Boxing in pipe work

[AndyBaldock]

Dear All,

We have a small pantry area with a washing machine and a boiler located above it. The pipe work is visible either side of the washing machine on the floor and id like to box it in. I just wondered what method/material you would use to do this? The floor is tiled. I was going to attach a batten and then use either 18mm ply or MDF to create an L shape but I would have to disguise one edge which could cause a problem when painting.

I can’t use plasterboard as I will need to add a hinge to one boxes as it’s the only place to drain the system from.

Kind regards;

Andy

[Job and Knock]

The approach taken is often to batten-out with 1 x 1 or 2 x 1 PAR softwood - one piece on the wall and one on the floor, screw/pin 12mm MR-MDF onto the front, fix a batten to strengthen the corner the the back, top of your front then fix a top cover onto the lot. A piece of skirting with a moulding can also be used to form the front. In cross section the arrangement looks like this:

Pipe Boxing Cross Section 001_01.jpg (9.63 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

There are also pre-formed solutions such as the well-known Pendock TK range in pre-finished plywood:

Pendock TK Ply Pipe Boxing 001_01.jpg (34.22 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

or the Riva (above) and Versa (below) types of pre-formed pipe boxing:

Riva Pipe Boxing 001_01.jpg (4.63 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

Versa Pipe Boxing 001_01.jpg (4.91 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

all three of which are fitted (pinned or cupped and screwed or screw capped and screwed) onto one or two 2 x 1 battens fixed to the floor/wall depending on design. They are often used instead of skirtings (and specially formed inside and outside corners are available in many ranges), although special skirtings are available which take the place of the original flat material skirtings and which are thick enough to hide pipework, such as the SX22 skirting/pipe boxing from the Victorian Cornice Company:

SX22 Skirting Pipe Boxing 001_01.jpg (22.05 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

SX22 Skirting Pipe Boxing 001_02.jpg (52.81 KiB) Viewed 2456 times

There's no reason why you couldn't make your own version of this by glueing and pinning softwood battening top and bottom to pre-made skirting. I have made-up larger 5-piece versions of that (in an ornate Victorian style) for a listed building refurb in the recent past, although in that case we used a 2 x 1 batten on the floor and fixed a 3 x 2 PSE softwood directly to the wall (SDS and screws/plugs) to pack the skirtings off as the pipework beneath was so big

[AndyBaldock]

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I’d love to get one off the shelf but as with everything in my house they are right awkward measurements.

I read what you said and raided the shed, got some 4 by 2 and attached it to the wall on the 2 which means that it sticks out further than the pipes. I’ve done this above the pipes and below them just above the floor. Now I will cut some mdf to size and attach.

Thanks very much.

[Job and Knock]

As a bit of a follow-up to what I wrote before, here are a couple of examples of built-up skirting; the first example is just plain 4-piece skirting which was applied to timber grounds and blended-into the existing skirting (the dado rail was also replaced/repaired in places):

Built-Up Skirting 001_01.JPG (16.5 KiB) Viewed 2326 times

and here is an example where the same sort of stepped design was installed to cover commercial heating pipework using the same mouldings:

Built-Up Skirting and Boxing Combined 001_01.JPG (36.19 KiB) Viewed 2326 times

Personally I thought they looked a bit dumpy, but it needed to fit beneath those girt great rads and in any case the architect and conservation officer were satisfied with the result, so.... I have to say, though, that it began to pall a bit after I'd spent several weeks cranking out that boxing in about 5 different height/widths on site (because the workshop was backlogged). Sorry for the crappy pics - I really must get a better phone!

[fin]

i often when doing boxing in mitre it together and then sand the joined edge back a touch. makes a pretty much invisible join.