QUESTION FROM Conrad

Hi.
I have a cast-iron hot water radiator on the main floor of my home which connects to a pipe that goes under the floor. The pipe attached to the radiator is quite rusty and pieces are starting to crumble off. We are doing a basement renovation and I have seen the underside of the piping and it looks in equally bad shape. I imagine if it can be repaired it will be quite an undertaking (ie. tearing out some floor to get it out), can it even be done? Do we have any other options? Thanks.

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Conrad:

Without actually seeing your particular situation, its difficult to give you specific advice. But with that said, it sounds like you have a couple of options:

1) use an old screwdriver, wire brush (or wire wheel attached to a drill), naval jelly, etc. to clean away all of the rust from the pipe that goes to your radiator. Check to be sure there is no water seeping onto the pipe that could accelerate the rust returning.

2) depending on how you are doing the renovation in your basement, you could create an access panel that would allow you to inspect or replace the section of pipe if it further deteriorates in the future.

3) you could cut out the section of bad pipe (assuming that it actually is bad enough to warrant replacement), and replace with new.

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

QUESTION FROM Lynn

If I am replacing plaster with drywall in a room with boiler baseboard heat can I place drywall ontop of radiator, if not what needs to be done?

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Lynn:

When you say place drywall "on top" of the radiator, how specifically do you mean? Is that you are going to be placing the drywall over the plaster wall, and thus the drywall thickness will stick out that dimension over the top of metal baseboard cover? Or are you thinking about placing the drywall such that it will completely cover the baseboard radiator? Or is it something else?

If you can provide some more description, I will be better able to answer your question.

Sincerely,
Home-Wizard.com