Day courses for pipework?

[BennyC]

Morning All,

We've a bathroom which is back to brick at the moment.

Quotes to chase the walls and first/second fix have been way above what we were expecting. Being fairly practical, capable of chasing and having done some plumbing basics before myself the only area of 'expertise' I lack is working with copper, bending and compression fittings.

I've looked online for day courses though these don't seem to exist and a 3-5 day course I think would be overkill to simply move some hot/cold feeds for bath taps and a shower valve and to switch out a radiator.

Can anyone recommend any? Or should I simply turn to YouTube, get plenty of practice in and use elbows?

Thanks.

 

[BennyC]

Thanks for all the advice so far.

How much was your quote @BennyC ?

I've no issue using push-fit or other similar variants though think the thickness of some of these fittings mean the chases will need to be on the deeper side.

First quote was £1,700 + materials and considering it included moving the waste stack a few inches to the side and a second fix, wasn't horrendous but still more than my O/H's expectation/budget. Today's quote was almost double that at £3,200.

I think most here are right in that what I need can be learnt online or with a little practice, proper prep and patience.

Just for perspective, the outline of works. The room is, or will be, empty.

Spoiler

I appreciate that tradesmen are charging for time, travel costs, business costs and of course turning a profit. My costs below for the tooling are rather for perspective on tooling/material outlays.

I have an SDS drill/chisels for chasing, angle grinder, recip saw but not a holesaw/auger (£50). I estimated pipe and fittings for the soil stack to be around (£100)

Toilet- minor position movement.
- Move toilet 2-3inches back and left, remove cast iron soil pipe, replace with plastic.
- Move cold feed out of sight up and under from the floor most likely.
(The room is very narrow and this small margin of space is necessary. Plus the existing waste pipe is very unsightly and protrudes from the wall significantly.)

Basin - position unchanged.
- Chase hot/cold feed for basin in to wall.
- Chase waste for bottle trap in to wall / possibly straight through and in to soil pipe, or in to existing waste.

Radiator - position unchanged.
- Chase feeds in to wall, narrowing slightly. (existing radiator was wall mount but floor fed)
- Boards will come up so joists may need chopping a bit dependant on position but should not be particularly tricky other than working in the floor.

Bath/Taps - position unchanged
- Taps moving to mid-way rather than at the foot, and wall mounted with concealed valves.

Shower above bath - position unchanged
- Prev. was electric so chase for concealed valves and chase for shower head. (Access to the rear via bedroom with boiler in cupboard).

 

[BennyC]

Picture of bathroom? Do you really need to chase basin pipes as a lot of vanities expect it to come out of the floor (but close to wall).

I'd be going waste pipe myself.

Bath/Taps you've got for the most expensive possible option - most installations I have seen "box in" the pipework.

Shower you can do yourself - I had a similar situation. Just plastic and then do the tails in copper for the shower fitting.

Ta, plastic in the walls makes sense. Less faff to cover prior to plastering. Copper tails too for the radiator with push-fit on to existing copper in the floor might be easier where space is limited.

I don't have any useful pics to hand but will throw some up at the weekend.

The vanity unit that's been chosen, to make life even more difficult, is a 'frame' rather than solid unit so H/C feeds really do need hiding.