Plumbing 101

"There are three kinds of pipe. There's aluminum, which is garbage. There's bronze, which is pretty good, unless something goes wrong. And something always goes wrong. Then, there's copper, which is the only pipe I use. It costs money. It costs money because it saves money."

That quote is by Cosmo Castorini, Cher's father in Moonstruck, one of my all time favorite movies. Now, I am not one of those people who can recite the lines from movies, I leave that up to my brothers, my son, most men. I just googled "Moonstruck movie quotes" and viola! Turns out Cosmo knew what he was talking about - there is no other pipe better than copper and there is no other pipe that is more expensive! Cosmo didn't mention galvanized pipes. Those are the type ripped out during our demolition.

The plumbers have been working at a fast clip. I never thought I would be so fascinated with construction, but it is very cool to see the inner workings of a house. Each time I go to inspect, I say "so that's how it works!". Of course, Rob knows a lot more about construction that I do, thanks to his father and to This Old House.

When all is said and done, we'll have two full baths in our house, granted, one will be very small (the master), but we'll have a walk in shower with two shower heads, beautiful tile and warm floors (we are 99% sure the bathrooms will have radiant heat to keep our feet warm in cold weather). I attempted to photograph the samples for each bathroom. The slate ensemble is for the master and the blues and creams are for the hallway bath.

Unfortunately, we already had to change our choice of countertop for the hallway. Luis Blue granite is VERY expensive. Did I say, VERY. $2,400 for a pretty small piece, so we have replaced it with Bradford, which is still blue, but not as exotic. The designer broke the news to me and said that if we wanted to stay with the Luis Blue as a "splurge item", we could. Rob said that the whole project is a splurge, so Bradford it is!

The tub in the hallway bathroom is nice and deep and "lite". It is Americast by American Standard and was highly recommended by our designer and contractor as a great alternative to cast iron - it's more durable, 50% lighter and costs less to install. The tubs can also be made deeper, flatter and roomier than their cast iron counterparts. Sold! They already installed it and it is just waiting for the rest of its housing - two to three more weeks.

So many choices, so little patience to make those choices (at least for me, not Rob). Next up, lighting - many, many more choices than plumbing - that's what I'm talking about!