How to close the battery with drywall do it yourself (7 photos)

Heating radiators and eyeliner often spoil the interior of the room. Especially if the room has old cast-iron radiators, completely devoid of any aesthetic appeal. Therefore, the desire of the owners to hide these elements of the heating system is understandable, but at the same time not degrade the quality of their work. It is logical to use for these purposes easy to process and affordable material - drywall. How to close the pipes with drywall? How to hide radiators so that this does not affect their heating performance?

Design Options

Before closing the battery with drywall, you should analyze the features of the placement of radiators and piping in the room. Depending on their location, you can choose one of two options for using drywall:

• GKL box with decorative grilleclosing the battery.
• False wall, hiding behind its plane radiators and eyeliner to them.

Options that demonstrate how to close the battery with your own hands with drywall are presented in the photo below. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages:

• Installation of the box favorably differs in the smaller amount of required material. But such a design does not always fit organically into the interior of the room. In addition, pipes will have to build their boxes, which will further complicate the task. In addition, the presence of such protrusions will seriously interfere with the installation of suspended ceilings or laying laminate flooring.

• The construction of a decorative wall will require a greater consumption of material, but will allow you to get a flat plane, which can easily be finished in accordance with the overall design of the room. In most cases, such a construction is even easier to build than a box that closes the battery.

Erection of the box

This drywall construction can be fixed to the floor or suspended with a gap above its surface. The first option is preferable - as the frame has two planes for support, which makes it stiffer.

When designing the box, it should be noted that for the normal functioning of the device, a clearance of at least 10 cm between the radiator and the surface of the drywall is required.

• With the help of a level (preferably a laser) and roulette, marking is carried out. On the wall, the border of the upper edge of the structure is drawn, perpendiculars are lowered from it to the floor. Using a square, the lines are laid by the depth of the box. By connecting them, they get a lower bound on the floor. The result is two rectangles - on the floor and on the wall.
• The guide profile is fixed along the lines with dowels and nails in increments of 15–20 cm.
• The protruding vertical racks are made of a profile, bending it at an angle of 90 °. Previously, the side shelves are cut on the details with metal scissors and bent. Fold points can be fixed with "bugs" (small metal screws), but it’s better to use cutter.

It is believed that fastening with a notch is not strong enough. However, when using a professional tool, the connection not only turns out to be very reliable, but also compares favorably with the absence of protruding parts, which is inevitable when using "bugs".

• The required number of horizontal jumpers is mounted. The more of them, the stiffer the design. On a box of drywall, enough for 1-2 on each of the planes, with the exception of the front.
• Parts of the decorative grille or removable screen are attached to the frame.

It is necessary to create a solid structure, any vibrations of the frame after installation are unacceptable.

• At the final stage, strips of drywall are cut according to their actual size and fixed with self-tapping screws every 25 cm. In the future, drywall is putty, finishing is carried out in accordance with the general interior of the room.

Installation of false walls

It is advisable to erect a decorative wall if, in addition to masking the radiators, it is necessary to decide how to close the heating pipes with drywall. There is not so much space lost with this method, but the appearance of the room wins very significantly.

At the first stage, markup is done:

• We are marked on the wall with lines for attaching profiles. They should be placed in increments of 60 cm in order to dock drywall sheets on them. In addition, at the distance of 30 cm from the corners, two extreme guide profiles are attached.

• Additional guides will be required if there is a window on the wall: they are useful for attaching slopes. It is desirable to arrange a couple more profiles at a distance of 10 cm on each side of the radiator - for mounting a decorative grille.
• Using a square, the marking lines are transferred to the floor and ceiling, their length is the distance from the protruding part of the radiator (usually a faucet) to the wall plus 10 cm.

The design of the decorative wall must include technological openings for access to taps and other parts of the pipeline for routine maintenance or inspection. Such inspection hatches are subsequently decorated with a fine finish and become invisible in the overall interior.

After marking, the frame is assembled. Its installation does not fundamentally differ from the assembly of a box or other structure made of drywall, so there is no point in detailing the sequence of operations. The metal frame for the false wall from the box structure will differ in a large number of horizontal jumpers. They are needed not only for joining drywall sheets, but also for stiffening. Experts recommend installing these elements every 60 cm, securely attaching them to the posts using self-tapping screws or a notch.

The elements cut from drywall are attached to the frame. When deciding how to close the heating batteries in the apartment with drywall, it is worth choosing a moisture-resistant GCR: the wall will not suffer from condensation formed on the pipes or during possible leakage of the system heating.