Stopcock Nightmare as Cannot Find Internal Stopcock?...
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2019 11:11 pm
Hi
I have recently bought my first house and am now having the to-be-expected house related dramas... I am not very DIY savvy so if any of this sounds stupid please bear with me!
Background info on the house:
1986 build, mid-terrace house. Ground floor was converted by previous owners from a garage into a bedroom. No (easy) access to the back of the property as it is a railway embankment (I know - cheap house..). Water mains run from the front of the house - all internal water outlets (bathrooms/kitchens) are towards the back of the house, so pipes must go under the floor and up the back wall.
The issue:
When I first moved in, I brought builders in to fit an en-suite into the back of the ground floor bedroom. While they were doing this, they discovered that there doesn't seem to be an internal stopcock anywhere - looked in all the obvious places, no sign. They then went to find the outside one but couldn't find one - and neither can Thames Water.
To cut a long story short, the builders managed to finish the bathroom by switching off the water (with Thames Water permission) out on the main road (ie. for all the houses).
However, I still have no internal stopcock and no external stopcock. Obviously this is worrying me as if a pipe bursts, I have no way of stopping the water. Thames Water keep sending out engineers who each time are just confirming the fact that they can't find an external one, booking a new appointment and then sending someone else who once again just confirms that there isn't one. I feel like we're going around in circles as nobody is actually coming to fix the problem.
My question is:
1. Am I right in assuming I can't get an internal stopcock fitted until Thames Water sort the outside issue?
2. Is there anything I can do to make Thames Water get a shift on...
3. Can anyone think of where the internal one might be? I can't believe that a house built in 1986 has never had an internal stopcock, so all I can think is that when they converted the garage they built over it or something... but that makes no practical sense? Is there anywhere less obvious they may have put it that we just haven't thought of?
I need some plumbing work done soon and can't get it done until all this is sorted... and if a pipe bursts I will be very hacked off!
Has anyone had anything similar? I've looked around but people either seem to have a broken/missing internal or external stopcock - not both!
I have recently bought my first house and am now having the to-be-expected house related dramas... I am not very DIY savvy so if any of this sounds stupid please bear with me!
Background info on the house:
1986 build, mid-terrace house. Ground floor was converted by previous owners from a garage into a bedroom. No (easy) access to the back of the property as it is a railway embankment (I know - cheap house..). Water mains run from the front of the house - all internal water outlets (bathrooms/kitchens) are towards the back of the house, so pipes must go under the floor and up the back wall.
The issue:
When I first moved in, I brought builders in to fit an en-suite into the back of the ground floor bedroom. While they were doing this, they discovered that there doesn't seem to be an internal stopcock anywhere - looked in all the obvious places, no sign. They then went to find the outside one but couldn't find one - and neither can Thames Water.
To cut a long story short, the builders managed to finish the bathroom by switching off the water (with Thames Water permission) out on the main road (ie. for all the houses).
However, I still have no internal stopcock and no external stopcock. Obviously this is worrying me as if a pipe bursts, I have no way of stopping the water. Thames Water keep sending out engineers who each time are just confirming the fact that they can't find an external one, booking a new appointment and then sending someone else who once again just confirms that there isn't one. I feel like we're going around in circles as nobody is actually coming to fix the problem.
My question is:
1. Am I right in assuming I can't get an internal stopcock fitted until Thames Water sort the outside issue?
2. Is there anything I can do to make Thames Water get a shift on...
3. Can anyone think of where the internal one might be? I can't believe that a house built in 1986 has never had an internal stopcock, so all I can think is that when they converted the garage they built over it or something... but that makes no practical sense? Is there anywhere less obvious they may have put it that we just haven't thought of?
I need some plumbing work done soon and can't get it done until all this is sorted... and if a pipe bursts I will be very hacked off!
Has anyone had anything similar? I've looked around but people either seem to have a broken/missing internal or external stopcock - not both!