Pipework in ceilings & building regulations UK

[xenicuslongpipe]

Hi,

Looking for some assistance please.

We're having some renovation work done on our house (1970s ex-council). I have just been contacted by out contractor to say they are concerned that the water pipes are plastic rather than copper and that they run through the ceilings (i.e. above kitchen, bedrooms etc). They have advised me this is "not standard and inline with building regulations".

The ceilings are down right now and the pipes are accessible so they are suggesting they are redirected to avoid issues in future..

Does this sound like a reasonable concern?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Plastic as in what type rigid or like normal plastic pushfit etc

You can run them in floors and ceilings no issue

 

[snowhead]

Can the Contractor quote the Building Reg that applies to these pipes and the issue,
And can they outline their proposed re routing / reconfiguring of theses pipes

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

Plastic as in what type rigid or like normal plastic pushfit etc

You can run them in floors and ceilings no issue

They sent me an image if you would be so kind as to take a look.

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

They have said the plastic connectors should be replaced by copper and the pipes rerouted (asked for more detail on rerouted how).

 

[ShaunCorbs]

All new build are pushfit so hmmm

I agree my personal opinion of pushfit isn’t the best but there’s 1000s of joints under the floor

If any of them look wrong best to change but they all look like speedfit except for the toilet one I’m guessing

 

[fowlerboi]

There like there is nothing wrong with that pipe work other than it looking like it was done DIY.

You pays your money, and you takes your choice. Either you leave it and think it will be fine or you pay to have it re-done and get some peace of mind and warranty for the works completed

 

[Ric2013]

Speedfit on copper looks naff, but isn't against the manufacturer's instructions. And this is a branded product.

Failures aren't unknown, but neither are failures on copper tube. Ideally redo the lot in low-carbon steel. Joking aside, it's a bit riskier than copper, but nowt wrong with it. Though if that were mine, I would want to see what is going on with the fitting half inside the wood in the second picture and be reassured that the wood couldn't push a release collet somehow.

If I say you have the plumbing equivalent of a Ford Mondeo, not a Jaguar S type, I hope you get my point. And, as others have said, many new-builds are purely pushfit.

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

Thanks everyone super helpful. I'm of a mind to sort it and now I now thats money well spent

 

[king of pipes]

Take the opportunity to upgrade the pipe and fittings it's not a major job and is one less thing to worry about. Kop

 

[Ric2013]

Is there any Artex in the house?

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

Is there any Artex in the house?

Nope. Because we just spent a fortune to have it all removed. Which is why the ceilings were torn down in the first place. Why do you ask?

 

[Ric2013]

Nope. Because we just spent a fortune to have it all removed. Which is why the ceilings were torn down in the first place. Why do you ask?

Since it often contains asbestos, if you had a leak, it would be more serious than if there weren't Artex. Since you have spent a lot having it removed (most people just plaster over it, though I think your approach is the right one), you seem like a cautious person and, as such, I think having the pipework improved is consistent with your approach.

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

Since it often contains asbestos, if you had a leak, it would be more serious than if there weren't Artex. Since you have spent a lot having it removed (most people just plaster over it, though I think your approach is the right one), you seem like a cautious person and, as such, I think having the pipework improved is consistent with your approach.

Appreciate you saying that, thank you. It was definitely the right approach for us but it hasn't been easy.

 

[Ric2013]

Appreciate you saying that, thank you. It was definitely the right approach for us but it hasn't been easy.

Need to have some removed myself (walls too) in the kitchen. Was it cheaper to have the plasterboard removed as well as the Artex, and how do they avoid the dust going up and through the upstairs floorboards?

Not having seen it done myself yet, I'm interested in what they actually do when you get them to remove large areas of Artex. If you had any information you felt like sharing, I'd be glad of it.

 

[xenicuslongpipe]

We were in the middle of taking up the floor in the living room and realised the tiles might contain asbestos. This triggered us to get everything tested. We'd been in the house ten years none the wiser to that point. We'd also overboarded some of the artex ceilings (before we knew) but most of it remained exposed.

Results came back positive for Chrysotile in the artex, floor tiles and bitumen (more on that in a moment) a few days later. We moved all our stuff into storage and moved out.

I ended up using two sets of asbestos removal teams. One for the artex and one for the tiles/bitumen. Bitumen is horrible stuff and has to be grinded off. The bitumen dust is hoovered up as its grinded off but it kicks up loads of concrete dust. An airtest was done after the bitumen was removed.

The team doing the ceilings covered up the floors upstairs (new) and units to protect them and proceeded to take the ceilings down, took a week. I wasnt present for most of it. I dont know that anything special was done to stop dust going up. I don't think artex is particularly friable. They did thoroughly vacuum up after they'd finished with a special hoover. The option to remove just the artex was never really discussed it might be cheaper but I believe it is not a simple job and very messy compared to taking the ceilings down with the artex coating intact. When it was done they issued a statement of cleanliness.

Honestly the bitumen was the most expensive and nasty stuff to deal with.

 

[Ric2013]

Ah. I see. Yours was first floor. Mine is ground floor ceiling hence my concern about dust going up. The lounge ceiling which I'm not too bothered about but also the kitchen which has had various damp problems which mean the Artex has become loose and crumbly in places (mostly behind counters... but air circulates so I want it gone).

I had some asbestos Marley tiles I took up a few years ago in my own home so I could then break up the concrete and dispose of it without it being contaminated waste. IIRC the bitumen itself in my place was free from asbestos, so it was a slow process of containing the area and wetting it all down and scraping off the vinyl-asbestos tiles one by one and then using my hazardous dust vacuum, largely as a precaution. Had the bitumen contained asbestos, it would have been harder still and meant the whole concrete floor would have been contaminated waste. Grinding it off sounds like a tedious process especially when it contains hazardous dust.

The only good thing is the need to wear expensive disposable safety clothing meant I refused to do less than 3 hours at a go, which seemed a long time as it was so boring, but at least it meant I got it done over a few afternoons as a very slow old process even though all I needed to get up were the tiles themselves. Luckily it was a smallish area.