Anyone know anything about changing radiators?

[redjam]

We?ve got some rather unattractive 1970s radiators on our ground floor that we are thinking of changing. At the moment we?ve got three small ones round the bay window in the front of our living room and an unnecessarily massive one in our hall; we?d like to change to one chunky Victorian-style one in the front of the bay (getting rid of other two on either side) and a smaller one in the hall. Has anyone done such a thing themselves? We?ve found some nice replica radiators on a website but we had some questions:

1) Will one cast-iron or aluminium two-column radiator (about 40cm high by 1 metre wide) at the front of the bay be warm enough to heat the front room? It?s a typical ED Victorian house with the front and back rooms knocked through, and the back of the room has another medium-sized radiator beneath the back window.

2) When changing/removing radiators, do all the floorboards have to be taken up? Is this a nightmare? We need to resand and revarnish our floorboards anyway so we don?t mind if they get a bit damaged (they are quite knackered anyway) but I?m nervous about messing around with them too much. Presumably any holes from old pipes can get easily refilled but is it a problem to take up the boards completely?

3) We also want to get someone to redecorate the downstairs (redo the peeling lining paper and paint) and it would make sense for them to the bit behind the wall when we remove the radiators, but the logistics of this are making my head spin. How do you coordinate a plumber and a decorator to turn up at the same time and work together? I find it?s hard enough to get one person out at the time you ask them to, let alone two? We have a good decorator that we?d like to use so is it easiest if we ask him to recommend a plumber? Then get someone else out to patch up the floor afterwards?

Sorry to sound so clueless but any advice anyone can give would be appreciated ? even if it?s to say, no, don?t do it, you?re opening up a can of worms (which is what I?m nervous about!). Thanks in advance.

[Saffron]

A general builder could do your decorating and fit your radiators. You don't nec need a plumber or corgi engineer, as this is not specialist pipework and does not involve the boiler itself. xx

[ed_pete]

Here's a few pointers based on my experience.

1) In a perfect world radiators are sized to give a heat output that will keep you comfortably warm whilst allowing for heat loss. If you are buying new radiators then their specification should incliude a BTU or Watts figure for output. Problem is you don't know what the output is of the old radiators. Your best option is to look for something similar that's new and check the output of those. Screwfix has some basic radiators that might be similiar to the ones you're wanting to replace. So long as the new and old radiators are roughly in the same ballpark for output then you should be OK.

2) Almost certainly floorboards will need to be taken up but not all of them, it depends on where the existing pipework runs underneath. It also depends on whether the boards run across the room or front to back. Plumbers should try to minimise the disruption to the boards, especially if you explain that you plan to sand and varnish afterwards.

3) Have a go at removing the old rad's yourself. There's bound to be YouTube videos on this. In simple terms you have to close both valves (one probably won't have a turning knob on) to stop the water flowing from the pipes and then loosen the nuts that connect the valve to the radiator. You will need LOTS of old towels/sheets etc and shallow trays to catch the water that will come out of the radiator. Anyway of you can get them off you could get your decorator in to do the walls and then arrange for your plumber fit the new rads afterwards.

Hope that helps.

[redjam]

Thank you both. The thought of removing the radiators ourselves is somewhat terrifying (neither my husband nor I are remotely DIY-minded) but the fact we could even do it ourselves, i.e. without needing a Corgi plumber, is making me feel like it's probably less of a big deal than I was worrying about. Thanks for the reassurance!