Hi All,

I have been working on converting an existing 1/F bathroom to a laundry room, including washer hookups (already done) as well as gas and venting for a gas dryer (in progress).

As always when trying to get a square idea into a round old house, challenges are encountered. I have been trying to find the best layout for the dryer hookups and settled upon the location you see in the pics below. The dryer box was more to the left of picture previously but it was not an ideal location, so I had to move it over to the right. Unfortunately the new upstairs supply PEX pipes were in the way. So now I obviously need to reroute them, but have several questions about this setup.

- The pipes do not seem long enough just by rough measurements to reroute and get to the basement at their current length, but I can try. I believe I can notch these studs up to 60% (it is a non load bearing wall) and even in worst case I can get some steel reinforcement brackets which can also act as nailing plates. However if I have to rerun new pipe anyway, is drilling preferred? Is there a way to mitigate noise for either method?

- They existing connections going into the ceiling are making me paranoid. If I replace the PEX I'll have to cut out at least one side. For some reason which only my prior plumber knows, they are utilizing one brass and one plastic elbow. I'd like to use all brass but I have learned that they are a bear to remove. I'm sure they were torqued a bit while moving the pipes around but otherwise didn't leak before. Should I just leave well enough alone or is it worth redoing all this? I just don't want any surprises later.

- On that note, any hints in general to removing the cinch clamps and fittings on previously clamped connections?

- Should I eliminate elbows where possible (like in the cellar). Barring that, I have 3/4" sharkbites that I can use if they provide more flow than a PEX elbow - it's in an unfinished basement so they won't be covered.

- Finally, I am struggling to find a good place for the dryer gas supply while trying to eliminate as much wasted space from the wall. There is a knockout for a gas line in the dryer vent box but it appears that they placed it right where the actual dryer vent would protrude. I could put it one bay over but is it worth getting one of those gas outlet boxes that come out horizontally from the wall? Seems that would not gain much space as you'd need room to attach it. I could place it slightly forward of the wall too... just not sure what's typical.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for any advice. Happy holidays!

Those clamps should be fairly easy to remove with a diagonal cutter(dikes) , or aviation snips , or a Dremel grinder.