Old pipes

[EHadenham]

I recently moved in to an old pre-fab house with my partner and am looking to freshen up our built in wardrobes.

As you can see from the pictures attached there’s a lot of pipe work either protruding or running through them.

I’m a complete DIY novice so apologies in advance for any stupid questions!

The first pictures are of two pipe ends, the first pipe end with the red stopper inside protrudes from the wall. Is there any way I can either saw it flush or hammer it back in to the wall so it’s more like the second pipe end which actually stops inside the wall. I’m hoping to use expanding foam to fill the cavity and then a poly filla to smooth it flat ready for painting.

2nd question I have is concerning the pipe work running through the cupboards. Am I ok to box these in and what materials should I use? I’ve read that MDF is a no no incase of damp?

Lastly, the final image of the white box, any ideas what it is?!

Thanks in advance, any help is hugely appreciated!

 

[JohnD]

"An old pre-fab house" has a particular meaning. They are often made of asbestos board. How old is yours? Can you post a photo of the outside so we can tell if it is the sort I think?

 

[Nige F]

The white box looks like a wiring junction for the central heating

 

[EHadenham]

Here’s a picture of the front of the house. Does that help John?

 

[JohnD]

It doesn't look like a prefab to me.

Is it timber-framed, or built with panels?

How old is it?

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Photo's 1, 2 and 3. Given the modern nature of your house, these are unlikely to be old galvanised water or gas pipes, but more likely to be supports for a water tank of some sort. If they are open at both ends (with the red bung removed as necessary) then they could probably be removed altogether, and could certainly be shortened with a hacksaw or angle grinder.
2. Photo 4 looks like an old airing cupboard. No reason why they shouldn't be boxed in (unless any one of them is a gas pipe, which is unlikely). They could also be tidied up quite dramatically with most, if not all, run under the floorboards to the right hand wall. If you have any joints in the pipework, other than soldered and tested connections, then it would be wise to make the boxing in easily removable. I'd be looking to create a false wall to the right hand side. Would use battens to the wall and a plywood skin, mounted on screws or concealed fixings. No reason you shouldn't use chipboard or MDF, although they will fall to bits if they get wet.
3. Photo 5. Same approach of boxing in, removable. Again, could be tidied up a lot first. Looks like an open vent boiler system has been converted to combi. You would probably need to leave access to that stopcock or move it to a more accessible place.
4. Photo 6 (white box). Agree it could be a wiring centre. However, if that is a radio aerial sticking out of the bottom right hand corner, could be something else.

 

[Elkato531]

if that is a radio aerial sticking out of the bottom right hand corner

Looks more like the chopped off cable to an old motorised valve. I would get that looked at as there is likely to live electrical connections in the box and the cover is not on securely. I think old buffer is right and a combi boiler has been installed and the system converted. A lazy conversion too as most of the unsightly pipework and electrics could have been hidden. Probably worth paying a plumber/heating engineer a days money to sort it out.

 

[Gasguru]

It looks like the old wiring centre from the previous boiler installation...probably got a combi now but the box may still be used for the thermostat/mains connections etc.

 

[MeldrewsMate]

1. Photo's 1, 2 and 3. Given the modern nature of your house, these are unlikely to be old galvanised water or gas pipes...

The pipes shown in photo 5 most definitely look like galvanised iron pipes to me, and testament to a poor combi conversion job. I expect the pipe in the middle gets hot when hot water is drawn...and the hot water takes ages to get to the taps.

I agree that you should have a plumber tidy up most of those pipes, insulate what's left, then box-in as suggested.

It's unclear the source of the bunged pipe, but that too looks like galvanised iron. If the bung is loose then it won't be holding back water (or gas for that matter). Have someone confirm it's empty, then saw or grind it off a few cm into the wall. In this way the polyfilla won't bubble and fail later.

 

[Terrywookfit]

Fookin rough Bar stewards.!!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

It doesn't look like a prefab to me.

Ground floor front window looks to me fairly similar to those used in the 'Airey' type houses.

 

[JohnD]

I see now there was a wide variety.

I was thinking of this kind of thing