Replacing Lead Mains Water Pipe - DIY Vlog #2 

This is honestly one of the better DIY lead replacement videos, and I have seen a lot. Regulations followed and no shortcuts or compromises made. I also have a United Utilities supplied waste and water services.

I have been doing plumbing for over 40 years, you did a very nice job. Great that you point out to use the clutch when drilling. I had one spin on me when drilling a 3" hole. Thought I broke my wrist, but just one finger which required surgery and six pins to hold it together while it healed. So like you said USE THE CLUTCH!

In Atlanta, Ga. I would charge $3,800.00 for that work easily. You did a great job and should be commended. It was great seeing a man determined to do the hard work AND do the work well. Bravo!!!!! I also loved the extra comment regarding buying the post hole diggers and using them for a future fence project.

As all others have said you did an excellent job well done . I’m an old retired plumber and should have done my own years back at 78 don’t fancy the graft .

I’m just doing the same job replacing old lead pipes….this was a great help, very informative….you did a smashing job.

This is great and inspirational video! Apart from saving money there is something very earthy and rewarding about doing it yourself. Modern life has papered us whereas if we dig deep (no pun intended) we are all capable. Good honest hard work and commitment. Well done.

I had a lead main water pipe leak which Thames Water fixed by laying new plastic pipe under concrete drive from their stop cock outside my boundary wall into a new stop cock which they positioned by the front door..about 8 meters for FREE ... about 6 months later water usage was very high so they came out again to check for leak which they determined was between their new stop cock by the front of the house and the original stop cock at the back of the house. So my insurance company have agreed to rectify this ..will update this when its done hopefully in next few weeks. House is 1950 on solid base. So it's worth talking to your water board and insurance company before you start getting the digging gear out! Might be different in other parts of the country. This guy did a great job.

Lots of hard work on this one but still, love the drive you showed. Your goal met, most satisfying.

Bloody good video. Helpful and shows that these jobs, although hard , are worthwhile and doable.

Just to aid anyone carrying out this work: I carried out all steps as shown in this video. United Utilities gave go ahead for me to fill in trench after inspection. The rubber reducer seal at each end of the duct lets the pipe fit real snug if you stamp a hole in the rubber (rather than cutting a cross) using a 15mm sharpened copper pipe. This makes a great seal when the 25mm pipe is passed through the hole. Key points checked at inspection were : Correct depth of trench, Pipe laid in bed of sand/soft material, Pipe ducted as specified in instructions, Pipe insulated in duct (I used 28mm core with 13mm wall thickness ,closed cell as found in most DIY stores) . Duct reducer ends sealed (I used same as in video). Some you tube videos for other water companies use Wiska gel or similar with wire mesh etc between the duct end and insulation as a vermin deterrent. I asked about this and the person inspecting my work said that just the end reducer on the duct was sufficient. The instructions from United Utilities are pretty straight forward but insulation and duct sealing method is a bit vague. If you carry out the work as Lee shows in his video you can't go wrong at least as far as this particular water company is concerned it seems. Hope this added input helps others who carry out this work.

Hey Lee, that looked hard work mate, well done! DIY sure saved you a couple of big ones.

Such a hard working dude ! I am impressed man !

Hello I wanted to say a massive thank you. I needed my lead pipes replaced and in jan 2023 in Merseyside I got quotes of £1800 that included me digging the trenches. Your video has given me the confidence and showed me things I hadn’t considered like the mdpe pipe inserts what type of insulation and how to fit the ducting through the wall. My local water utility sent me a very well presented pack on how to do it myself but your video gave me the practical down to earth demonstration. Cheers I owe you a pint.

Am doing this just now down my driveway and up into my house. You done a good job.

I work for a water company in Pittsburg you did a great job 💪🏻 with no machines awesome

Professional job young man (from old plumber)! Great video.

Just about to do that job mate and was unsure of what method to close off the 110mm ducting. Rubber ends look exactly right. Like you I have United Utilities and they don't specify method of sealing the pipe. Easily the most comprehensive and easy to follow video on the subject on this platform. Great...Thanks and well done.

Great video. You re one hard worker. 👍

Great video,thanks for sharing ,will give this a go on my 1930's house looking to move into the summer.Must be a swing of at least £1000👍

Great video! Thanks for sharing

Very nice job. I would have hired a digger. Knackered just watching you digging that lot out lol.

Well done for digging it out,,,

Thank you Lee. Great video, very insightful.

I replaced my old shared lead main about 18 months ago. Was serving my neighbours and my address. Had to cap it off in my neighbours garden. My trench was about 18m long and mostly 900mm deep and ducted with insulation. Had to be 100mm below the sewer and ducted were it went under. Took ages to dig as was witing for plumbers that let me down so I did the job myself. Had to core drill through the kitchen concrete floor for the duct and pipe / insulation to go through. House is 1950s 600mm foundations so both the lead pipe and my new mdpe pipe was under. Cost me about £200 to do it myself. A severn trent water guy said he would charge £1000 private job. A contractor that would of miles it wanted £100 per meter so about £1800.

top work saved a lot off money there is good looking house from outside is 1920 or 1930 enjoyed the video.

Do more vids like this, learnt a lot

Mate you are my hero. I am going to do our house now have seen your video.

Nice job mate👍

Great stuff mate👍

Was further driven to get on with this job after watching this great video. Currently I'm digging a trench About 6 metres across front garden. I've already core drilled through three layers of brick at front of house. I've run 110mm blue flexible twin wall ducting in the void under the living room floor and then core drilled the underfloor kitchen wall. The ducting then comes up into the concrete kitchen floor through another core drilled hole. I think I should be ok with that as United Utilities don't specify any particular ducting. By far, the hardest part is digging down into rock hard clay. Even though I was expecting the rough location of the gas pipe, I still winged it with the spade as it was encased in the clay. As a precaution, I called the gas people out to check it was ok....It was. I highly recommend doing an online search for the "known" position of underground pipes, cables, drains, at your property. Proceed with caution especially in heavy clay. The temptation is there to dig in hard to make headway. It would be a shame if all the hard graft and saving is rewarded with a whopping repair bill.

Good work done

Interesting vid, thankyou

Smart job!

I replaced our lead main it was very tough weeks work . But on plus side saved about 2k on pro rates. Wish I saw video before I started. But did everything you did sand bed soil pipe through wall etc.

well done m8 👍🏼

Good job

Hi mate , my 1939 property is still all lead and and measures 10 meters from stop cock on path to house, as a BIG DIY bloke was thinking this job was a bit to much for me but after seeing your video I'm definitely gonna do it my self , thanks for the video keep up the good work.

Thnx I have learnt some thing

This is very informative ill have to do this in my property there now asking for a double check value after drain cock

Had a leak on my water supply pipe and insurance company have replaced it for an excess of £200. As the connection was lead in the pavement the water company have replaced that for free 😁. Always worth checking with home insurance.

When back filling I like to lay blue warning marker tape about 300 mm above the pipe.

When core drilling you can only cut dry if what you're cutting is bone dry. I tried to do a 120mm dry cut through 2x deep of engineering bricks dry and it took 3 hours or so because the bricks were damp. The next hole I had to do 1m to the side I misted the core drill with the garden hose and cut the same hole depth of hole through same bricks in 40 minutes

Personal advice, dig the trench yourselves. This man is right. I am currently dealing with a new water connection, and fuck me.... £3000 and also failed the Water Safety check. The trench wasn't deep enough, and the pipe insulation wasn't great. It was disgusting..... I am super unhappy with how much money I threw on people doing the work for me. I started with needing a pipe plugged through, and ended up with a crap. And nowhere near finish already 3 days. NEVER doing anything through engineers ever again.

Would’ve like to have seen how you got the mdpe round the bend in the soil pipe, did the blue pipe bend or did use an angle fitting for the blue pipe?

i might of missed it ,but when changing the pipework on the property does the housing documents have to be updated to show graphics where the line is ? to prevent future people accidentally digging it up etc

How will I came to know where the gate valve from the main when I want to tap water from the main

Nice work... So with regards to how much it would cost.. I once took £800 for a fraction of that distance you dug out... And I was told that was half what the utility company was gonna charge... It is a relatively straightforward job, ha, if ya don't mind digging, but I just paid someone to do that for me. Haha happy days.. Good effort 👍

when doing up compression fittings hand tight then 1/4 turn with spanner

If I was younger ,I having seen your video might have had a go . My water pipe goes under my shed extension (brick) 5yr old ,so need the channel tunnels drill ! or something smaller or jusr spoil the floor . Then concrete yard where it splits into two ,one kitchen one outside loo. I will just have to leave it and die of lead poisoning but then I've been here 30 old yrs .

Hello, great video. I am replacing my water supply pipe at the moment. My foundations are similar to yours. I was going to core drill through to the lowest point of the void under the floor which is all concrete. I hadn't considered digging down lower inside the house although it would be preferable after seeing your video. Was there a reason you did this and was it just soil or concrete under the floor? Thanks.

Thanks for sharing I am considering replacing my 1920 old house water pipe. It seems your pipe is only 1/2 inches? I think the main should be 3/4 or 1 inch?

the guy knows what hes doing .I changed the mains at my house..because I had a leak under the foundation ..got lucky found the manifold or the main inside the house almost like finding a needle in a haystack .rather than go through the kitchen floor which is where the leak was ..and repair..i said hell ..noo never again three months of high water bills two thousand one month they started small ..any way I rerouted the main around the house through the wall and connected to the manifold in the house nothing is buried any more all above ..so if there is a leak I will see it ..I did myself saved much needed dollars for sure ..some plumbers or even me ..a job like that in the thousands for sure ..and I don't mean a couple either

how did you get the core bit all the way through didn't look long enough? and also do you have to use a core bit that big thought half that size would be ample?

great work you have done well done i am going to renew mine also do i have to ask the waterboard though ????

Great job. Hard work that. Also did your local water company not specify close foam insulation rather that your regular bylaws insulation. Also double check before after stop tap before the drain off. Severn Trent here want the close foam stuff used in HVAC etc.

Hi, I’ve finally got round to digging my trench and digging the hole inside my house. I’m now at the point where I need core through the brick work. I just wondered how thick your wall was? At the required depth on mine, it has an extra skin of bricks as a footing. I have the same erbauer core bit as you used. Just trying to decide if this will get through three layers of brick. Will I be able to clear the core bit after each layer of brick?

I've just had mine passed. Inspector didn't use a depth stick, I guess he was old and experienced enough to eye ball the trench and see it met minimum requirements with the grit sand bed. He did however check and take pics of the soil pipe entering the house was lagged and the correct blanking cap used, there was a mechanical stop end installed, sufficient pipe was left under the boundary wall and that a stopcock and drain off was installed in the house. Took no more than 5 mins and he said I can backfill the trench but advised leave some room for the installers should they need to push the pipe from the boundary wall. Now I have to wait upto 16 wait weeks for them to connect. How long did it take for them to connect it for you @lcw diy ? As for quotes, the cheapest I had from an approved WIAPS watersafe installer was £940 inc VAT for moling which isn't a bad price tbh. Others were around 1000-1200. Even if you factor in the cost of the tools: Trench spade, mattock, sds drill, core 117mm core drill, 8X4 metre tarps (because of Manchester rain) and materials for the job 25kg grit sand bags, concrete, 25mm 25metre mdpe pipe, 2X 110mm End cap reducers, 25mm clips, twinwall or soil pipe with a 90 degree elbow, 25mm pipe inserts, stopcock, waterproof gaffer tape, drain valve, lagging it will come in less than the £550 grant you receive, leaving you quids in and even more if you already have the tools. P.S I recommend people attempting this use a good heavy 5lb + mattack and the correct shape spade for digging as compacted soil and clay is easier to slice through and dig out. Also be careful around other utilities (gas, electric and waste) you can always find out from your council house plans where these services are laid and they will beburried higher than your current lead pipe so you will encounter them first if it's within your new pipe's path. Also mix up and throw some cement around the where the soil pipe enters the house from the outside and inside, this will stop any water ingress from entering your house as the 117mm core hole will leave a small gap around your 110mm soil pipe or Twinwall duct. See pics: imgur.com/a/2g20KLy

It's all about using the right tools for the job, tiny disc cutter and a drill no where near man enough for a core bit that size!

where would i get the end cap for the ducting which is 100mm? Thanks

To join MDPE 25mm pipe to lead pipe use a Philmac 1043 transitional connector

I think to comply with water regs (in the UK anyway) a double check valve is required after the 15mm stop tap and before the drain cock.

Great video Lee. I had a guy mole a 32mm new water main into my house from the stopcock in the front garden, that was around £500 including connecting it. Although I did supply the pipe. I see the internal valve your using is 15mm have you thought about running 22mm off your MDPE as that will give you a better flow if you use a pressurised water tank or combi boiler in the future.

Hi, super vid. Any advice on how to join up the end of a lead water supply pipe to blue alkathene? Know it's not recommended practice but need to know. Should the blue alkathene and the joined lead pipe be insulated just outside our 79-year old cottage, or can we get away with no insulation? My Groundsman just did a similar job to yourself, but I am a bit worried ...Thanks.

Did United Utilities do a pre check or just tell you to crack on and contact them when you are ready to be connected? I haven't done the work yet but they seem pretty efficient when I've had to deal with them. Can you tell me how deep sand to lay blue pipe on and did you layer sand on top of pipe and to what depth. Would appreciate reply...Thanks.

Been quoted £3000 by a Plummer meter to house, around 10 meter from meter another 5 inside house would do myself after watching this

I was told mains water pipe should be less than 1metre down from footings?

Hi, Great video, really useful info’ for us house renovators. Can I ask what elbow you used in the 110mm ‘drain’ pipe through the wall/foundations, was it just a standard 90 degree? The reason I ask is I thought the blue water pipe was quite stiff and had a minimum bend radii that would prevent going through a tight bend?. TIA

Good job, but did you put your potable water pipe underneath your sewer pipe? That would be against code in the states since water /sewage flows down in the case of leaks

When drilling the pipe hole into the house, how deep or long was the hole and did you use an extension?

Hello ! What water board did you have to submit the photos to ? I have spoke to Affinity regarding my new connection and they are saying that the trench has to be 750mm to 850mm deep but 1m wide!? I can see there being any reason for it to be that wide. Just wondered what the specifications you were told 😊

I’m going to do this. Please can you tell me what you did to avoid buried gas pipes and electrical cables?

There are 108 soil pipes on the link you put. Which is the correct one boss?

Hi Lee.... Now dug out and ducted. Could you let me know what you used as a sealant for the gap between the rubber reducer and the pipe. United Utilities are vague in their instructions. The best I can com up with is Wiska Gel and that costs tons and still not sure if it will be acceptable. Are you able to tell me what you used? Would be very grateful for a reply.

Hello Lee, my lead pipe seems to be leaking in my front garden [ hopefully ] water company inspector came round and agreed to replace old lead pipe from pavement main cock to about 2 meter in front of my front door, Could you please advice me why you did not use 32mm MDPE Pipe? I need to decide to choose should I use 25mm or 32MM. Thanks. P. J. April 2024

Hi mate.what connector dod you use at the meter?

I had 2 water pressure tests done by water board and told its likely the okd lead pipe leading to my house that is the likely issue as I should have over 30 bar but inside running at about half that .......i was told it would cost us best 0art of a grand our stop cock us by front door the mains source is if I remember rightly just in front of our boundary wall on 0ath we have a concrete drive though im a bricky and should be confident I know how messy it couod be etc

Great video, even though im a plumber by trade I have never attempted putting in a new main pipe in. Wanted to ask is there a maximum size mdpe pipe you can use. Also I'm assuming you cant dig up payment, does the water board make the final connection as long as you leave pipe long enough?

Do i have to have the pipe sticking up outside my garden wall or just read to push through when they come to connect?? Great video mate keep up the good work

Hi there, is there a reason to put a 4inch grey pipe in? Or can you put a 4inch soil black pipe?

How much did you get for the old lead pipe?

Good work, did you put a trace wire on the new pipe?

Couple of points: 1) When you got close to the pavement you didn't dig under the hedge, right to the property line. Did you dig that later - until you reached the water company's stop cock, ready to feed the MDPE through (because I can't imagine the water company digging the last foot or so without a hefty charge)? 2) When you cut the pipe at the road end, you said to leave twice as much pipe as was needed (rather than cut it too short). So if the water company connected the MDPE to their mains supply as you'd left it, there could have been more MDPE than was needed. How did you lose the excess? You can't really coil a couple of foot of pipe up and poke it in the trench.

No double check valve, no pressure reductor?

Grey pipe is above ground only isnt it?. Use a radius bend to turn the corner.

Good job but I would get a mini digger

How deep were your foundations?

united utilities have a grant for replacing lead pipes, they will pay up to £550 of the cost it takes you to replace the lead pipe with your boundaries.

United Utilities kept my JD Speedfit stop end... they must have literally thousands of them!

Good video, did i hear that right, the water company will attach your mdp free of charge?

3,500$ in San Antonio Texas USA

£150 for a days hire of 1.5t mini digger and saves a lot of graft

If you want a job helping me replace my mains water pipe let me know?

At least £180 a day!

I was quoted £3000 to dig trench and fit pipe

My neighbors just paid £900 for a trench for the new pipe!

Not even a cuppa at the end....

Go under the house jack but you didn't want to pay 10k for the repipe the correct way someone will be back cause a failed fitting

YOU SAVED yourself $2,000 by my estimate?

Did you just solder a joint with a heat gun? Lol

That pipes garbage the best way to do it is copper soldered in.. this is coming from a plumber