installing new hardwood and raising the height on old cast iron radiators ??

steam83

My question is i am installing new floors over old pine floors that are in very bad shape it will raise the height of the floor 3/4 " my concern is can i lift my old cast iron 1 pipe steam radiators with out a problem or am i going to need to have the supply valve changed . Any input on this will help thank you 

nicholas bonham-carter

raising the floor

maybe you can see now how much play there is in the riser, before you start. if there is no play then you could use the 2 45 deg street elbow method outlined in a recent thread. will this work take place after the end of the heating season?--nbc 



found it:

http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-thread/134956/Trying-to-remove-radiator-spud

gerry gill

unless you have play in the pipe,

you may have to replace the vertical pipe that the valve attaches to and make it longer..you could possibly try rethreading the existing pipe in place so all the rust is off the threads and you may get lucky with a male x female coupling..

jimmythegreek

thinner wood

I recommend trying to go the engineered hardwood route.  Im a GC and have done alot of work in steam fitted buildings.  With 3/8" engineered hardwood you can get away with it 90% of the time without having to do anything.  Otherwise as stated by previous posters you're gonna have to test for pipe play or open up a small patch around the valve nipple and cut and notch the pipe to install longer nipples.  I have bad luck getting them out with a wrench, they usually dont come out on old systems.

TomM

refinish the old floors

you have antique pine or fir and you are covering it?  I'd refinish it, it looks awesome refinished, faced nailed with cut nails.  lets see some pics.

Jamie Hall

I'm with TomM on this one!

Why are you covering the old floors?  Think very very hard on this one.  It isn't that hard to refinish the old floors (it would help if you could identify the finish, if any).  If they are badly worn or splintery, some heavy sanding may be needed in places, but surely not everywhere, and even then rarely more than an eighth inch or so (I've done a lot of these!).  There is simply no substitute for the old hard pine or fir floors; nothing modern comes even close in beauty when they are redone.  Depending on the age of the house, there may have been no finish at all originally.  Alternatively, the original finish may have been shellac, which is really easy to work with -- and, in my humble view (I've done a lot of it) considerably more forgiving and resilient than any of the modern finishes.

rcrit

I'm curious too

I'm curious about this too, I may be changing my floor out this summer. At some point over the years of my 1920's house the entire first floor was stripped down to the sub-floor (and much of that has been replaced as well).



Right now there is very thin, crappy parquet flooring, maybe 3/8", and some carpet (and I've no idea what is under that). With one radiator they drilled down into the sub-floor so the feet actually stand below grade.



I've got 4 radiators I would need to raise/re-position.  A few weeks ago my pro's repositioned one, so I guess there is some hope that the joints aren't completely frozen. Assuming there is no play and the feed pipe plays nice, it should be a straightforward replacement, right?

Hen

45 street elbows arrived

NBC:  my 45's street elbows have arrived recently (there were none on hand the several local places I checked with).  I hope to try the installation soon, perhaps this weekend. Thank you.

Hen

had similar issue; I used two 45 degree street elbows

Hi Steam83.  I had similar issue recently. See the 'trying to remove radiator spud' thread, referred to by NBC.  I had a leaky radiator valve that needed to be changed. Old valves had larger body, new valves have smaller body.  Once I put the new valve on, there was a mismatch between the valve height, which ended up lower by some 3/8 of an inch, than the radiator.  I had  NO free play in the riser pipe.  A number of ways was recommended on THE WALL how to deal with the height mismatch.  I went with the 45 degree street elbows route.  Just put them in today. Took several adjustments of the 45s and little jigling of the radiator, to line it all up.  But, in the end, it all lined up and the spud mated with the valve fine, with no leaks.