We were very lucky to get an Eco grant for our heating system when we first got the house. However, because the grant came so early in the renovation we didn’t always know how we were going to set up the rooms. Now, using the rooms, we’ve found two of the radiators are in the wrong place. Moving them is a pain, meaning draining the system and cutting and moving pipes, but we decided to go ahead as it will make the rooms more useable.

The radiator for the lounge was put along the wall which used to have a doorway into the old kitchen. With the stairs, fireplace and doorways on the other walls, it seemed the most sensible place. However, we soon realised it dominates the room and stops us being able to put the piano in the right place.

I’d previously laid the pipe to the new location under the window, the other side of the room, so we just had to cut the pipe and take the radiator off the wall. The plumber had attached it to a back board because he struggled to screw into the wall. Behind it we still had the exposed brick, where we’d filled in the old doorway. I plastered this with a lime plaster. It will just need a final coat and a touch of paint and it will blend in with the rest of the wall.

Chris trimmed down the back board and we reused it on the other wall, using plasterboard fixings to safely attach it. We then clipped on the radiator and Chris joined it to the piping I’d previously install, finally connecting up the other end with the old pipes.

It makes a big difference to the room. The piano now takes up the space where the radiator was. We can now also order flooring, without worrying we might flood the room when cutting pipes.

In the utility the only wall long enough for the radiator was the same wall all our cupboards had to go along. The room is always very warm so Chris decided we could get away with shrinking the radiator and moving it to the recess of the old doorway. This would stop heat getting trapped behind the cupboards and let us put the new coat rack against the wall. Chris was lucky enough to find exactly the right sized radiator secondhand on marketplace.

It was a long job, largely because we had to empty all the cupboards, move them out of the way and take out the washer and drier. It did however also allow Chris to replace the old worktop the dryer sits on. When Chris previously installed it he realised he cut it too short meaning the top cupboard overhung the rest. He managed to use some offcuts of the kitchen worktop to make a matching surface.

There’s one more radiator I wonder whether we should change, exchanging a long horizontal radiator for an upright radiator, to allow more furniture to go along the wall. But I don’t care enough to start this faff all over again. Maybe one day…