Designing my new Bathroom, Pipes in the walls or box it out?
Discussion
I'm currently in the process of designing my new bathroom, I'll be doing the whole thing myself over the course of a week or two.
Currently there are loads of crappyily boxed out bits and pieces for water pipes, I'm planning on getting rid of them and having "flush" wall mounted sink and crapper, (i.e no visible cistern and no pedestal for the sink)
I've already planned the boxing out bit needed for the hidden cistern, but I'm not sure about how to do the sink.
It is ok to chase the pipes into the wall (solid brick), if so where should I be putting the isolation valve (if there isnt space behind the basin itself), or should I be boxing off a couple of inches behind the sink to house the water/waste pipes? to keep it neat and tidy I'd be looking at putting a false wall at the end of the room and loosing the 2-3" from the length of the room, no great loss but a fair bit of work and more expensive than chasing the pipes into the wall.
Cheers!
Currently there are loads of crappyily boxed out bits and pieces for water pipes, I'm planning on getting rid of them and having "flush" wall mounted sink and crapper, (i.e no visible cistern and no pedestal for the sink)
I've already planned the boxing out bit needed for the hidden cistern, but I'm not sure about how to do the sink.
It is ok to chase the pipes into the wall (solid brick), if so where should I be putting the isolation valve (if there isnt space behind the basin itself), or should I be boxing off a couple of inches behind the sink to house the water/waste pipes? to keep it neat and tidy I'd be looking at putting a false wall at the end of the room and loosing the 2-3" from the length of the room, no great loss but a fair bit of work and more expensive than chasing the pipes into the wall.
Cheers!
Hidden looks far better if you can do it. And it is perhaps easier than you think too, you can just surface mount the pipe runs, be about 50 mil off the wall, then instead of studding out a whole new top to toe wall, you can just stud or batton out the bottom section, and use moulding or dado rail to form the join, top of the wall stays the same. You can even use those panelling kits they can look quite good in cloakroom bathrooms for example.
Digging out walls to hide the pipes can be a lot of work, but i agree the bit of boxing on the floor does not always look too good.
Digging out walls to hide the pipes can be a lot of work, but i agree the bit of boxing on the floor does not always look too good.
aha, I didnt think of that. so the boxed out bit ends at the bottom of the sink (provided taps are on the basin, not the wall) so it doesnt spoil the line of the wall above the sink!
Will restrict sink choices a little but all the ones I've taken a liking too so far have taps mounted on the sink anyway.
If I do go as far as chasing pipes into the wall is that an accepted way of hiding them? Colleague at work said "what if the pipe leaks" to which I said "dunno"
Will restrict sink choices a little but all the ones I've taken a liking too so far have taps mounted on the sink anyway.
If I do go as far as chasing pipes into the wall is that an accepted way of hiding them? Colleague at work said "what if the pipe leaks" to which I said "dunno"
I did some thing like this in my downstairs loo/showeroom. I built out across the whole wall and got a sink that sits half on/half off the shelf. Incase of leaks and maintainance the panel below the sink is tiled to a piece of 12mm plywood which is held in place with some 'mirror' screws (the type with chrome caps over the screw heads). I used white silicon instead of grout at the edge where this panel meets the fixed section for the loo and side wall. In hindsight I would have cut the tiles differently to better hide the join, but it looks fine. I've had to remove it once to retighten the tap, so it was worth making it this way:
My new house has a concealed bog cistern. And the stop cock sometimes leaks - you can hear the faint hiss of water running through it.
There is no access panel, all tiled in
Bathroom is destined for the skip soon though anyway.
So a good idea but, as mentioned above, make sure you allow for maintenance.
There is no access panel, all tiled in
Bathroom is destined for the skip soon though anyway.
So a good idea but, as mentioned above, make sure you allow for maintenance.
davido140 said:
If I do go as far as chasing pipes into the wall is that an accepted way of hiding them? Colleague at work said "what if the pipe leaks" to which I said "dunno"
Why would a pipe just start leaking?It would have had to be damaged in some way.
You can chase pipes in, no worries.
If it's a basin then the feeds are the least of your problems. Chasing a waste into a wall is a thankless task or impossible in certain blocks without extreme care. Then, of course, just getting to the floor is the least of your worries if you then have to go sideways to the soil pipe. Notching wastes into joists, no matter WHAT anyone says, WILL offend a building control officer particularly if it's close to the wall i.e. within the first 10% of the span.
The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
Ferg said:
If it's a basin then the feeds are the least of your problems. Chasing a waste into a wall is a thankless task or impossible in certain blocks without extreme care. Then, of course, just getting to the floor is the least of your worries if you then have to go sideways to the soil pipe. Notching wastes into joists, no matter WHAT anyone says, WILL offend a building control officer particularly if it's close to the wall i.e. within the first 10% of the span.
The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
that will be why I've got those crappy boxed bits along the floor, it'll be the waste pipes going to the main soil... (havent got as far as pulling them apart yet..The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
arse nuggets...
Fake wall at the end of the room it is then!!
Edited by davido140 on Friday 21st May 15:40
Always hide them if you can.
This is one I've just done for my mum. I ended up building out a small section under the window with a bit of 2" x 2" to hide the pipework and the cistern.
No problem with chasing the walls for the pipes however cover them with plastic capping or duck tape to stop the plaster eating the copper.
I can almost here Ferg's piss boiling from over my use of flexy's
This is one I've just done for my mum. I ended up building out a small section under the window with a bit of 2" x 2" to hide the pipework and the cistern.
No problem with chasing the walls for the pipes however cover them with plastic capping or duck tape to stop the plaster eating the copper.
I can almost here Ferg's piss boiling from over my use of flexy's
B17NNS said:
Always hide them if you can.
This is one I've just done for my mum. I ended up building out a small section under the window with a bit of 2" x 2" to hide the pipework and the cistern.
No problem with chasing the walls for the pipes however cover them with plastic capping or duck tape to stop the plaster eating the copper.
I can almost here Ferg's piss boiling from over my use of flexy's
That's the same sink as I have in my downstairs loo, useless for shaving in, but I guess that's not a problem for your Mum. This is one I've just done for my mum. I ended up building out a small section under the window with a bit of 2" x 2" to hide the pipework and the cistern.
No problem with chasing the walls for the pipes however cover them with plastic capping or duck tape to stop the plaster eating the copper.
I can almost here Ferg's piss boiling from over my use of flexy's
What's the issue using flexy pipework as I've just installed a water softener and it came with two huge 3/4" to 22mm flexy pipes which I've used? This means the whole house's water supply (bar the drinking water tap before you ask) is going through these flexys. I can access them to inspect for leaks, should I change them at some particular interval perhaps?
Ferg said:
I wouldn't worry about them with cold water, but with hot all but the very best quality ones are a liability.
Thanks Ferg, sorry to the OP for the hijack. Actually thinking about it the new kitchen sink has flexys on all 3 feeds (hot, cold and filtered), maybe I'd better buy a good quality hose for the hot feed at least (the tap itself is a Caple one which included the flexys, but although it was quite expensive maybe best not to assume that the flexys are 'best quality'). Any particular brand I should look for if the Caple one isn't considered good enough?This is the actual tap I boughtif it helps:
http://www.sinks-taps.com/item-4612-3_FLOW_ZUBEN_W...
Ferg said:
If it's a basin then the feeds are the least of your problems. Chasing a waste into a wall is a thankless task or impossible in certain blocks without extreme care. Then, of course, just getting to the floor is the least of your worries if you then have to go sideways to the soil pipe. Notching wastes into joists, no matter WHAT anyone says, WILL offend a building control officer particularly if it's close to the wall i.e. within the first 10% of the span.
The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
I've been there, and done that.The above information is based upon real-life experience of sorting out other people's cock-ups
Then used B17NNS solution above.
Only problem with that is if you have a bath alongside
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