let me give you my experience with no shut offs under a sink. last year i changed out the kitchen faucet because the old one was worn out. i shut off the main water to the house since the only 2 shutoffs under the sink supplied only the dishwasher and the refrigerator! in removing the old faucet the flexible copper supply line from teh wall to the faucet broke. no big deal, i will just pick up another one. since my wife was going to the store, i sent the line with her while i finished everything else. she calls and no one can find a line like that, but they had a plastic one. i told her i did not care if it was plastic, i just had to have a line. she brings it back, and it is a 1/2 supply line. i look at the wall and i have a 5/8 gas nipple on the cold water pipe! the original owner had used what he had on had to replace the ruptured line at some point, and taken off the shut offs and put on gas nipples. i had to cut these off as they had fully rusted in place, then rethread the 1/2 pipe so i could install shutoff valves. this had to be done THAT NIGHT, and since it was Sunday and 6 pm, i had 1 hour to go buy what i needed or be out of water until the next day since i could not turn the main back on with an open 1/2 pipe. if i had a shut off there in teh first place, all i would have had to do was turn it off and the rest of the f=house would have been fine. put them on. you don't have to do them all at once, change out 1 or 2 at a time until done.

Did I say anything about a meter pit? Meter pits are used in areas where the climate is not subject to deep frost, however in colder climates the meters are always installed inside the structure to protect them from freezing. When a municipal water supplier establishes a new service the place a saddle tap on the water main, then run a short line to a "Curb Stop Valve" which is installed on the line well below the frost line. A pipe sleeve is then placed over the curb stop valve and extended up to finished grade, where a lackable cap is put on the top of the sleeve. To access the curb stop valve you must first have a special 5 sided socket that will remove the curb stop box cover, then you insert a curb stop wrench down the sleeve uptil it contacts the curb stop valve. The curb stop valve rotates and it has a flat bar instead of a common valve handle. The curb stop wrench is a 3/8" steel shaft with a horseshoe shaped piece of flat steel on the bottom end that will straddle the bar on the curb stop valve to turn the valve. Generally the municipal water main is in an easement on the side of the street and the curb stop valve is typically place in the easement or sometimes it may be in the sidewalk, but in all instances it will be between the street and the house side of the sidewalk. Generally you will see a similar cap that is marked "Gas". Contrary to popular opinion it is the curb stop and not the meter that defines the official point of demarcation between the municipal supplied line & the customer supplied line. In the warmer regions were they can use meter vaults the curb stop valve may be placed in the meter vault. In colder climates where the meter is placed in the house the customer is responsible for all pipe from the curb stop, and the water supplier will instruct the plumber where to locate the meter bracket in the house or they may just tell the plumber what the meter allowance is, and the plumber will leave an open gap in the line, where the water supplier will later install the meter after the plumbing has been inspected.

Jason, As one Wolverine to another, I would like to point out that that many older meters are installed with only one valve. That should be sufficient, so that a meter can be changed-out after the valve. There will also be a Âcurb box, which is essentially a valve deep underground accessible from the surface. ItÂs there because some of our grandfathers didnÂt pay their water bills and the city shut off the water at the curb box. Of course, today that would be a violation of some kind of civil right, so the valve is used when the other one wonÂt work. That means, you can install all the valves you want: ball, gate, globe; and you will not be adding any value. The municipal ownership ends with the meter. If you wish to pursue this, we can offer more information on soldering. What appears to be a completely different issue is the question about the flex drain trapping. Apparently you were seduced by a product the Home Depot and installed it with reckless abandon. Now, itÂs the morning after, and you are wondering if you should change it or just make a good Act of Contrition. These products are legal. A good indication  but not in itself sufficient evidence  is that they are available for sale. Properly used, they are as good as any other well-done installation. All codes require that that anything that would present an expected instance of damage must be circumvented. If the installation you made with a flexible trap assembly is safe from destruction in ordinary circumstances, you can rest assured. BTW, no inspector will allow you points for a time-crunch. However, most will consider extraordinary conditions to be a reason for accepting a variance. Pinoke

Opening this post back up, since it has a diagram of what is what... I've written her before about some the the unique things that are going on in my house with the plumbing. This is s a continuation of that - the vent stack. Now that the weather is better, trying to clear (what i believe is) the vent stack. today i ran a fish stick down the stack, and initially it felt like it snagged on something, I tried working it out, but couldn't bring it up. Got some light and peeked down. no obstruction visible, but i did see that the fish stick has made a right turn. i could only go so far. i asked my daughter to go into the b/r and listen for where it might be. She located it, although it didn't make sense to be there (at first) Once I discovered the right angle, it did come together. So, i knew i was clear fro the roof down, but I have no way of knowing what's going on beyond that. I had to cut into a wooden bulkhead in the basement to look at the sewer pipe...and after 7 years living here, i think i've located where the vent stack connects. The only issue with that is there is no way to do anything with it. I just know its there. My toilet bubbles pretty good when you flush it, but today there was a slight swirling to the water. I', thinking I may have slightly dislodged something. When the septic pump in the basement ran the water in the toilet still bubbled (just the clear water, nothing else), so there is still substantial plug in that vent. I would hazard a guess that the roof porting the vertical piece is between an 6 feet long before turning. maybe another 3 or 4 feet, then from the ceiling to the basement, another 8 feet. I would had thought i may be able to access the vent by cutting open a wall behind my A/V equipment, but now, i'm not so sure. I don't want to be randomly cutting up drywall, some i'm entertaining ideas to try and clear the vent pipe. Since I really don't have an idea about plumbing etc, would there be any merit at all in trying to use a heavy duty (8Amp) shop vac to either force air into the and down the stack, or place it in vaccuum mode and try and pull back anything that far along. Oh yeah, i dont have any access to the space between the roof and the ceiling. That would be another large hole I'd have to cut. Part of me thought i could cut through the vent near where it joins the septic, run s snake up to clear, and then bond it back together. Space is limited without some major disassembly of wood work. With the extra time off work due to our favorite virus, I'm going to make a full count press to clean that vent. hoping to get some creative, non-destructive ideas. Be well S~