Hiding Copper Pipes

[crippled]

Hi all, new here, just after a little advice.

I have recently taken on this ground floor flat, which was built I believe in the 1960s and has not been decorated since I believe the 1970s.

Now, it is/was a council flat, and has a solid concrete floor, and solid walls (plaster over brick). It has gas central heating, and the hot water runs off an economy 7 tank in the airing cupboard.

In the kitchen, hallway and bathroom (kitchen and bathroom are adjacent to each other with the hallway running down the middle of the two) there are some pretty nasty looking copper pipes running up and down and all over the walls as obviously being council it was too much effort to bury the pipes into the walls.

The worse bit being in the bathroom as the picture I have included below shows, the bathroom looks like a pub toilet, and Iam wishing to tile the entire bathroom so need to hide at least this pipe in the picture and possibly some more. The strangest thing is in my bathroom there is a stopcock, which is in the middle of a pipe that comes up from somewhere under the concrete bathroom floor behind the toilet, if i turn this stopcock off it the cuts the water supply off to the flat above me?! Im not sure what this pipe in the picture feeds, but it could be the feed for the flat upstairs, ive yet to work out how i turn my own water off without turning upstairs off too, confusing setup.

Ive began in other rooms, chasing the electrical cables into the walls, to get rid of that awful plastic trunking. Ive been using a small angle grinder with a stone cutting disc to cut 2 lines and then chiselling the waste from the middle with a cold chisel. I assume i can do the same to create a channel for this/these copper pipes? What I need to know, is obviously at present its surface mounted, will the pipe just push back into the wall if i loosen it off at the joins, or will/would it be easier to replace that entire pipe?

Any ideas, tips or whats best I look forward to hearing, many thanks

(I tried to add a picture but it keeps saying im denied to do this?)

 

[04jtb]

As I'm sure you have found out it's a very dusty messy job! To get the pipes back in the wall you will probably need to replace them as they wont push back. If you're burying them in the wall the pipes need protecting from the concrete/plaster with felt pipe wrap (sometimes called horsehair)

 

[Millsy 82]

I wouldn't want to chase 22 mm pipework (I am only assuming as they are heating pipes) into a wall. Especially if your thinking of chasing in horizontal pipework as well I would of thought it would take too much strength out of the brick.

Myself would look at boxing in at high level. If you don't want want boxing and can lose a couple of inches then build false walls.

What generally happens in housing association is pipework is ran the easiest and quickest route as you are never allowed enough time to try and hide pipework.

I know I used to hate down stairs flats where everything is on surface. Although I did try and hide drops etc in cupboards or rooms that people are less worried about pipes dropping down.

As for your cold stop tap I worked on a couple of estates built in the 60's that shared cold mains between upstairs and downstairs flats. I would find where theirs tees off and run a new pipe to it so you can happily isolate your own water without hassling them.

 

[crippled]

Thanks for the replys. Wont let me post pic, but yeh this is a cold water feed pipe to the upstairs flat. The plan is to box it in, fit a slim box along the edge of the back wall from floor to ceiling then another box across the top, so like an upside down L shape.

There is two stop cocks there, but both cut the water to upstairs, weird setup.