Slate floor , cental heating installation

[ratemonotonic]

Hi All ,

This is my first post on this usenet, so HOLA! I have just bought a new flat and an a newbie DIYer and need some help. The problem is as follows -

The floor in the flat is made of slate tiles and I want to install central heating without distroying them. Are there any other option for routing the pipework other than going under the floor? And would this be very expensive to install?

Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.

Thanks Rate.

[Peter Scott]

There's no need to put pipes under the floor. You can have them above ground. Doesn't look at all bad if the job is done neatly. Old houses very often have the pipes exposed. Alternatively it can have a techo feel to it and should look good with the slate. Or you could cover the pipes with an oversize skirting board. Or you could use skirting heaters rather than radiators. Get some catalogues and visit some showrooms. Also this approach makes it easier to fix problems in the future. I'm dreading if I have to repipe my ground floor heating. It's all buried under wood on concrete and tiles on concrete.

Imagination and lateral thinking and take enough time for inspiration to work.

Peter Scott

[ratemonotonic]

Hi Peter,

Thanks a lot for the advice , very useful ! we will look for some catalogues etc.

BR Rate

[robert]

Not sure how your "slate tiles" are laid but:

We have 200 year old slate slabs, approx 2ft square" although all different sizes. These lifted very easily being under 2" thick and not laid on cement or mortar. They also went down easily and we re-grouted the large joints. So had no problem laying ducts under the slates to carry services from front to back of house. ( The listed building officer really liked the idea )

[Autolycus]

Have a look at ducting systems, e.g.

et seq.

Needs doing carefully, and not to everyone's taste, but may look better than exposed copper pipes, and certainly better than exposed plastic.