I've been tasked with a small replumbing project at work, to replace the water lines to the bathroom, as we've had way too many burst pipes lately due to limited insulation and rat p1ss(recycling plant, non-potable well water feeding just a sink and toilet.) Current plumbing takes an extremely long path(up into a ceiling in the plumbing closet, across the ceiling of the neighboring locker room, then down a wall, and back to a perpendicular wall and into the next room, which is the bathroom(layout made sense when it as was the water closet and 2 bathrooms, as it previously was) The entire surrounding area around these rooms in all 3 dimensions are unheated, so the decision is to relocate the plumbing into the interior of the rooms, as they're the only 24/7 heated rooms in the building, the large room above these being heated 8-10hrs a day.
As of now, I'm in a holding pattern, as my normal job has gone beyond insane, although no hurry on this project beyond being done before winter(6+ months.) With this amount of time out and also waiting for time at home to dig out the drywall tools I bought 12yrs ago, used for 6 months and tucked away in a corner that's going to take half a day+ to get to(as some drywall repairs(rat damage, as well as the last water leak took out a large chunk of ceiling and cut a hole in the wall) are also part of this project.)
As of now, I'm considering either going with push to connect fittings everywhere(as any leak will be readily visible outside the wall); or to go with crimp connections(which I'm leaning towards due to fitting availability), and if I go that route, do I have the company buy a good PEX crimp tool knowing that after a couple dozen crimps it'l likely never get used again, or do I personally just buy a cheap Amazon $20-30 PEX crimp tool, and keeping it in my toolbox, although I currently have little to no use for it?
As I'm no longer really in the trades, I do find the need to give a reasoning behind doing this my self rather than having them hire an outside firm.... Management has expressed an interest in doing as much in house as possible, which normally I wouldn't care about. Also the last contractor we had in to replace a door and renovate these bathrooms did such a substandard job that I was critiquing their work while they were still there(30" commercial knock down door jamb installed in a 32" opening, using 2x4 attached to the heavy steel framing... then using the completely wrong screws(something like thishttps://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-5-16-in-x-4-in-Bronze-Ceramic-Truss-Exterior-Wood-Screws/1000939828) , then installing the hinges to the frame using wood screws rather than the standard commercial door hinge screws that must have come with the hinges. Found both of these flaws due to failures that have happened in the 2 years since they did the work, which I\'ve had to repair) From what I saw at the time, and have since found they are a residential handyman type company that was dabbling in the commercial/industrial world. Whoever they'd hire this time would be equally shoddy work. If I do the work, I'll know it'll be done close enough to right that I won't be forced to be doing repairs in the next year or less, and hopefully also abusing managements trust a little to get a few comfort items(i.e. the "locker room" after the aformentioned contractor left was literally an empty room.) If I do the work, I'm sure the manager I'm having buy materials will get as exactly what I want as is possible, including the mineral wool insulation, to the point I'm thinking about adding an extra bundle as we've had other areas that rodents have eaten the insulation out of, ond the now on leave supervisor is terrified of spending company money(hence the rat chewed hole in the ceiling being filled with spray foam.)
Anywho, thoughts on cheap PEX tools for one off jobs?
As of now, I'm in a holding pattern, as my normal job has gone beyond insane, although no hurry on this project beyond being done before winter(6+ months.) With this amount of time out and also waiting for time at home to dig out the drywall tools I bought 12yrs ago, used for 6 months and tucked away in a corner that's going to take half a day+ to get to(as some drywall repairs(rat damage, as well as the last water leak took out a large chunk of ceiling and cut a hole in the wall) are also part of this project.)
As of now, I'm considering either going with push to connect fittings everywhere(as any leak will be readily visible outside the wall); or to go with crimp connections(which I'm leaning towards due to fitting availability), and if I go that route, do I have the company buy a good PEX crimp tool knowing that after a couple dozen crimps it'l likely never get used again, or do I personally just buy a cheap Amazon $20-30 PEX crimp tool, and keeping it in my toolbox, although I currently have little to no use for it?
As I'm no longer really in the trades, I do find the need to give a reasoning behind doing this my self rather than having them hire an outside firm.... Management has expressed an interest in doing as much in house as possible, which normally I wouldn't care about. Also the last contractor we had in to replace a door and renovate these bathrooms did such a substandard job that I was critiquing their work while they were still there(30" commercial knock down door jamb installed in a 32" opening, using 2x4 attached to the heavy steel framing... then using the completely wrong screws(something like thishttps://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-5-16-in-x-4-in-Bronze-Ceramic-Truss-Exterior-Wood-Screws/1000939828) , then installing the hinges to the frame using wood screws rather than the standard commercial door hinge screws that must have come with the hinges. Found both of these flaws due to failures that have happened in the 2 years since they did the work, which I\'ve had to repair) From what I saw at the time, and have since found they are a residential handyman type company that was dabbling in the commercial/industrial world. Whoever they'd hire this time would be equally shoddy work. If I do the work, I'll know it'll be done close enough to right that I won't be forced to be doing repairs in the next year or less, and hopefully also abusing managements trust a little to get a few comfort items(i.e. the "locker room" after the aformentioned contractor left was literally an empty room.) If I do the work, I'm sure the manager I'm having buy materials will get as exactly what I want as is possible, including the mineral wool insulation, to the point I'm thinking about adding an extra bundle as we've had other areas that rodents have eaten the insulation out of, ond the now on leave supervisor is terrified of spending company money(hence the rat chewed hole in the ceiling being filled with spray foam.)
Anywho, thoughts on cheap PEX tools for one off jobs?
