Hey folks I have a 1960s/70s built house with copper plumbing.
I will be adding a shower and toilet in the basement (macerator pumper unit).
What kind of plumbing should I be using to add this expansion? PVC? Pex? What tools will I need?
?

What climate will it be operating in?

Upper NY region , fucking cold.

I’ve driven in ice and snow in Pennsylvania as well as shoveled snow in a t-shirt, in Texas our state shuts down below 32 degrees, any information I’d provide would be suspect.

I lived on the Canada border in NY for a while…. I knew plenty of people who had pipes freeze due to power outages, poor insulation on new houses or after work on existing houses, etc.  

Copper is easy and the tools to install it are cheap.  Since the rest of your house is copper I wouldn’t worry about freezing unless the new plumbing is in an exterior wall.  
If you need long runs pex is really easy too, but the tools can get $$$ depending on which type of pex you use.  You can mix pex and copper also, use pex for the long runs and copper at each end.

Sharkbite

Check out the site and see how easy it is to use with copper to Pex.

I've been replacing all my copper with Pex-A pipe, PROPEX fittings and compression rings. I bought a manual expander tool 5 years ago with 1/2", 3/4" & 1" dies for $78.00.

The only leak, out of dozens and dozens of connections, I've had was my fault which was because I turned the water back on too early.

if you can solder, go copper.
if you cant solder but know someone with a propress, do that.
if you dont know either, just do pex.


I still like copper.