Capping off a lead / copper pipe - best approach?

[Mattsw17]

Evening all,

I'm looking to cap off the main incoming water pipe that comes into the house through the basement so I can strip out all of the existing pipe work.

The whole house is in the process of being gutted - with the basement being dug out deeper to make it habitable.

As you can see from the pictures the water comes in through a lead pipe, then transfers into cooper when it passes through the supporting wall. I've tried to turn the stopcock off - however it's not budging and I'm concerned about buckling the pipe if I apply any further pressure.

What would you suggest should be the best approach to capping it off and what should I be asking a plumber to do - I'm thinking it should be capped off somewhere on the lead section as the supporting wall will have to be removed in the future as part of the construction work?

Lastly - how much should I expect to pay? - I'm in Tooting.

Thanks in advance for any replies.


Matt

 

[omega015]

I know this doesn't help you with the immediate issue, but I recall water companies have some type of scheme to replace all the lead pipes. You could take advantage of those and get new plastic piping with a new stopcock.

 

[Madrab]

1st thing would be finding the outside mains toby stop valve in the street feeding your property. Get that shut off and then the lead can be cut and a leadloc/plasson/philmac adapter can be fixed to the lead, a short length of 22mm onto a new stop tap. Not a huge cost attached to all of that, not sure about Tooting's rates tho.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Don't you need water on-site while the work is being carried out?

Andy

 

[Mattsw17]

Thanks for the advice / replies everyone - the plan is to replace the lead pipe completely, and re-route it, however for the time being I just need a short term fix to enable the basement to be cleared.

Matt

 

[Dan Robinson]

Those stop cocks can usually be persuaded to move given a bit of care, and gentle manipulation with the correct tools.

Loosen gland nut and maybe squirt with wd40. Then equal and opposite force to wind and unwind it. Won't be an immediate thing though.
At least you have access to either side of it.

 

[Agile]

You agree that the water supply pipe has to be replaced.

But I don't see why you are not connecting the blue poly at the boundary now and running it over the garden to a tap for the building work supply.

With many thousands of pounds of building work I am surprised that you seem very concerned about the very small plumber cost which you need now.
Tony

 

[Agile]

But the OP does not seem to want to realise that is not what he needs.

He needs a new poly pipe connected at the boundary and all water disconnected inside the house.

Tony

 

[Dan Robinson]

Do you know the schedule of works then Tony?

 

[Agile]

Schedule of works:-

Those stop cocks can usually be persuaded to move given a bit of care, and gentle manipulation with the correct tools.

Loosen gland nut and maybe squirt with wd40. Then equal and opposite force to wind and unwind it. Won't be an immediate thing though.
At least you have access to either side of it.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Assuming you weren't being totally obtuse there, the point is, for all we know there is a perfectly good reason why the main isn't being replaced now.

Site we're on is being dug out at the moment for the basement and the water main is not being replaced until some time in March.

Why you feel the need to constantly make assumptions about people and their projects as well as quoting meaningless sums is beyond everyone else on this forum.

 

[FiremanT]

This has made me lunchtime

Tony, how is the comedy degree coming along?

 

[Mattsw17]

Evening all,

Work won't be starting until July hence needing an a short term solution so I can strip out the basement. The longer term solution will completely relocate the pipe as a new bay window will be going in its place which is a little above my skill level...

Any further ideas of how long the job should take / cost?

Matt

 

[Madrab]

If it can be freed up as @Dan Robinson suggests then no more than an hourish I would say. To cut and replace, same amount of time.

 

[jeff the gasman]

Just do a live snatch. Tutorial video below.

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