title: 86 Joints Later...

DONE! Well, the majority of the copper pipe plumbing is finished and that's good enough for me. We can't finish it all until a ways from now, but the hard part is done, and I couldn't be more excited. We started Friday at 3 and had running water again by 2 the next day. It might have been less than 24 hours, but that included two long 7 hour days where a few tears may have been shed, but in the end the water was on and there were no leaks. That's right, out of 86 joints we had NONE that leaked!! David said he had been praying for no leaks, and I'm incredibly thankful God's will for this part of our project was just that. I was seriously questioning my mental and physical capacity if He was to have other plans for us. I've also concluded that copper 90s are from the Devil himself. I don't know what was up but we had the hardest time getting those things off, on or to even move once in place.

David really did an amazing job with the soldering, considering I was just in charge of applying the flux. While he kicked ass as a plumber this weekend, in his words, "if I wasn't an engineer, I sure as hell wouldn't be a plumber". Whatever, it's over. We've given our forearms and hands some much needed rest after I think we both pulled/strained something in them over those two days, but back to the grind we'll go.

We pulled probably 90% of the existing plumbing, but had to keep a couple runs that connected to the downstairs shower and sink. We're hoping the shorter runs increase the rate in which the hot water gets upstairs, but the best part is we don't have anymore clanging of pipes when we turn the water on and off! David's been trying to find the rouge loose pipe since we've moved in, but now since we had access and didn't need the runs the problem is finally solved! Homeowner success :o)