When you need plumbing in exterior walls

We’re all taught not to run plumbing in exterior walls.

I live and work in the cold Boston area. When remodeling bathrooms we always plan to install all plumbing lines inside interior walls and avoid running plumbing in exterior walls due to the reality of the pipes freezing.

Installing a water line in a cold exterior wall is a recipe for disaster and it doesn’t matter how well you wrap a pipe and surround it in insulation, on the coldest day in January or February it will freeze.

The job site is where theory usually stops and reality begins. There are occasions when the only alternative is to install plumbing in exterior walls. That was the case on a recent bath remodel project that involved two glass walls and an exterior wall. Click here to read on how we approached this issue.

This particular shower head installation necessitated a ton of holes drilled through framing for the PEX pipe we used.  To install a shower head correctly we needed to also pitch the pipes so that all water drained from the cold wall pipes.

I recently became the proud owner of a few of the Bosch Daredevil auger bits and used them on this job. I found that the Daredevil bits literally pull themselves through the framing lumber like a hot knife through butter.  I was impressed!  After the job was done my plumber-brother stole my Daredevil bits!   Go figure.  And thanks to Be the Pro you can enter to win your own Daredevil auger bit from now until March 17, 2013.

If need to add plumbing to an exterior wall click here to learn how.