Multiple Bends to Fix Incorrectly Plumbed Bathroom Pipes After Whole-House Replumb

[Icarus7AC]

Hi all, I'm a homeowner with basic DIY plumbing skills. My 1989 house was plumbed with Quest when it was built (4 years before I bought it). I had the whole house professionally replumbed today with PEX.

The plumbers seemed to do a great job and I'm happy overall. This is the only problem I see with the final result ....

Background: The sink in the hallway bath is back to back with the shower/tub in the master bath. When the house was built, the pipes feeding both the sink and the tub were straight up and down, vertical, with no bends. Because the hot and cold would be on opposing sides of each fixture, it was plumbed for the hot/cold to match up with the tub side. On the sink side, the flexible piping that came from the wall valve to the faucet was crisscrossed so that everything matched up (hot/cold) as it should, on either side of the wall.

When they connected the pipes under the house today for the replumb, they hooked up the hot and the cold feeds to the "wrong" side (opposite the way it was before). So now the pipes are plumbed for the sink side. Which means that the corresponding hot/cold pipe is on the wrong side for the tub.

I questioned this too late in the process, when the new pipes were installed straight up and down (no bends) with the hot feed attached to the cold tub faucet and vice versa. "I put it back exactly as it was," was the reply - then the realization hit that they'd attached the wrong feeds in the crawlspace under the house. It was an obvious "uh-oh" moment for the plumbers. Rather than go back under the house and connect it correctly, they decided to crisscross the tub plumbing. That's obviously not as easy to do as it is with the flexible sink pipes. So I wound up with a bunch of elbow joints leading to the tub.

Is this going to be a problem in the future? I feel like all those joints are just a leak in the making. I tend to obsess, so I've decided that I won't worry about it if the overwhelming opinion is that this is OK.

Note: They didn't tear out the wall for this job - I had to remove the drywall after the Quest split and flooded the surrounding area.

Photos of "before" (the gray Quest) and "after" (the white PEX) attached.

 

[Twowaxhack]

As long as the pipes don’t rub each other it’s fine.

Why didn’t they use angle stops for the lavatory instead of those straight stops.

It appears the old water lines for the lavatory were roughed in on the wrong side and the supply pipes leading to the lavatory were probably crossed to correct that mistake by the original plumber.

 

[Icarus7AC]

@Twowaxhack - That's good to hear about the pipes being fine - they do not rub, so we should be OK.

Just to clarify, the tub is on the other side of the wall (facing away). The photo view is from the sink side, which has not yet been installed. So the angle stops are for the sink.

Originally (when the house was built), there were no valves at all for the tub portion of the plumbing, only for the sink. That was a critical need after the Quest split back in June, as the leak was beyond the sink valves so the only way to stop the spray of water was to shut off our well pump. Thus our emergency DIY repair included installation of the blue Sharkbite ball valves when replacing that portion of the Quest. When the plumbers replumbed yesterday, they just replaced what we had in there, like for like. Which is fine with us - as long as there is a set of valves to control both fixtures, I feel like the mission has been accomplished. Though it's understood that the placement could be better, in both instances.

 

[Twowaxhack]

They used straight stops for the lavatory, not angle stops. Ask why they did that.

 

[Icarus7AC]

@Twowaxhack - Sorry for my confusion, I see now what you mean. They were going to replace what I had with the equivalent parts. Is this going to cause a problem when I go to attach my faucet?

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

@Twowaxhack - Sorry for my confusion, I see now what you mean. They were going to replace what I had with the equivalent parts. Is this going to cause a problem when I go to attach my faucet?

Not to step on @Twowaxhack's comment, but it won't cause a problem other than having a less "compact" installation where the connections to the sink are closer to the wall. Also, are those stops multiturn or quarter turn? If not quarter turn, I'd get them replaced.

 

[Icarus7AC]

Not to step on @Twowaxhack's comment, but it won't cause a problem other than having a less "compact" installation where the connections to the sink are closer to the wall. Also, are those stops multiturn or quarter turn? If not quarter turn, I'd get them replaced.

Hi @BlueSkyHigh - I'm going to say that they are "quarter turn" as they turn only 90 degrees (for full open) and then stop.

Understood about the "less "compact" installation" - I've had so many plumbing issues (because of the Quest splitting, leaking, and spurting) that I'm determined to keep the areas under all sinks clear of anything that I used to put under there for storage. I've had far too much damage. The whole area will be devoted to the plumbing - so if the pipes take up a bit more space that what would be considered ideal, that's OK. They'll still be contained within the sink's cabinet.

Thank you!