Chasing walls, embedding pipes, running wiring and the systems hidden in walls

This stage is one of the most important hold points of the whole project, because everything on this page gets permanently plastered over, and the work has no appointment day like a concrete pour — it starts quietly and ends quietly within a few days per floor. The good news is that what you need to inspect…

• This page contains
• The 12-step sequence for chasing walls — and the three steps you must go and see with your own eyes
• The chases — three figures you can measure, and one limit you must not exceed
• Pipe pressure testing — the point the standard explicitly says must be done before covering up
• Pipe positions — water supply pipes must always be above waste pipes
• Electrical conduit — four figures you can measure before rendering
• How many cables in what size of conduit — a table you can count against at the end of the conduit
• Cable colours — something that has changed and needs to be asked about clearly
• Conduit for signal, internet and CCTV — things that must go in together with the electrical work
• Three layers over the chase — miss any one and it shows up as a crack later
• Earthing and safety — what you can measure and what needs documents
• Water tanks, and flushing the system before use
• Take photos before covering up — the best-value ten minutes of the whole build