Outside tap installation in Macclesfield
In short
An outside tap is a half-day job at most: a tee off the internal cold supply, an isolating valve and a drain point inside, a core-drilled hole through the wall, and a wall-mounted tap with the double check valve the water regulations require. Fitting the isolator and drain point is what lets you protect it in winter.
Also called: garden tap fitted · external tap · outdoor tap installation · hose tap
The regulations part matters and is often skipped by whoever fits one cheaply. Any outside tap must have backflow protection — a double check valve — because a hose left in a water butt, a pond or a bucket of garden chemical can siphon back into the drinking water supply when the mains pressure drops. It is a legal requirement under the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999, not an upsell.
The installation itself starts inside: a tee into an accessible cold run, then an isolating valve and ideally a drain-off point on the branch before it goes through the wall. Those two components are what let you shut the outside tap off and empty the pipe in November, which is the difference between a tap that lasts twenty years and one that splits its first winter.
The hole through the wall is core-drilled, sleeved and sealed, with a slight fall to the outside so nothing sits in it. On a cavity wall, that sealing is not cosmetic — a badly finished penetration is a route for water into the cavity. On the older solid-brick terraces around the town centre, the drilling needs care with the mortar and, where the wall fronts the pavement directly, thought about where the tap and any hose will actually sit.
Frost protection is the whole game with an outdoor tap in this area. On the high ground east of the town the frost season runs materially longer than on the Cheshire plain — the Met Office puts Buxton at over 51 air-frost days a year against 40 at low-lying Woodford. An outside tap left charged all winter at 300 metres will freeze and split, and it will do it inside the wall where you cannot see it. Isolate and drain it every autumn, and it will never be a problem.
Frost-proof designs, where the valve seat sits inside the heated envelope of the building and the exposed section drains itself when closed, are worth considering for exposed properties. They cost a little more and remove the annual chore.
What the job covers
- Tee into an accessible internal cold supply
- Isolating valve and drain-off point inside for winter
- Core drilling, sleeving and sealing through the wall
- Double check valve to satisfy the water regulations
- Wall-mounted bib tap or frost-proof tap fitted and tested
- Showing you how to isolate and drain it before winter
What it costs
We don't publish a price for this yet, because a number pulled out of the air is worse than no number at all — your plumber has to honour it. You'll get a firm price for your actual job when they ring you back, before any work starts. The quote itself is free and there's no obligation either way.
Common questions
Can it be fitted anywhere on the house?
It needs to tee off an accessible cold supply, so the practical positions are usually near the kitchen, a utility room or a cloakroom. Longer runs are possible but mean more pipework and more to drain down in winter.
Do I have to drain it every winter?
With a standard bib tap, yes — isolate inside and open the tap to drain it. A frost-proof tap that drains itself when closed removes the job, which is worth having on an exposed property.
Need this doing in Macclesfield?
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