Bath Surround / Boxing In, and concealed pipework

[Nickfromwales]

Your getting good at this now .

DONT use Denzo tape!! It's not allowed for use on potable water any more   Where the two pipes are touching, just use insulation / gaffa tape to physically separate them, and there won't be any issues with them then IMO.  

If you don't want a joint, drop a separate pipe for the bath hot and tee it in above where you have access to the joint maybe? Also did you say the upstairs basin cold is off the CWS? I'd want that off fresh cold myself, but you may have to change the tap to acheive it ( if it's a mixer / mono block ) as the hot won't have much gravity ( pressure ) at that location to fight off cold mains. 

Apart from those niggles it's going good guns, and one less tiled access panel to do .

[Onoff]

I was considering to drop a separate hot for the bath tbh. It means drilling another hole. The main thing for me and it might seem a bit (a lot?) anal is that it upsets the symmetry of the pipework. At the mo there's  3 equi-spaced pipes and a fourth would throw it all out and make it look ill considered. That's how I think, I get stuck in a loop etc. Sad I know! I'll have to get over it! I've just been in to stare at it all again and decided it's not the biggest issue!  The alternative being to redo it all and I think I've peaked on that front. Saying that I am getting to enjoy the bending.

 

Yep the upstairs bathroom sink is fed off the cws tank. This is a tiny 25 gallon one that sits above the upstairs ceiling. The hot is from a copper hot water cylinder above the downstairs ceiling. Think I mentioned back on eBuild that since fitting the tap style below, upstairs we periodically have the cold from the cws get slower and slower till it stops. I then have to bleed the cws run from that 22 mm grey Hep2O stop end you can see in the loft pics above. It's only been an issue since fitting this type of tap. Plan is to change over to mains cold.

 

 

[Nickfromwales]

Aye, there's not enough flow / velocity to keep water from air locking in the pipe run. Those small waterways through modern monoblock taps don't bode well for mixed / gravity supplies. 

[Nickfromwales]

Fwiw, the equidistant 'stare at it longer than actually doing it' phase is something I suffer from too, just I've learned to get a solution quickly and move on in order to actually make some money. 

One of the reasons I'm not rich ??

[Onoff]

2 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Fwiw, the equidistant 'stare at it longer than actually doing it' phase is something I suffer from too, just I've learned to get a solution quickly and move on in order to actually make some money. 

One of the reasons I'm not rich ??

 

One of the MANY reasons I could never work for myself. They use me at work for retro fit solutions quite often. When it's gotten to the point the customer is so peed off with repeat breakdown charges on something which was never really fit for purpose anyway & can't be milked anymore I get the job to go in & fix it with cost the secondary issue. Often faced with a very unhappy customer. I'm tenacious and keep at it and get to indulge my quirks and produce a first class solution. I've gotten to play with some MIL spec stuff on the back of it too. The shame is I've often thought the design was crap at the design stage but been over ruled by management and the designers with degrees. The irony is that we've then lost some contracts as the client is that fed up by then. Mates at other companies who now do them tell me my retro fit details carry on trouble free.

[Nickfromwales]

Mediation and problem solving were some of the features I had which allowed me to 'walk' into some of my jobs. The first ST job I did as an employee was interesting. My boss dropped me and the 1st year apprentice off and said "ring me when it's in and working". Didn't do any work the first 2/3's of the day as I sat down to read the manual from cover to cover, twice. Boss asked what we'd got done that day and I replied "learned how to fit ST. Tomorrow we can start the job". He went nuts as usual, but he was a major prick in fairness. 

S/E is a bitch when your mega OCD, but I'd find it very hard to work for anyone who didn't want things done properly, and was charging / paying accordingly. Few and far between afaik. 

[Onoff]

That's it, it's staying like this. Duct tape around the pipes, old screw holes taped over. Now got to fit the PIR around these pipes. Was thinking to maybe "V" the PIR so it comes in from each side then foam fill the gap?

 

sans the dwarf wall:

 

dwarf wall in place:

 

Valves just sitting on there for effect, might crank these ends down a few degrees with the spring:

Edited August 14, 2016 by Onoff

[Onoff]

Gave up to sit in the garden to read this and drink the other. Absolute scorcher and then two De Havilland Vampires fly up the valley and very low over the house!

 

 

Maybe an airshow on nearby? Biggin Hill?

[Gone West]

I think it's the Eastbourne Air Show this weekend.

[Nickfromwales]

Off home. Had a tit-full for one day, and it's bloody Sunday. ?. 

Beer and BBQ me thinks.

???

[Onoff]

15 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

I think it's the Eastbourne Air Show this weekend.

I reckon you're right. Seems at least one is a Swiss built plane now registered in Norway:

 

http://www.eastbourneairshow.com/flying.aspx

[Onoff]

Needed to reinstate the 50mm PIR on the cavity wall where the pipes are. Figured as above to V the PIR which I did on the table saw after marking with a bevel gauge to clear the 15mm copper. Just got to infill it now:

 

 

 

 

The V meets at the back. Can't decide whether to just gun foam the Vs and trim off later or stick back in the removed sections (trimmed for depth)with low expansion foam, At least then the Celotex writing would be back in place! 

 

Can't see that "burying" these pipes is an issue on the basis there are no joints in them whatsoever just offsets and bends.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

At least then the Celotex writing would be back in place! 

 

Pmsl. 

Sounds like a challenge lol 

[Onoff]

Thank God for silver tape!

 

 

Presumably then (and I have) it's a GOOD idea to keep aluminium foil tape from touching copper pipes because of potential electrolytic reaction?

[Nickfromwales]

I just whip the pipes with a few layers of insulation tape for physical separation as it's easier than gaffa tape on the bends. Gaffa tape on the long straight runs is easier if you have both available. 

Looks neat and tidy, stand down red alert.  

[Onoff]

.....I can feel some heat shrink coming on!  

[Nickfromwales]

38 minutes ago, Onoff said:

.....I can feel some heat shrink coming on!  

Let's agree on a 2020 launch date?

[Onoff]

5 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Let's agree on a 2020 launch date?

 

I'll have you know I'm on the way to collect the Aquapanel now and I pick up the moisture resistant plasterboard on Tuesday.....quite how long it'll sit there once I get it.....

[Nickfromwales]

Check the sell by date

[Onoff]

It's  looking like I might shortly get to having what I've coined a "B'halfroom". That is working bath and sink along one wall. As much as anything a peacekeeping exercise! 

 

That'll leave the wc and wet room corner on the opposite wall to do.

 

Posing as many questions as usual like can I lay just a few floor tiles under the sink and finish the rest "later" or should I maybe go for a half height pedestal then I could forget about the tiles?

Edited August 18, 2016 by Onoff

[Onoff]

I can feel a daiking-esque "to do" list coming on whilst Paula Abdul's going round in my head singing "two steps forward...two steps back" 

 

So...I'm glad I turned the bath around as it gives me better access to the trap. Similarly chamfering the recess in the floor was a good idea:

 

 

 

(All this concrete under the bath'll get painted in grey floor paint ant the marine ply box re-varnished).

 

 

Still got to figure out permanent feet for the bath and probably make 'em a tad taller too:

 

 

Originally the bath electrical control box sat literally underneath the bath between the feet one end and the waste. From it run 5 cables:

 

 

Now I'm going to place the control box just outside the bathroom in a quasi riser cupboard as you enter the bathroom. It'll also be handy for jumping into the ring there for power and fitting a local isolator. On these lines:

 

 

Of course the screened cables only reach here:

 

 

So I need to extend these:

 

 

Level Sensor - 3 x 0.14mm (nothing special) 

 

Keyboard - 8 x 0.25mm² (foil & screened)

 

LED Spotlight - 4 x 0.25mm² (foil & screened)

 

 

 

 

Off to the shed / garage in a while to see what I've got in terms of screened cabling or I'll be on eBay for the short lengths I need.

 

Ref joining the extensions I'll either solder/heatsrink/foil/heatshrink or if I can find matching plugs and sockets. I think they might be Italian KIT connectors but can't see anything written on them. Wherever the "junction" ends up I'll make a "rain" shield irrespective of how good the joins are!

 

This is all I can find ref them at the mo on the connectors. A UK source would be good:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KIT-Connector-terminal-SERIE-JWP-male-female-8-way-polig-auto-camper-moto-/261487095500?hash=item3ce1d86ecc:g:BqsAAOxyrrpTfh3u

 

Now with the bath turned around I'm going to rework the removable end panel:

 

 

Think I said earlier I was expecting to have to crank my pipes downward!

 

But BEFORE I really get into that.....I'm waiting for my LED gel strip lights and have to figure the neatest detail for them. I've got to put the VCL over the wall where the pipes come out off, permanently screw the dwarf wall to the battens.....

 

The FUN just never stops!

 

So that's this evening's jobs! 

Edited August 20, 2016 by Onoff

[Nickfromwales]

Don't forget to buy the anti-foam droplets / bottle for when you test drive the bath   

When I fitted my mates swimming pool and hot tub this got overlooked with interesting results. . Even if you go in the shower first before relaxing in the tub, the residual shampoo / body wash etc is enough to cause the whirlpool bath to foam up. One drop of that stuff keeps the water completely flat. Oh, and wait until the kids discover what a squirt of shampoo will do 

 

[Onoff]

Nick, you bought this bath filler I believe:

 

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/BATHROOM-ROUND-OVERFLOW-FILLER-WITH-CLICKERPLUG-WASTE-CHROME-BATH-EXOFILL-/161023564006?nav=SEARCH

 

What "taps" did you fit? Guessing maybe it's fed from a combined shower valve? Looks to only have one inlet in the picture.....

 

Ta

Edited August 22, 2016 by Onoff

[Nickfromwales]

I've got a 3-way diverter sunk into the wall. Pics later. 

For your application you just tee the hot and cold outputs from each tap together and send the unified feed to the filler . 

[Onoff]

Ergonomics.....the way it's looking you'll lie in the bath with your head in the corner of the room and feet the basin end which feeld "right". Taps on your left. The bath controls; jets and lights will be on your right by your feet so you'll have to sort of sit up & forward to reach them. If the bath was spun thru 180deg the taps would be on your right, the jet/light controls over your left shoulder.  

 

Got to hide the LED gel strip box too somewhere yet have it easily acessible / replaceable: