[risottto]

I'm planning on re-tiling the floor of my condo kitchen (ripping up 2 layers of old tile and laying down 1/4 HardieBacker or Schluter Ditra XL then Tile. I have always wanted to run a small water line so I can finally use the ice-maker on the fridge, which is on the other side of the galley kitchen from the water lines.


Going through the walls is not really an option (would involve ripping up 2 walls and the ceiling, and an extra 30+ feet of tubing. Under the floor is no-go since it's a condo. However, going straight under the tile would be a straight shot 8 feet across.


I was thinking of leaving a 1/4" gap between two sheets of Ditra XL (5/16), running 1/4" line (Pex, Copper, pex wrapped copper if there's room?), then sealing with Ditra Kerdi-Band before laying down the thinset and tile. Would leak-test before putting tile down of course.


Basically leaving a small gap between the Ditra XL sheets and laying it before

stage. 



My question is has anyone done this before? Any major code violations? Issues with condensation and thermal expansion from the cold tap water messing with tile adhesion? (would not be active till well after the mortar is cured)


Thanks in Advance!

I could only find this other thread of something similar, but that's in concrete, I have OSB subfloors, so would have to fit it into the underlayment.

https://www.diychatroom.com/f7/refrigerator-water-line-through-concrete-slab-160173/index2/

 

[huesmann]

Dunno. Seems rather permanent. Tubing is cheap—a 25' kit is only ten bucks at HD. Can you provide better detail of your kitchen, like pics and/or plan, showing where your water will come from and where it needs to end up?

 

[HandyAndyInNC]

Usually with slab foundations, the water line for a refrigerator is ran thru the backs of the cabinets, or across the ceiling. You do not have to cut up the walls to do that. Only a couple small holes are required. If you are determined to run it in the floor, I would cut out a trough in the concrete floor and use a pipe in a pipe. If anything happens, you can easily pull out the old and pull in a new.

That small of a plastic pipe will not generate enough condensate to worry with. It will dry on its own if it does sweat. Which it won't. You are way over thinking this.

 

[bruceb3]

Not a good idea, but if you insist on running it in the floor, do NOT use plastic. The only line I would bury would be copper.It has a much longer service life. If you're using cement board, I don't think you have the thickness to put a pipe in a pipe (a sleeve). That would be the ideal way to run it so if it fails, you could pull it out and fish a new line.

 

[HotRodx10]

The sleeve is definitely the best way to go. I would go with soft copper for the sleeve, since you can make gentle curves at the ends to bring it up out of the floor. You'll probably have to cut a groove in the concrete, or use the hardiebacker and the ditra (or 1/2" concrete board) and bed the sleeve in thinset mortar.



There's some risk just running 1/4" copper tubing, without the sleeve, but carefully bedded in mortar, and covered with rigid tile, the risk of it getting punctured is minimal. As long as you bring it up out of the floor in a protected location, where it won't get kinked or mashed too close to the floor to get a fitting on it, it should last a very long time.

 

[Ghostmaker]

I ran my 1/4 inch L copper under the baseboard. There is usually a gap between the floor and the drywall edge.