I am about to undertake various jobs round the house - the wife's bought me
a round to-it, so no excuses now.
In the bathroom we are going to have a shower cubicle and basin in a corner
that currently has no water supply. The supply is diagonally opposite the
new position. To get the water over there will mean passing pipework through
5 or 6 floor joists (it's a first floor bathroom, no water in attic). Is it
ok just to cut a series of 1" depth slots to take the pipe? Will I need to
strengthen the joists when doing so (I was thinking of screwing a 12" sheet
of 3/4 ply below each slot, but wondered if this is necessary?). Drainage is
not a problem - they will be on an outside wall.
Thanks
Paul

"me" wrote

Is it ok just to cut a series of 1" depth slots to take the pipe?

Best to route pipes like this close to lines of support (where the joists
rest on internal support walls or close to external walls).
At these points the joists are least stressed by bending/flexing loads.
Also a good idea to centre these under a floor board and clearly mark the
top of the board for future reference.
Shouldn't need reinforcing if these rules are followed.

A quick google gave this
http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/download...ber_Floors.pdf

Phil

me wrote:
I am about to undertake various jobs round the house - the wife's
bought me a round to-it, so no excuses now.
In the bathroom we are going to have a shower cubicle and basin in a
corner that currently has no water supply. The supply is diagonally
opposite the new position. To get the water over there will mean
passing pipework through 5 or 6 floor joists (it's a first floor
bathroom, no water in attic). Is it ok just to cut a series of 1"
depth slots to take the pipe?

notching out and using copper tube is old and busted. drill through
the joists with a 20mm flat bit and use plastic pipe and push fit
fittings for the supply pipe to the shower.

remember: /always/ drill the hole for the pipe a few mm /below/ the bottom
of the screws / nails you intend to use to refix the floorboards as you don't
want to do what I once did, 11pm in someone else's house, last floorboard
to be replaced, I smacked a nail right through a copper pipe.

I didn't get gone 'til 1am

In article ,
. wrote:
remember: /always/ drill the hole for the pipe a few mm /below/ the
bottom of the screws / nails you intend to use to refix the floorboards
as you don't want to do what I once did, 11pm in someone else's house,
last floorboard to be replaced, I smacked a nail right through a copper
pipe.

They should always go down the middle of where the floorboard goes and
that is nailed either side.

--
*Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

They should always go down the middle of where the floorboard goes and
that is nailed either side.


Nailed? Best use screws: brass or stainless steel. Then its not such
a b*gger when you want/need to remove the boards.

Mungo

me wrote:
I am about to undertake various jobs round the house - the wife's bought me
a round to-it, so no excuses now.
In the bathroom we are going to have a shower cubicle and basin in a corner
that currently has no water supply. The supply is diagonally opposite the
new position. To get the water over there will mean passing pipework through
5 or 6 floor joists (it's a first floor bathroom, no water in attic). Is it
ok just to cut a series of 1" depth slots to take the pipe?


err...probably not

rules for notching & drilling joists are in the building regs - notches
must be in a zone between 0.07 & 0.25 x clear span of the joist away
from either end: for holes the zone is 0.25 to 0.4 x span. Notches may
not be more than 1/8 (0.125x) joist depth & notched on the top of the
joist, not the underside.. 90deg square cut notches are considered
weak - use a drill to make a rounded hole & cut down from the joist top
to obtain a rounded base.

Holes must be not over 1/4 of the joist depth & drilled on the centre
line. IIRC regs also state a 75mm minimum distance between any two
notches/ holes. Also IIRC NHBRC make that 100mm instead of 75mm.
Drilled holes must have a 50mm clearance of solid timber above and
below (allows for standard 65mm flooring nails)..

If at all possible you'd do far better to route the water pipe along
the wall above the floor and box it in. Water pipes looping down under
the floor and up again are a PIA.. If you intend to use Cu on this job
that's another PIA. Passing Cu thru several joists almost inevitablly
involves multiple solder joints which are amongst the weakest part of
an installation. Granted, if they are going to fail it usually happens
within a few days, but solder joints can still fail after years. If
you are going to use pushfit plastic, would you trust those joints
under the floor? Condsider carefully what happens if it there is a
difficult to access leak.

If you notch, you'd be also well advised to protect the pipe in the
notch with steel plates: often used for electrical work: (available
from www.tlc-direct.co.uk).

Last a word of caution: this sounds as if it could be a job notifiable
to Building Control. If you are going to ignore that, at least find
out the ramifications of ignoring - google on this group for more info:
basicaly you have to wear dark glasses for 6 months and keep everything
under wraps for 12 months.

HTH

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...

"me" wrote

Is it ok just to cut a series of 1" depth slots to take the pipe?

Best to route pipes like this close to lines of support (where the joists
rest on internal support walls or close to external walls).
At these points the joists are least stressed by bending/flexing loads.
Also a good idea to centre these under a floor board and clearly mark the
top of the board for future reference.
Shouldn't need reinforcing if these rules are followed.

A quick google gave this
http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/download...ber_Floors.pdf

Phil

Thanks for the link, very useful

"." wrote in message
...
me wrote:
I am about to undertake various jobs round the house - the wife's
bought me a round to-it, so no excuses now.
In the bathroom we are going to have a shower cubicle and basin in a
corner that currently has no water supply. The supply is diagonally
opposite the new position. To get the water over there will mean
passing pipework through 5 or 6 floor joists (it's a first floor
bathroom, no water in attic). Is it ok just to cut a series of 1"
depth slots to take the pipe?

notching out and using copper tube is old and busted. drill through
the joists with a 20mm flat bit and use plastic pipe and push fit
fittings for the supply pipe to the shower.

remember: /always/ drill the hole for the pipe a few mm /below/ the bottom
of the screws / nails you intend to use to refix the floorboards as you
don't
want to do what I once did, 11pm in someone else's house, last floorboard
to be replaced, I smacked a nail right through a copper pipe.

I didn't get gone 'til 1am


Never thought of plastic, but that should be perfect. Also gives a bit of
flexibility when connecting to the fittings.
Cheers
Paul

"jim_in_sussex" wrote in message
oups.com...



rules for notching & drilling joists are in the building regs - notches
must be in a zone between 0.07 & 0.25 x clear span of the joist away
from either end: for holes the zone is 0.25 to 0.4 x span. Notches may
not be more than 1/8 (0.125x) joist depth & notched on the top of the
joist, not the underside.. 90deg square cut notches are considered
weak - use a drill to make a rounded hole & cut down from the joist top
to obtain a rounded base.

Holes must be not over 1/4 of the joist depth & drilled on the centre
line. IIRC regs also state a 75mm minimum distance between any two
notches/ holes. Also IIRC NHBRC make that 100mm instead of 75mm.
Drilled holes must have a 50mm clearance of solid timber above and
below (allows for standard 65mm flooring nails)..

If at all possible you'd do far better to route the water pipe along
the wall above the floor and box it in. Water pipes looping down under
the floor and up again are a PIA.. If you intend to use Cu on this job
that's another PIA. Passing Cu thru several joists almost inevitablly
involves multiple solder joints which are amongst the weakest part of
an installation. Granted, if they are going to fail it usually happens
within a few days, but solder joints can still fail after years. If
you are going to use pushfit plastic, would you trust those joints
under the floor? Condsider carefully what happens if it there is a
difficult to access leak.

If you notch, you'd be also well advised to protect the pipe in the
notch with steel plates: often used for electrical work: (available
from www.tlc-direct.co.uk).

Last a word of caution: this sounds as if it could be a job notifiable
to Building Control. If you are going to ignore that, at least find
out the ramifications of ignoring - google on this group for more info:
basicaly you have to wear dark glasses for 6 months and keep everything
under wraps for 12 months.

HTH

Thanks for that. The intention is to bring the pipe up through an internal
plasterboard wall to the shower controls. the shower will be fully tiled. I
have my concerns that any leaks will be buried in the wall or under the
floor (also to be ceramic tiled!) May have to look at alternatives.