We renew water supply pipes and waste runs inside apartments as part of a renovation, from the flat’s stopcock to each fitting and from each fitting to the building’s stack. The work is done after strip-out and before plastering, tiling and floors, and is pressure-tested before anything is covered. Shared elements such as the main stack belong to the community, so any change to them is agreed first. Gas and heating connections are handled by authorised partner installers.
What plumbing problems are common in older apartments?
The usual suspects in flats built before the 2000s:
- Galvanised steel supply pipes that have narrowed inside, giving weak flow and discoloured water after the tap has been off for a while.
- Mixed materials from successive repairs — steel, copper and plastic joined in the same run — with joints that are weak points.
- Waste pipes with poor falls, especially where a bathroom or kitchen was moved without opening the floor properly.
- Leaks into the flat below, often from the shower tray or bath seal rather than the pipes themselves.
- Smells from dry or missing traps, or from a badly made connection to the stack.
Our guide to services in older apartments explains how to read these symptoms before you buy or plan.
What exactly do you renew?
Inside the apartment, everything from the flat’s main stopcock onwards: the cold and hot supply to each fitting, isolation valves, the hot-water connection to the water heater, and the waste pipes from basins, shower, bath, WC, kitchen sink and appliances to the connection with the building’s stack. Where the layout changes, we route the new pipework to the new positions and check that the waste has enough fall.
The main stack, the rising mains and the meters normally belong to the community. We do not modify them without the community’s agreement, and we tell you during the quote if your plan would affect them.
When in the renovation does the plumbing happen?
After strip-out and any new partitions, and before plastering, ceilings, tiling and floors. The sequence on our jobs is:
- strip out old fittings and open floors and walls along the routes;
- install new supply and waste pipework to the final positions;
- pressure-test the supply and check waste falls and connections;
- photograph the routes for your records;
- close up, plaster, waterproof wet areas and tile;
- fit sanitaryware, taps and appliances at the end.
Step three is the one that must never be skipped. A leak found after tiling costs far more than the test.
Can a bathroom or kitchen be moved?
Often, within limits set by the waste. Water can travel almost anywhere; waste needs a continuous fall to the stack. The further a WC or shower moves from the stack, the more height you need under the floor. In some flats that means raising part of the floor or adding a step; in others the move is simply not possible without affecting the flat below.
We check levels and routes on site before agreeing to any move. The layout guide explains the other constraints, from structure to ventilation.
What about leaks to and from the neighbours?
Leaks are the most common source of friction in apartment blocks. If water is coming into your flat from above, the source must be found and fixed by whoever is responsible — the neighbour or the community — before you repair the damage. If your renovation includes a new shower, we pay particular attention to waterproofing and to the connection with the waste, because that is where most leaks to the flat below start.
During the works we keep the water off when it is not needed and check connections at the end of each day.
Do you deal with gas and water heaters?
We prepare the space and the water connections for a water heater or boiler. Gas connections, gas appliances and heating generators are installed and commissioned by authorised partner installers, as the applicable regulations require. Electric water heaters are connected on the electrical side by the partner electrician.
If you are adding radiators or underfloor heating at the same time, the circuits are planned together with the plumbing. See our heating page.
Can plumbing be renewed without a full renovation?
Yes, but it is rarely the most efficient approach. Renewing pipes means opening walls and floors along their routes, and the finishes over them then need repairing. If the bathroom and kitchen are being renovated anyway, renewing the plumbing at the same time adds relatively little disruption. If they are not, a targeted repair of the faulty section may be the sensible choice for now, with full renewal planned for when those rooms are done.
We explain both options in the quote so you can decide with the facts in front of you.
What makes new plumbing easy to live with?
Good plumbing is the kind you never think about again. A few choices make that more likely:
- Isolation valves for each wet room and under each sink, so one fault does not shut down the whole flat.
- Access panels wherever pipes or traps are boxed in, particularly behind a wall-hung WC or under a built-in bath.
- A recorded layout: photos of every route before it is covered, kept with your property papers, so nobody drills into a pipe when hanging a shelf.
- Sensible pipe runs that avoid long dead legs to the hot taps, so hot water arrives without running the tap for ages.
- Proper falls and cleaning points on the waste, so a blockage can be cleared without lifting tiles.
These details are inexpensive while the walls are open and difficult to add later. We include them as standard practice and show them in the itemised quote.
Bauman Raymond Attila · Reforma Pisos Málaga · Avenida Antonio Belón 3, Marbella. Last reviewed: 05/11/2026.
