Here is the copper I used, almost $1000 worth:
Almost all of the piping is under the house. To get to it, you have to go through "The Gates of Hell",
my name for this trapdoor in a closet. Note the drainage pipe fortuitously placed in the middle.
Once under the house, there's not even enough room to crawl on hands and knees. Putting pieces of
carpet and cardboard down really helps cushion the elbows and knees and keeps down the dust too.
Some areas, like under the bathrooms, are particularly cramped and uncomfortable:
After work under the house was completed, including insulating the hot water pipes, I carted the
old pipes (probably several hundred pounds worth) to the Palo Alto Recycling Center. On the right,
you can see one of the reasons for replacing the old galvanized iron pipes.
Running the water line from the meter to the house entailed digging a 15" deep trench about 30
feet long. Even though I had moistened the soil, tree and plant roots slowed progress to about
20 minutes per foot. As usual, there were a few surprises, like this concrete abutment jutting
out from the foundation, which required rerouting the water line slightly.
Even though working outside was far easier than working under the house,
the stress of digging injured my left arm, which required me to take a break.
