Heating & renovating empty house in Winter

confused_kid

Hi all,

Going to be completing on a house (fingers crossed) around dec/jan. Plan is to remove all wallpaper, floors (carpet), and get walls/ceilings skimmed in order to paint. Its a 1930s 3bed house.

To do this i would need to remove the central heating radiators...is it advisable to keep the house warm over winter?if the system is empty/flushed out am I still at risk of burst pipes?

I am planning on spending jan/feb gutting the house out so i guess it would be possible to remove a radiator in each room whilst removing wallpaper and then putting it back once all wallpaper has been removed...then get a plasterer to do their work end of feb/early march when hopefully any major cold winter weather may have subsided a little...sound like a possible approach? all suggestions welcome.

Thanks

Apologies for the silly questions.

bluesnake

The amount of pressure generated by expanding ice in the pipes, regardless of the taps being open or shut could fracture copper pipe, and you only know when the blockage melts and the water starts to flow. Keep the house warmish and be aware of cold spots around all the water pipes

find out if the mains water stopcock can repeatedly be closed and opened, so that the water completely stops and flows again. Turn it off before you leave, or when you go to bed as a precaution

Water can kill the electrics, put work on hold for 2 months and undo all that is good and cost money.

Leif

I painted my woodwork in autumn when the outside was cooling, and I had removed the radiators. That was a mistake, as oil paint becomes thicker and hard to spread in the cold. Yes you can thin it with white spirit, but it is better to have some heating on, if only half the radiators. Small electric radiators do not seem to have the oomph and cost a fortune.

confused_kid

Thanks both for your responses, I am in no rush to move in so perhaps i'll delay the work a while.

Jan/Feb - Remove all wood chip wallpaper, and prep the place for the professionals to come in and start their work. March - get the plasterers in, April/May - Paint, and do the flooring...

Will take my time, plus give me time to train for a marathon in April!

Thanks again.

Jaynne

If you're not in the house why not just drain it all down and close off the stopcock? You're limiting any possible leaks then.

evilgoose

In the winter before last I was doing work - started stripping wallpaper and ended up at the brick! - the plaster was loose.
My outside loo froze and stopped the water to the house, it left me unable to do any work to reinstate the plaster for several weeks (until the loo thawed).

Some paints/varnish have got a min temp, and if its very cold/damp can go cloudy and as have been mentioned go viscus.

Strip as much as you can - leave the areas you can't reach (radiators/pipe work etc) then do those areas once the weather improves in the spring.