Patch on masonry with water pipes

[DionSouthwell]

Hi, I need some advice on patching the attached hole, basically someone drilled a hole and punctured the water pipe. The wall has been chased and the leak repaired, i need some advice on patching this hole back to a point where it can be painted. Do I need to cover or insulate the pipes, can mortar be used and if so should it be done in layers as its quite large.

 

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @DionSouthwell. I apologise for the delay in my reply, I'd be more than happy to assist.

You might like to wrap the pipes with Whites 50mm x 10m Plant Tie Jute Webbing which would prevent the cement filler from bonding completely to them. This would be a nice touch in case you or anyone else ever needed to access these pipes again.

It would be great to fill the void with expanding foam to take away some of the bulk materials needed, however, non of our suppliers were particularly confident with their renders adhering well to expanding foam.

Instead, you can fill the void with Lanko 20kg 701 Duragrout Structural Grouting which you'll need to do in several coats as it is a vertical surface. Make sure when you are applying your additional coats that you damping the previous layer before proceeding. The 701 can fill up to 100mm in one application though I would recommend you apply it in several coats as that will prevent it from sagging. Fill up the void to 10mm below the finished surface level.

You'll then need to switch to a rendering product similar to Davco PM Render 20kg to complete the fill. Once again remember to dampen the 701 before your coat of render.

After you have filled the void and rendered, you might like to finish off with some Gyprock CSR 2kg Rapid Patch Filler to blend the repair into the surrounding area.

Here's a couple of step-by-step D.I.Y articles on How to hard plaster a brick wall and How to fix a hole in a plaster wall.

Let me also mention the ever-helpful @Brad to see if he has anything additional to add or if he would go about the repair a different way.

Please let me know if you need further information or had any questions.

Mitchell

[Brad]

It looks like the pipe was insulated originally I would look at k-flex range but I think you would need to cut it lengthwise to fit around the pipe without undoing the fittings. I have used Conduit repair when fixing up someone else's dodgy work on cold water pipes as it is supposed to split so you can use it for a cover so the filler won't stick to the pipes, I found running a saw down one of the splits was easier than trying to pull it apart.

If your looking for an alternative to filling the whole space plastic waste pipe split in half or a piece of plaster board may save some filling but it will not be as strong as a full fill.

[rocker]

Hi everyone, I'm faced with a similar situation although my penetrations are not as big. I would have thought the electrician could have used conduit to pass cables through the brick wall but he didn't. 

By the way, didn't know about the conduit repair product... thanks, may try that too.

I won't need a 20 kg bag to fill my holes, so can you recommend a filling product to neatly fill the holes. Obviously sanding will be a challenge as well, but the area will eventually be enclosed so I guess I can live without a totally neat finish. 

Thanks.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @rocker,

Did you want to fill those holes in the wall? If so, it sounds like some flexible gap filler would do the job for you. 

Is this cable work in an accessible area? If it is, I'm a little surprised it's not enclosed. Let me mention one of our members @MikeTNZ, an electrician, to get his thoughts.

Mitchell

[rocker]

Thanks Mitchell. Yes I do need to fill them but the top two are about 2 to 3 cm in diameter and 10 cm deep. Possibly too big for gap filler. 

Eventually the area will be an enclosed laundry cupboard and that area will be used for storage. 

[MitchellMc]

You don't need to fill the full-depth @rocker, just a few centimetres from the front face. If you do a bead of filler around the wiring, it should fill the holes nicely. 

The alternative would be to use expanding foam. You'd need to be able to fit the nozzle down inside the hole, or it will get messy.

Mitchell

[rocker]

@MitchellMc what product do you recommend?

[MitchellMc]

Any interior gap filler would be fine @rocker, but Selleys 475g No More Gaps Interior Multipurpose Gap Filler would be a good choice. You'll also need a caulking gun, and this UNi-PRO Skeleton Caulking Gun would suit.

Mitchell

[rocker]

Thanks.

The reason I asked that is that I had in mind that I'd use a filler like earl-s-multfill-ready-to-use-filler-0-140kg-white_p1661244. Maybe fill the depth with some backing (?) and then sand as best I can around the cables and paint. But as you had suggested flexible gap filler earlier I wondered why that would work better in this application.

I'm not that keen on expanding foam as I'm not experienced enough to be able to control the "quantity to gap" ratio and I could see that going everywhere!