Moving water main/stopcock

[SuperPav]

Right Buildhub collective...

 

I currently have the old lead pipe coming into the floor where the old kitchen used to be (opposite side of the house from the new one) - this is going to be a living room, so can't have the stopcock in there (boxing in is not permitted by the big boss...).

 

In an ideal world, I would tap into the service pipe in the garden, dig a trench and run MDPE all the way round the house entering at the garage/utility where the new stopcock will be in a unit.

 

However, the build is currently far from being in an ideal world, and money is problematic. The above option will cost at least £500 (and everytime I've said "at least" on this build it's been more...) plus will delay things somewhat given that where the digging needs to take place is full of materials which can't be moved anywhere at the moment.

 

Could I tap into the lead pipe near the current stopcock under the floor, and just run it across the footprint of the house? I can do the coupling on the outer side of the wall if that helps rather than inside the footprint.

All the floors are currently up or dug up, ready to be blinded and insulation laid (~350mm below FFL). It would be much much easier for me to just run a single length of MPDE within the bottom 25mm blinding layer/EPS crush layer.... Is there a reason why this would not be allowed? 

 

Above it would be ~200mm of insulation and 100mm of concrete slab...

 

 

 

[Bitpipe]

I would run MPDE all the way back to the main stopcock and loose the lead completely. MPDE is not expensive (50m of 32mm is £70) plus a few fittings.

 

You could run it above ground for now, couple from outside, and then trench it in properly when the materials are out of the way.

 

I'm no builder but was able to dig a 30m trench for my power cables with just a pick and shovel over a weekend. 

 

Also, dig out the lead and take to your scrap yard for a few ££.

[kommando]

I too would recommend the outside route, MPDE above ground will not suffer even during Winter and lead pipe ages and then leaks so getting rid of much as you can future proofs as well as being safer. But if you do go inside make sure there are no joints ie single run of MDPE and keep a stop cock in the old position and the new, so if there is a leak you can isolate sections to see where it is.

[Russell griffiths]

If you are on lead I’m sure the water company will replace free of charge as long as it’s not that far. 

I would not want a join in the house under the floor. 

If all the floors are up why not run a completely new pipe in a direct line from tap to tap under the floor in a duct. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Russell griffiths

[Russell griffiths]

 

blue line, new pipe. 

[SuperPav]

Thanks all, I think this post has just made me realise there's probably another option that is "do both"!

 

I'll run the "temporary" MDPE under the floor as I can knock that up in a few hours, and then just leave a duct from the outside on the garage side, so that I can run the "full" MDPE via the garden at a later date when time pressure isn't such an issue, and swap them over at the stopcock. That way I'll have the proper long-term solution, and means I won't be tripping over the surface laid MDPE in the meantime.

 

@Russell I don't think they'll move the stop cock for free, they might replace the lead to its current location, which wouldn't really be much use to me... Also they have been quite incompetent so I'm not sure this is a dependable route anyway

[bassanclan]

If you can agree to get them to replace the lead bit for free, you will save a lot of digging, then bung the lads £50 each to run the pipe where you want...jobs a goodun