For best results, mount an exterior faucet on the wall and run the piping inside.
An exterior faucet, also called a hose bib, is a necessity in any household, but especially one that has a garden. Although you can mount one anywhere on your property, it will be more stable and less likely to freeze in the winter if you attach it your house siding. You'll have to draw the water from an existing cold water line in your house and run a pipe through your siding. If it isn't easy to make a hole, an alternative is to run a pipe through a foundation vent and extend it along the siding to the faucet. You should have experience soldering copper pipe to take on this project. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Drill a 1-inch hole in the siding at the location of the faucet. If your house is made of brick or masonry, make a hole at the most convenient place near the faucet location, perhaps through a vent or access cover.
2. Locate the nearest cold water supply line in the basement or crawlspace, and turn off the valve that controls it. Mark the closest approach of the line to the new faucet and cut through the pipe on the mark, using a pipe cutter. Place a bucket under the pipe to catch the water that drains out when you separate the pipe.
3. Spread flux on the two ends of the separated pipe and on the inside of the two parallel joints of a copper "T." Use a 1/2-inch "T" if you are installing it on 1/2-inch pipe, but if the pipe is 3/4 inches, use a 3/4- to 1/2-inch reducing "T." Fit the pipes back together with the perpendicular outlet of the "T" facing in the direction of the new faucet, and solder it with lead-free solder.
4. Assemble a 1/2-inch copper line that extends from the "T" to the location of the faucet, cutting the pipe with pipe cutters and using copper couplers and elbows as needed. Spread flux on the ends of the pipes and the insides of the fittings as you put them together.
5. Extend the line to a point 6 to 12 inches inside the hole in the siding if you made it at the exact location of the faucet. Slip a copper coupling onto the end. If the hole is in a different place, extend the pipe through the hole and along the siding to the location of the faucet. Slip a 90-degree elbow into the end with its outlet facing away from the siding, and cut a 2- to 3-inch length of pipe to fit into the elbow.
6. Start at the "T" and solder all the joints in the new water line. Let the metal cool, and then support if from the floor joists with pipe hangers. Secure it to the siding with pipe clamps.
7. Solder a brass faucet with a slip connection onto the end of the pipe if you had to extend the pipe along the siding from a hole in another location. Secure the faucet by attaching the pipe just underneath it to the siding, using a pipe clamp.
8. Cut a length of pipe that will extend from the coupling on the end of the water line to a point approximately 1/2-inch past the siding if you were able make a hole at the faucet location. Solder one end to the faucet, and then feed the pipe through the wall and into the coupling. If the pipe is the right length, the faucet will be flush against the siding when the pipe fully seats inside the coupling. Solder the coupling, and then screw the faucet to the siding.
Tags: location faucet, pipe through, along siding, make hole, water line, with pipe