Project Detail

First fix plumbing

First fix is the part nobody ever sees, and it is the part that decides whether the rest of the job goes smoothly. This was a full first fix, every hot, cold, heating and waste run set out through the studwork and floor void before the boards went on.

Job: First fix plumbing on a new build
Included: Hot and cold runs, heating flow and return, soil stack and waste, shower valve carriers, boiler tails
Signed off: Pressure tested before boarding

Setting it all out

Before any pipe gets cut, everything is measured off the drawings, basin, WC, bath and shower centres, boiler position, radiator tails. Get that wrong at first fix and you are chasing it out of a finished wall later.

Runs go through the studs and joists in the right places, with proper protection plates where a screw could find them.

Hot, cold and heating

All copper, clipped at correct centres so nothing rattles or sags once the system is hot. Flow and return are labelled and colour marked so anyone coming behind me knows exactly what each pipe is doing.

Shower valves are mounted on solid timber carriers, dead level and set to the right depth for the finished wall thickness, so the plate sits flush when it is second fixed.

Waste and soil

Soil stack and branch wastes run in solvent weld with proper falls and access where it is needed. Every trap position is set out to suit the sanitaryware rather than being bodged in later.

Tested before it disappears

The whole lot is pressure tested and left under test before anything gets boarded over. Once the plasterboard is on, it is the last chance to find a weeping joint the easy way.