Plumbing – the best strategy for this layout if I want/need to remove copper plumbing and move to PEX? (two bathrooms connected by the same supply pipes)

plumbing

This is a basement bathroom completely gutted out
In the picture below

1 -the pipes are coming from the adjacent room (kitchen) Main valve is there as well
2 shower end -from there it splits horizontally toward 5 (sink) and 6 (toilet)
3 upstairs sink
4 bath tub shower upstairs
you can also see where the upstairs toilet drain is joining the vertical purple drain

Everything is copper and I am not sure if it needs to be replaces and if I can do it myself
I have never done plumbing but I am handy

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Here are some reasons why I would replace this

  • I want to move the drain and the vent (vertical purple and grey pipes) near the wall
  • as you can see in the pictures below there is some corrosion going on (nothing leaked and I would have not known about this if I did not open the ceiling)
    the 1/2" supply pipes are in bad shape in certain areas but not sure how bad they are
  • if I leave the supply pipes longer they will complete the corrosion and they will leak causing more problems

My question is this: how do I move from copper to pex in this situation ? After I finish the basement I will do the reno for the upstairs bathroom and I need to understand how I can do the basement bathroom and finish it and them move to upstairs.
A plan I am thinking of would be to make a copper to pex transition at ❶ and then find a way to leave pex ends accessible for when I open the floor upstairs What do the plumbers do in such situations when you can't shut down all the bathrooms in the house for an extended period ? (the upstream bathroom will also be opened and gutted out )

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Bottom side of the vent and drain that I want to move near wall
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Best Answer

That kind of corrosion is usually attributed to the failure to remove excess soldering flux, and it does not indicate the pipes are corroding through. Wiping all those areas with a wet rough rag would probably remove the deposits. Then examine the joints for pitting and for pinhole leaks. At this point replacing all this plumbing would be premature.

Copper water piping can corrode through. We had multiple pinhole leaks in the 6 ft vertical run carrying hot water from the tank down to the slab. But your pipes do not appear to be corroding through. The corrosion is probably superficial and stopped when all the excess flux was consumed. The excess flux should have been wiped off by the plumber who sweated the joints, but often this is not done.

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