Plastering behind a radiator

[Matthew de Detrich]

So here is some context of my issue. We recently started renovating a new flat that we moved into in Berlin and this involved stripping down all of the old wallpaper and putting on plaster. So far everything is going well, the only issue we have is the radiators.

Unfortunately removing the radiators in the flat is incredibly difficult for the following reasons

• The radiators are really old (looking at 60+ years) and have never been removed. Due to this the nut's have completely fused with the pipe which means that we would likely have to just cut the pipe in order to get the radiator off (I already tried many techniques to loosen the nut including using 2 plumber's wrench's as a counter weight and nothing was working).
• More importantly since the flat is so old its using the old radiator system where you just have 2 pipe's, inlet and an outlet that is shared throughout the whole apartment. This means that in order to get the water out of the radiator to take it off we would have to tell all people above us to stop using their radiators so we don't get their water from above.

We have also asked a friend who does plumbing work and he said its not worth it to remove the radiator for these reasons. So given this, how would you go about plastering behind a radiator? We already have plenty of tools for plastering but I was wondering if there are some techniques and/or specialized tools to both plaster and then sand behind radiator.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Fit new radiators and get a new friend.

Andy

 

[Matthew de Detrich]

Fit new radiators and get a new friend.

Andy

Which is very difficult to do because we have to get approval from our Hausverwaltung (i.e. company that manages the apartment) because everyone above us has to stop using their radiators (that is even assuming if its possible to do, they could just say no).

 

[Iamchamps]

You can’t plaster behind a radiator without removing it. Decorate as close to it as you can or as Herts says remove radiators. They are your only options.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Would you get approval if the radiator was leaking?

Andy

 

[Nige F]

Fit a radiator box cover.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Fit a radiator box cover.

And lose 25% of the heating from a 60 year old radiator that is on its last legs.

Andy

 

[Matthew de Detrich]

Would you get approval if the radiator was leaking?

Andy

Well yes, but you wold have to prove that you didn't cause the damage for the radiator to leak otherwise you would get into a lot of trouble (also the radiator is not going to leak anytime soon)

But thanks for the replies, it seems like we really can't do anything in this situation.