Possible/cost to move radiator plumbing?

fiwen30

Hi all, just got keys to new house(!) and sussing out what needs doing first.

We’ve ordered lots of new shiny laminate floors to be fitted on the 8th & 9th of December, but have only just realised what an ugly mess the living room radiator is.

We plan on having new skirting boards put on too, after the laminate, only there’s this going on in the living room -

As you can see, the radiator pipes run along the skirting and into the chimney breast (boarded over fireplace, still open chimney, we think), making it impossible to remove the skirting, and likely difficult to fit the laminate.

It’s a nasty-looking, rusty mess, and we’d like to get rid of possible. I pulled back the carpet, and it’s just laid straight onto a
concrete floor.

Could anyone suggest the sort of work we would need doing in order to move that pipe work? Is it possible or simple to move the pipe work into or under the concrete floor? Any idea of cost? Thanks all.

nofoollikeold

1. You could have the floor channelled out and the pipes laid into it then levelled with the rest of the floor.  Those are 15 mm pipes, and to allow for insulation and sufficient concrete on top, you'd be looking at a depth of 25 to 30 mm.  Pipe should be plastic coated, or a continuous run (no fittings before radiator elbow) of plastic.  Should be OK but you'd have to be very careful not to damage the damp proof course.  You'd also have to open up the chimney breast to get at the floor behind the boarding.  Cost?  I'd allow 1 day for digging, and another to replace radiator and re-pipe.  With materials around £1,000.
2. You could strip out the radiator and pipes, capping the pipes outside the room.  Use an electric heater as a temporary measure.  Remove skirting boards, and channel out plaster (and possible a very limited amount of brick) at base of wall say 80mm high from floor.  When floor laid, rerun pipes to new radiator in wall channel.  Fit new deep, hollow, skirting boards to hide pipes. Cost? Hard to tell.  More building than plumbing, probably more fiddly then option 1.  Probably about the same cost if much done by builder, more if I did it because it would take me longer.  

AskAsk

i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

fiwen30

AskAsk said:

i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

Wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be if I’m honest. What would you suggest instead?

FreeBear

AskAsk said: i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

There have been a couple of threads this year where CH pipes have been buried in concrete floors - The ones that spring to mind are all asking for help & advice in dealing with damp. The copper pipes have corroded through and now leak.

OP - I would suggest dumping that old radiator and fitting a new type 11 or type 21 to the wall to the right of the window. In modern or well insulated houses, there is little need to position a radiator under the window. Placing it on that other wall reduces the length of pipework. If you are worried about cold draughts from the window, hang some thick curtains up and pull them across on a cold winter evening.

Ajmason42

Pipes in our old house were in the concrete floor and we had our fail which meant digging up half the lounge floor  --  not fun   failed as the copper was not wrapped   replaced with plastic  by my plumber  

What about putting new designer rad on the wall next to the chimney breast would mean less of a run of new pipe  plus you can have curtains to the floor at the window with out blocking the heat  

AskAsk

fiwen30 said:

AskAsk said:

i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

Wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be if I’m honest. What would you suggest instead?

look at how to disguise pipework in skirting

fiwen30

AskAsk said:

fiwen30 said:

AskAsk said:

i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

Wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be if I’m honest. What would you suggest instead?

look at how to disguise pipework in skirting

Hadn’t come across rebated skirting boards before, so thank you! Might be what we go for, for now, rather than anything too intensive, to save some ££ and also to not have to try and squeeze in labourers around the floor fitting schedule, which was difficult enough to organise quickly.

AskAsk

fiwen30 said:

AskAsk said:

fiwen30 said:

AskAsk said:

i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

Wasn’t sure what the best course of action would be if I’m honest. What would you suggest instead?

look at how to disguise pipework in skirting

Hadn’t come across rebated skirting boards before, so thank you! Might be what we go for, for now, rather than anything too intensive, to save some ££ and also to not have to try and squeeze in labourers around the floor fitting schedule, which was difficult enough to organise quickly.

i only know about it because someone was talking about doing a plumbing job some years ago when he nailed a nail into a skirting board and heard a hiss.  he was stuck on the job the rest of the day, trying to fix the damaged hidden pipe 

NeverTooLate

FreeBear said:

AskAsk said: i have never come across pipes being embeded into a concrete floor.

There have been a couple of threads this year where CH pipes have been buried in concrete floors - The ones that spring to mind are all asking for help & advice in dealing with damp. The copper pipes have corroded through and now leak.

I thought it was a myth that concrete can corrode the copper, problems occur because of the expansion and contraction of the pipes in the screed.

SaverRate

Can you not run the pipework within the ceiling void then drop down the wall you want the radiator on. You can then either have exposed pipework down the wall or chase the wall to hide the pipework