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Master bathroom plumbing questions


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We have been trying to re-fit our master bathroom since the beginning of January and our plumber keeps delaying us and has done 2 days work so far. We are not getting anywhere. We have decided to complete the master bathroom ourselves because the unreliability is driving me crazy. On that note we have a few questions relating to the plumbing - I think there’ll be a few.

 

question 1. The waste for the shower. We will run a flexi pipe from the waste to the waste pipe on the right. Is that correct? 
 

 

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I can't answer your question but ... precautionary principle.

 

We had to do some heavy fiddling with the waste in my main bathroom because we were adding a bath last summer. No other option.

 

My plumber heavily emphasised that if it was being put somewhere where it could not be got at in future if a joint leaked along the pipe (we had to add the bath waste into the same pipe), then use the most reliable possible connections. 

 

I do not know what those are, but if that is you then someone will know.

 

Ferdinand

Edited by Ferdinand
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Rigid pipe, solvent welded to a TOP ACCESS trap.  The base of the trap goes in first, then the shower tray, then the top part screws down to the base and seals.  The actual "trap" then drops in, and can be removed from above for cleaning.

 

What other bits do you have to go with that trap, I can't tell if it is top access or not.

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Thanks guys. Will follow your advice above. 

 

Just trying to line my ducks up, so I can get everything I need from the hardware store. 

 

Any advice on how to securely mount a 330mm shower arm so that it’s secure and strong to hold a 12-inch fixed shower head and not droop.‬

9453B697-1004-4568-A914-9D614CF83A6C.jpeg

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Fix one of these so it is flush or slightly recessed in the wall and screw that pipe into it https://www.screwfix.com/p/endex-brass-end-feed-adapting-90-wall-plate-elbow-15mm-x/83561?_requestid=360473

 

That is just an example you can get them that take a compression fitting pipe, push fit or whatever your favourite plumbing method is. Some examples lower down on the right of that link above.

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I have just done this in our ensuite using top access trap. This was the sequence I did for fitting the tray...

 

Shower trays need good support. Typically you need 16-18mm WPB or better still marine plywood same size as the tray supported on a 4*2 frame/joists.

 

Don't fit ply yet but check it will be level.

 

Cut a hole in the ply where the trap will go about 1/2" bigger than the trap.

 

Cut rigid solvent weld pipes and assemble without glue to check position of trap is perfect. Lower tray onto it to check. The top of the bottom part of the trap should be a few mm above top of plywood to allow for mortar which will raise the tray slightly.

 

Ideally the trap should be able to move up and down a bit so it can tighten up against underside of tray later.

 

When happy with the position solvent weld the pipes. Test for leaks and screw down the plywood.

 

Seal plywood with SBR or similar PVA sealer.

 

When dry lay bed of mortar and lower tray onto it. I laid the tray onto two sticks of wood first and then pulled them out. Check tray is level.

 

Fit top of trap through tray into bottom half of trap.

 

If the underside of the tray isn't nice and smooth consider putting silicon around the rubber seal on the trap before lowering the tray onto it. You can also seal the top of the trap to the tray if there is no rubber washer provided.

 

Later fit the innards of the trap and the mushroom cap.

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If you use a top access trap a flexible pipe may not support the bottom part of the trap enough during assembly. If the bottom part moves too much it could be hard to screw the top part into it through the tray. 

 

Solvent weld may seem bit scary but it's not really. Helps if you mark the outside of the pipes after dry assembly and use a reasonable amount of solvent. Then you get enough time to rotate the pipe to line up the marks before it sets.

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Please don't do this job yourself  , GET  a qualified  plumber to do it. Trust a trader or any other builders sites on the internet  . Read the reviews  then choose someone  who is reliable,  I'm sorry this is not a job for a complete  novice. 

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58 minutes ago, Danny68 said:

Please don't do this job yourself  , GET  a qualified  plumber to do it. Trust a trader or any other builders sites on the internet  . Read the reviews  then choose someone  who is reliable,  I'm sorry this is not a job for a complete  novice. 


I agree Danny, but the unprofessionalism and unreliability of tradesmen has been insane. I’m not trying offend any tradesmen here, but getting guys out to do work has been impossible. Everyone’s always fully booked and when they schedule us in, they don’t show up and reschedule us. It’s taken six weeks to get two day’s worth of work done. It’s frustrating and annoying, and I’ve had enough.

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@Home Farm I feel so much for you, I was very lucky and had a brilliant builder but with support here from people that know, this job is completely DIY-able (IMO). I am completely self taught and been a builder for many years (retired now tho) it only takes some common sense. 

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One great thing with plastic waste pipe and fittings is that they are cheap, so you can buy a bag of solvent weld fittings, some pipe and adhesive and play around with the stuff to get a feel for how it goes together.  Well worth the bit of additional cost, as there's a knack in making good solvent weld joints and it's far better to make any mistakes on practice parts than on the real job.

 

If you get a few solvent weld access plugs you can seal the ends of your bits of test pipe and then check for leaks by filling the pipe up with water.  After three or four joints you'll probably get a good feel for how they work.

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21 minutes ago, Home Farm said:


I agree Danny, but the unprofessionalism and unreliability of tradesmen has been insane. I’m not trying offend any tradesmen here, but getting guys out to do work has been impossible. Everyone’s always fully booked and when they schedule us in, they don’t show up and reschedule us. It’s taken six weeks to get two day’s worth of work done. It’s frustrating and annoying, and I’ve had enough.

I would be the same but 6 weeks ago you thought the job was for a professional and you was right . I would never attempt plastering but if I did the worst I'd have is a crap wall , water is a completely different devil that can hurt you a year down the line undoing half a dozen other jobs you've done . If you really want to do it then you tube videos of shower installations would be my advice .

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Waste water plumbing and plastering are two completely different skills, as a builder I did small bits of plastering but anything over a few square feet I would get a professional in (if I wanted a good finish) but as @Jeremy Harris says practice with a few fittings to get the feel and go fir it. Watch a few utubes vids, you will feel empowered when you do it yourself (I know I did 40 years ago ?).

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As far as I am aware home farm wants to fit a complete shower installation not just a a waste connection ,imho you don't start your plumbing journey  at that level ,You start by plumbing in a washing machine or outside tap .No disrespect but the fact they mentioned  flexible  waste fitting as a connection is enough  for me to  reccomend a professional.  

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The first big DIY job I ever did was fit a new bathroom in the first house we bought.  I'd never touched plumbing, tiling etc before in my life.  The internet didn't exist then, and I didn't know any plumbers.  There weren't even any DIY sheds then, so I had to get all the stuff needed from the local plumber's merchant.  The chap behind the counter there had the patience to give me some advice, and ensure that the bits I bought all fitted together OK.  Fitting the new bath and shower went OK, the bit I screwed up was the tiling.   It was functional, but far from elegant.

 

At the time I did this it was out of necessity, we just didn't have the money to pay someone to do it.  When I fitted a new bathroom in our second house it turned out a fair bit better.  By the time I came to do all the plumbing, bathroom, kitchen fitting etc in this house I'd probably done maybe half a dozen bathrooms and three kitchens before, and I wasn't at all fazed by taking the job on.

 

Everyone has to start somewhere, and anyone starting out now has the massive advantage over the position I was in decades ago when starting out, as everything is easily available online and the internet has loads of resources that show how each job should be done.  A bit of patience, together with some practice on test pieces, and I reckon anyone could make a reasonably good job of it.

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In the past 18 months I’ve made and built stuff I never thought I’d be capable of. Plumbing is common sense. I have an additional resource to the BuildHub crew in that one of our community members is a retired FRICS, and he came over to offer additional advice. He also recently refitted his bathroom by himself.

 

I agree with Jeremy. I’m not going to empower myself if I just sit back. I’ve already plumbed our washing machine in, which was not difficult, and have changed several taps and modified simple waste pipework. This project will have to be an extension of my knowledge base. I’ll be patient, practice and ask a lot of questions.

 

Thanks to the folks here at BuildHub I changed a motor on our UFH motorized valve. It took me a day to understand the mechanics and process. Now I’m not daunted by that. It’ll have to be same for this.

 

As mentioned above. We’ve been royally messed around. The tradesmen around us are like bees, fluttering from one better pollenated paying project to the next. We’ve been living out of the guest room for months now, and we’re fed up.

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10 hours ago, joe90 said:
16 hours ago, Temp said:

If you use a top access trap a flexible pipe may not support the bottom part of the trap enough during assembly. If the bottom part moves too much it could be hard to screw the top part into it through the tray. 

 

Solvent weld may seem bit scary but it's not really. Helps if you mark the outside of the pipes after dry assembly and use a reasonable amount of solvent. Then you get enough time to rotate the pipe to line up the marks before it sets.


I won’t be going flexi. Had a a good look at it yesterday. Going down the solvent weld route and picking everything up from the store today. 
 

Also binge watched YouTube videos last night and our FRICS neighbour (as mentioned earlier) gave us some great tips and advice.

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