PEX, Water service from meter to house, DIY project????

[Terry]

In Renton, and most of the Seattle area, we have either a 3/4" or 5/8" meter at the street.

Threads from that will be 3/4", which we connect with something like a brass 3/4" mip x 1" insert fitting if you are using poly pipe.

If I run copper, I increase it as much as I need.
Depending on how many bathrooms, and the distance, I may use a 1-1/4" water service.

If it's really long, I may go 1-1/2", but it would need to be a very large lot for that, more like acreage.

Water pipe sizing ​

 

[KBF]

Thanks, Terry.

Yeah, it's about 150 feet from meter to house, but it's a small place with one bathroom. Even with the temporary hookup I have (from meter to outside spigot using my garden hose), the pressure seems fine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[KBF]

Got a quote from the plumber to just connect the pipe at the meter and in the house. The meter is straight forward (connect pipe to meter, already dug out), but then to connect in the house, they need to bust a hole in the foundation, run the water service pipe up through that hole, connect it to the inside plumbing, then repair (concrete) where they had to break through.

I'm going to did the trench and buy the PE pipe (and lay it down in the trench).

They want about $1800 to do the two connections. I realize they are doing some pretty extensive work in busting a hole through the foundation and hook up inside the house, but it seems kind of expensive. But I really don't know what a plumber should cost for that kind of work.

The upside is that it's a bid, not time/materials, so I know what it'll cost for everything

Does that seem overpriced to you folks?

 

[Master Brian]

Got a quote from the plumber to just connect the pipe at the meter and in the house. The meter is straight forward (connect pipe to meter, already dug out), but then to connect in the house, they need to bust a hole in the foundation, run the water service pipe up through that hole, connect it to the inside plumbing, then repair (concrete) where they had to break through.

I'm going to did the trench and buy the PE pipe (and lay it down in the trench).

They want about $1800 to do the two connections. I realize they are doing some pretty extensive work in busting a hole through the foundation and hook up inside the house, but it seems kind of expensive. But I really don't know what a plumber should cost for that kind of work.

The upside is that it's a bid, not time/materials, so I know what it'll cost for everything

Does that seem overpriced to you folks?

Seems high to me, but that doesn't mean it's out of line.

Most professionals don't necessarily like doing jobs when someone else does part of the work. In order to cover their butts, they tend to raise the price a bit to ensure there aren't unknowns. From a business standpoint, can't blame them. So that might be why it is a little high.

Get another quote on just making the connection to the meter and/or inside the house. Inside the house shouldn't be tough, but most likely if you have the meter side inspected the house side would have to be as well. Then if busting through the concrete scares you, have you thought about getting a quote from someone that does foundations or cement work to see what they might charge?

Good luck!

 

[jdgoodman]

Seems a little high to me as well and I work in Seattle, But I can’t see it. Most of it depends on the difficulty of the connection inside the home.

 

[KBF]

Yes, it's certainly the complexity of the inside connection that I suspect is adding to the cost.

The current incoming water service line is in a common wall in the corner where the 2 parts of the duplex meet. So without busting out the drywall on my neighbor's side, it's a really tight space just to be able to do any work. And they have to be very careful where they put the new line in, since they need to avoid doing any damage to my neighbor's foundation.

And as a result, there's very little room between where that pipe comes into the house and the main shut off valve (a matter of a few inches), too.

And when they described how they would go about putting in the new water service line, it was the connection into the house that was the most difficult part, according to them.

I'd be interested in seeing if I can get more estimates, but without someone seeing what needs to be done, I can see where it turns out to be a lot more work than expected, and if it's time/materials and not a bid, I could end up with a larger expense than the current bid. And the current bid is from the same plumber that came out to address the leak in the common wall that started this whole thing.

Even with bid for hook-up, by my digging the trench and buying and laying the polypipe in the trench, it'll come in at about 1/2 the cost of the bid for that plumber doing all the work. So it's still a good deal for me, in comparison.

 

[NHmaster]

You may just have to....

 

[Master Brian]

I am curious, you mention it meets at a shared wall, does this potentially affect your neighbors waterline as well? I am guessing you had a leak, they didn't. Don't know how old either service was, but have you talked with your neighbor about possibly upgrading their water line as well? Sounds like now might be the time for them to replace theirs, if you can share the trench. Maybe you can get them to split the costs and get a bit of a break!! Just a thought.

Not sure if I mentioned this eariler or not, but what about having the new water line enter the house in a different location? One that isn't as hard to get at. Surely it wouldn't take that much work on the inside. I know with Pex, the connections could be made in a matter of minutes if you don't have any obstacles.

 

[KBF]

Unfortunately, our water lines seem to be separate (we have separate meters and I didn't see any connection for them in the common wall). It'd be great to share the expense, but doesn't look feasible. But a good thought!

And the location seemed to be the most accessible according to the plumbers who came out. They thought of several options, but none of the others were easy or cheap (all involved digging up portions of my floor to lay the line, which started to make the approach costly ... it's a lot cheaper to pay for a longer length of polypipe than to do some major work on breaking up the concrete slab under the floor and just bust up the concrete right next to the connection inside). Part of the problem is that the other approaches had to avoid load-bearing walls. Going into the back of the house avoids that problem.

 

[KBF]

I now have a totally new respect for those in the plumbing profession...spent all day yesterday digging the trench for my water service line in the pouring rain. Even with the motorized trencher, it was really hard work.