Rough idea of cost to have outdoor tap fitted?

[Mentalguy2k8]

We need a tap fitted at the back of the house, typically all the water is at the front... so it'll need to be connected in the loft, run about 20ft across the loft and then dropped down the wall outside to a tap.

Anyone have a rough idea of how much this will cost? I'm just looking for an educated guess so I know whether to get someone round to quote. I don't want to waste everyone's time if it's going to be silly money. (I know it's a DIY group but if I have a go, this has disaster written all over it!)

[Bob Minchin]

Don't run the pipe down the outside as you are asking for problems with it freezing. Find an internal route and pass the pipe through the wall at the end directly to the tap. Before you ask, even insulating a long outside run won't help.

If your house is detached or a semi, it will be much cheaper to put a tap at the front and run a hose round to the back when you need it.

No idea of what a tradesman would charge. I do my own plumbing.

Bob

[Mentalguy2k8]

Thanks Bob.

[Farmer Giles]

You can get outdoor tap kits which are pretty easy to fit. You get an 'easy-fit' connector (you just clamp them on to an existing cold water pipe, and they cut a hole into it), some flexible pipe and the tap itself. Just connect up, knock a hole through from the kitchen, and you're sorted.

[Peter Andrews]

Snipped

I think you will find that his kitchen is at the other side of the house :-) ...hose nailed around the skirting?

Peter

[ARWadsworth]

There will be freezing problems if an insolator is fitted and the water drained at winter time.

I saw one frozen outside tap this winter and that went straight through the wall into the house dut was left full of water in the cold spell.

Cheers

Adam

[Mentalguy2k8]

Yep, it's got to come from the loft, it's all concrete floors and ceramic tiles downstairs. I like the skirting/hose idea though!

Maybe I should just wait until someone invents wireless taps :)

[js.b1]

Why on earth do you not put the tap at the front of the house, and run a longer hose on a dolly-reel around to the rear?!

Much simpler.

You can run water outside, but it would need to be a min of 450mm depth AND use very expensive frost-proof duct & insulation. I think the very thick waterproof WRAS approved insulation is about =A333/metre, the duct adds to that, so you can see things get expensive quickly. Without the insulation it is 580mm min as I recall.

Ensure there is an isolator on the inside, and lag the pipe through the wall with the closed-cell insulation not the conventional cheap stuff. It comes in 9mm wall, 13mm wall and probably 25mm wall - you can get a celotex version (phenolic insulation). Bizarrely the "thro the wall 15mm pipe with flange at end" have a small diameter flange so you can not insulate through the wall right up to the back of the flange. I guess you could create a larger diameter flange and screw to that, so the pipe is truly insulated in the wall and through it.

[js.b1]

To add, you COULD fit a tap at the front and run Hep2o from it around to the rear of the house under the driveway and up above ground to another tap on a wall or where you like. Hep2o will tolerate freezing

- it can force fittings off as ice expands, but you can simply disconnect it from the outside tap in winter.

Preferable to trying to run it indoors with solid floors, tiled skirting and so on.

[shazzbat]

I think you left a "not" out of that sentence, no?

That's what I did with mine. Isolator in the loft and the outside pipe drained by loosening the nut where the pipe meets the tap. The one way valves in the tap mean it won't drain properly simply by turning the tap on.

Steve