Some aspects of home improvement I hate.  Clean up being number one, closely followed by plumbing.  Well, I had a contractor out a few weeks ago and told him of this side project I might have him tackle regarding some very poorly planned plumbing in the basement.  How bad?  I've hit it with my head many times trying to get things out of the washer.  This isn't a problem for many, but it was becoming painfully obvious something had to be done.  He mentions something called "Shark Bytes Bites" and how easy it is.  I find out there's two brands, Shark Bites and Gator Bites, same thing just from Home Depot and Lowes. 

We've all heard this kinda crap before from an expert that something is "really easy" so I had my doubts.  Guess what?  It is that easy and easier.  In under two hours I did the whole thing.  From water off to water on, the whole deal was painless.  So painless that when I had it all done, I checked everything 2-3 times because I thought I had missed something.  All I needed was a haxsaw (yes, spelled it that way on purpose) and some sandpaper (deburr) and it was a total walk in the park.

Nice, clean, no drama.  I'm a huge fan.  Below is the pipes I cut out and the infamous elbows that would crack me in the skull -- I'm glad they're gone.

One thing they recommend is creating a plumbing manifold, which is brilliant.  If When I do this kind of thing again, I'm going straight for these things.