Boxing in the pipes

One job I have been putting off is down in the basement.  J had to have a whole new central heating system, and in order to do this, all the pipes, which had been covered in wooden panels had to be removed.  The new pipes were left uncovered, and whilst attractive in their own way, added a note of brutalism to the room which was perhaps not entirely appropriate in a Victorian house.

So I had a dilemma – some of the old pieces were irretrievable, but others were in their original condition.  This was not great, but the whole area was full of strange curves and corners and it was going to be a huge amount of work to recreate it all from scratch.  So I decided on a compromise – the bits that were either not present or which would no longer fit, I would remake from scratch with new wood.  The bits that would still fit, I would stick together and then cover with wallpaper.

This was frankly a mistake, though one I will learn from.  This is the bit I did from scratch – it only took a few hours.

Although a bit basic, it looks fine.  The cobbled together old bits – less so.  For a start off it was really really difficult to put it back together at all, because as well as the pipes (which were not quite the same size as the old ones), there was an electrical cable running the whole length of the wall, so it was too risky to use screws to re-secure the skirting.  I tried “no more nails”, but the planks were warped and covered with blobs of old adhesive and it would not stick.  So in the end I had to put the bare board back and then paper them.  Even with thick lining paper it does not look great and I have not included a photo.

So lesson learned is that sometimes the difficult thing turns out to be easier than the cludge.  I only hope that no one ever looks at this in the future and thinks “Good God, look at this crap piece of DIY”.  Like I have been doing to describe other peoples’ efforts in the house.