How to ease access to outdoor spigot beneath deck?

September 8, 2015 8:18 AM

Just bought a house. The previous owners extended the deck and now the sillcock is really inconvenient to get to. How can I move it so that I can easily hook up and then turn on/off a hose?

The deck is about 2 feet off the ground, and I don't love having to crawl under it to reach the sillcock when I want to water the garden.

I live in NC, so cold temps aren't a huge concern, but I'm sure I can't just run pipe the 15 feet or so I'd need under my deck without getting myself in trouble in winter. Could I sufficiently insulate a pipe that way? I always disconnect my hoses and shut off the water for the winter anyway, would attaching a hose with a shutoff on it and leaving the water on at the wall all the time be as bad an idea as it sounds? Short of running new pipe under the house to a more convenient external location, is there any kind of accepted method to move the water cutoff about 15 feet away from the house?

posted by jermsplan to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

You could extend the pipe out along the deck, but you would need to install a valve in the basement or crawl space so that you could shut off the water inside the house and drain the exterior pipe for the winter. No, insulation on the exterior section won't help.

Leaving a hose fully pressurized 24/7 in a hidden area is an invitation to an unseen leak and an astronomical water bill.

If you just want to jury-rig something, could you cut an armhole through the deck and reach through to operate the existing valve?
posted by jon1270 at 8:37 AM on September 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer:

would attaching a hose with a shutoff on it and leaving the water on at the wall all the time be as bad an idea as it sounds?

Bad idea or not, it's what I (and, I bet, millions of other homeowners) do. Just about anyone who has sprinklers on a timer does this. Just make sure you shut it off and drain your hose in the winter.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:38 AM on September 8, 2015

Make or get a hard hose with a second spigot. Get a length of durable pvc pipe, put a female adaptor for under the deck, make sure it has a good gasket. Put a spigot on the outside of the deck where you want it. Use some pipe hanging metal fittings, especially near the outer spigot. Then unscrew the inner fitting for the winter, and open the outer spigot, so it won't freeze. Create your extension so it is strong, but easy to hook up, and undo, once a year.
posted by Oyéah at 8:46 AM on September 8, 2015

Bit more of a project than adding a hose, but can you cut a hole in the deck, re-structuring around whatever you cut through, and then extend the handle somehow into the whole? It'd be best if the valve handle was still below the deck surface so you don't have to build a protective structure, just a deck-matching hatch cover.

The linkage between the higher handle and the lower could be direct into the sillcock, if that's an existing product, or it could be a "fork" that is positioned into the handle down below. I don't know if there are products made for this sort of thing.

Be sure to consider drainage if you put a base in the valve-well that you'd be cutting into your deck, but the weight-bearing hatch is more important than a base.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:51 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

You can have a plumber do it for real, or you can use a faucet extender for now. Which, yes, involves leaving the water on at the spigot but presumably it would run off so that you would see it before it went on too long, or like most houses you can hear water moving through the pipes if you shut off all the noisemakers for a minute.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:00 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Can you neatly cut a hole in the deck above the spigot so you can reach it? If not that, I'd get a plumber to relocate it out from under the deck. It shouldn't be that expensive aside from the house call charge.
posted by cecic at 9:37 AM on September 8, 2015

Best answer: We've solved this problem using both a small panel in the deck above the sillcock that can be opened to access the faucet, and by attaching a short length of garden hose to this bib rack just beyond the deck. We have the normal hose hanging here and turn the water on and off from this point, leaving the water on at the main faucet until winter. During freezing months the whole thing is shut off from the inside, drained, and hoses are stored away. Easy to install, and haven't had any leak issues yet.
posted by Jemstar at 11:02 AM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In a similar situation, I used something like this: 5' high pressure hose extension.
posted by flug at 11:48 AM on September 8, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks all. At the risk of ignoring jon1270's caution I think I'll install a second faucet of some variety on the outer edge of my deck, and run a high pressure hose between the two, leaving the one at the house open all summer, and taking the whole thing down in the late fall.
posted by jermsplan at 12:05 PM on September 8, 2015