what to do with central heating pipes running along wall

[benpost]

this is what i have in most rooms:

15mm pipes for the central heating system running just above the skirting board. they have been painted several times and the paint is all lumpy and scabby.

any suggestions as to what to do with them? i could sand them down and re paint, but it would be hard to paint them properly. i saw in screwfix a plastic cover for twin pipes , anyone seen it? also boxing in could be an option.

just wondered what you diy experts would do ! less work the better, but want a tidy finish! :)

[benpost]

sorry this pic is bigger and the right way up!:

[Slider]

[benpost]

concrete floors!

[GMM]

The plastic covers seem not bad - I've been thinking about them myself. My only reservation with them is they're a similar material to the plastic trunking we have for power data etc in my office at work, and it seems to 'age' pretty quickly. It's not so much dirt (although I wouldn't object if the cleaners came into my office more often) but they discolour a bit an collect scratches easily. Perhaps they could be painted once they got a bit scabby - you'd probably paint them when you did the walls anyway.

Only ramblings, you understand, from one thinking about a similar situation...

[RobertL]

paint stripper is easier than sanding, but you do need to take care not to get it any of it on your skin at all (and eyes of course).

Robert

[meow2222]

For a tidy finish you'll have to smooth them. Coarse sandpaper or cautious use of a flap wheel etc may take the high spots down, and gloss paint should fill in the resulting scratched finish.

Or you could make a feature of them, paint them some funky colour, or multuple colours, or a pattern. Or a dot of colour on each drip. Or go crazy and solder a halved t junction onto them, and add a bit of wacky shaped pipe to each. Yes... I've seen most of these done, not the last one but something similar.

Boxing doesnt really work for me. It makes the undesired object much bigger.

NT

[tonyjeffs]

I'd consider taking the skirting boards off, getting new ones, making a channel in the wood if necessary so that the pipe will fit between the new skirtings and the wall, and relocating the pipes so they're out of view. Big job though.

Tony

[dennis]

Polish them and varnish them?

Built in seating?

Replace them with skirting heaters is a good bet. E.g.

[Graeme]

My wife bought some from a catalogue. Not Tupperware - another one with a door to door man. Anyway, they were fine. Easy to trim to size, and clip on the pipe. However, they did start to discolour after 3 or 4 years, but were cheap enough to throw away and replace. No, not terribly environmentally friendly.

[nightjar]

[Steve Walker]

of skirting board to it. This creates a tidy cavity behind, but with a bit of care it's barely noticable.

[Andrew Gabriel]

A variation on this is to strip the plaster to 120mm above the floor and fix the battern to the brickwork, thereby flush mounting it into the plaster.