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[Help] Outside Tap Installation



S

swd40

Active member
Mar 22, 2006
277
Another exciting D.I.Y ask.

Could anyone recommend/ suggest /advise..

Mid terrace property with no outside tap to the front of the house. Want a tap out the front to clean the cars, cant be going down the garden hose through the house wetness mess. Or luzzing it over the roof.
Kitchen is to the rear of the house, so cant feed off those existing pipes. :-(
Bathroom is also to the rear so no dangling out the window option either.

Is it do-able to get someone (professional) to dig down through the drive out front and feed off the main water supply to the property, and install a tap to that?

Or is it just not worth the hassle, easier to move etc? :ffsparr:

Worthing area, not that changes the difficulty in the task.

P.S
Is it worth having a DIY prefix? ???
 




zefarelly

zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
21,811
Sussex, by the sea
If your main comes from the front of the house, probably not too difficult . . . . . stop cock on the pavement ?

would suggest putting it in a box . . . . or all the neighbours will be using it at your expense!
 


B

Berty23

Well-known member
Jun 26, 2012
3,196
Depending on how often you clean your car I would say it makes more economic sense to pay someone to clean your car!
 




Mr Bridger

Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,441
Earth
Old house / new house?
Paving / grass/ tarmac / gravel?
Have you a water meter at the boundary ?
 




Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,789
Hove
swd40 said:
Another exciting D.I.Y ask.

Could anyone recommend/ suggest /advise..

Mid terrace property with no outside tap to the front of the house. Want a tap out the front to clean the cars, cant be going down the garden hose through the house wetness mess. Or luzzing it over the roof.
Kitchen is to the rear of the house, so cant feed off those existing pipes. :-(
Bathroom is also to the rear so no dangling out the window option either.

Is it do-able to get someone (professional) to dig down through the drive out front and feed off the main water supply to the property, and install a tap to that?

Or is it just not worth the hassle, easier to move etc? :ffsparr:

Worthing area, not that changes the difficulty in the task.

P.S
Is it worth having a DIY prefix? ???
Click to expand...

I don't think you can branch off the mains pipe ahead of your stop cock but I could be wrong on that. Digging up the drive to get to that pipe which could be lead, could be well buried could be a big job in all honesty.

Is it a suspended timber ground floor or solid slab? Where is the stop cock? If timber floor you could feed a pipe from the kitchen under to the floor to the front, although that will require removing quite a few floor boards to achieve that.

You could then consider a surface mounted pipe option say from the bathroom, across a bedroom then drop down either internally or on the front of the house. The pipe internally could be boxed in like you would radiator pipes.

It's a shame there are never any plumbers on NSC.
 


spence

spence

British and Proud
Oct 15, 2014
9,814
Crawley
Bold Seagull said:
I don't think you can branch off the mains pipe ahead of your stop cock but I could be wrong on that. Digging up the drive to get to that pipe which could be lead, could be well buried could be a big job in all honesty.

Is it a suspended timber ground floor or solid slab? Where is the stop cock? If timber floor you could feed a pipe from the kitchen under to the floor to the front, although that will require removing quite a few floor boards to achieve that.

You could then consider a surface mounted pipe option say from the bathroom, across a bedroom then drop down either internally or on the front of the house. The pipe internally could be boxed in like you would radiator pipes.

It's a shame there are never any plumbers on NSC.
Click to expand...

Who needs a plumber when you appear to know everything from Plumbing to cake decorating to Apiary care. Great work.
 


S

swd40

Active member
Mar 22, 2006
277
zefarelly said:
If your main comes from the front of the house, probably not too difficult . . . . . stop cock on the pavement ?

would suggest putting it in a box . . . . or all the neighbours will be using it at your expense!
Click to expand...

Yup stop cock in the pavement outside neighbours house, theirs is outside ours. Go figure. But true,

Berty23 said:
Depending on how often you clean your car I would say it makes more economic sense to pay someone to clean your car!
Click to expand...

Sod that cant be having swirls in the paint work.

Mr Bridger said:
Old house / new house?
Paving / grass/ tarmac / gravel?
Have you a water meter at the boundary ?
Click to expand...
Old, Victorian ish
Not dug that deep, top level gravel, then earth below, but have not tested any deeper near front of the property.
Water meter is on the outside cock in the pavement..

Bold Seagull said:
Is it a suspended timber ground floor or solid slab? Where is the stop cock? If timber floor you could feed a pipe from the kitchen under to the floor to the front, although that will require removing quite a few floor boards to achieve that.
You could then consider a surface mounted pipe option say from the bathroom, across a bedroom then drop down either internally or on the front of the house. The pipe internally could be boxed in like you would radiator pipes..
Click to expand...

Think its suspended timber in the front room, not 100% sure on kitchen floor.
But would involve raising wood floor in lounge and tiled flooring in kitchen just to find out :-(
 






Mr Bridger

Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,441
Earth
Probably lead pipe, maybe copper I would say, so might be a bit of a ball ache Teeing into the lead for a non professional .
Check what pipe you have under your main internal stop tap to see what it is.
Victorians used to run the mains up the side of the house in the same trench as the drains, so look to see if you have a drain cover.

If you want to locate where your mains, then use dowsing rods. Some will say its a load of bollocks but I swear by them, and I've spent £1000's on leak detection equipment but a couple of bent metal rods have helped me out no end of times. Don't bother buying any, just make your own from either metal coat hangers or I made mine from thin metal rods from B&Q and just bent them.

Once your confident you've found roughly where your mains is then dig down, probably about 4/500mm down, (todays regs is 750mm) until you locate the pipework. you then want to dig a trench to an exterior wall to mount the tap on. You will have to fit the necessary double check valves and lag any exposed pipework.

Have I put you off yet??? If you are willing to give it a go, more than happy to talk you through it with what you'll need and where to buy etc
 


Perkino

Perkino

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2009
5,986
I'm sure there is a way to connect up to the stop clock if you have the right connector
 






S

swd40

Active member
Mar 22, 2006
277
Thanks Mr Bridger much appreciated...

"Probably lead pipe, maybe copper I would say, so might be a bit of a ball ache Teeing into the lead for a non professional."

Had one plumber who mentioned raising the floors to get to the kitchen pipe work and then, split off that to go back outside, but wasn't interested in doing it, nor was i for raising the floors.

If it is lead or copper pipe work, would any other professional not be too phased about teeing off and adding the tap return valves externally, on the drive.
Would rather that option and avoid the raising the floor route, or running another internal pipe in the loft then down an internal front wall, then back out etc.
But not sure if regulations would allow, for the feed off the mains choice?

Last time i dabbled with any DIY pipework was a cold Sunday afternoon in December many years ago.

After the water stopped pissing out from the radiator valve onto, then thru the ceiling, i vowed never to dabble again with any water works.
 








Bold Seagull

Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
29,789
Hove
swd40 said:
Thanks Mr Bridger much appreciated...

"Probably lead pipe, maybe copper I would say, so might be a bit of a ball ache Teeing into the lead for a non professional."

Had one plumber who mentioned raising the floors to get to the kitchen pipe work and then, split off that to go back outside, but wasn't interested in doing it, nor was i for raising the floors.

If it is lead or copper pipe work, would any other professional not be too phased about teeing off and adding the tap return valves externally, on the drive.
Would rather that option and avoid the raising the floor route, or running another internal pipe in the loft then down an internal front wall, then back out etc.
But not sure if regulations would allow, for the feed off the mains choice?

Last time i dabbled with any DIY pipework was a cold Sunday afternoon in December many years ago.

After the water stopped pissing out from the radiator valve onto, then thru the ceiling, i vowed never to dabble again with any water works.
Click to expand...

If you went up into the loft, could you come out of the eaves and run the pipe down the outside besides the rainwater downpipe so it's kind of hidden? Or, if you only had a rainwater downpipe one side of the front elevation, could you run a water pipe with lagging down a matching rainwater downpipe so it's just disguised as looking like a second downpipe?
 
Last edited:


Mr Bridger

Mr Bridger

Sound of the suburbs
Feb 25, 2013
4,441
Earth
swd40 said:
Thanks Mr Bridger much appreciated...

"Probably lead pipe, maybe copper I would say, so might be a bit of a ball ache Teeing into the lead for a non professional."

Had one plumber who mentioned raising the floors to get to the kitchen pipe work and then, split off that to go back outside, but wasn't interested in doing it, nor was i for raising the floors.

If it is lead or copper pipe work, would any other professional not be too phased about teeing off and adding the tap return valves externally, on the drive.
Would rather that option and avoid the raising the floor route, or running another internal pipe in the loft then down an internal front wall, then back out etc.
But not sure if regulations would allow, for the feed off the mains choice?

Last time i dabbled with any DIY pipework was a cold Sunday afternoon in December many years ago.

After the water stopped pissing out from the radiator valve onto, then thru the ceiling, i vowed never to dabble again with any water works.
Click to expand...

You can tee off the mains, but you have to comply with the regs, try the Watersafe website for approved plumbers. http://watersafe.org.uk]
Just put your postcode in and loads should come up, but plumbers can be a bit precious about digging, so to save you some pennies I would dig it out yourself.
 








S

Shropshire Seagull

Well-known member
Nov 5, 2004
8,496
Telford
I think it might be considered a bit naughty to branch off before your water meter - if installed?

Usually between the street located mains stop-cock and the stop-cock under your kitchen sink.

If you don't have a meter - you should get one!
 


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