Replace lead mains pipe

pantechnicon

I live in a terraced house built in 1938, and the water pipe from the street as far as the mains tap is made of lead. I'd like to replace it with new plastic piping. As this is quite a big job (it means drilling through the front wall of the house), I want to be sure I get someone who's peoperly qualified, certified or whatever. Anyone have any advice about this - do I need a plumber or a builder? Is there a register of apporved craftsmen?

dunsandin

Pantec, its not that involved, more messy than hard. There will have to be a bit of digging up involved to expose the old poisoner pipe, ie a trench from where you need to get to to where the lead is to be cut into. The drilling through the house bit is no big deal, but unless you have a suspended(crawl space)floor, you will have a bit of digging inside as well. An adaptor to go from the old lead to new plastic will also be required. You need a bit of a cross between a plumber and a builder, a lug for the digging and a lag for the piping! Pm me if you need any advice.

yoshytoshy

dunsandin wrote: »

You need a bit of a cross between a plumber and a builder, a lug for the digging and a lag for the piping! Pm me if you need any advice.

Whats the name of your building company ?:D

dunsandin

Knackered & Swamped Construction Ltd.
I was thinking about this earlier, and the last one we did in D8, we dug the trench, but the Corpo had to make the connection onto the mains, and took the feed in as far as the boundary line. I seem to remember that to open the footpath(it was only open for a few hours) I had to put a special insurance bond in place for eleventy mirrion dorra in case any passing person fell in. That was in addition to the 6.5m PL policy I already have, and despite the fact we had it all fenced and coned off. AFAIR it was just not simple to deal with the paperwork, but the job was straight forward. That place had no front garden though-straight out onto the pavement.

Micky Dolenz

pantechnicon, all decent plumber firms can do this job from start to finish. They may sub contract the making good of any digging done. Get a few quotes and ask for recommendations. It's a common enough job.

dunsandin

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

pantechnicon, all decent plumber firms can do this job from start to finish. They may sub contract the making good of any digging done. Get a few quotes and ask for recommendations. It's a common enough job.

Oh yeah, thats right, silly me. Then again, the guy who owned that D8 rental was seriously minted, and had one of the top engineers in the country at his beck and call. The job was done exactly to the letter of the law, and the Corporation Water Dept made the connection to the main in the street, but that was probably just because they were bored and felt like a day out. A proper builder would probably just have whipped up the footpath and fired in his own pipe, cowboys like us had to get a bit of help. No damn help for me on the next one, im connecting it myself, sure whats the worst that could happen, yee haw. On the plus side, we didn't have to sub out the making good.

Micky Dolenz

Whats with the attitude?

I was answering the OP, of course builders can do the job. But all decent plumbing contractors can do it too.

Either way recommendations are a must.

Buford T Justice

pantechnicon wrote: »

I live in a terraced house built in 1938, and the water pipe from the street as far as the mains tap is made of lead. I'd like to replace it with new plastic piping. As this is quite a big job (it means drilling through the front wall of the house), I want to be sure I get someone who's peoperly qualified, certified or whatever. Anyone have any advice about this - do I need a plumber or a builder? Is there a register of apporved craftsmen?

If the work involves public property, ie the footpath in the Street, then you will need council approval.