i'm a forum newbie, part time home renovator (mainly a hobbyist who's too cheap to pay contractors, and too interested in the workings of older home retrofits to let someone else have all the fun) looking to finish a 100+ yr old basement. i'm hoping to convert it into a separate usable rental suite.
for an old house, especially in this area (northern ontario), i'm amazed at how high the basement ceiling clearance is. 7-8ft....with one caveat; the cast iron supply/return lines for the boiler hang around the 6ft mark. when i bought the house, the entire basement was unfinished apart from a few small bathroom renovations in the 60s or 70s, and was used only for storage.
since i'm hoping to fix up the basement, it may involve raising these cast iron pipes that heat the rest of the house to a height that they would be out of the way/above a suspended ceiling (fwiw - the basement is currently unheated, and i'm thinking of electric radiant in-floor heat. that's decision for another thread).
MY QUESTION: how much of a task would it be to cut about half of the supply/return cast iron pipes, and raise them a few feet, so they're not at or just above eye level? as all the lines funnel down toward the boiler, they are met by lines coming from other parts of the house, creating larger diameter sections. however, all the lines are either 1.25 or 1.5 inch.
also wondering if i should use steel or pex to just replace the cast iron, as it seems chopping existing old & brittle pipes, then using dies to cut new threads - purely just to reuse the same old piping - might be a nightmare in itself. i would assume a newer replacement pipe might be easier/more cost effective than dealing with potentially wrecking the old pipes.
i'm planning on doing the basement bathroom plumbing with pex, and as i understand it, pex can handle up to 200f. my new boiler caps at around that temperature, but with a bit of pressure in there, i'd guess the heat is a bit higher. not sure if pex would be a good idea for piping hot water under 15-25lbs of pressure.
any suggestions or advice?? it would be greatly appreciated!!
for an old house, especially in this area (northern ontario), i'm amazed at how high the basement ceiling clearance is. 7-8ft....with one caveat; the cast iron supply/return lines for the boiler hang around the 6ft mark. when i bought the house, the entire basement was unfinished apart from a few small bathroom renovations in the 60s or 70s, and was used only for storage.
since i'm hoping to fix up the basement, it may involve raising these cast iron pipes that heat the rest of the house to a height that they would be out of the way/above a suspended ceiling (fwiw - the basement is currently unheated, and i'm thinking of electric radiant in-floor heat. that's decision for another thread).
MY QUESTION: how much of a task would it be to cut about half of the supply/return cast iron pipes, and raise them a few feet, so they're not at or just above eye level? as all the lines funnel down toward the boiler, they are met by lines coming from other parts of the house, creating larger diameter sections. however, all the lines are either 1.25 or 1.5 inch.
also wondering if i should use steel or pex to just replace the cast iron, as it seems chopping existing old & brittle pipes, then using dies to cut new threads - purely just to reuse the same old piping - might be a nightmare in itself. i would assume a newer replacement pipe might be easier/more cost effective than dealing with potentially wrecking the old pipes.
i'm planning on doing the basement bathroom plumbing with pex, and as i understand it, pex can handle up to 200f. my new boiler caps at around that temperature, but with a bit of pressure in there, i'd guess the heat is a bit higher. not sure if pex would be a good idea for piping hot water under 15-25lbs of pressure.
any suggestions or advice?? it would be greatly appreciated!!
