The John Edwards House is located in Charleston, South Carolina’s historic district. The house was built around 1770 by John Edwards, who was a wealthy merchant and early American patriot. This impressive Georgian-style home sits on a half-acre lot, one of the largest in downtown Charleston, and is undergoing a complete renovation. The property is approximately 13,000 square feet over three buildings, including a pool house, a carriage house and a distinctive two-story, semicircular entrance portico and piazza.

Vince Boyle, Jr., and his company, Belle Plumbing, are installing more than 1,100 feet of gas lines in this historic home. While the house was built out of cypress, the wood has been beveled to look like stone to match the stone foundation and façade. With historic renovations and because of the age of the home (more than 250 years), Boyle said that Viega was the only option for the job.

“I started using Viega products about 14 years ago and opened Belle Plumbing about six years ago,” Boyle said. “We got a call from the project manager on the renovation who needed someone to run the gas lines to the house for some luxury amenities. We specialize in custom construction and service and I knew that we’d be able to handle the job.”

In partnership with Tupper Builders, general contractors on the full project, Belle Plumbing is installing 1,100 feet of gas lines to power twelve gas fireplaces (converted from either wood-burning or coal- burning), six exterior gas lanterns, four generators, four tankless water heaters, four stoves and a pool heater.

“On a job like this, press was the only way to go,” said Boyle. “One, there’s no risk of fire, and with a property like this, that’s critical. Second, it’s less messy than threading, which was important to be able to preserve the character in the original floors and other details throughout the house. And third, it cuts the installation time in half, and we have no leaks.”

Boyle and his team are using about 400 fittings of MegaPressG® on this project, mostly in 1-1/4" galvanized pipe. He’s also using some 1" 90s and 45s and some 3/4" T’s.

Boyle also talked about the training and support he’s gotten from his local Viega rep, Liam Sullivan, District Sales Manager for Viega in South Carolina. “We had a lot of local support,” he said. “If we needed anything, Liam came out to the site to help train. We’ve sent people to the training center in Colorado, and that’s something that’s important for our business – to have a company that invests in its installers with manufacturer-credentialed and certified training.”