Raise Cast Iron Radiator due to new wood floors - HELP!!

My house is old - 1925. I just installed new Bruce 3/4" hardwood floors over the existing wood floors which were in bad shape. Now I have to re-connect the cast iron heating radiators in each of the rooms (I removed the radiators and installed the new flooring underneath them also).

The heating sytem is piped with black pipe which is in amazingly good shape. My problem is that I can't find a way to get the fittings to match up now that the radiator sits 3/4" higher than it used to. I tried using a coupling and close nipple to extend the fittings, but this brings them up way too high and I'd have to use some kind of blocking to set the radiator on to get it up higher (I don't want to do this). I guess I could also just cut the legs of the radiator off by 3/4" - which would also be a real pain....

Has anyone run into this and come up with a good solution? Any help is greatly appreciated.

From what you are describing, I think you aren't going to get away easy on this one... If you have access from below, you could spin out the nipples, and recut & thread new ones 3/4 longer- I assume you are dealing with unions... This would be the correct way to do it.

Or, alternatively, perhaps you could bore out a 3/4 deep plug with a hole saw for the legs to drop into? If you keep them tight it probably wouldn't look too bad... you could skirt the bottom of the radiators with a nice oak 1x4 box stained to match?

I don't know, it's a head scratcher. This is something that always has to be taken into account before you layer or change an elevation.

galacon said:

Or, alternatively, perhaps you could bore out a 3/4 deep plug with a hole saw for the legs to drop into? If you keep them tight it probably wouldn't look too bad... you could skirt the bottom of the radiators with a nice oak 1x4 box stained to match?

I don't know, it's a head scratcher. This is something that always has to be taken into account before you layer or change an elevation.

Click to expand...

Galacon, I like the hole saw idea - boring out a hole down to the original floor and setting the radiator into that. You're right - it could be made to look very nice with an oak skirt around the whole radiator or just smaller skirts made of quarter round around each individual hole...

I think this is the winner! I'm gonna try it.