Hot Water Rad Installs?

frank_2

........you can't live w/em, and you can't shoot em.
If the contractor wants to give 'em a time/material price, they think the job will be done slowly, not much performance in order to bring up the labor price.
So the jobber figures the worst case scenerio and adds extra labor costs, and that's too much. Is there ever going to be a medium that satisfies everyone?

Paul Zind

estimates

Hi:

I've got a 130 year old balloon framed brick house in Ottawa, Canada with a 5 year old gas boiler. I've fully gutted the place and want to install old cast iron rad's. The house is about 2700 sqft on three storeys.

I've gotten a quote of three weeks labour to plumb and install the rad's, replacing the resevoir with a bladder.

Three weeks seems pretty long to me, as the place is completely gutted. With parts, I'm probably looking at around $9k. I was sort of expecting around $5k, am I underestimating or am I being mistaken as a tourist?

paul

kevin

US or Canadian Dollars

either way cast iron rads bought new are not cheap.How many do you need? Is there a way to do some in CI Rads and some in copper finned baseboard. (not on the same zone,you have to keep them seperate)What are you using for rads.(brand)

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Sounds pretty good to me.

Around here, it would be double the price.

Three weeks is a long time, but then again, you've got a big house. Remember, each one of those radiators needs a supply and return. If you've got a lot of zones, that can make the job take longer.

What about thermostat wiring? Is the installer including this work?

Insulation of the pipes?

Documentation of the system?

Heatloss calculations? These will determine the size of the radiators you install in each room.

What about installing the radiators, boiler and outdoor reset controls? Is the same installer going to do this work?



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Dan Peel

design variables

We did one in Cobourg a year ago where we were adding TRV's and rearranging C.I. rads to suit the remodel of a single home to four apartments. That ate up most of 5 without new piping. I'd say the 9 Cdn ( under 6 US) sounds credible depending on the overall design. Enjoy....dan

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Paul Zind

Rad Installs

Thanks all for the replies.

I'm not complaining about the cost, just hurting. I've done pretty much all the gutting and reno's on my own (weekends over the past 5 years - we're living in a condo until we finish). I'm financing this job out of paychecks and the $9k will require a visit to the bank.

Kevin:
I've collected about a dozen cast iron rad's over the last four years. They are around a 100 years old.

We've pressure tested, sandblasted and spray painted them and they are pretty much ready to go. He wants me to moving them in place - I'll get a boom truck and a few people stronger than me.

Alan:
I was going with three zones, one per floor and my heating guy recommended thermostats at each rad. He also wants to use plastic and not copper.
As far as I know, he is not insulating the pipes, documenting or doing any heat loss calculations.

Yes he will be doing all the work.

Paul