tiling behind a towel radiator

[Angela]

Hi, I am a diy lady tiler and have successfully completed several projects over the years on my house and relatives, we are hoping to have a new bathroom fitted and are getting together quotes. was going to ask the fitters to tile but its so exp. and as money is tight I can save a bit by doing it myself, I have tiled bathrooms before and sucessfully sealed round bath etc: I have weighed up the bathroom and am confident that I can do most of the cuts etc: but we have a ladder type rad which has 4 single screw fittings holding it to wall - how do I tile behind this, could I just undo screws and slip tiles behind or will I have to get someone in to remove rad and refit - it on a combi system. any advice much appreciated.

 

[Fekin]

Removing one radiator is simple to do.
Close of the valve to the radiator, remove fixing screws, and undo the pipe conector to the radiator.
Lift the rad away, always best with 2 of you doing this, keep a small bucket and old towels handy because the water that will spill out of the rad will most probably be black and filthy.
Then simply tile away the full wall, then when you need to fit the radiator back on, get a tile drill bit to drill the fixing holes into the wall, and re-fit the rad.
All you'll have to do then is probably top up your central heating system a little to replace the water from the rad you have re-fit, there will be a small inlet valve on your boiler pipe to top up the system back to pressure.

Might sound complicated, but it is really simple, after all, I can do it, lol

 

[postie]

I was told to leave the fixings on the wall, as taking them of and refitting later will cause problems with the pipes not lining up with the rad because of the extra depth you have created with the tiles.

 

[Fekin]

Yeah I forgot about that, when I did mine I think the rad pipes were heated up and bent a little If I remember rightly "father in law" did that bit.

 

[Angela]

does it not make a difference if my system is a combi ?? thanks

 

[Fekin]

No, mines a combie, and all that needs to be done is when the rads fitted back on, the system will fill the rad making the over all system slightly lower in pressure, thats why you then top up the system with the topup valve and regain what pressure you have lost.
There will be a needle\gauge of some kind showing the pressure level, just take a not of what it is before removing the rad and then top back upto that level once done.

 

[calculator]

You don't say what kind of tiles you will be drilling into to refit the rad if porcilin you will need diamont tip drill kit

 

[CLAYS TILES]

the combi boiler pressure is usually 1.5-2.5 psi, just make a quick note b4 you remove radiator! 🙂

 

[postie]

Be carefull with combi systems they can be a nightmare to get pressure right and you could be wasting a lot of your time farting about getting it right.

 

[Angela]

Thanks To Everyone For You Advice, The Tiles I Am Using Are Ceramic . Cheers