Help with heating: diverter tee system

[Steve]

(hmm, I could have sworn I posted this already, but it didn't show up)

I have a house built in 1950 that uses a hydronic single pipe diverter tee system. The system is plumbed with iron and steel and has started rusting and leaking. My wife and I have decided to replace it with copper.

Questions:

The original system was hung from the joists in the basement using pipe strapping. It's about 3-4" down. In the new system I'd like to notch the joists and mount the pipe directly (loosely, of course, to allow for expansion) to them, since I'm finishing the basement and would prefer to hide the pipes. Any caveats with this?

Also, we need to add an additional room to the system, but it uses baseboard radiators, not the in-wall type that the rest of the house has. From an article I read

it appears that this should be installed at the end of the line. Any comments?

Your suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks,

Steve

[Doug Miller]

NO.

I'd put it a lot stronger than a "caveat": DON'T NOTCH YOUR JOISTS. Period. End of story. Doing so will substantially weaken them. For example, cutting a

1" deep notch in a 2x8 (actual dimension 1.5 x 7.25) reduces its load-bearing capacity by 26%. Don't even think about doing this.

Advice from that site is advice to be trusted.