Base Board Cover Replacement

Hi,

I posted a while back about this and I'm finally trying to replace the cover on a small section of baseboard heat in our bathroom.

I have most of the old cover off with the exception of the backing which I'm sure I can get out by pulling it to the side and cutting pieces off.

The problem I am faced with is how to get the new cover on. This piece is in a small bathroom and there is no way to come in from the side which would have worked out very well. I don't think I can pull the element away from the wall far enough to slip the new cover behind it. The bottom of the covers are curled which is what makes this very difficult. The only solution I can think of is to snip all the fins from the rear of the pipe which would give plenty of clearance. My guess is it would still do a pretty good job heating the room but I'm no expert.

If anyone has any ideas on how I might be able to get the new cover on I'd appreciate any feedback. Maybe it's just time to call the plumber and have the piping dismantled so we can install the new cover correctly.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

Steve

Well, it's fixed! Thought I'd update this post in case somebody else needs to try this.

I discovered that I could pull the pipe much higher up than I realized creating more clearance in the back. So slipping the new cover behind the fins was easy enough once I discovered that. The tricky part was the clips. There is no simple way to get the 2 "C" shaped clips back on to the element because the pipes coming out of the floor get in the way. That's where I was stumped. So I had a guy in to help me out with this and he didn't even bother putting those clips back on the fins. He just used a plastic tie in the basement to hold the pipe at the correct height so the fins are not sitting on the floor. It's probably not as having those clamps on the fins but it seems fine to me and it certainly looks great now.

So it was almost a do it yourself project with just a little outside help. The guy only charged me $35 which is not bad these days!

Steve