steel column radiators do we fix to stone wall or floor?

[Wren]

Hello, would be very grateful for some advice on this. Many thanks.

We are ordering in steel column radiators to put into cottage with rubble filled thick stone walls covered with lime plaster. Downstairs we have a stone flag floor in one room and concrete floor in the other room.

There are two options with radiators:

1 - wall-mounted option but I we were told that these are an absolute pig to mount on the wall, and hard to get a fixing on old stone walls. Would add substantially to labour costs if we went down this road. And this would probably create more trouble if we want to move the radiators in future.

2 - radiators with load bearing welded on feet. This seems like the logical option and a lot easier to fit, and also move the radiators in the future if we rearrange layout. But I think you are supposed to screw them down on to the floor (so they don't move). My big question (sorry, got there eventually) is how practical is it to screw the column radiators down onto a stone flag floor?

(We are in a hurry to move into the cottage as soon as poss because we are paying rent and mortgage at the moment. But in the medium term we are planning to extend into the lean-to so it is likely some of the radiators will get moved around.)

These aren't the ones but are similar.
http://www.livinghouse.co.uk/acatalog/Traditional_and_Modern_Steel_Column_Radiators.html

 

[tony]

Go for floor mounted to avoid any problems.

Fit radiator in position, mark holes in leg with pencil onto floor, sometimes its easier to stick masking tape on the floor to clearly see the pencil mark.

Drill with 7mm drill bit , fit brown rawl plug fit 2" No 10 screws.

If the hole on the leg is too big for the screw head, fit a bigger screw or use a penny washer under the screw before tightening up.

Penny washers can also be used under the leg to level up any small variations in the floor level.

If 2" not long enough use 3 No 10 screws

regards

Tony"

 

[Moo]

None of our floor-standing radiators have been screwed to the floor. Their weight (considerable) holds them there but, just in case, our builder anchored them to the wall with one long bolt and an unobtrusive flat piece of metal that's just wide enough to straddle the middle columns.

 

[NT]

If theyre on large bore iron pipe that should hold them effectively. OTOH if theyre on half inch copper they can be fixed to floor, wall, or anything else good & solid.

NT

 

[tony]

really.

 

[Penners]

I agree with Tony's advice.

 

[Moo]

I've just had a look at our radiators, and they don't have any holes in their feet for floor fixing...... ?????

 

[Penners]

I've just had a look at our radiators, and they don't have any holes in their feet for floor fixing

As NT has said above, originally they would probably have been fed from large bore iron pipe. So the combination of their own weight and the rigidity of the pipe would have made them very stable without any other fixing.

Today's small-bore copper tube is rather a different matter, so I'm sure your plumber did the right thing.

 

[tony]

get a metal drill bit and drill a hole then !!!!!

 

[Moo]

The day one falls over I'll get out the drill and start boring holes*. And make a public and shame-faced announcement here on the forum.

But since they've stood firm as rocks for nearly eleven years in spite of being sat on by lots of clumsy teenagers, and stood on by me when I've been too idle to fetch a ladder, I'll continue to trust the horizontal bolt that ties them to the wall.

* but I don't want to make holes in my nice old pamments.

 

[tony]

health and safety would have a field day!!.

 

[Moo]

I've got one of those spyholes in my front door.

 

[tony]

I hope its made from brass and not some horrible plastic thing.
does it have glass lens or a inferior plastic lens, youve got to keep the period features.

Would a high level letterbox not be more suitable

 

[NT]

health and safety would have a field day!!.

Quite possibly, but held by the pipes is how I've seen them done in a few original installations. Am not saying its an ideal option, but done it was. High H&S priority seems to be more a modern concept.


NT

 

[Penners]

I'll continue to trust the horizontal bolt that ties them to the wall.

Quite right. Tried and tested!

 

[Wren]

Wow! am grateful for so many replies.

Think am decided now. Will definitely order the rads with welded-on weight bearing feet. Then will use combination of screws to floor and/or horizontal bolt to wall as appropriate.
Will not go for fully wall-hung (the ones with no feet at all, that look as if they are floating in midair).

Thank you.

P.S. By the way experiments in lime plastering have gone well so far (fingers crossed). I haven't done as much as I would have liked because of nasty cold which wouldn't go away, but my partner is really getting into it. Bit late in the year I know but it is so mild at the moment.

 

[Moo]

Ah - welded-on feet. That explains a lot, including why my old radiators manage so well on their own. You see, mine have rather attractive integral feet and even without the old fat pipes they stand solid and stable.

 

[Mark]

Would a high level letterbox not be more suitable

None of that modern door furniture on this site please!

Im with the builder and the wall tie. Our only big old rad doesnt have feet suitable to fasten to the floor and it does wobble when people sit on it. One day I'll get round to putting a wall tie up. I know what it needs, just havent got around to it yet.

538 other jobs ahead of it in the work list

 

[Gervase]

Bit late in the year I know but it is so mild at the moment.

Don't worry, you can plaster indoors at any time of the year. In fact, this is a better time to do it, because the air tends to be more humid. This is the time of year when anyone who works with lime heads indoors for the plastering work!

 

[Lime]

From what I can remember of radiators when I was at school they had load-bearing feet and wall ties.
On really cold icy days it was common for 3-5 boys to stand on the top of a radiator to warm their feet and shoes.
I think wall ties can manage in most situations without making holes in the floor, with the proviso that the wall ties have to be strong, well anchored in the wall and fit well.