Location of mains water stop cock

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Mains water supply of mid-terraced house enters house through front door, runs along full length of hall and then directly into kitchen where stop cock is located.

Present setup means water supply is "live" right up to kitchen and cannot be switched off if required.

Ideally, where should the mains water stop cock be located? Perhaps just outside (or inside) the front door?
 
Frequently there are external stop valves in the pavement outside properties.

Small square/rectangular hinged lids... Or round ones... Google < external stop tap pavement > to see some examples.

Water meters almost invariably save the home owner money cf rateable value charging so it's odd to not want one.
 
look at the boundary to the house there is normally a stop cock under a metal box lid where the mains joins the property supply.
Depending on when/how the terrace was built, sometimes there is only a single external stopcock for the entire row.
We discovered this at our last house, when somebody 5 doors away was having work done and turned off the stopcock just inside their front garden wall (quite understandably, they thought it was "their" mains stopcock) and the entire street was disconnected.
 
Water meters almost invariably save the home owner money cf rateable value charging so it's odd to not want one.
I'm in Northern Ireland, and we don't have water meter meters.
look at the boundary to the house there is normally a stop cock under a metal box lid where the mains joins the property supply.
Yes there is one there on the footpath which only corresponds to my house so that can be used in an emergency.

Reason for my initial asking about location of stopcock is that the mains pipe from footpath is lead and I'm going to have it changed to plastic, so potentially location of stop cock could be changed when this is being done.

Hence I was wondering if generally it would be regarded better to position stop cock:
a) just outside the front door
b) just inside the front door
c) inside the kitchen which is at the end of the hallway (present location)

There is a garden to the front so if it were just outside the front door, it won't be fronting directly onto a public footpath.
 
I’d say locate it wherever you can get to quickly in an emergency. In our old house, it was under the floorboards by the front door which necessitated lifting the carpet, underlay and a few floorboards.
 
I can't see the age of the house mentioned, but lead suggests old.

In older houses I've known, the water supply pipe usually runs in a straight line from the watermain under the pavement, to where the kitchen sink used to be when the house was built. In terraced houses this tends to be under the hallway, but sometimes the pipe enters at the back.

There usually is, or was, an external stopcock in the ground next to where the front gate used to be when the house was built. Sometimes in the pavement, sometimes in the garden beside the path, sometimes both.

Ignorant buffoons often pave over the access to the stopcock. If you look at neighbours similar houses, you can form an opinion about possible stopcock locations. You may need to dig a hole. The pipes commonly start leaking after 60 to 100 years.

You mention you are going to replace the pipe, so I strongly recommend having a full-bore external stopcock, at or near the boundary, so close to the watermain, and an internal one where the pipe rises out of the floor, commonly under the sink. In the unlikely event of damage or a leak, this will enable you to isolate either your external pipe run, or the internal plumbing. Some people fit a cheaper 15mm stopcock, which will restrict the flow somewhat. You can tee off to a garden tap at the external stopcock if you like. The new pipe does not have to follow the same route as the old. You can add modern insulation where the pipe is exposed.

Several times I and my family had frozen or burst pipes. An easily accessible external stopcock enabled neighbours, and in one case police, to turn off the supply.

As you are replacing lead, there might be a subsidy or free connection from your water company. Apply before you start work. You might need to have your drinking water tested for lead (free) first.
 
Our local water co had an offer a couple of years ago to replace any lead from their stopcock in the footway which they were renewing up to our internal stopcock gratis so certainly worth asking.

It was a rental which we were doing up so seized the opportunity as the internal stopcock was leaking and also needed relocating. Their guy thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he came in to bare rooms and loads of floor boards already up. His day was then spoiled as his pipe was fractionally oversize and it took him about 40mins to make the final connection. The balance of that new coil was headed for a skip!
 

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