Planning Service Access for Plumbing
I am curious as to how people plan for access to water line connections at fixture ends. Mostly bathroom fixtures.
My water lines will be run above floor using trunk and branch (PEX-A), so, manifolds, and access to them, will also be in the mix. NOTE: I’m not firm on running trunks above floor, which would be above my slab; but, all branch lines WILL be above.
This concern became more front-and-center when I started thinking about wall hung WCs: having a tank and connections inside the wall. I’d already been pondering it to some degree when looking to lay out shower and tub locations. So far, and I don’t think this will change, I am able to contain nearly all my plumbing within inner walls: lines for one bathroom sink will fall within an outer wall; I don’t have concerns with freezing walls here.
I am currently considering leveraging privacy walls between [roll-in] showers and WCs for service walls to contain manifolds and shower valves. I have yet to decide where closets are going to go in which case I cannot be certain that I can provide access points through a closet space (in living space on other side of bathroom walls).
Do people have concerns about access to the plumbing feeding shower heads?
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Replies
Hi Mark,
I’m giving your question a bump. While you wait for readers with recommendations to weigh in, take a look at: this Q&A thread. There are a number of pertinent comments and resources.
Kiley, some interesting discussion there, for sure!
I'd made up a trunk and branch design for my current home: still have all the plumbing bits waiting to go into a new build (which isn't a lot different than what I currently have! :-) I'm fairly confident I've got the trade-offs well figured on the 3/8" vs 1/2" side of things. I'll be doing 1/2" out to manifolds from where I'll branch to 3/8" (tub and showers I'm not fully set on yet). The lines are less of a question for me than is service access- I know that at some point something will need attention or changing (I have a shower valve that has been sitting around for nearly 10 years because in order to install it I'd have to tear out the shower surround- current house really isn't worth all the effort; I've managed the slight weep of the current valve by drilling out weep holes - I am really not a hack!)
I would say the norm in residential plumbing isn't to have service access. Most people in the trades treat drywall as a temporary covering, if you need access you cut it and then patch and paint.
Mark,
One strategy I've used successfully to provide covers for water shut-offs and values is to place ventilation grills on the opposite side of the wall. If they are there fr0m the beginning no one seems to object. Placing them over a hole you cut to gain access later often causes some resistance. In my own house i have one by the front door giving access to the main water shut off, and another at the end of the tub/shower where I replaced the trap. I also used that access to run wire for more lights in my kitchen below.
Malcolm -- are you talking about just a grill to cover the hole, or one that's attached to ducting? Here it would be a fire code violation to have a hole in the wall that wasn't covered that just went into the wall.
DC,
I back the grill with a piece of flashing so you can't look into the void.
Why would it be a code violation to have an opening into the wall? The code here only requires fire-stops between assemblies - that is at the top of the stud bays.
DC requires all openings into a stud bay to be fireblocked. An outlet plate is fine, just can't have a hole uncovered. We have a lot of old housing stock and a lot of fires, so they're strict with new construction. Pretty much any new house has to have sprinklers.
You probably have some local code issues due to all the row houses out there. If one of those goes up in flames, it is likely the entire block will go along with it.
You could still use Malcolm's idea, just take a piece of drywall slightly larger than the hole, then screw it through the wall's drywall so that it's sandwiched against the back of the main drywall layer. Then put the vent grille over the front of the hole. If you need access, remove the grille, remove a few screws to pop out the drywall plug, then do your plumbing work. Easy. Worst case with this method the city might want you to fire caulk the perimeter of the joint between the wall drywall and the plug drywall, but that's really overkill here -- none of the electrical boxes are likely to be fire caulked after all.
Bill
The only time I've ever been sued was by an owner who took me to small claims court saying her roof leaked because the carpet in her daughter's bedroom was wet. The subs and I spent ages crawling around the attic and taking off siding trying to figure it out. During the investigations I cut a 3" hole in a wall so I could look under the tub, and capped it afterwards with a round plastic grill. I won the case when it turned out the water was from her washing her dog In the bath every week, but the judge still made me pay to patch the drywall hole!