Blog>Questions>Can I box in a soil pipe?
Last updated: 23 August 2023
Can I box in a soil pipe?
Boxing in a soil pipe is a great way to hide unsightly pipes and minimise the noise that comes from them. Here, we’ll help you to understand whether you can box in a soil pipe – and how to do it.
Boxing in a soil pipe is a great way to hide unsightly pipes and minimise the noise that comes from them. Here, we’ll help you to understand whether you can box in a soil pipe – and how to do it.
What is boxing in a soil pipe?
Boxing in a soil pipe involves covering it up – usually with bits of wood or MDF.
Soil pipes (also known as soil vent pipes) carry soiled water from your toilet, sink, bath or shower to your underground drainage system. While most modern homes now place them on the outside of a property, many homes still have these pipes located indoors – plus, there’ll always be a stretch of soil pipe located inside the bathroom itself.
Boxing in a soil vent pipe is a great way to hide an unsightly feature and can even help to reduce noise.
Boxing in a toilet soil pipe using plywood
To box in your toilet soil pipe – or another waste pipe – just follow these simple steps.
Attach a piece of timber to the wall, parallel to and just above your soil pipe
Attach another piece of timber to the floor below your soil pipe. This should sit at the desired width of your box
Measure the distance from the wall to your floor timber, and from the floor to the top of your wall timber. You should also measure the length that you want your box to be
Cut two pieces of plywood to size using a circular saw. One will form the front of your box and the other the top of your box
Screw the first piece of plywood to your floor timber using a drill, to form the front of your box
Fix the second piece of plywood to your wall timber to form the top edge of your box. Your pipe is now boxed in!
Blend your box in, if you choose to do so, by covering it with tiles or painting it to match your walls and floor
If you want to reduce the noise coming from your soil pipe, you can line the box or wrap the pipe itself in mineral fibre. Insulating it in this way will help to muffle the noise that comes from your pipe when it works to remove soiled water from your home.
Boxing in a soil pipe in an extension
If you’re building an extension or carrying out other major construction work and you’re faced with a soil pipe that needs hiding, you have a couple of options available to you.
You can either box it in, in a similar way to how we’ve described above.
Or, you could go a step further and bring the whole wall out a bit more using plasterboard. In this way, you won’t see a boxed-in section jutting out from your wall. Instead, you’ll see a flush surface, which your pipework will sit behind.
If you’re renovating your bathroom and you need help boxing in a soil vent pipe (or you want to hide it in an alternative way), we highly recommend hiring a plumber.
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