Hidden pipes in walls

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by koolpc, Jan 27, 2018.

  1. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    Went to see a new build house and the centeal heating pipework is plastic and hidden behind the plasterboarded walls! Is that normal with new builds? It was white plastic piping.
     
  2. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    The same done here in a loft conversion 20 years on now, never had a problem, apparently the plastic pipes have around a 50 year life.
     
  3. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    Ok, thanks
     
  4. Dave does Gas

    Dave does Gas Screwfix Select

    Used to do it all the time back in the days when I used to do Site work in the 80's, Cant say as though I ever liked the idea as so often we would run the pipes down the middle of the wall just in the spot someone was likey to hang a picture.
     
  5. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    I currently work on new builds and yes, it's nearly all plastic push fits, dot and dabbed or battened over.
     
  6. As with wiring, they tend to run in direct vertical lines from where they enter the wall, so you should know where to avoid putting nails...

    I don't see anything wrong with this.
     
  7. retiredsparks

    retiredsparks Super Member

    Where are the drops usually installed...corners ?
    Rs
     
  8. Dave does Gas

    Dave does Gas Screwfix Select

    Doubt it, when we worked on price we always took the shortest route, back then we used plastic coated 10mm microbore tube so easy to puncture if the homeowner wasnt aware, and why would they be. At the end of the day the average Joe Bloggs buys a new house and just get on with his life not concerned about pipe routes etc.
     
  9. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select

    Hardly ever in corners from what I've seen. Upstairs, straight up through the gap between flooring and wall to be clipped and positioned behind a cover plate, downstairs comes straight down the wall as vertical as can be done depending on the rad position, pipes kept well clear of us fixing skirting later on. Nearly all rads are positioned under the windows on the site I'm on.
     
  10. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    Curtin guy turns up on new build and hits a plastic water pipe going up around lounge window. Go figure that one. Crazy!
     
  11. Mike83

    Mike83 Screwfix Select

    Is there any fittings in the walls or is it 10mm continuous from rads back to manifolds.
    Are manifolds surface or under floors.
    Wouldn’t like to think there is push fit fittings in behind the walls.
    Never seen heating install in a new build.
     
  12. The only experience I've had with this is on my sis-i-l's 2007-build hoosie where we took down a wall which had a rad. That had 10mm micro in plastic - which changed to copper for the last sections where they came out the wall to the rad valves.

    Anyhoo, this was D&D walls too, and the pipes managed to live in the 20-odd mm void. All fed from a manifold in the boiler cupboard on the first floor, and the pipes came down in-line with the rad valves.

    Seemed a perfectly fine arrangement to me.
     
  13. The Teach

    The Teach Screwfix Select

  14. koolpc

    koolpc Super Member

    Me thinks i will steer well clear!
     
  15. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    Push fit fittings are up in the ceilings, between the joists.
     
  16. retiredsparks

    retiredsparks Super Member

    Funny how sparks are governed by prescribed zones....50mm deep...rcd...blah blah blah
    and it appears there is no regs for pipe runs ?

    Also there must be fittings behind every rad as some runs are in plastic PEX and they then stub out in copper to look good .
    RS
     
    Deleted member 33931 likes this.
  17. Yes, that's how my sis' was done - there were push-fits a couple of feet from where the pipes came out to turn the plastic in to copper, and the 10mm copper was simply bent to come through the wall, and then solder-elbowed to come up to the valves. The couplers were probably around 18mm diameter, so a snug fit behind the D&D p'board.

    BUT, the two pipes were clipped and did come down in straight vertical lines from the ceiling. I suspect the handbook that would have come with the house when new would have mentioned to watch out for this.

    Maybe.
     
  18. Kools, you aren't avoiding this flat just because of these pipes, are you?

    At least this one has gas! :)

    C'mon - give us some postcodes to work on - we'll find you a place :D
     
  19. Mike83

    Mike83 Screwfix Select

    Push fit fittings in walls, in timber frame houses(new build).

    Is that a good idea? I know the timber is treated but ain’t that a bit risky.
     
  20. Jord86

    Jord86 Screwfix Select


    The timber isn't treated, just C16 softwood 89x38mm clad with 11mm OSB to give 100mm thickness walls, well that's the bog standard new build construction anyways. No more risky than anything else, the inside of the walls are counterbattened so if anything was to leak, it would be the plasterboard that would start to deteriorate, not the walls themselves. If it was such a gamble the NHBC wouldn't allow it to take place and there'd be insurance claims across the land.
     
    Deleted member 33931 likes this.

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