Chasing walls for concealed shower valve

[Redhotferrari]

Hi Guys,

Thinking of replacing a very old and tired shower, with a mixer, concealed valve type with the hot and cold pipes being buried in the wall. (Solid Brick)

Obviously all tiles around the area would have to come off, I would be bringing the pipes down from the loft into the bathroom.

Whats the best way of channeling out the wall to take the pipes? How deep would the channels need to be? Would you make the chanel just wider than each pipe to reduce the amount of making good? Obviously I would ahve to chisel out a largeish area to take the valve itself with the pipe channels running either side of the valve.

I have an SDS with chisel action, will this do the job.

Just looking for general advice on this not the actual plumbing side. All sounds a bit daunting to me!

Look forward to some help.

Many thanks

 

[noseall]

if losing a little bit of room is not an issue, have you thought about setting the valve and pipes flush then building up the wall around them?

you could do it by dabbing plasterboards or aquapanel.

if chasing into the masonry is the only option then you could always weaken the chase first by stitch drilling a few holes to the required depth.

a rotary stop hammer drill with a chisel attachment will impart the least damage to the other side of the wall.

 

[Redhotferrari]

Thanks for the advice, not a bad idea, most of the ones I look at have a standard bath fitted wall to wall, so not really an option, but it mine it could be, the only problem seems to be that most valves I see need to be buried somewhere around 60-100mm, how would your suggestion work with this scenario?

I suppose I could build a false wall with plasterboard and battens?

Many thanks

 

[noseall]

I suppose I could build a false wall with plasterboard and battens?

Many thanks

yup.

 

[Mr M]

I had a similar scenario when fitting my concealed shower.

I cut the chases out for the pipework by running down the wall with a small angle grinder. Two 'tracks' about an inch apart and to a depth of about an inch into the brick for each of my 15mm pipes. I formed the recess for the valve itself by drilling as many holes as close together as I could and then chased everything out with a small headed bolster chisel. It worked fine but there was a lot of brick dust created during the grinding

 

[Richard C]

Problem with chasing is if your using a 22mm mixer valve, it may well end up in the cavity or with very little left to support it if it's an older house with only 3 inch blocks. I compromised by having an inch deep chase & battening the wall out with Aquapanel to make up the rest.

 

[Redhotferrari]

Thanks for the last 2 posts, really helpfull, I do have room to move the bath back a few inches so to save the world of grief and a never ending settling of dust I think I will do the aquapanel false wall route.

Once again thanks for the advice.

 

[noseall]

Thanks for the last 2 posts, really helpfull

 

[joe-90]

Never mind noseall - we luv ya.

 

[Richard C]

Thanks for the last 2 posts, really helpfull

Ahh, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that

 

[Redhotferrari]

Ahhh, Thanks for ALL the posted replys guys, all been so helpful you have made my life complete

Some more advice though if you dont mind! So, I plan to move the bath 2-3 inches, and use aquapanel to create the false wall, Is the best way to do this to use for example some 2 x 3 battons with a couple of noggings between for support, fit the pipe work into this void, clipping to the original wall or center batton, then put the aquapanel upcutting out the required hole for the valve to go? If I decided to fit a surface mounted valve, then just create two holes for the hot and cold pipework to come through?

I assume get it to this stage, than tile the area, before fitting the valve?

Best wishes

 

[Richard C]

Buy the shower valve first as the depth required may vary considerably. I’ve recently fitted 2 x 22mm valves & in both cases they needed around 65mm of recess to accommodate the valve behind the finishing tile without any clearance for the fittings! Bolt the valve directly to the wall if you can so it’s rigid but you will have to hollow out a small area to enable spanner access to the valve pipe work fittings. Clip the 22mm feed pipes (from under the floor) directly to the wall with suitable offsets into the valve fittings & you will only need a single wall clip in the centre of the pipe between the mixer & the shower head if any as it really supports itself.

Adjust the timber battens for the Aquapanel around the valve & pipework & leave suitable cut outs to allow access for the mixer valve & shower head fittings & tile over that; cut & fit the tiles so the face plates on the mixer & the shower head cover the holes. Give consideration to the tile layout BEFORE you locate the valve especially if using large tiles; the finished job looks much better if the mixing head is symmetrically located on the tiles. Make sure you fully test the valve thermal controls & for leaks before you cover them up!

 

[Redhotferrari]

Thanks Richard, gonna be fitting a Trevi Boost, due to flow rate of cold, have had a venturi shower before, and think they are the dogs B........

Not fitted this shower before, are you saying bolt to existing wall, then build the new wall around it? Not sure if this shower will allow this.....Will be taking the pipes from existing hot and cold feed of bath taps, up the existing wall, and planning to elbow from these vertical pipes into the new valve.

Does that make any sense

 

[Richard C]

I would advise you bolt the mixer valve directly to the block work to give a sound base; what you need to do is juggle the depth of battens you’re using with how much (if any) you need to carve out of the wall.

For example:
mixer valve needs 65mm recess behind the tile; 65-12mm (the Aqua panel) = 53mm; use 50mm sawn timber battens & carve the wall out 3mm (or whatever the difference turns out to be when measuring the timber battens). Or use 40mm timber & carve 13mm out of the block work. You have to batten out to support the Aquapanel, just provide extra timber to support the cut edges where the mixer valve is;

does that make sense?