Ugly pipe

[bradulet]

The pipe that takes the hot water to our kitchen broke and because the plumber sent by our home warranty could not find the spot, we took their advice and instead of cutting open the concrete across our master bedroom, master bathroom, family room and kitchen to find where it burst, they re-routed the pipe around the house to the kitchen. It was a semi-desperate move but now we can’t stand the sight of the pipe on my patio. The pipe is on the ground right where the concrete patio meets the exterior wall of the house. More than that, my two year old son figured out that it is funny to pull it so there is the danger that at some point we'll be left with no water. This rerouted pipe is about 20 ft on the side of my house and 30 more feet on the back of my house (along my whole patio). My question: how do I 'hide' it? Is there something that can mask it with? How do I make it safer? How do I make sure that it stays in place? Any advice?
Thank you.
B

[Gary Swart]

You don't give much information to go on, but two possibilities come to my mind. You could box the pipe in or you could reroute the pipe above the ceiling. Even though you must be in an area that does not freeze, there still has to be considerable heat loss with that much pipe exposed to the outside air. Boxing it in would be a marginal improvement, going through the attic would be slightly better. I have never understood why builders insist on covering pipes with concrete. Even a novice such as myself knows that concrete contacting copper pipe will soon cause the pipe to leak and even if the leak can be found and repaired, it will continue to be a problem. I would look at the entire house plumbing and try to find a way to reroute everything so that it was not buried in concrete. Probably this would be a a place where PEX would be a good alternative.

[bradulet]

We live in San Diego so freezing would not be a problem. We were thinking of boxing the pipe too but we have no idea how or what to choose (Home Depot offered no solution). The patio floor is a red nice concrete and we don't know what box would not destroy its 'niceness'. Do you know of a kind of 'box' that would look acceptable?

Re-reouting it sounds like a solution too but we have a two story house so all we would do is take this mess from the floor level and put it above the head...

thanks for your reply.

[Gary Swart]

There is no ready-made product that is specifically designed to box this in, and since beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it's up to you to decide what to use. You have to be a bit creative. If you are not accustomed to DIY projects and do not have basic tool know-how, you may want to hire someone to offer suggestions and then build what you feel will solve the problem.

[nhmaster]

Slim Duct.

[Jay Mpls]

This needs to be secured down so it does not move! Should have been strapped down so it doesn't jiggle about and amuse your child!

[hj]

Unfortunately you must not have had real plumbers, or at least competent ones otherwise they would have found the break and taken care of it in a professional manner, which that pipe around the house is not.

[kingsotall]

It comes down to the home warranty company, doesn't it¿ When we want to clear a drain and pulling the toilet seems like the strightest route the home warranty says this is not covered under the agreement. The customer can pay for that if they so wish. So the customer upon being told this is livid because "this is all supposed to be covered by my home warranty." Etc, etc, etc... ad infinitum

Hot water lines exposed outside like that do sound hokey though! Did they atleast insulate it¿ I guess then it would look really unsightly.