Thanks to all those who have helped thus far. I have decided I will move forward with repiping my house with Pex, but I have a couple of planning questions.
1) What size PEX should I use? I am thinking 1" from the main, 3/4" branches and then 1/2" to the fixtures? Does that make sense?
2) What is the best and most trusted/secure way to make the connections? Crimping? Compression?
3) I do not know how to sweat copper joints, but I will be connecting to copper in a number of places. What is the best way to connect PEX to copper without soldering? Most of these connections will be behind the walls.
4) Just a little nervous about running the PEX in the attic. I live in Washington, DC where it gets cold in the winter. The attic is of course unheated. Is it sufficient to insulate the pex with foam insulation? Currently the attic is uninsulated entirely, but I will be insulating it with fiberglass batting, would I want the pipes to run between two layers in the insulation? Under all the insulation? Above the insulation?
5) Finally, how often do I need to attach the Pex to a stud, etc. If I can manage to run the piping from my attic all the way to the basement utility room (two floors down) without having to open a wall, and therefore only attaching at the top and bottom of the run, is that OK?
Thanks!