house ive just bought

only1-mike

Ive just bought my first house 2 weeks ago which im currently renovating i have got a few issues which dont know how to go about getting sorted
First is in the kitchen there is an old cupboard on the wall (1950`s) which i want to replace, but it has a gas meter in how would i go about (if its possible) getting the meter moved. or is this goin to cost a furtune and who would i contact ?
Also my water supply pipe to the house is lead and ive been told this needs replacing who would do this water board or is it my responsibilty?

cheers for reading hope someone can help

pawpurrs

Lead pipe would be your responsibility, but a lot of old properties have these, and IMO, these dont automaticlly require replacing.

rosysparkle

Unless you are CORGI registered, you cannot touch the gas pipework. I think BG would be the people to contact to move the meter.

BobProperty

Can't remember if the meter is Transco's ? Whoever it belongs to it is their responsibility and they will charge £100's to move it anywhere.

Lead mains is you responsibility on your land. Contact local water utility to see if they have any lead replacement schemes going, round here they do a free connection to the mains (otherwise also £100's). You either dig up the garden or get someone to "mole" a new pipe in. There are numerous regulations to comply with, not least having to dig down 750mm for the pipe.

Poppycat

Yes it will be Transco is it wont be cheap unfortunately. I was planning on moving my gas/electric meters a few feet a few years back and I was quote about £300 per meter if my memory serves me right.

Bluefusion

Hi We just contacted TRANSCO about moving a gas meter in our kitchen cudboard to under the stairs. The meter only needs to be moved about 1 meter and the cost from Transco was £520 to move it but not connect it to your pipework thus you have to get a CORGI engineer to do this, or a cost of £560 if you want them to connect it back up (up to 2 meters of Copper pipe).

Poppycat

That's extortionate. Why do these companies assume if one has a house they can rip people off its bad enough buying and selling on a modest property.

Robert_Sterling

Leave it where it is.

HugoSP

I've just been charged £367 to move my gas meter from inside a small room to an outside built in meter box. They supply the box into the price but I have to fit it. If I was happy to have a surface mounted box then they would fit this as well. I have had to get the trench dug.

The price also incudes 2 metres of dometic gas supply pipework, so they will lay up to 2 metres of 22 mm copper pipe to the nearest existing gas pipe in the house, my side of the meter.

Two tricks to know about here:

1) If you dig your own trench (if needed) you can save yourself 50% of the cost. I was quoted another £400 to dig a trench up to 7.5 metres long to their spec. I got this done as part of a larger groundworking job that included many more trenches, a soakaway and clearing of some excess soil for £225. I could have dug this trench by hand if I needed to.

2) When you get the quote, phone them up and ask them to justify it. You'll find that the mechanics of working it out are clumsy to say the least. My job was deemed to be 8 metres of pipe, so it just fell into the next more expensive category. When I infact measured it I found it to be just under. When I challenged them on this they didn't argue and sent me a revised quote. This saved me a further £200!

On the subject of your water supply pipe, your water company may offer a policy to cover you against leaks of the supply pipe on your land. I pay £17.99 a year for mine. It's well worth it!

BobProperty

HugoSP wrote:

.....On the subject of your water supply pipe, your water company may offer a policy to cover you against leaks of the supply pipe on your land. I pay £17.99 a year for mine. It's well worth it!

It might be covered by your buildings insurance though, so check first before you go buying a second policy.

GabbaGabbaHey

rosysparkle wrote:

Unless you are CORGI registered, you cannot touch the gas pipework.

I don't believe that this is the case. CORGI registration is required by anybody who charges others to work on their gas pipework. I do not believe that there is any requirement for CORGI registration if you are going to work on your own gas pipework.

Needless to say, I would not advocate doing diy on gas pipes unless you really know what you are doing and you understand the potential safety issues involved.