I want to tile the batrhroom floor but this will mean I have no access to the water and sink/bath waste pipes if anything goes wrong -
Is there anything I can do apart from leaving the plumbing for a week or so after I do it and check there are no leaks/problems in that time.
If I do have a problem I guess I will have to take the floor up and re- tile.
The tiles are to go on 6mm plywood on top of the floorboards.
If it is on a floor other than the ground one it is usually easier to pull down the ceiling downstairs to gain access.
It is always a good idea to properly test your plumbing.
Lol,not a practical thing to do though is it. ;-)
The best he can do if he feels it necessary? is to bring the pipes above the floor behind the skirting and have this screw onto a box section for access.
Why not?
I sure wouldn't want to be taking the ceiling down. Getting it down is the easy bit though.
It's a dilemma I've been faced with since I had my bathroom replumbed and now all the pipes are under a layer of chipboard, a layer of plywood and a layer of tiles.
For me, retiling a section of floor is an easier option than replastering a ceiling, but I reckon a professional plasterer would disagree.
I wonder whether the plywood layer is essential. My floors are quite level so I tiled one room directly onto the original flooring chipboard using flexible tiling adhesive and it's worked well, if fact rather better than the stuff used in the bathroom where some tiles have got sightly loose.
If you're worried about the plumbing joints you can check them before you tile. Just place some valves on the end of the piping temporarily, run the water, use the valves to bleed the air and check for leaks.
What kind of joints have you got? I would always advise solder joints where possible but am also happy to use push-fit. Just ensure the pipes are well secured with clips and if using push-fit, that any locking tabs etc are in place.
They are soldered at the moment (original) and i have new pipework to do which I will solder - i was wondering waht would happen if in 6 months or 4 years one develops a leak? is it the case that if it doesn't leak within 1 week of making it - ot never will.
I dont want to add any more taps or anything - it's just making it more complicated and increases the risk of a leak.
Broadly yes. Pipework lasts longer than the bathroom finish in almost all cases.
I have never actually experienced a long term leak on plumbing that wasn't at either a compression joint, screw joint or valve.
Yes, over time pipework CAN corrode through. But that is decades, not years..
The jury is still out on pushfit rubber seal degradation tho.
I had a lot of chouces about accessibiluyty when plumbing and wiring this house.
In the end I decided that apart fropm things like valves and compression joints, the pipework was part of the building, and as long as you could smash down a plasterboard wall to get to it, in the end that would be cheaper and nicer than making access panels to get at every last inch of it.
Nearly all of it is inside the walls. Just the last few inches to the very few radiators..and some in or behind cupboard stuff in the kitchens and around the boiler..
Ripping out a wall and rebuilding it to fix a pipe problem is not as expensive as you think.
I manged to put a nail through a mains pressure cold feed when doing some bathroom work ..SWMBO was in tears. I nipped into town, got a slip coupling, drained it, mopped up the mess, cut the plasterboard out, put in in a new section, and had the plasterboard back in place and filler over it by teatime.
As long as you have a few spare tiles to retile any bits you bugger up, its a snap to do repairs to walls and boxing.
If you don't. its usally a sign that a bathroom needs a refurb anyway ;-)
I had a loo cistern once that was cracked and leaking..easy peasy you might think. Anything but. The new cistern overflow didn't match, and by the time I had knocked a whole brick out of the wall, replaced it and mortared it in, made good, the whole bathroom needed painting..again..and I decided that it was time to put a new floor down etc etc.
Sometimes its just easier to rip and replace than fiddle with rusted screws that wont come out, panels that have become stick etc etc.
Many years of car repairs taught me that beyond 10 years old, things that were designed to come apart often didn't, and if you have a leak in one bit of pipe chances are teh rest is none to bright either. We got used to saying 'sod this, axles off, drums off axles with blow torch, new cylinders in, drums and disks skimmed, all new pipework to new master cylinder. Right. That's fixed the brakes!
So if your plumbing develops a leak in what is supposed to be solid copper, you probably want new plumbing throughout anyway.
On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 03:41:27 -0800 (PST), andyv had this to say:
If a pipe 'goes wrong' you'll almost certainly have to replace the ceiling below anyway :-)
If a solder joint is going to leak, it's more than likely going to straight away. I wouldn't worry too much.
Design the pipework to minimise joints under the floor, as has been said use soldered joints and bends with all connections under the bath , behind the sink etc. Try to clip pipes away from any surfaces through which soemone might put a drill or screw !
I use Hep2o or speedfit pipe if going under a floor because you can avoid having any joints that might leak. I prefer inserts & compression joints in accessable places where joints have to ne made - not convinced by pushfit.
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