I live in Eastern Colorado. I have a three car, 720 sq ft garage. I would have to run the Pex line from the basement up to the inside of the garage and along the garage wall through the studs. There’s a bit of disagreement between a plumbing contractor and a renovation contractor on the code as to whether or not you can run 1/2” pex through the studs and put the faucet on the front of the house. Plumbing contractor says you can. Renovation contractor says you can’t because it is a load bearing wall. The wall in question is the left side garage wall (if you’re looking at the house from the street). The wall is insulated and partially drywalled from the ceiling down 2’. The remaining portions of the garage walls will have slatboard panels installed.

Could I get someone familiar with the code to weigh in on this please?

Thanks!

1/2 inch pex will require 3/4 inch holes thru the studs.
well within any code that i know of.

think about it.

electricians run wires in load bearing walls all the time.

Any hole through a load bearing stud shall be no larger than 40% of the stud width, packy and your plumbing contractor are correct

I notice a huge difference when running 3/4" piping to a hose bib versus 1/2".
Depending on what your need is for this outdoor faucet you may want to consider it.



Edited 1 times.

If you do not wish to drill holes through the studs, why not run a length of 1/2" copper along the front of the studs across? You can cut the slat boards to end above it and starts below it and the pipe will stay completely recessed from your finished wall surface.

? how are you going to freeze proof the piping ?

! make SURE there is NO insulation between the pipe and the 'warm side' of the wall !

! stuff the insulation 'batt' BEHIND the pipe on the cold side !

do NOT cut the insulation so it encapsulates the pipe - you WANT the pipe 'exposed' to the hot side




make sure you get a frost proof hydrant and have it PROPERLY installed

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

3.5 inches x 40% = 1.40

so a 3/4 inch hole is approx 1/2 of the allowable size.

well within the code you sited.

of course if the framing is 2x6 (5 1/2 inches) the a 3/4 inch hole has even less impact.

are we assuming the framing is actually on 16" centers as per the code ?

'many' 2x4 framed garages are actually 'cheated' on 24" centers as if they WERE 2x6 construction




personal experience

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Neither insulation or a frost free valve is absolutely necessary if the run is pitched so that the water can be drained through a bleeder in the basement. This is assuming there will be a shutoff in the basement for this line, which there should be anyway.

Not sure but does pex not tolerate repeated freezing?

I just googled pex freezing and opinion was, while pex tolerates freezing, there is a chance it might split.

Just a couple of weeks ago I saw a 20 foot run of pex outside a house to a hose bibb. This run had plenty of sag between supports, so there is no easy way to drain the pex of water. Looked like it had been there for years and had withstood repeated freeze/thaws of Canadian winters. This was blue pex with crimped copper sleeves.