Replace the pressure regulator too. And get the ball valves with sweat (smooth bore) connections on both sides.

After you shut off the water from the street. Wire brush the top and bottom elbows to remove the paint. Then heat both top and bottom to remove assembly straight out in one piece. Not top then bottom.

Propane might do the job, but a little hotter gas(Mapp)will make your life easier. The trick is to heat fast and get out. You don’t want to cook the seals in both the valve and regulator.

Emery cloth or scotchbright the inside and outside of all new parts, paste flux, and acid core solder. Heat one side and apply solder to the other. At the correct temp, it will flow around easily. Not too much or it will overflow. Just a dab or two of the solder is all it needs.

Preassemble all parts for perfect fit before soldering.

If the pipes are still draining a bit of water, stuff a wad of Wonder white bread into the pipe. No crust. It will block the water long enough to dry and solder. Then will open the closest outside bib to blow it out when finished.

Turn water back on slowly to avoid ‘slamming’ and possible creating a new leak.

Set the water pressure to about 60psi. Makes it easier on the dishwasher and water maker valves. You won’t notice any difference in the shower.

You can do this!

You can clean regulators but they tend to get ‘soft’ with age. You will see this as pressure fluctuation when taking shower and washing machine starts. Properly functioning regulator with a good supply ( ie. not a old house with a undersized supply line) will not notice flow fluctuations.

The larger reg ($126)is what you want as it has higher flow capacity. Watts is good brand. Regs tend to be ok wrt long term reliability.

#1 Yes, the horizontal section closest to house. Heat the elbows only not the pipe. Tape several layers of aluminum foil to the house with a cutout for the pipe. It will help protect the house paint from your torch. Aim the flame away from the building.

Heat will conduct into the wall through the pipe. Be wary of fire. Bucket of water is a good idea. Be quick with the torch and if you have access wrap a wet rag on the other side of the pipe. ( Looks like it goes into an enclosed wall so can’t be done. )

Ball valves are non-directional but check where the handle position is when open. Looks like you may be close to the ground and you need it to fully open.

When you pre-assemble everything, be sure to paint flux everwhere that will be soldered. Inside slip joints as well as the male ends and solder when installed in place.

BTW – the easy fix is to leave the valve in place and either replace the washer(s) and stuffing, or the entire stem. The washer seats are probably just fine.

Basically, you want to shut water off at the street valve, and unscrew the fitting furthest from the handle to get to the washers. The stuffing is accessed via the “nut” closer to the handle.

It’s a 5 min job once you get the parts.

do it yourself… watch a bunch of YouTube vids.

My experience after managing a down to the studs house remodel last year, is that if you watch a lot of YouTube videos to determine the best techniques and you are a bit of a perfectionist, you have a 90% chance you will do a better job than the “pros”.

Fyi, the 2 trades I fired half way through the project were the plumber and the tile setter. Both were from referrals and licensed. I wanted to leave bad reviews online, but didn’t trust them as they know where I live.

I put a ball valve in many years ago but used shark bite fittings as I did not want to use torches (oxy acetalene) as that was all I had at the time. had no problems but did have to have the water department replace their valve as it was defective at the street, they put a ball valve in as well after freezing the line with liquid nitrogen, talk about working quickly, they had to finish before the line thawed.