Piping for shower

Bellabidul

Dear People ,,
Question about fitting a shower , to those who have alreadty done it ...
I need to get down an inside wall from the attic , One side of the wall is the tilled wall of the bathroom ..
the other side of that wall is a bedroom ..this is not a supporting wall so its soft Gyproc wall , type of thing...
I dont know if its filled yet ..
In the attic I found the area that I have to get into , but i think that on the top of the wall it has a timber frame ..that the roof rests on ..
so , if i drilled down into the ceiling from above , i would , i guess come to wood ,
But i need to get into that space to run a water pipe and a cable down for the shower ..
Has anyone had this kind of problem before and if so what is the best way out of it ..
.
I guess , i will be drilling few big holes from above .. i dont know how thick the wood is ..( 2 x 4 , maybe )
Im just guessing ,,,
Any advice out there .......?

Sleeper12

What type of shower? Electric one pipe and electric cable? Power two pipes and a cable? Regular hot and cold shower?

Bellabidul

Normal mains shower , no pump . mains water pressure and shower has a heater only .
So 1 cable (6mm ) and 1 cold water pipe both to come down from attic ..

Sleeper12

Bellabidul wrote:

Normal mains shower , no pump . mains water pressure and shower has a heater only . So 1 cable (6mm ) and 1 cold water pipe both to come down from attic ..

Electric shower then.
Get a slim bit or screwdriver. Make a hole in the ceiling where it meets the wall directly above where you want the pipe and cable
Assuming that you have a standard 8 foot ceiling height come down about 2.5 to 3 foot from the hole you made in the ceiling. Now make a hole about 2 inches square. This is where the pipe and cable will come out.
Go to attic and find the small hole in the ceiling or attic floor. This should be right beside the wooden beam you mentioned. Now you know where to drill in the beam. Use a 25 mill bit or bigger.
Look in the hole in the beam. If you see daylight you are on the pigs back. If no daylight there might be a bridging piece. If there is a bridging piece you can get a very long bit and drill through this

10mm square is the norm now and I'm sure that your electrician will insist on this. Almost all electric showers are 9kw or higher now. 6mm square cable just doesn't cut it I'm afraid.

Bellabidul

ok ,, sounds like a lot of drilling , i have marked where i think the hole will be in the ceiling ...
you can bet your life with my luck there will be a bridging piece..and I have no idea yet if there is any insulation or anything in the wall . ,
A very long bit , or an extension ....

as to the cable , the guy in the shop gave me 6mm cable (asked for electric shower cable ) but maybe cos its solid copper and not stranded ..I can always change that ..
this is for a 8.5 kw electric shower .....so about 38.6 amps ..about a 10mtr run...
technically , it should take it ok ... but , to be on the safe side is best
yes ok ... i think i have enough info now ..
thanks for that .........

Sleeper12

Bellabidul wrote:

as to the cable , the guy in the shop gave me 6mm cable (asked for electric shower cable ) but maybe cos its solid copper and not stranded ..I can always change that .. this is for a 8.5 kw electric shower .....so about 38.6 amps ..about a 10mtr run... technically , it should take it ok ... but , to be on the safe side is best yes ok ... i think i have enough info now .. thanks for that .........

I'm not a sparks but I think 6mm is ok up to 15 metres but it depends if it is going into insulation in the attic and such. I have to point out it is illegal for you to wire up the fuse box and by law you need a registered electrical contractor.

More times than not you won't hit a bridging piece but if the ceiling is higher than 8 foot you most likely hit one.

Bellabidul

Yeah , i did some looking around and saw people quoting regulations from this and that ,,some said 10mm some said 6mm is ok ,online you can get any answer you want it seems .. but there was always a .."depends on ,,,," but some put 10mm cable in case there is an upgraded shower in the future ..

I take your legal point of law ...

the cable in the attic will be clipped to the roofing joists at the bottom but above the insulation ... so in the air mainly and not with any other cable or pipe.
.
ceiling height , i never measured it , looks about 7ft and a bit ..about a foot and a half above the top of the door frame ...?
I'm just getting all info together now, and will start next week , first i think ill just drill a hole and have a look inside ,,,
anyway , thanks for all the advice so far ...

dodzy

Bellabidul wrote: »

Yeah , i did some looking around and saw people quoting regulations from this and that ,,some said 10mm some said 6mm is ok ,online you can get any answer you want it seems .. but there was always a .."depends on ,,,," but some put 10mm cable in case there is an upgraded shower in the future ..

I take your legal point of law ...

the cable in the attic will be clipped to the roofing joists at the bottom but above the insulation ... so in the air mainly and not with any other cable or pipe.
.
ceiling height , i never measured it , looks about 7ft and a bit ..about a foot and a half above the top of the door frame ...?
I'm just getting all info together now, and will start next week , first i think ill just drill a hole and have a look inside ,,,
anyway , thanks for all the advice so far ...

I had the same issue with a bridging piece. As it happened, The shower wall was backing onto a bedroom wall that I used as access. Just removed a small width of plasterboard from the bedroom side, fitted, everything from this side and then just drilled through. If you have the luxury of a similar situation, it's a much easier route. Even something as simple as getting a tectite elbow on the end of 1/2" qualpex is very difficult unless you remove a good chunk of tiling. This way, the tiling damage is reduced to a bare minimum.