Hiding plumbing

[msaghir]

Just a quick question - my first post so apologies if i get this wrong.

Currently about to start plumbing my extension - just wanted to know what order the materials go on to hide the water pipes.

I have breeze block walls. Do i...

A) Cut groves into the breeze blocks and fit the pipes in them for them to be plater boarded over and skimmed

or

B) Put the plaster boards onto the breeze blocks and cut grooves into the plaster board to hide the pipes and skim over

or

C) Am i supposed to offset the plaster boards from the breeze blocks with some batons and hide the pipes between the breeze blocks and plaster board?

or is there another way that people recommend?

Thanks all you glorious experts

 

[ScottishGasMan]

Honestly you shouldn't be hiding the pipes in the walls at all (as there will most likely be fittings on the pipes, none of which are maintenance free apart from solder/braized)

So to help you more, what pipes are you talking about hiding in the wall? will there be fittings - tees - elbows - changes of direction in pipe in the wall? what material is the pipework? what provisions are you taking to ensure nothing damages the pipes afterwards (someone firing a picture hook nail through one)? Have you though if the pipes are heating what effect this will have on pipe expansion in the wall and the result on the skimmed plaster on top?

 

[msaghir]

Thanks as a lot for those pointers. I mainly wanted to hide them as i didnt like looking at them. So these will be a hot and cold water pipe made of copper with elbows and tees etc which i was going to solder. There will be changes of direction in the pipes namely to each of the units (WC, basin, shower etc). I was planning on offsetting a dry wall by a few inches using some stud work and was hoping that would be sufficient to prevent cracking of slimmed plaster. So am i right in thinking you would prefer the pipes showing perhaps along the bottom of the bathroom for example? Thanks again.

 

[ScottishGasMan]

In an ideal world yes. But if you have the pipes set behind the plasterboard as in option A. Above then the effect on plaster will be minimal, (are you tiling over them?)

If copper is to be used and soldierd, then you must take great care to fully wipe all the pipes clean of any flux to preven corrosion to the copper as if there hidden you wont see them rotting. also if there hidden in brickwork then I'd suggest wrapping them in ducttape/bitumen tape or otherwise to protect them from corrosion or rubbing as they expand and contract.

If there being tiled over then the chances of a nail piercing them is negligible in my opinion, but if not then make sure to route them in such a way that you know where they are after its covered up and that no ones likely to screw through them for any reason

 

[msaghir]

Thats correct they will be tiled over. Thanks for you help - it's given me piece of mind. I will take those point about wrapping them and cleaning them before covering them. Cheers