Chirstmas DIY

[Scott Mills]

Well, the time has come for me to relax and enjoy my hard earned 4 days off over chirstmas... wait a minute "4 days " says SWMBO, "thats enough time to refit our bathroom"

All should be ok but I do have a couple of technical questions and wondered if anyone here can help.

Problem 1: I have the pleasure of living in a flat with lead piping. I have no intention to remove all this piping as it runs between flats and upto a communal tank. But I do need to mess with it a bit. What are my chances of being able to remove a exising tap and replace it onto the same bit of lead pipe? I guess small as the taps seem to be locked in solid with some gunk and powdery stuff.

I'm thinking of cutting the pipe and comming off it with some copper, or flexi pipe. Are there and fittings avaiable that allow me to attach copper pipe to lead without the expected hassle (ie soldering onto lead!). I think there is something called a leadlock(?). What are these, how much are they, how do they work and where can I get 'em?

Problem 2:

We currently have 7kW shower, but have a combi capable of around 11 l/min and so a thermostatic shower is going in. The question I have here is I'm planning of fitting a bar type one (this one in fact

My question is how is it actally held to the wall? I have just been to Wickes and had a look at their version and it appears to be held by the pipes! Can this be true? How do I ensure that the pipes are firmly held into the wall? My wall is only 4" thick and I will be running the pipes for the shower into it from the kitchen next door. I was expecting a locking nut going through the wall...

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers Scott

[Mary Fisher]

It's the only time we have to do such projects in our house. Very sensible.

Mary

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[sparky]

42)

[Andrew Barnes]

I have that shower, it is held to the wall by the supply pipes, which need to be rigidly held in place. This was quite a time consuming task, had to make a hole in wall, and mortar pipes in place after soldering.

It is a great shower though!

Hope this helps

Andrew

[Owain]

"Scott Mills" wrote .. | Well, the time has come for me to relax and enjoy my hard earned 4 | days off over chirstmas... wait a minute "4 days " says SWMBO, | "thats enough time to refit our bathroom"

Is it really a good idea to refit the bathroom at a time of year when the DIY shops and plumbers merchants are going to close if not for two or three days then at least one (and the public loos might close too, if things get really desperate), not to mention it's a bit parky at this time of year for emergency baths in the kitchen sink.

It might be prudent to leave the bathroom to Easter and do some nice gentle emulsioning instead ....

Owain

[Kalico]

You should be able to get them from your plumbers merchants. They are compression type fittings but are not cheap.

42)

These are good showers but can be a bitch to fit. You might want to Google for my previous posts about them.

Usually, they come with 'cranked' connectors that mean that levelling them up can be difficult. Use brute force or obtain some straight connectors, whcih are much easier to make level.

As for how they are held to the wall, I have started using the connectors that you would use to mount an outside tap. These have a couple (often 3 if triangular) holes in them that can be screwed to the wall. Otherwise, the instructions usually just say to make the rigid pipe 'secure' whcih means some sort of strap to the wall and not very satisfactory.

If you are running the pipes through to the kitchen next door, the best bet might be to use the bend in the pipe as it comes through the wall to pull against the valve, thereby holding it tight. Certainly, if you have access to both sides when you are fitting the valve, the job will be a whole lot easier.

Hopefully, the above is clear enough but just ask if not and I'll try to explain more.

Rob

[Dave Plowman]

I've not used them, but they do exist - I *think* they're just a form of compression fitting. Your local PM would be the place, but I'd measure the outside of the lead first.

FWIW, it's not *that* difficult to make a sound soldered joint from lead to copper - but I wouldn't want to do it where it shows. I've only done the one where the lead comes into the house, and there was plenty of spare to make a few mistakes. But it worked ok first time. Everything beyond that is now in copper.

[robgraham]

I envy you. One of the best Christmas days I've had was spent breaking concrete in readiness for a extension I was about to build. SWMBO was there too and we'd refused any other invitations.

Rob Graham

[Ben Blaukopf]

42)

I've got the Aire model, which had (has, I haven't got it fitted yet) the same instruction manual

Yep. It's just held by the pipes.

When you come to fit it, do not screw on the BSP coupler, solder an elbow on the other end, and then wonder a) How you know if the compression joint coupler is leaking or not b) What on earth you can do about it if it is.

In fact, I went one better than this. I gave myself a couple of inches spare on the pipe so I could examine the shower side. I then neatly soldered on an elbow on the other side, with pipes bending neatly back to the wall and down.

Then I realised that the newly attached downpipes made it impossible for me to push the pipe any further through the wall, so my 2 inches of slack was completely wasted.

If you work out how to tighten the nice chromed nuts which make the final connection to the mixer *without* scratching them and having SMWBO shout at you, let me know... Since she cares so much about them, I've sent her down to B&Q to see if there's any kind of tool with rubbery grips we can use....

Ben

[Toby]

Piece of inner tube rubber salvaged from bike around nut & water pump pliers worked for me.

[Andrew Gabriel]

One year, my mum wasn't very well at Christmas. Until then, she had always done the family Christmas dinner, but we contrived to ensure she wouldn't that year to avoid the strain. Her Christmas present was a new kitchen fitted by my father and myself, and we timed it carefully to ensure there was no kitchen on Christmas day, and no way to cook Christmas dinner. We went out for our Christmas dinner at good resturant on Christmas eve, and whilst the rest of the street was tucking in to their turkeys, we were assembling and installing kitchen units. It all worked out very well.

[Scott Mills]

perfect! thanks for you answers.

Now my next question... How do I know if I have 1/2" x 6 or 7lb. How is this "weight" measured?

[BigWallop]

| Any advice would be much appreciated. | | Cheers | Scott | | |

[BigWallop]

| | Any advice would be much appreciated. | | Cheers | Scott | |

[Kalico]

[snip]

I got all the pipework in place first and then connected the shower at full pressure before tiling/boarding around the fittings. then dismantle and get the tiling etc done before reconnecting.

The nut is pretty large, so a spanner slightly oversized with an old Marigold or similar wrapped around the nut should do it.

Rob

[Scott Mills]

I've just spotted that outlook express doesn't download this header anymore. how helpful...!

anyway, I've pick up all the bits today and am in the staring at it and pondering phase before I start cracking on next week.

I can get to both sides of the wall (well just the kicthen cuboards are in the way), and my current thinking is that if I make a big enough hole in the kitchen side I can get the a locking nut in which should hold it solid.

I'll let you know how I get on! I did get he lead-loks. a tenner a go which made me swallow hard when I need 4. I shall see if I can solder them first, if so I'll take 'em back!

Thanks for all your help.

Scott