A little more minor progress on the house fire situation
Any progress is good. Tell me about PEX. I've heard of it. Any advantages over PVC?
I've used Pex in two rental houses. For my house I'd use copper because I don't like plastics, but to be brutally honest, I doubt that there's an issue with it. It's the same material (UHMW) as plastic water bottles or the plastic used in food production equipment.
The nice thing about it is, it's flexible and can expand. Copper with water in it freezes, expands, and doesn't return. Eventually that repeats enough and it bursts. PVC with water in it just cracks when water freezes. Pex expands, and then contracts again. It's easy to run (I still use fittings and don't like sweeping bends, even though there's much less loss with bends).
It's not all that expensive, and been used in Europe for decades. Just like anything else, try not to get Chinese Pex or fittings, but it's robust and simple.