HomeBathroom plumbing

Bathroom Plumbing
in Krugersdorp

Bathroom plumbing in Krugersdorp, from a new toilet or basin to every pipe behind a full renovation. New water pipes are pressure-tested and new drains are inspected before the tiler closes them in, because a leak behind finished tiles is the most expensive kind to reach.

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A white bottle trap under a basin, with a washing-machine hose on its side spigot and the waste arm running into the tiled wall

What bathroom work usually involves

Each job has its own parts list. The ones that move a drain also bring the municipality in.

  • A new toilet, or one that rocks or leaks at the base. A new pan connector and seal, a cistern within Mogale City's 9-litre limit, and an isolating valve beside it.
  • A basin or vanity replaced. A new waste and trap, and a tap that keeps to the flow limit for basins.
  • A shower leaking through the wall. The mixer's seals, the trap or a waste joint, traced before anyone lifts a tile.
  • A bath swapped for a walk-in shower. A new waste with enough fall and a new mixer position. That changes the drain, so the municipality is told.
  • A toilet or basin moved to another wall. New drain runs, written approval, and an inspection before the floor is closed.
  • Water that scalds, or never gets warm enough. A mixing valve or the geyser setting. The national standard caps water at the outlet at 55 °C.

Moving a toilet is drainage work, and drainage is inspected before it is covered

Mogale City's Water Services By-laws treat any change to a drain as work that needs the municipality's approval first, and its inspection before the floor goes down.

A like-for-like swap leaves the drain where it was: a new basin on the old waste, a new toilet on the same outlet. Renovations rarely stop there. Moving a toilet to another wall, turning a bath into a walk-in shower or adding a second basin all mean new drain pipe under the floor or in the wall, and that is where the municipality comes in.

Clause 108 of Mogale City's Water Services By-laws says nobody may construct, reconstruct, alter or add to a drainage installation without the municipality's written approval. Approved work may only start 2 clear days after written notice of the day and time it will begin. Before any part of the drainage is covered, or made hard to see, it has to be inspected and approved, and covering it first is an offence under the by-laws.

The municipality's building development pages say much the same in plainer words: internal alterations need approval, and open and closed drainage are among the inspections that have to be booked, with two working days' notice. If you do not have the approved plan for your erf, form BDM 167 asks the municipality for a copy. It is the quickest way to see where the existing drains run before anyone decides where a new one goes.

The same by-laws reserve new installation work for a qualified plumber, and they cap any new toilet cistern at 9 litres and the flow from a basin tap at 8 litres a minute. Fixing something that has simply worn out needs no plans under the national building regulations. A new layout is a different matter.

None of this has to slow a renovation down if it is planned in. The drain layout is agreed first, the approval and the notice come before the floor is opened, and the inspection is booked for the day the new drains are in and still visible. The tiler starts after that.

If your plan moves a toilet, a shower or a basin, treat it as drainage work: written approval first, two clear days' notice, and an inspection before a single tile goes down.

Section through a bathroom floor: on the right, the outline of a toilet that has been taken out and its old outlet sealed off; on the left, the toilet in its new position, with a new drain falling steadily through an open trench in the floor slab to the existing drain, left uncovered until it is inspected new position old position taken out old outlet sealed off new drain, falling all the way trench left open until the drain is inspected and approved the tiles come after existing drain
A toilet moved across a bathroom, drawn in section. Not a drawing of any house.

How bathroom plumbing is priced

Like-for-like work and a new layout are priced differently, and the quote shows which parts of the bill the move adds.

Always part of it

  • A look at what is behind the wall and under the floor before the quote
  • The layout of new pipes and drains agreed with you on paper
  • Every fitting listed separately from the labour
  • New pipes pressure-tested before any wall or floor is closed

What moves the number

  • Replacing like for like, or moving a toilet, shower or basin
  • Drainage approval and inspection, where a drain changes
  • Who supplies the fittings: you or the plumber
  • Concealed cisterns, wall-hung pans and in-wall mixers

What you get in writing

  • What was fitted, with makes and models
  • The pressure test result before anything was closed up
  • Photos of every pipe and drain run before tiling

From the plan to the first shower

The order matters most in a bathroom, because everything ends up behind tiles.

  1. Tell us the plan

    What stays, what moves and what is new. A sketch or a few photos in the form help.

  2. Pipes and drains drawn

    The layout is agreed on paper. If a drain moves, the approval and the notice to Mogale City come first.

  3. Rough-in, tested, inspected

    New pipes and drains go in and are tested; new drains stay open until the municipality has inspected them.

  4. Fixtures fitted

    After the tiler, the toilet, basin, shower and taps go on, and each one is run and checked for leaks.

Bathroom plumbing questions

Cost first, then the order of work and the rules behind it.

What does bathroom plumbing cost in Krugersdorp?

Swapping fittings where they already are costs least: a toilet, a basin or a mixer on the existing pipes. Moving anything costs more, because new pipe and drain runs have to be cut in and the drain has to be approved and inspected. Fittings and pipe runs appear as separate lines on the quote, which shows exactly what moving things costs on top of a swap.

Do I need the municipality's approval to redo my bathroom?

If a drain changes, yes. Mogale City's by-laws require written approval before any drainage installation is altered or added to, and an inspection before it is covered. A straight replacement on the same pipes and drains is maintenance, and under the national building regulations a repair from ordinary wear and tear needs no plans.

Can I buy my own toilet, basin and taps?

Yes. Check two things before you order: that the toilet's outlet suits where the drain is, and that its cistern holds no more than 9 litres, the limit in Mogale City's by-laws. Send the model numbers with the booking and they are checked against the existing pipes before anything is opened.

How do I tell if the toilet cistern is leaking?

Rand Water suggests a simple test: drop a little food colouring or instant coffee into the cistern and leave the toilet unused for a while. If colour appears in the bowl, water is leaking past the flush valve, usually because a washer has worn. It is a small repair that stops water running away all day.

Should the plumber or the tiler go first?

The plumber, twice. The new pipes and drains go in first and are tested, and any new drain is inspected while it can still be seen. Then the tiler works. The plumber comes back last to fit the toilet, basin, taps and shower head onto the finished walls and floor.

The shower leaks through the wall. Does all the tiling have to come off?

Usually not. The supply pipes and the waste are tested separately: the supply under pressure, the waste by running water with the supply shut off. That shows which one is leaking and roughly where, so tiles come off in one place rather than across the whole wall.

Is there a maximum temperature for hot water at the bath and basin?

The national water installation standard, SANS 10252-1, says water from a hot tap should not exceed 55 °C and should be at least 38 °C at baths, basins and showers. Where children, elderly people or anyone frail uses the bathroom, a thermostatic mixer limits the temperature at the outlet itself.

Does a hand-held shower need anything special?

Yes. Mogale City's by-laws name a movable shower unit among the hose-type fittings that need protection against back-siphonage, because a shower head left lying in a full bath could otherwise draw that water back into the supply. A shower set with the protection built in deals with it, so ask for one when the mixer is chosen.

Often part of the same job

A bathroom renovation tends to uncover an old drain, a hidden leak or a geyser that is too small.

Ask for a bathroom quote

Your name, a number and the suburb are enough to start. Say what stays and what moves, and we phone you back to arrange a look.

We use these details only to answer this request. See the privacy notice.

Where we come out

We come to the house: there is no counter or yard to visit. Krugersdorp and the suburbs around it are the core of the area, with the outlying parts of Mogale City by arrangement.

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Krugersdorp and close by

  • Krugersdorp North
  • Krugersdorp West
  • Monument
  • Noordheuwel
  • Kenmare
  • Rant-en-Dal
  • Silverfields
  • Mindalore
  • Wentworth Park
  • Dan Pienaarville

Further out in Mogale City

  • Muldersdrift
  • Featherbrooke
  • Cradlestone
  • Kagiso
  • Azaadville
  • Magaliesburg