When you take an old space and make it new, there are inherent challenges to it. And that’s exactly what happened with a restoration project in downtown Buda, Texas. Tight spaces to work in meant Viega products were a perfect partner.
In the downtown space, old and unused factories have slowly been getting facelifts. Developers are turning them into retail and restaurant spaces. It’s what Hill Country Plumbing was brought in to do with the old Buda Mill and Grain Company, changing it into Los Olivos Market, a wine shop and bistro.
“The big challenge was that there was another restaurant backing up to it, a common space with a delineating wall,” explained Colie Curry, owner of Hill Country Plumbing. “And there were two different architecture firms that got their measurements inconsistent, so we had to sacrifice space. The roof space we had for grease vents and mechanicals was very tight.”
Existing utilities had been run through the ceilings and were undersized for the new needs, so everything had to be retrofit. The 2½” gas line ended up going up the exterior of the building, down a soffit and then jumping up onto a flat roof to bypass a walkway access—in other words, it would have been nearly impossible to thread pipe together where it needed to be hung.
“I’ve been a fan of Viega for years and we use PureFlow on a daily basis—plus I’ve used smaller MegaPressG fittings,” Curry said. “I heard that the larger diameter was coming out in January, and we did this project in March, so the timing was perfect!”
With the help of Viega reps, Curry acquired a MegaPress PressBooster and rings so he could get the project done on time. There were about 20 fittings in the 2½” size, and then the pipe necked down to 2” for the equipment manifold and again to ¾”.
“We could have tried to thread, but hanging a 50-foot-long piece of threaded pipe that is 2½” and weighs 300 pounds would have taken six guys – that’s not good. Plus, we would have had to work our way from it after hanging it,” Curry said. “With Viega, we were able to work in multiple directions. We did a lot of the interior piping before the roof penetration, and we could cut in wherever we needed.
“In about four and a half hours we did what would have probably taken two days—it was a ton of labor savings! And if there had been a leak we would have had to start over after cutting that part out. Using the Viega fittings worked out really, really well.”
Curry and his crew also used PureFlow PEX, in sizes 1¼” and smaller, for waterlines to the bathrooms and commercial kitchen.
