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Uncovered central heating pipes in house.

2

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  • Bryony84
    Bryony84 Posts: 89
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    poppysarah wrote: »
    I know the council were obliged to cover them up where they could be reached by a child in a friend's house. She had to get them to do them on the stairs too (bizarre piping job there)

    It's not a huge job to cover it up with some special covers
    http://www.bes.co.uk/products/137.asp

    Thanks for the replies everyone. Would it be unreasonable to ask the landlord to fit something like this to the pipes as a condition of us taking the place? The house is in the perfect location and apart from a few small things, it suits our needs very well but all the exposed copper pipes have put me off a bit.
    £2012 in 2012 Challenge #232 : £561.29/£2012
  • It does seem an awful lot of fuss about nothing. Pipes hidden in walls could leak and cause damage without anyone knowing.

    I suppose there could be some concern about children getting scalded, but it does seem that the main concern is a purely cosmetic one - what things look like. Is it that important?
    RICHARD WEBSTER

    As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.
  • I have this type of installation in our home and tbh, it's never bothered me - Yes the older properties have this type of installation, especially if it was a previous council property. it was a very simple boxing in job to make it look right!
  • eanick
    eanick Posts: 26 Forumite
    Sorry but am I missing something? Surely the pipes in question will be no hotter than the radiators they are feeding, which is, by its nature, supposed to be hot?
  • My pipes get warm but not scorching! In fact they are actually not as warm as the rads - also they are in the corner of the walls so no one brushes up agains them or can get burned on them apart from the cat who sleeps in his basket underneath the pipes in the front room.
  • Scho
    Scho Posts: 165 Forumite
    My gf has a house with the pipes all on show downstairs but the previous owner had just popped some coving around them to hide the pipes and stop others from being burned etc on them. Be cheap enough and worth asking for before you move in.
    If you like the place say that you'd be happy to move in if he can ensure all the pipes are secured to the wall properly and covered in coving for safety. I've had my new LL replace a bath seal as a condition of me moving in as it was awful so sure they'd be happy to accomodate if it was a nice place and a decent landlord.
  • tyllwyd
    tyllwyd Posts: 5,496 Forumite
    When we had a new kitchen extension done a few years ago, the plumber decided in his wisdom to run pipes down the wall on top of the plasterboard instead of behind it - which was fine until we tried to fit a run of units along the wall and they couldn't go around the corner because of the pipes in the way. We got him to move them, but it was a pain - it hadn't even occurred to us that he would do it that way in a new build.

    Exposed pipes are pretty common, its probably just that the ones in the house you are looking at are more noticeable because they have never been painted.

    In a different house, we had exposed pipes which were near a doorway and easy for a child to touch by accident, so we got a carpenter to box them in.

    Whether you could persaude a landlord to cover the expense, unless the pipes are in an exposed place, somehow I doubt.
  • mkaibear
    mkaibear Posts: 162
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    Bryony84 wrote: »
    Just had a look round a potential rental property and the one thing that stood out to me as odd was that all the central heating pipes were exposed, running from the radiators up the walls to the next radiator upstairs. They were partially secured to the walls with plastic fixings but some were loose.

    Its not something I've ever see before so I was wondering how safe it is. These pipes get pretty hot and you could easily burn yourself on them (or other people/visiting children etc could).

    Just wondered if there are any regulations with such things?

    All my downstairs heating has this (Cwmbran, house from 1969) due to solid floors.

    I have a grand total of once caught myself on the pipe (talking to the missus up the stairs and leant backwards onto it). She laughed at me.

    As someone else said, they don't get hotter than the radiators themselves, you can insulate them if you want - we have painted them with the same paint we used for the rooms and we don't notice them any more.
  • Suzy_M
    Suzy_M Posts: 777 Forumite
    Another reason for pipes not being cut in is that the walls themselved may be solid. Cutting in to stud walls is no problem but cutting in to brick is a right b****.
  • clutton_2
    clutton_2 Posts: 11,149 Forumite
    encasing water-carrying pipes within plaster is madness in my view.... if a leak developes it will take a long time to show itself and do untold damage before being repaired... not to mention haeing to hack out and replaster .... a stunningly mucky job...

    most pipes are either boxed in so that a few screws give you access to the pipework or are under floorboards which are relatively easily, and cleanly, taken up.
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