Our house was inherited from my parents . It was built in the 1950's , I think . All copper piping . Pier & beam construction .
First I we piled the hot water lines that were buried in the dirt ( under the house ) . That stopped a large leak .
Maybe 6 months latter , large leak in the back yard . Dug that up ( with help from younger son ) and soldered in a repair .
About another 6 months , another water leak . Re-piped the colb water lines in the dirt ( under the house ) . That did not fix the water leak .
That left the water main , from house to alley . Rented a Kabouta Mini excavator from Home Depot , dug the ditch and installed 1" PEX .
Next weekend I rented the mini ex again and covered the ditch up .
The main cold and hot water lines , under the house , were 3/4" . I uses a 1/2" x 3/4" x 1/2" Tee , cut & soldered into the closest run of cold water line . Feeds both directions . With a ball valve before it enters the Tee .
That way , I can turn the valve off , while I am under the house , if I ever have to work on the piping again .
I recommend PEX for the main water line . I ran white 1" . I now have a PEX crimping tool for 1" to 1/2" ( maybe 3/8" ? ) that has only crimped 2 one inch copper " rings " .
The 2 rentals of the mini ex were the most expensive part . The 1" PEX was maybe twice as expensive as PVC . Still , not a lot of $$$$ . The PEX brass fittings / barbs were more expensive than PVC fittings , but only used 2 of them .
If I had it to do over again , I might use red & blue PEX for the branch lines ( under the house ) .
God bless
Wyr
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