 02:27 AM
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Thank you for the replies.

I'm not sure whether the old/existing supply lines in the slab can be capped at the source. I'll have to ask a plumber I guess. So that would leave a choice of leaving charged lines unused either in the attic (the new lines) or the slab (the old lines). Presumably the plumber who added the new lines figured it would be a good idea to use them at some point.

Question: if I do all the tear out of all the old tile and walls myself, would I then be able to hire a wall guy to come in and reinstall and prep new walls to code, so that they are proper and ready for me to add tile and paint? I don't like the idea of me installing new walls because my research leaves me confused on the right way of doing it (whether to add water barriers or not, what kind of boards to use, whether I need two people to hang boards, etc).

Thanks again!
 
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Old 03-26-16, 06:23 AM
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There are people here that can help you with wall prep. It's not too difficult and they can help with material selection.

It's unfortunate the plumber didn't tell you where to abandon the old lines when the time came to use the new. It's hard to guess, you might need someone with equipment to detect the lines.

Do you remember seeing a manifold in the wall when the original repipe was done?

Edit: Are the new pipes charged? If not then maybe the plumber ran the lines to the location where they need connected. That location is probably where you will feed the new lines and abandon the old.
 

Last edited by Handyone; 03-26-16 at 06:45 AM.
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Old 03-26-16, 06:48 AM
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So I think I figured out there is no way of capping the old lines at the source without also stopping water flow to my washer/dryer closet inside the house. The washer still relies on the old lines.

So if I replumbed my guest bath using the new source lines in the attic, I'd have to cap the old lines in the guest bath walls.
 
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Old 03-26-16, 07:05 AM
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I have a hot water heater closet in the garage. The main cold supply line comes in there from out of the concrete block wall (of the house) behind the water heater. Then all the new plumbing is tied in within this closet and distributed to the attic to my master bath, kitchen, and guest bath. The new lines going to the guest bath are charged I believe.

The old hot line comes out of the heater then goes back into the concrete wall and presumably into the slab on its way to the washer/dryer closet and guest bath. The new hot line is tied off the line out of the heater (of course) and sent into the attic.

I'm guessing the old lines in the kitchen and master bath were capped off (and remain charged) in those areas after the new lines came in.

I don't see a way to access and cap off the old cold line. But I could cap off the old hot line near the heater before it goes back into the block wall (if I find a way to supply new hot and cold lines to the washer).
 
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Old 03-26-16, 07:42 AM
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I'm lost
Hopefully someone will come in with an idea. You might need a plumber.

It makes no sense to me to run new pipes and keep the old pipes charged. The original plumber must have had a plan to eventually bypass all pipes in the slab. A plumber could probably figure out what that plan was fairly easy.
 
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Old 03-28-16, 10:10 AM
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I agree with the others, you've already replumbed the rest of the house, might as well finish it up while you're working on the bathroom. You can always find a contractor/handyman/drywaller to do the wall work.

I would have your original plumber come back and finish it up unless you want to DIY it. I'm sure he had the plan on how to disconnect all the old piping and get you running only on new piping. It'll be one less thing to worry about any old piping springing a leak.
 
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Old 03-30-16, 12:01 PM
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Thanks everyone.

One more question....

If i start tearing out walls, must I uninstall the bathtub to get all the old walls out?

Or can I leave the bathtub where it is, and just tear out the walls around the tub, then install new walls around the tub after all the plumbing is done?

If I have to also remove the bathtub so I can proceed with wall demo, I'm not sure I want to do this renovation by myself.
 
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Old 03-31-16, 10:37 AM
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It sounds like you're in luck. The bathtub is the first thing in and last thing out, so you should be able to leave it in place as long as you don't need to do any flooring work under it. The walls are put up over the tub and tiled or covered.

Be sure to cover the tub well with cardboard and/or heavy drop cloths so you don't scratch or ding it while you demo and rebuild.
 
 

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