Hanging radiators on stone walls

[chuckey]

I have a problem with multimonties, I am using 7mm ones and have found that my 6.5 masonary drill, after drilling about 6 holes won't drill a hole big enough for the screws to drive right in, they tend to go in about one inch then sieze, have broken a couple of star bits trying to get them in deeper or even to remove one (still sticking out of my barn wall). What I would like is a 6.7mm SDS bit !! cos' 7mm is too big. How have you got on with this problem?
Frank

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Chuckey,

I've encountered this sometimes too. The screws need a pretty accurate hole to work most effectively, and the longer sizes seem to be a bit sensitive to drilling debris getting compacted in the bottom of the hole. I've got round this by drilling below size with an SDS drill (say 5.5mm), then reaming out the hole to final size (say 6.5) with a multi-material bit and giving this a good in-out to clear the dust. Because the second op is only taking out a small amount of material this can be achieved without impact drilling, leaving a very accurate hole. It's a bit of a faff, and I only do it in very hard materials, or where I'm having problems getting a one-shot result as you have found.

Hope this helps.

 

[masochists-r-us]

I'm with others on this. We went for floor standing reclaimed 1920's cast iron princess rads sprayed a lovely metallic bronze - gorgeous BUT getting them from the supplier to their final position is no mean feat due to their enormous weight. From our point of view well worth it, but bear this in mind if you go for it

 

[Moo]

- which only goes to show how firm the fixings would have to be for wall-hung rads!


(how many floors did you have to cart your rads up? Our poor builders had to get five of the beasts up two hefty flights of stairs to the attic bedroom floor.)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'm not sure that having floor standing cast iron rads completely eliminates the need for wall attachement. I'm planning mine just now, and it seems anything over about 10 sections and attachment to a wall stabiliser is recommended.

 

[Moo]

Yes, each of our floor-standing radiators is attached to the wall by a central fixing; but it's not weight-bearing at all. The only time it would feel a strain would be if someone were to stand or sit on one of the radiators in a way that caused it to tip over. Which, given the weight, is extremely unlikely.

 

[Gervase]

If you're unsure of the walls, one way is to fix a couple of 2x1 strips of wood to the wall with hefty plugs and screws and then fix the radiator hangers to those - that way you can ensure that the hangers are absolutely level and at the height you want, rather than being dictated by the underlying stone or plaster.

 

[michael]

I’d definitely go for a design with either purpose made feet or accessory floor supports to take the weight. Radiators can be dam heavy. It’s hard enough trying to lift them even when they’re not full of water and that’s normally a two man job. With floor supports you will only require a couple of simple retaining stays fixed into the wall. Your wall and plaster will love you for it.

 

[s smith]

We are looking at various heating options, again we are stone walls and it will be lime plaster. we are getting a quote from thermaskirt which is esentially a radiator built into the skirting boards and means we dont have any radiators in the rooms at all. For us that will give a better look to our rooms than radiators which the property has never had in any form in the past.

I have heard some good reports about it but also is supposed to be quite expensive compared to regular radiators.

 

[michael]

Whats Thermaskirt made of ? If its white coated aluminum sheet then it might look a bit out of place in a period property.

You might also want to look at the discussion on the product at
http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?threadID=58200&messageID=622027

One of the things mentioned in addition to fitting difficulties is the need for flat walls, even slight bows or hollows are highlighted with this product ,allegedly.

Show me a period property with flat walls?

 

[AMc]

The last post on the first page of that screwfix post suggests a more flexible product due in 2007?

I looked at Thermaskirt briefly before we realised we'd have to insulate our floors and so underfloor heating became a more sensible and cost effective option.

Something you will really need to look at is the amount of heat output, if you have uninsulated stone walls and a solid uninsulated floor I would be very surprised if you would have enough wall space for enough thermaskirt to replace pressed steel radiators.

Most of the calculators and ready reckoners I saw for all radiators expected modern construction and cavity walls which retain heat much more effectively than solid walls, even without insulation. So if you've just done a room size calculation you could end up spending quite a lot of money and still being cold.