I'd be really grateful if someone could give me some advice:
I'm redesigning my kitchen and replacing old, shabby, council-installed units with a proper fitted kitchen.
In the corner of the kitchen, which is the only place the washing machine can now go, used to be an old freestanding boiler (a Thorn one, I think) This was replaced 3 years ago with a Combi boiler in the upstairs airing cupboard, and the space the freestanding boiler left was just boxed in.
Unfortunately, there's a thick, copper (I think) pipe rising from the concrete floor where the boiler used to be. It's been capped off but obviously is a stumbling block to placing my washing machine there. It bends upwards 4 or 5 inches from the concrete the rest of the pipe is encased in, and I'd say the diameter of the pipe is about 1.5 inches.
My sister-in-law (who is a Gas Safe heating engineer) has taken a look at it and says that it's not an insurmountable problem ... that she'll just cap the pipe off elsewhere (she seems the think this can be done in my front room, where the rest of the pipe seems to lead to) and then this bit of pipe in the kitchen can then be hammered down and covered over with concrete, or sawn down.
I'm a bit nervous about this ... that pipe looks extremely sturdy and thick and I can't see it being able to be hammered down very easily, and I can't imagine what sort of saw could cut a pipe that thick (my OH has an angle grinder but I'm worried about sparks + gas)
I'm all for taking the path of least resistance, and just buying a slimdepth washing machine, so that it can be installed into the corner but just up to where the pipe sticks up (the pipe sticks up about 6 inches in from the back of the wall) but she's having none of it and insists that this can be done 'easily'.
I don't want to seem like I'm questioning her professional knowledge, but I thought I'd come on here and ask for a second (and third and fourth?) opinion on the job.
Thank you.
I'm redesigning my kitchen and replacing old, shabby, council-installed units with a proper fitted kitchen.
In the corner of the kitchen, which is the only place the washing machine can now go, used to be an old freestanding boiler (a Thorn one, I think) This was replaced 3 years ago with a Combi boiler in the upstairs airing cupboard, and the space the freestanding boiler left was just boxed in.
Unfortunately, there's a thick, copper (I think) pipe rising from the concrete floor where the boiler used to be. It's been capped off but obviously is a stumbling block to placing my washing machine there. It bends upwards 4 or 5 inches from the concrete the rest of the pipe is encased in, and I'd say the diameter of the pipe is about 1.5 inches.
My sister-in-law (who is a Gas Safe heating engineer) has taken a look at it and says that it's not an insurmountable problem ... that she'll just cap the pipe off elsewhere (she seems the think this can be done in my front room, where the rest of the pipe seems to lead to) and then this bit of pipe in the kitchen can then be hammered down and covered over with concrete, or sawn down.
I'm a bit nervous about this ... that pipe looks extremely sturdy and thick and I can't see it being able to be hammered down very easily, and I can't imagine what sort of saw could cut a pipe that thick (my OH has an angle grinder but I'm worried about sparks + gas)
I'm all for taking the path of least resistance, and just buying a slimdepth washing machine, so that it can be installed into the corner but just up to where the pipe sticks up (the pipe sticks up about 6 inches in from the back of the wall) but she's having none of it and insists that this can be done 'easily'.
I don't want to seem like I'm questioning her professional knowledge, but I thought I'd come on here and ask for a second (and third and fourth?) opinion on the job.
Thank you.