Order of events

[racoles]

Hello,

My husband and I are renovating our first property together (a 1970s place). We removed the old radiators and have exposed the floor boards. We had a plumber round about fitting new radiators and he suggested holding fire on sanding down the floorboards in these rooms in case he has to move pipework as one of the radiators is 47mm too large for the spot (we struggled to get matching radiators which fit all 3 rooms as the sizes don't match up with standard). My question is - what order do we proceed with these items needing doing?.

i) mist coating + top coating walls
ii)sanding floors
iii) fitting skirting
iiii) fitting radiators

Each seems to depend on the other ie. We can fit skirting board until we've sanded, we can't sand until radiators are fitted, we can't fit radiators until walls behind are painted. I might be over complicating this.... Just to also mention that we've sanded one room already and the finished floor is very smooth with nails punched in and filled over, and gaps between boards filled, so I suspect popping up a floor board would not be possible after this stage.

Any help much appreciated!

 

[ChaiLatte]

Two visits by plumber. Fit radiators to wall and pipe them up, but do not fill system.

Sand floor. Cover very well. Skirting, paint. Refit radiators.

It is not only central heating pipes that go under the floorboards. Do you need any re-wiring done? Do you need any outdoor wiring for an office or shed? Do you need to put data cables into any place? How does the mains water come into the place? If it is an old lead or steel pipe, it might be good to replace with plastic.

 

[niall Y]

Yes, it is a bit of a Catch 22 situation. You could get the paint on the walls at least on the ones where the radiators will be. This will save having to drop them, or lift them off after the c/h system is up and running.
It might also be expedient to get those pieces of skirting on the radiator walls as well, before the upstands of pipework get in your way It will also be handy to get most of the paint/finish on these too, as it will be a lot easier at this stage, especially under the radiators.
Plumber next, followed by floors and finishing of skirting and paintwork.

 

[ChaiLatte]

It might also be expedient to get those pieces of skirting on the radiator walls as well...

If the plumber has to lift boards, which ones are most likely to be lifted?

My guess would be the ones in close proximity to the radiator itself, so having skirting fixed to the wall trapping those boards will be counter-productive.

What would work is to prepare the skirting that goes under/behind the radiator and drop it into place ten seconds before the plumber hangs the radiator on its brackets. Or leave it there loose before the plumber and make his/her payment contingent on it being left in that same place before the radiator is fitted (i.e. if he/she needs to remove it, h/she has to put it back).

 

[niall Y]

If the plumber has to lift boards, which ones are most likely to be lifted?

My guess would be the ones in close proximity to the radiator itself, so having skirting fixed to the wall trapping those boards will be counter-productive.

What would work is to prepare the skirting that goes under/behind the radiator and drop it into place ten seconds before the plumber hangs the radiator on its brackets. Or leave it there loose before the plumber and make his/her payment contingent on it being left in that same place before the radiator is fitted (i.e. if he/she needs to remove it, h/she has to put it back).

Every case is different, but my experience with doing up old houses does not bear this out. The board closest - or under - the the skirting is very rarely the one lifted. It has the holes drilled in it for the tails to the radiator, but it's usually the adjacent board that is removed. Where, boards present end on to a skirting they are easily levered up and removed, even if one has to use a hacksaw blade to cut any trapped the nails.

I'm assuming - and I may well be wrong - that there is already a central heathy system in place, and it is simply a matter of refitting a few radiators. In this case the plumber will want to be in and out as quickly as possible and the method I suggested would allow for this. But of course none of this is written on a tablet of stone and one has to improvise as one goes along.

 

[glenfield2]

Personal experience with house DIY is that the 60s - 70s saw plenty of pretty mediocre workmanship behind the scenes (under floors etc). My general advice is that what seem to be the boldest options can actually be the best. I spent many hours fitting an en-suite over uneven floors and irregular walls in our present house. Every time I walk along our creaky landing I wish I’d bitten the bullet and stripped the whole area back to bare walls.
So that’s my advice: decide what you want overall and be bold; don’t do it piecemeal. Seventies houses have a lot of design limitations beyond heating; lack of electric sockets where we want them today is one.

 

[clogs]

glenfield2......you are so right.....
had a 17th century water mill, man what a mess under the skin......
once all the rubbish was in the skip everything started to go well....spendy but fast...

 

[Bingy man]

My post would no send and previous experience with this issue has taught me to screen shot the post before I press refresh —I’m rubbish with tech so apollogies for this .
Edit. The post starts at the last pic and each one overlaps slightly .

 

[racoles]

Personal experience with house DIY is that the 60s - 70s saw plenty of pretty mediocre workmanship behind the scenes (under floors etc). My general advice is that what seem to be the boldest options can actually be the best. I spent many hours fitting an en-suite over uneven floors and irregular walls in our present house. Every time I walk along our creaky landing I wish I’d bitten the bullet and stripped the whole area back to bare walls.
So that’s my advice: decide what you want overall and be bold; don’t do it piecemeal. Seventies houses have a lot of design limitations beyond heating; lack of electric sockets where we want them today is one.

This is really great advice thank you. Its actually really timely as well because we've just had a disheartening time stripping back paint (which we discovered is lead based) from some old door frames to try to save them, realising they are really not that well made. My gut instinct when I first saw them was to rip them out, and I wish I'd stuck with that and not exposed myself to the lead. I'm going to take your words forward as a bit of a mantra, and also not ignore my first instincts. I love our house but some of it, as you say, is a bit shoddy and needs just doing properly! Its more expensive but probably worth it long term. Thank you