Hey all! This is a bit of a follow-up to a post I made a couple months ago regarding our bathroom reno: https://sh.itjust.works/post/56769265
Long story short, the mortar bed subfloor was crumbling away, and I could literally tear up chunks with my bear hands, so we decided to take it all out. I’m going to sister all the joists to re-level the floor, put in blocking for under the clawfoot tub, then 3/4" plywood subfloor, Ditra, and tile. But that’s not what this post is about.
This post is about all that copper plumbing. I think the stuff above the tub spout is relatively new, but I think everything below that (tub supplies, toilet supply, sink supplies) is a lot older, maybe original, which would make that close to 70 years old. Some of it looks pretty crusty and corroded to my untrained eye, so my question is, should I redo any of that copper while I’ve got the wall open? If so, to what extent, and with copper or PEX? I mentioned earlier that we’re putting in a clawfoot tub, so we won’t need basically anything above the tub spout. I know clawfoots traditionally have supplies coming up through the floor, so I may end up reconfiguring to accommodate that, but I’m also considering taking the easy way out there and using some flex hose coming out of the wall.
I don’t have a torch or a PEX crimping tool, so either way I go I’m gonna have to buy a new toy. But which one? How would y’all go about this? Thanks in advance for the input!


Second this. If you don’t have leaks, the copper that’s there is almost certainly better than what you’ll replace it with. 70 years in service is reason to be confidant, not skeptical.
I see where both of you guys are coming from for sure, but I just wanna make sure I’m covering my bases. If there’s anything there that looks like it’s on its last legs, I wanna get that taken care of while the wall is still open. Some of that blue/green corrosion around the joints looks scary to me, but I don’t have much (any 😅) experience with copper plumbing, so I can’t say for sure.
It’s just on the surface. Clean it with a scotchbrite pad or wheel just to assure yourself.