Terrace - moving stop tap above floorboards

[info_45]

Not strictly a question about period properties, but thinking that quite a few people will have the same layout of house and so might have encountered this.

The stop tap for our terraced house (mid terrace, very standard layout) is currently immediately inside the front door. Its one of those standard brass ones, fairly recently installed but is at an awkward angle so you really have to reach down and twist your hand round to use it. We're having one of those recessed floormats installed and I am told by the installer that this will be easy to lift and therefore access to the tap will be improved (currently just lifting a chunk of floorboard) if not the angle of the tap itself.

Whilst some work to the floor is being done, I'm pondering whether to get a plumber to move the tap (or add one) a few meters further into the hallway but this time above the floorboards. I understand that they would run a section of pipe above the boards, put the tap in and then run it back underneath. What I'm struggling with is visualising what this will actually look like in practice. They've said it could be boxed in or there could be a little access hatch. I suppose the boxing in is self explanatory (there is some boxing in for the fusebox, so I assume wouldn't stick out any further than that) but I don't know how an access hatch works with a solid wall and skirting board. Does anyone have any examples of this configuration? Its a narrow hallway anyway so having a tap/level stick out somewhere isn't ideal.

Alternatively I could just switch out the current tap for one of those 90 degree turn levers and hope that the doormat makes things as simple as the installer is suggesting.

Its funny, for years we didn't touch the stop tap at all with no issues. Now that I know where its located and how much damage running water can do if you have a leak whilst you're away (though luckily not personal experience), I have this desire to makes sure its very easy to get to and use.

 

[LadyArowana]

We don’t have that exact arrangement, but I am familiar with shut off valves in awkward places! As long as the mat well is easy to lift it will be much neater than trying to box it in above the floor. It wouldn’t be more difficult than opening a cupboard door, and the boxing would need a door or access hatch anyway. We had ours disguised behind a removeable panel in the kitchen and other than being a complete PITA for the person who needed to install the water meter it has been perfectly ok.

 

[noj]

The easy option is to fit one of these

https://www.screwfix.com/p/surestop-plastic-remote-stop-cock-push-fit-15mm/48604

 

[info_45]

Thanks both. I'm currently leaning towards a lever (so easier to turn) in the existing location. The mat installer said it would be easy to get to the beneath the boards but I couldn't quite understand exactly how it would be installed. They said the approach depends a bit on where the joists are. I'd hate to get this changed now in anticipation, only to find that the joist configuration means the mat has be be set back further or something and you can no longer reach the tap! The reason for doing to now is to try and sequence things so that there isn't damage to the boards after they have been tidied up, rather than having to do something twice. I was stung by this on another bit of house stuff.

The easy option is to fit one of these

https://www.screwfix.com/p/surestop-plastic-remote-stop-cock-push-fit-15mm/48604

I have seen these pop up as an alternative to using the tap directly, but have also read a couple of reviews where they have failed. It put me off a bit. There is something about a sturdy bit of metal that just seems more reliable. With no direct experience of course!

Will chat to the plumber tomorrow!

 

[Cubist]

Those Remote Stop Cocks do look interesting but a very expensive, albeit perhaps neater, solution. The Lever Handle Operated gate valves are, in my opinion, not a reliable/safe option insofar that these employ a rotating ball to control the water flow and these can trap sand or grit to damage either or both the ball itself or the barrel in which it rotates. The traditional screw operated plunger type stop cocks are considerably less prone to damage and the internal washer can easily be replaced should it begin to fail.

FYI @info_45 : to make the stop-cock accessible and its use easier your plumber is currently proposing to install an inverted 'U' shaped pipe with a new, or even the old, stop-cock operating as the bridge of the U to make it accessible above the floor. with the tails/legs of the U operating to then connect this new section to the mains feed and the cold water distribution for the house.

 

[info_45]

Thanks @Cubist for the description. You make it sound like quite a familiar/common configuration. I've been struggling to kind a photo of something similar where it isn't boxed in or anything. I suppose it adds a couple more joints to the system and would need to go from plastic under the floor to copper and then back into copper - creating more possible points of failure? There is an electrical cable in trunking running above the skirting board, and therefore cross the cable, or the table would protrude out from the skirting board.

The water company mooted doing this when they came to change the lead pipe that runs into the house i.e. putting the stop tap above the floorboards. That's where the idea came from for me that this was an option - I hadn't thought of it before. For various reasons, in the end they just kept the location of the current stop tap, but the surveyor did mention that the location of the wallplate might cause a problem. At the moment, the joists sit on a wallplate on the party wall and there is another strip of timber above and I suppose the floorboards must be roughly level with this.

I think the issue there may have been that very close to the door there isn't much space and therefore, to stop the door just swinging back and hitting the tap they would need to 'chase' into the wall or something. As there was a wallplate involved/nearby this seemed to be another factor in why it wasn't possible in that location.