How to hide vertical radiator pipes

How to hide vertical radiator pipes

Pipes are an integral part of any central heating system, as they carry hot water from your gas-fired boiler into the radiators installed throughout your home. If you've got a vertical radiator, then ideally the pipework will be hidden in the floor or behind a wall. However, in reality, this is not always the case, with many radiators having been installed at a later date than when the original heating system was installed. It is far less disruptive and expensive to add an additional radiator with exposed pipes than it is to pull up floorboards or make channels in the wall. As a result, many homes will have vertical radiators with exposed pipes that a look of people want to hide or disguise. In this article, we'll look at a few ways you can hide the pipes going into your vertical radiator.

Box them in

Creating a box around your pipework is probably the most common way that radiator pipes are disguised. This method is very often seen in bathrooms and kitchens and create a clean, simple way of hiding the pipes out of the way. If the box is painted the same colour as the rest of the room, then this helps make the box around the pipes as unnoticeable as possible.

The downside is that boxing pipes will take up a small amount of space within the room. If you have a large room then this won't really be an issue, but if space is tight, adding some boxed-in pipework can make the room feel even smaller, taking up valuable floor space and looking a bit clunky.

Recessed skirting boards

If the pipes connecting to your vertical radiator run horizontally along the wall just above the floor, you could consider using skirting boards to hide them. 

It's possible to buy special pipe-hiding skirting boards that are capable of slotting over pipework to hide them from view. Some of these skirting boards can also be installed over the top of existing skirting boards to make the task as easy as possible. They are great for horizontal pipes but are obviously not suitable if your pipes run vertically.

Paint them

If you've got pipes that don't lend themselves to recessed skirting boards and you don't like the aesthetic of boxing them in, painting them might be another good option. Painting pipes the same colour as your room is an easy and inexpensive job and will definitely help with blending the pipes into the wall and making them less obvious.

Clearly, painting pipes is not truly hiding them, but it's a simple procedure that will perform a little sleight of hand. You can do it yourself and it will only cause minimal disruption within the room you're working in.

Curtain them off

In the event that you've got pipes than run vertically down the side of a window, which is actually quite common, then using drapes or curtains to hide them is an easy solution. If they're painted the same colour as the wall, this will camouflage them still further.

You just need to be careful when the heating is on not to scold yourself as you pull the curtains across the window!

Install pipe sleeves

For radiator pipes that come out of the floor and up into your vertical radiator, you might want to think about installing a pair of 'pipe sleeves' to stop this bit of pipework from being exposed. The humble nature of the radiator pipe sleeve can have a massive impact with minimal effect, but is an oft-overlooked feature that can really finish off your radiator installation and leave it looking complete.

Trade Radiators stocks one of the most extensive ranges of radiator pipe sleeves you’ll find from an online UK retailer. With sleeves suitable for every radiator style and in numerous finishes, you’ll be able to find the right pair in no time at all; especially with free delivery on all products. All the sleeves in our range are 130mm high as standard. Most radiators average anywhere from six inches to one foot off the ground. We provide sleeves in this length so they can be cut to size accordingly.


Vertical radiators at TradeRadiators.com

The only way is up for many homes and offices across the UK as the use of vertical radiators is on the rise. Seen as a modern approach to radiator installation in many spaces, especially when wall space is at a premium, a tall radiator is a fantastic idea if you’re looking for a new hallway, bathroom or kitchen radiator and don’t want to sacrifice space or have a support wall you could make use of. Shop our range of vertical radiators today to see which works best for you.

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