I have to have this room refinished with a new vanity. The guy doing the finish work suggested to ask my plumber to run the copper supply pipes under the concrete and into the wall where they should be. The first plumber suggested the same. The second plumber warned me against digging up the floor to reroute the pipes - he said that there would be risk of a slab leak and it is safer to leave them alone. I have a few inches of clearance, so they can be routed above the ground into the wall.

Should I heed the caution of the second plumber? Is there a real risk of disturbing them? I have been inclined against digging anything up because of fear of that being too invasive.

I would run them above the floor.

Thanks. Can you tell much about the condition of the copper pipes in the photo? Do I expect those to have plenty of life left in them? I don't know how old they are. The house is a 1920 house, but I don't know how long the copper pipes are there for. Neither plumber mentioned any concerns about their condition, but somebody else suggested to rerun new supply lines while things are open, and decom the copper pipes.

No way to tell the condition of them? Do you know where the other ends of those pipes are? If yes, how easy would it be to relocate them out of the ground?

I wish it was easy to find the other end of these pipes, because then it would seem to make sense to rerun new lines above ground. But the way the house was laid out does not make it easy to find the other end.

Generally, the pipes should run over to another fixture in the basement and then tee into other pipes in the wall/above the floor.