Boxing in

[d4rkcell]

Hello, this is my first post here and on New Years Eve! Thinking ahead I have a few jobs to do and one of them is to box in some central heating pipes.

The previous owner has a plastic piece of trunking covering these pipes and we have had plastering work done which has made this trunking pop loose every now and then.

I basically need to box this in neatly preferably skim and sort out coving at the top and skirting board at the bottom. The pipes go from the floor to the ceiling.

I am a complete novice DIY'er and new to home ownership so please tell me if my ideas are stupid!

I was thinking I need to take off the skirting board on the wall the pipes are on, chip away a section of coving (its old plaster coving, gonna get messy) then fix two wooden battens to the wall with screws, these wooden battens need to be thick enough to clear the pipes. Then cut a small piece of plasterboard for the sides and screw to the batten and finally a big enough piece to screw across the two battens. Use some adhesive to attach new skirting board (ill worry about the cutting later) and then buy some coving that matches the existing coving and fill in the gaps etc. Finally skim the board and seal.

I'm a total novice so was wondering if anyone reckons this is too much or should I be looking to get a builder to do it for me?

Any feedback welcome! (+ or -)

PS - Apologies if in the wrong forum, there's a lot of them and i am rather new... and it is new years eve!

 

[noseall]

You don't necessarily need to remove either the coving or the skirting, rather cut your battens so they fall just short then scribe the board in place.

You are correct in that you need a batten up each side of the pipe then clad these with plasterboard and skim.

If you were intending removing/replacing the skirting boards at a later date then cutting them would be prudent before boxing in.

 

[d4rkcell]

thanks noseall.

Some of the coving has come away and there is a pretty big gap i may be able to fill this but I am looking for a nice finish if i can get it.

I am pretty confident about the boxing in just the coving and skirting are what i am a bit concerned about. Might get a few quotes see if it is worth my time or easier for a pro to do it.

Thanks again for the tips!

 

[noseall]

The skirting should be a doddle for a bloke with a saw.

However, if you have decorative plaster coving then this may be a bit trickier.