I recently helped my mother buy a used double-wide in a 55+ community. As part of the move, we of course had an inspection. The inspector observed that there were several places where there were previous ruptures that were patched, as well as damaged vapor barrier. (I'm told the plumbers cut that stuff open but don't put it back together. We also got a quote from a carpenter to fix up all the vapor barrier for $1k.) He recommended fixing the vapor barrier, as well as upgrading to PEX pipes prior to fixing the vapor barrier. (Since it would be dumb to fix vapor barrier only to rip it open for the PEX pipes, then fix it yet again.)
We started seeking out plumbers to give estimates to do this work. The first one estimated it would be about $4k and take him a week. I'm told by other people that's typical. While I was visiting Mom last week, I was crawling under the house and noticed the main line was leaking (slow trickle around the valve... looks like 2" black poly pipe wrapped with insulation and heat tape). So we called a different plumber and he came to look and will be fixing that this week. This plumber said don't bother upgrading to PEX pipes, just leave it the way it is and if anything ruptures, he'll fix it.
I'm not a plumber, but now I have 2 conflicting recommendations and I'm not sure which is good to do. My mother has no money to spare so money is tight and I'll end up paying for whatever is done. So, if we really don't need PEX pipes, we could could certainly use the money savings. However, if this is going to result in frequent ruptures, a mess of water and damaged vapor barrier, that doesn't sound good either.
So, does this sound good to do? She lives in Massachusetts and the house was built in 1985. I don't actually know what the existing pipes are made out of, since it is covered by vapor barrier. I can only see the incoming main line which is black poly, and I do see copper entering the living area near the washing machine, and oddly some gray plastic stuff (looks like PEX?) going up into the kitchen sink fixture. The plumber who was just here didn't know what was under there either, until he cuts it open.
Another question, why does the job cost this much and take a week? From what limited reading I've done about PEX pipes, it "sounds simple" with one line run all the way from the manifold to where it is needed with no joints in between. It's 2 full baths, kitchen sink, and a washer... so that's 12 pipes total? (2 to each of the 3 sinks, 2 to each of the 2 showers, plus 2 to the washer.) 12 long runs of pipe with a connection made on each end of it? Granted, I am NOT a plumber, so there may be a good reason for this, but I haven't figured it out yet.
Also, there's some heat tape under here but I'm not sure exactly where. Neither plumber wants to touch the heat tape. Can/should heat tape be put around PEX pipes? Note I'd expect nearly all the pipes to be located behind the vapor barrier, in case that helps answer the question any. (And no, I don't know what if any mechanism is down there to help send some of the furnace's hot air into the area where the pipes are. I guess that's a thing? I'm not well familiar with mobile home internals.)
We started seeking out plumbers to give estimates to do this work. The first one estimated it would be about $4k and take him a week. I'm told by other people that's typical. While I was visiting Mom last week, I was crawling under the house and noticed the main line was leaking (slow trickle around the valve... looks like 2" black poly pipe wrapped with insulation and heat tape). So we called a different plumber and he came to look and will be fixing that this week. This plumber said don't bother upgrading to PEX pipes, just leave it the way it is and if anything ruptures, he'll fix it.
I'm not a plumber, but now I have 2 conflicting recommendations and I'm not sure which is good to do. My mother has no money to spare so money is tight and I'll end up paying for whatever is done. So, if we really don't need PEX pipes, we could could certainly use the money savings. However, if this is going to result in frequent ruptures, a mess of water and damaged vapor barrier, that doesn't sound good either.
So, does this sound good to do? She lives in Massachusetts and the house was built in 1985. I don't actually know what the existing pipes are made out of, since it is covered by vapor barrier. I can only see the incoming main line which is black poly, and I do see copper entering the living area near the washing machine, and oddly some gray plastic stuff (looks like PEX?) going up into the kitchen sink fixture. The plumber who was just here didn't know what was under there either, until he cuts it open.
Another question, why does the job cost this much and take a week? From what limited reading I've done about PEX pipes, it "sounds simple" with one line run all the way from the manifold to where it is needed with no joints in between. It's 2 full baths, kitchen sink, and a washer... so that's 12 pipes total? (2 to each of the 3 sinks, 2 to each of the 2 showers, plus 2 to the washer.) 12 long runs of pipe with a connection made on each end of it? Granted, I am NOT a plumber, so there may be a good reason for this, but I haven't figured it out yet.
Also, there's some heat tape under here but I'm not sure exactly where. Neither plumber wants to touch the heat tape. Can/should heat tape be put around PEX pipes? Note I'd expect nearly all the pipes to be located behind the vapor barrier, in case that helps answer the question any. (And no, I don't know what if any mechanism is down there to help send some of the furnace's hot air into the area where the pipes are. I guess that's a thing? I'm not well familiar with mobile home internals.)