One of the biggest challenges when remodeling a home is hiding all of the necessary piping that comes with a house. There are many options to consider when hiding your piping and you'll need a professional plumber for some of the more complex parts. But there are ways to hide laundry room plumbing yourself or have a contractor do it for you.
How To Mask Your Laundry Room Pipes
If your house already has exposed pipes in your laundry room, you can paint them with chalkboard paint so that they're no longer an eye sore. Then label each pipe where it goes using colorful letter stickers or get fancy and write on them with chalk.
Chalkboard paint is great for hiding exposed pipes. If you want to hide your pipes without hiding them completely, use an adhesive wallpaper that matches the design of your wall or matches your cabinets. This trick may not work in every case, but it's worth a shot before taking other measures.
Hide Laundry Room Pipes
If you want to hide your pipes entirely, try hiding them behind the laundry room countertop. You'll need to hire a contractor for this job, but if done right it can look like part of the counter instead of hiding something unsightly.
If hiding piping behind counters isn't possible, consider hiding behind vertical panels. For this project, you'll need custom cabinet door fronts installed so that each cabinet has two doors instead of one. Then, install vertical panel moldings inside your cabinets to hide the pipes and you'll never even notice them.
If hiding wiring behind cabinets isn't possible, consider hiding it behind custom wall treatments. This works great as long as there's enough space between the wall studs for installing piping.
Hiding Your Pipe Under the Sink
You'll need to know how your sink is attached before hiding your pipe under it. If you have a single hole, look for an elbow or compression fitting with a 90 degree tube that will direct water into your wall after you turn on the faucet. If your sink has two holes, you might be able to use a T-fitting and attach another tube that leads to the wall hiding one of the pieces behind the cabinet.
Hiding Your Valve Box
If you don't mind hiding all of your pipes in the laundry room, but want easy access when turning off water when working with appliances or fixtures, find one large enough to house all of your valves in one box. Put this in a dry area under the sink. For added protection, you can even use an enclosed box that is safe against water damage.
Things To Be Careful Of When Hiding Pipes
Be careful hiding piping in your house. You never know when you'll need access to the pipes and hiding them could mean not only paying a plumber way more than necessary but also inconvenience you in the meantime.
When you're hiding pipes, ask yourself how you will access them if they need maintenance, or require leak detection. If you are permanently hiding them, you need to be sure the materials are sturdy enough to stand up to wear and tear after being installed. Some pipes are not meant to be trapped behind walls, and the lack of oxygen and moisture can cause rust and mold to build up behind your walls. If hiding pipes isn't possible, you'll need to find a different way of hiding the eyesore - like painting them or hiding them behind cabinets.
Have An Expert Plumber Hide Your Laundry Room Piping
Of course hiding your laundry room piping can be done without hiring a contractor, but doing it yourself is only recommended if you have some experience with this type of project. Unprofessional work on something so complex can lead to worse problems down the road, so it's best to leave this job up to someone who knows what they're doing. If you are in Tennessee, contact The Plumbing Co. for expert Tennessee plumbers.