If you are living in a home with an outside space, regardless of whether it is a detached house or a terraced house, an outside garden tap is a useful commodity. The tap opens up a lot of uses from washing a car, using a jet pressure washer to clean decking or slabs and furniture, to watering the garden or even filling up a temporary pool in the summertime.
What are the two main types of garden taps?
An outside garden tap can either be wall-mounted or a freestanding garden tap. Most quick-to-supply-and-fit garden taps are wall-mounted. This does not require too much labour time and you can purchase a brass tap for under £10. All that is needed is for the tap installation to be drilled into the wall and the water connection ‘tapped’ into from the other side of the wall, often coming off where the kitchen mains supply is.
A freestanding tap can be a garden feature as well as serving a use. The feed pipe coming from the ground to the tap can be decorative as well as the tap to suit the pipe it is mounted on. This installation requires the water feed connection to be trenched into the ground running to the location of your choice.
When you have decided where you want the tap positioned, therefore knowing if your tap will be wall-mounted or freestanding, then consider whether you need the tap lockable (to stop neighbours from accessing the tap). Also you can get creative on what type of handle you want fitted on the tap. The taps can come supplied as a lock-shield key handle, lever handle, cross handle or even decorative handles in shapes of animals or other objects.
How much will it cost to install an outside tap?
The cheapest easiest way for a plumber to fit an outside garden tap, is to have the tap wall-mounted on the outside of a wall where there is a water source to connect to. This could be the outside wall of a kitchen, bathroom, utility room or boiler room. This will reduce the cost to only an hour or two maximum labour time of your chosen plumber as well as the cost of the actual tap. Places like B&Q or Screwfix sell brass outside taps for around £10 and the rest of the kit for fitting the tap also for about £10. This kit will include a double-check valve to protect the drinking water by preventing any backflow of the water.
If you are wanting to install a freestanding tap, this will cost more, as depending on the size of your garden and where you would like the tap positioned, the plumber will have to dig out trenches to lay the supply pipes and lag the pipe to ensure it will not freeze in winter months. Digging the trenches to bury the pipes can be a day or two’s labour on its own without the actual fitting on the tap. Then the cost of a freestanding tap is a lot more, usually starting from a hundred pounds with the majority of the cost being the freestanding watering post rather than the actual tap.
|
Cost to fit an outside tap |
Per |
Average cost |
|
Replace a broken tap with a new tap |
Per hour |
£35 |
|
Fit a wall-mounted garden tap outside a kitchen or bathroom wall |
Per hour |
£65 |
|
Fit a wall-mounted garden tap on a wall with no direct inside water source |
Per day |
£300 |
|
Fit a freestanding garden tap, burying pipework |
Per day |
£600 |
Can you put an outside tap anywhere?
Yes, as long as you are able to run a cold water pipe to the location. Often the easiest way to fit an outside tap is by having a wall mounted tap, where there is a source of water on the other side of the wall, inside the house, like a kitchen sink or even a combi boiler, tapping into the feed pipe bringing the mains water to the boiler.
If you are wanting a feature of a garden tap standing in the middle of a flower bed or at the other end of your garden, away from the house, then you will need to bury some pipework carrying the water feed from the source to that location of your garden and install a freestanding garden tap.
Does an outside tap have to be brass?
A garden tap needs to be able to withstand harsh elements and the vast changing of seasons with a warm UK summer vs a freezing February in the UK. Brass taps with rubber washers are able to handle these extremes. Of course, it is always advisable that during the coldest months of the year, water to the tap is turned off to avoid freezing of the pipes and pipework bursting. If you cannot switch off the water to the tap, then make sure that any exposed pipework is lagged. For the tap, it is recommended to cover it with an insulation cover to protect the tap from the coldest time of year.
Outside taps can also come in chrome, despite being more popular in brass. Chrome and brass taps can come in a variety of finishes including a black finish for a stylish modern black outside tap that would match the gutters and downpipe. Have a look here for some of the best garden taps available.