How to prepare your home for a plumbing upgrade

Plumbing work is disruptive at the best of times, and Edinburgh’s housing stock makes it more so. Tenement flats with shared risers, Victorian villas in the Grange and Morningside with pipework that has been added to and rerouted for a century, and the 1930s semis and bungalows scattered across East, Mid and West Lothian all have their own quirks. A little preparation beforehand means the plumber spends their time on the job rather than on hunting for valves and shifting furniture, which keeps the bill down and the disruption shorter.

Locate and test every stopcock before the day

This is the single most useful thing you can do. Plumbers can and will find the isolation points, but every minute spent searching is a minute added to the invoice, and in older properties the search can take a while.

• Internal stopcock: most commonly under the kitchen sink, but in Edinburgh tenements it may be in a hall press, under the bath panel, behind a boxed-in section in the box room, or even in a communal cupboard off the stair. Find yours and turn it gently clockwise to confirm it still moves.
• External boundary valve: usually a small box set into the pavement outside the property, sometimes marked ‘water’. You will need a long T-bar water key. Check you have one, or that a neighbour does.
• Communal or shared valves: many stair properties have a stop valve serving more than one flat. Ask your neighbours where it is, and give them notice that water may be off.
• Seized valves: a gate valve that has not been turned in twenty years can shear when forced. If yours is stiff, dripping, or refusing to budge, tell the plumber in advance so they can plan for a replacement rather than discovering it mid-job.

Take a photograph of each valve, label it, and note anything that looks corroded. It will save time now and again in five years’ time.

Clear access along pipe runs and around fixtures

Empty the cupboard under the sink. Clear the bath panel. If the cylinder or boiler is boxed in, empty the surrounding area and remove what you can of the boxing, unless it is structural or the plumber has asked you to leave it. Aim for at least half a metre of clear floor around each fixture and along the route the new pipework will take.

Pictures and mirrors on walls where pipes run should come down, especially in older properties with lath and plaster, which sheds dust generously. Roll back rugs, and if you have original pine floorboards or stone flags, use dust sheets and hardboard — they scratch easily and cannot be touched up like modern laminate.

If you live in a tenement, a quiet word with neighbours on the stair is worth it. Dust and noise travel down common stairs, and if water will be off for several hours they will want to know.

Drains, wastes and the space under the floor

Establish where your soil stack runs and where the nearest inspection chamber or gully is. Many Edinburgh tenements conceal the stack internally in a corner or a service shaft, which is worth knowing before anyone starts opening walls.

Clear leaves and debris from outside gullies and rainwater outlets in advance. A partially blocked drain makes testing new waste pipework slow and messy, and it is far better to discover that beforehand.

If you are replacing a bathroom, discuss how the new waste run will fall. Floor joists may need notching or drilling, and in older properties this sometimes needs a building warrant and structural input. Raise it with the plumber before the day of the work, not during it.

Agree the isolation plan and temporary facilities

Before work starts, confirm exactly how long the water will be off, and which parts of the house it affects. Ask specifically what happens overnight if the system is drained down, and what you should do if something leaks after hours.

Think about temporary facilities in advance:

• Fill a couple of large pans and a kettle the night before for hot drinks and basic washing.
• A bucket of water poured briskly down the toilet will clear it, provided you pour from height and stop before the bowl empties.
• If you have a combi boiler, water off means no hot water at all. Plan showers around neighbours, family, or a leisure centre.
• Let the plumber know about young children, elderly residents, or anyone with mobility or medical needs that make a working toilet and washing facilities essential.
• If the heating will be drained, arrange temporary electric heaters — particularly between October and April.

Cold weather, older buildings and final checks

Edinburgh and the Lothians have plenty of pre-1970s housing with lead communication pipes and galvanised steel internal runs. Replacing these is often a sensible part of an upgrade, but it may mean the external supply being shut off at the pavement boundary, so confirm what is planned.

If your property sits in a conservation area, or is listed, external pipework changes — soil stacks on front elevations, vent pipes, rainwater goods — may need consent. Check before work is booked, not after scaffolding goes up.

When the job is finished, do not simply wave the plumber off. Run every tap, flush every toilet, and check under sinks and around the new joints for weeping. Confirm flow and pressure at upstairs taps if pipework has been altered. Ask for a quick walk-through of the new valve positions, and write them down. Finally, make sure any pipework in cold lofts, cellars or outbuildings is lagged before winter, and leave the heating on a low background setting during cold snaps — prevention costs far less than a burst pipe in a stone-built flat.