We thought that this would be hard. It wasn't. And yet it has totally changed the rusty, scalding pipe in our bathroom into a *decor moment* that we are very happy with.
If you ever want to cover up a pipe and provide some minimal insulation, this is a far nicer fix than insulation foam.
Ingredients:
1/4" manila rope for 20 cents a foot
How To:
For the 6 feet of pipe that we were going to cover we estimated that we needed about 50 feet of 1/4" manila rope, but we bought 100 feet of it because it was only 20 cents a foot. The total bill was $20. We needed every bit.
Starting at the bottom we held 5 inches of rope up the pipe while we wrapped it firmly in the first coils. In this way it locked on itself and gave us a firm staring point with the coils starting flush at the floor.
We then settled in for about 45 minutes of pipe wrapping. There is no secret to this except to be patient and keep the rope tight. Every now and then you can push down on the coils to keep them snug as well.
After each wrap you need to pull the rest of the rope through. We would pull the rope tight, place our foot on it to hold it tight and then quickly overhand the rope through, being careful not to let it snag or get knotted.
At the end you finish off the way you started: loosen up your top coils and snake your loose end through so that it pops through a gap in the coils about 5 inches from the top. Gently pulling it down and working the coils tight with your other hand the entire thing should lock up nicely.
You can then cut off the excess if you like or leave it. We left the excess on the back of our pipe to allow us to tighten it up if we ever needed to.
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wow, I really like this idea, what inspired it?
The perfect scratching post.
What a wonderful idea! And it works so well in your bathroom too. Thanks for sharing this easy but effective way to cover up ugly pipes. I shall bear that in mind for the next time...
what I wouldn't have done for that idea when I was living Harlem, Brookline, or my tiny cramped studio in Somerville - each one had a scalding pipe that was *always* finding its way around your buttock-region while drying off or brushing your teeth. YEOWCH!
This is great for all you people with little kids in old brownstones with the exposed pipes! Listen-up!
What I would do, however, for the realtive ease of knowing I never have to worry about my heating bill. I long for my current little radiator to reach the bottom of my bath towel in the morning... so it's nice and warm... but I have to pay for heat now. :(
That's really lovely. And Jen, you're right, it is the perfect scratching post...
Which makes me wonder - is there someway to do something simliar in a room without a pipe? Like a floor to ceiling tension rod covered with rope? I think my cat might take to that (her requirements for scratching appear to be it must be firmly planted on the ground - like a chair or a couch...)
Any thoughts?
That looks terrific!
Another idea I have seen, cover the hot water pipe with a large piece of bamboo... very cool!!
Kate: someone posted a similar wall-mounted wound-rope scratching post during Pet Month. (click on link)
Not a fire hazzard?
LOVE the M&Co clock in the bathroom.
I did that to a crusty gold floor lamp that i picked up at the good will for 5 bucks but I did with jute and it took forever.
I think the bathroom is my favorite part of your apartment makeover. The wrapped pole is practical, frugal, and quite appealing aesthetically. Agree that it would be great for a back-scratch!
Has the entire apartment been shown in a slideshow? I thought we were still waiting for the full apartment tour. Did I miss it?
we've done this in our old loft, on the railing of the staircase - looked absolutely great. We used about 5 rolls of rope to cover the iron rod. The downside side is that the rope gets loosened after a period of time, you need to figure out a way to tighten it for good.
I'm not an expert, but if I recall from a famous book, paper burns at 451 degrees fahrenheit, and jute and cloth are probably in a similar range. Those pipes aren't that hot. Anything over 120 (boiling point), and even a little under will cause pain on bare skin.
That's one nutty clock on the wall...
What if the rustic hempy look just doesn't work with my art deco bath? Do you think I could use all-white nylon marine rope for a sleeker look? I think I just might give that a try this weekend-- if there's time when the pipe isn't hot. I really hate that pipe.
We saw this solution used at Cafe Mogador years ago and copied it ourselves. Ours has lasted more than 7 years and one upstairs-water-pouring-down-the-pipe-leak. It smelled like wet rope for a few days but that hot pipe dried it almost immediately (along with my sinuses, my skin, my wood furniture...)
Gretchen,
I wouldn't recommend the nylon rope, I think that it would start to melt/singe. It may not catch on fire, but at the very least it would create a horrible smell. But white cotton rope could work.
That looks awesome! And I love the clock too.
You're making me wish I had a pipe. My cat woud love that.
"Nylon is an excellent all around rope fiber, as it combines high strength with durability. Nylon ropes are not damaged by moisture, however, their strength is reduced when wet. Nylon ropes have excellent shock absorbing capability. They are impervious to rot and mildew but may be damaged by some chemicals, particularly acids. Nylon ropes will shrink when exposed to elevated temperatures. Nylon has a melting point of 250°C (482°F) but will lose strength well below that temperature. Better quality ropes are normally made from UV stabilized nylon. "
Looks Great! I have a nasty pipe in my bathroom that my super actually painted silver, thinking it would look like metal? ha!
But I have a ?, since the pipe in my bathroom is the major source of heat in my apt, think it would insulate it too much? and what about moisture? Won't the rope get nasty and midewy after a while?
LOVE that clock! 7 is the new 8! LOL!
rope on loft rails....that suggestion just launched a whole nautical theme for a room.
The wall clock is just too funny. Love it.
i just decided that this will be the perfect weekend for me to "rope" my bathroom pipe. also, i love that there is a clock in the bathroom - i have issues getting out the door on time in the norning and thought about doing the same thing but wondered if it was just too weird. im getting a clock this weekend, too!
i meant "morning". coffee hasnt kicked in yet.
I did this in my last apartment and my cats loved climbing to the top of it. Unfortunately we don't have these pipes in the new place, so I'm trying to figure out something similar, perhaps with a tension rod like Kate mentioned.
I made a scratching post like this. To keep the rope from loosening up, we periodically used a block to hammer the rope down and pack it tight. Then we'd staple it down and continue on. We put one staple every 10 wraps or so.
Hard to staple a pipe, but definitely works for other cat-related applications!
Hot pipe bondage is HOT.
it is funny to read this, because pretty much every apartment i have lived in in nyc has had pipes wrapped in rope in the bathroom, including the bath in my current coop. All looked like they were done with clothing line rope and all were painted. No evidence of singing or burning ever (even in the ones that appeared to be steam pipes)
This is perfect for my sister's new apartment. She has a toddler and now no one will worry about him getting scalded.
Having never actually lived in a tiny NYC apartment,(but I have visited a few) I've never seen this before, but it is a most excellent application! I can imagine if it were in my house, my cats (evil clawing beasts that they are) would have it back down to bare pipe in no time though. (((sigh)))
~Monica
Looks like my attention to detail is not so good today... I looked at the clock about 5 times before I realized it was all screwed up. :)
Nice clock, nice rope, and nice rubber ducky (my daughter has the same one) :)
I did this with both steam pipes in my former NYC apartment. I thought it was a great solution. Used white nylon rope in the bathroom and natural rope (maybe hemp) in the main room. No problem with burning/melting/etc. with either, although the natural rope off-gassed for a while (I think it was just the rope, not the heat - you can probably get natural rope that is not chemically treated). Used 1 inch think rope for both, needed about 100 feet for a 10 foot ceiling. I would recommend wearing work gloves while wrapping the rope.
this waa all over Tony Tune's apartment in AD 10 years or so ago... gerat idea! worth repeating!
I tried this in my bedroom after reading this post!
I used 100 ft. of white nylon rope, which covered just enough of the pole to make it worth it.
It helps to tape the first 6 inches of rope down to the pole while wrapping the rest of the rope around it.
No more burned bits!
Thank you so much for this post! We just moved into a new apt in NYC and we have two very hot heating pipes that we need to wrap. Do buy your rope online or at a special hardware store? Thanks!
Great idea! Thanks so much. We are going to wrap our two heating pipes this weekend. Is it hard to find the rope at a Home Depot or local hardware store? Thanks!
I'm amazed by your patience in pulling the whole length--beginning at 100 feet--through at each turn! A faster way is to make a flat spool with a piece of thin wood (or really heavy cardboard), wrap the rope around it at the start, and then pass the spindle through at each turn. MUCH faster, and if the spindle's flat, it will fit through the space behind the pipe. . . .
This is truly awesome - we tried it today. We had an 8'4" pipe and used 1/2 inch manila rope. To calculate how much rope you need, measure the diameter or width of the pipe (inches), multiply by 3.14, multiply the height of the pipe (feet x 12). Then divide that amount by the size of your rope (if it is 1/2 inch, divide by 0.5)
For example, if your pipe is 2.5 inches wide and 10 feet tall and your rope is 1/2 inch wide, then:
2.5 (pipe width or diameter) x 3.14 x 10 (height in feet) x 12 (to convert feet to inches) = 942 - that is the area you need to cover. 942 / 0.5 = 1,884 inches or 157 feet of rope.
We needed about 130 feet, since our pipe was about 8.3 feet. We bought 2 100-ft spools - at the end of one, you just employ the same technique as when you start, leaving a piece at the end to wrap the new spool over.
I will say that it is effort to wrap the rope around the pipe, since with every wrap the entire length of rope needs to also get passed through - this can be a challenge if there is not much space between the pipe and the wall. It is helpful at the beginning to gather end of the rope up in a spool to pass it around the pipe easily.
will the rope burn? Is it a fire hazard?
I love the M&Co clock.
P
We just did this over the weekend, following these instructions. But the manila rope we bought was very oily and smelled like a car garage. We thought the smell would fade, but when it heated up, it stank even worse! Since it's doubling as a cat scratcher, we've decided to take it down and starting over with biodegradable sisal.
Wondering how sisal worked? (Jennfo, if you're out there?) I love the look of the wrapped manila rope, but have a kid with some breathing issues in winter and don't want to add to her lung load with the off-gassed chem preservative they use on manila rope to keep it water resistant.
this is a very common solution here in new york. there is no fire hazard with steam pipes. that's one of the great things about them. the hottest the pipe will get is about 210 degrees F which isn't hot enough to start a fire. it can melt some things though.
if the riser is your primary means of heat (ie: no radiator in the room), it will reduce the amount of heat you get--which is often a good thing in some apartment buildings. if you want the heat, you might consider using a thinner rope or not going all the way to the ceiling.
if the heat comes on, there's little risk of mold being a problem. the heat will dry out the rope.
be careful of what the rope is treated with. it can off gas pretty badly as one poster experienced. some natural fibers are treated with petroleum products which smell similar to diesel fuel.
Thanks for this. I searched for instructions on wrapping a pole with rope and this was the most helpful result.
I have a pole in my loft that I'm going to try to wrap with sisal rope so I can turn the bottom section of it into a scratching post for my cat. I found some really brightly colored rope sold for making parrot toys that I'll be using, assuming that if it's good for parrots that it's non-toxic for cats.
Looks great, but their math is WAY off. I purchased 200 feet of 1/4" manila rope with the intentions of wrapping two heating pipes floor to ceiling, one in my kitchen, and one in my bathroom. It turns out 200 feet of 1/4" manila rope is good for wrapping 6'3" of one pipe. So if you want to wrap an entire pipe floor to ceiling, assuming you have 8 foot ceilings, I'd advise you to purchase 300 feet of 1/4" manila rope and have some left over. This is quite a laborious task. If I had it to do again I'd use 150 feet of 1/2" manila rope. I believe that's the size they used in the picture at the top of this page anyway.