Okay, then there really may be reason for me to worry. I'm pretty sure the plumber didn't even go into the adjoining bathroom to turn off the valves under the sink, he just turned off the main water supply to the house when he was installing the rough-in shower valves. He spliced into the water supply lines going to the adjoining bathroom sink from within the opened wall on the opposite side of the wall board from the sink, cutting into the supply lines before they reached the shut-off valves for the sink sticking out of the dry wall on the other side. I'm not pulling your leg in any way, I'm seriously confused about why cutting into a pipe in-line and splitting it using a T would affect the volume of available water for the faucet that was originally supplied. The onloy thing I could think of as a possible reason was lots of new pipe that are now attached to those lines but are currently ful of air, not water, because their new valve has never been turned on to purge the air from the pipes. I'll look under the sink and see if the local shutoff valves were adjusted, but I'm pretty sure not since I watched the plumber walk into the water heater closet and turn off the main water supply valve for the whole house before cutting into the supply lines. Thank you for your answers, I'll point out my issue to my GC on Mon., because if it's not an air vacuum issue, there's something else wrong with the plumbing that's now behind a lot of hardibacker, awaiting tile, and I want if fixed before the tile goes up and before they have to rip into the not-being-remodeled bath on the other side of the wall to fix it. Thanks, Orchid

There are a lot of options. Your local hardware store probably carries several of them. I've used cpvc (not pvc). This is rated for both hot and cold. Your coming in from the outside - so your only on the cold side; but I ran cpvc on my own house when the supply line (old steel pipe) eventually went bust. I did also encase it in galavanized steel; sealing up the joints extrmely well (to protect against water intrusion into the house via the galvanized sleeve) - so that an errant shovel or some such - would not cause problems... There are some extrmely flexible, continuous roll, plastic pipe or 'hose' available. This basically becomes a jointless line between the meter and the house. You figure out the footage required, get a long roll of it; and put in between the meter, and the house entrance. 'PEX' would be one type of this. But it also is approved for both hot and cold. It has fittings allowing you to easily branch off and go to various areas of the home... Haven't ever used it. I prefer to (personal choice) use cpvc. Like pvc; there are some plastic hose types which are flexible, and used for supply - which are only approved for the cold side of life...

Go outside immediately and take lots of photos. Photos of everything close to being associated with this incident. Next find the letter you wrote to them. You see, that letter is very important. You put them on notice about the trees and they did nothing. That letter has a legal standing. Next you send copies of the letter and the photos certified mail return receipt to the property manager. In your correspondence you tell him/her that you placed them on notice re: the letter, and since they did nothing about it, you have damages to your property and your water line is connected improperly. Demand (yes, demand) someone from the company contact you within 2 business days of the receipt of the letter to make the necessary repairs to your property. If they fail to do so you will file a lawsuit against them. What you have is a small claims lawsuit. You go down to the courthouse and file. It's about $50. Now you can do the above by yourself, or have an attorney do it for you for about $125. You find the attorney in the Yellow Pages who doesn't have a 32 page ad. You find the one man operation to do some legal work for you.

PVC is pressure de-rated above 73 degrees F. I don't know that PVC was ever code for hot water - even in 1976. Personally, I think CPVC (or PVC) sucks for residential supply lines. It always gets brittle and breaks. PVC is fine for DWV. PEX or copper is the way to go with supply lines.