Fixing a bar type mixer in a solid wall

[David WE Roberts]

at the Wiki the method seems to be using soldered copper all the way to the floor and using the plaster to fix and support the vertical pipes and the connectors to the mixer bar.

Wondering now about the following options:

(1) Fixing the right angle connectors to the wall (using connectors as shown for stud wall) instead of relying on plaster. I assume the plaster method allows for very fine repositioning. Presumably the connectors could still be held in a template (or connected to the bar) when being fixed.

(2) Using plastic instead of copper - with copper compression joints. Not sure about burying push fit joints but I do know that I won't be soldering anything unless I really have to.

(3) Using some kind of pipe clip to hold the pipe instead of just relying on the plaster. You used to be able to get copper strips (like U shapes) to hold pipes to walls but I haven't seen any new for years.

Currently doing the planning for the shower room and it has changed from a stud wall to a solid wall so having a re-think about how to run the pipes. Alternatively, we could just run chrome pipes on the surface.

Cheers

Dave R

[Nospam]

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I used plastic pipe terminated in a 15mm wall plate elbow that was securely screwed to the wall and set in a recess such that the surface of the female part was more-or-less flush with the plaster level. I put a cover over pipe so that thermal expansion didn't affect the plaster. The whole lot was then plastered over and has been rock-solid ever since. The only fiddly bit is getting the wall plates in the right place, but that's easy enough with a piece of ply as a jig.

[Stephen H]

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There is a special plate you can buy that you screw to the studding. You feed the copper tube to it. There are two back nuts on this metal plate which the copper tube passes through and the back nuts clamp these pipes. The copper tube is then allowed to protrude into the room.

You then plasterboard it with two suitable holes for the clamped copper tube. You then tile over, grout up and the attach shower bar mixer bar to the protruding pipes.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

I make up a dummy bar with connectors and simply cut it when done - using a rotary pipe cutter - which facilitates easy removal of each end.