Steel pipes and plumbing fittings for a custom vintage industrial plumbing decor. Create your own industrial style decoration.

Tips and tricks, our tips

What colour are the pipes and fittings?

The pipes (nipples, coils) are made of steel and the fittings are made of cast iron or crude steel to protect them from corrosion during transport and storage.

Standard black steel pipes are made of crude steel and the colour can vary from light steel grey through shades of grey to black depending on the production batch.
Black steel tubes are shot blasted using our shot blasting process which changes the colour and shade to a uniform matt umber grey "RAL 7022" with slight shading and texture.

Pre-assembled and assembled Deco Kits are always supplied with the chosen finish and ready to install.

How do I assemble screw connections?

The big advantage of our tubes and fittings is that no special tools are required to make your own designs. Only a screwdriver and a screwdriver will be needed for floor flanges on a wooden board or for wall mounting.
The tubes are manually tightened in their fitting and thanks to the tapered thread (BSPT Whitworth) they lock automatically when fully tightened.

When screwing in the thread, the first 8 to 12 millimetres of the thread will be used, depending on the diameter of the tube chosen. When calculating, therefore, take as a reference the first 10 mm of the thread for pipe sizes 1/2″ and 3/4″, and the first 11 mm of the thread for pipe size 1″.
When assembling, tighten more or less tightly in order to adjust the dimensions of your project.

For more details and information on the calculation and dimensions of steel pipes, please refer to our article: Choosing and sizing black and galvanised steel pipes for decorative plumbing connections

How do I install tubular direct connectors?

For direct assembly fittings, you'll need a 5mm hexagonal wrench (Allen or BTR) for 1/2″ fittings and a 6.35mm wrench for 3/4″ fittings (also works with a 6mm wrench), in order to be able to screw in the locking screws provided for direct fittings. A screwdriver and a screwdriver may be needed to fix the plate to a wooden board, a wall or the floor.
The tubes are inserted manually into the fitting, and the locking screws on the fitting secure the tube to the fitting.

Direct fittings can be mixed with plumbing fittings using single-thread pipes. Single-threaded pipes have one threaded side and one unthreaded side.

When calculating the length of steel pipes, account must be taken of the part that runs into the fitting. For 1/2″ steel pipes, 20mm will be inserted and for 3/4″ pipe, 25mm will be inserted.

For more details and information on the calculation and dimensions of steel pipes here is our article: Choice and dimensions for direct fitting and deco scaffolding pipe

Do I have to treat my pipes and fittings or can I leave them as they are?

For non-wet interior rooms, it is not necessary to apply a finish.
For damp interior rooms (or if the structure comes into contact with water/steam), it is more than advisable to apply a finish.
 
When applying a finish, degreasing is necessary before applying your finish (varnish, oil, wax, paint).
Degreasing can be done with our metal cleaner or with brake cleaner available in your favourite DIY shop.
 

Several types of finish are possible:

  • Baked linseed oil applied in a very thin layer so that it does not remain sticky to the touch, drying between 24 and 48 hours;
  • Wax for metal and cast iron.
  • Clear matte varnish in 2 coats (available in our shop: Matte varnish) ;
  • Satin clear varnish in 2 coats (available in our shop: Satin varnish) ;
  • Clear gloss varnish in 2 layers (available in our shop: Gloss varnish) ;
  • Paint in 2 coats. We resell Montana Black spray paints, which allow you to have a superb finish, slightly textured or not, depending on the distance of application. You can find our colour range in our shop in the colour section;
  • Don't hesitate to contact us for this type of finish;

How to apply a finish?

First of all, we recommend that you wear gloves before applying the finish, as they have an oily, anti-corrosion protective film.

To remove this protective film, we recommend using our metal cleaner (available in our shop: metal cleaner) or brake cleaner, which is available in your favourite DIY shop. If you prefer to leave the fittings and tubes as they are, you can simply wipe and rub them vigorously with a cloth.

For a painted finish, it is recommended to lightly sand the surface of standard steel tubes for good paint adhesion. However, for fittings and shot-blasted steel tubes there is no need to sand the surface as these already have a good grip.
For a varnished finish there is no need to sand the surface as this will keep it rough after degreasing.

You can then apply the finish of your choice.

Good to know, when applying a varnish or a baked linseed oil the colour of the fittings and tubes will darken slightly and will return to the same colour as before degreasing.

Come and discover our range of spray paints and varnishes in our colours and varnishes shop. Montana Black spray paint cans allow for a superb finish, slightly textured or not depending on the distance of application and also on the type of spray cap. The spray caps allow you to choose the shape and flow of the paint jet, you can find them in the category colour accessories.

Type of threads ?

All the threads of the fittings and tubes (nipple, coil) are of the type gas thread BSP (British Standard Pipe) Whitworth which is the European standard.

The female threads are cylindrical BSPP DIN ISO 228-1 and the male threads are conical BSPT DIN EN 10226 formerly ISO 7-1.

Why are fittings and tubes made of steel and cast iron?

All cast iron plumbing fittings and steel pipes, known as black, are raw with an anti-corrosion oil protection.

They are thus raw in order to be able to adapt to a multitude of different finishes according to the industrial decoration that one wishes to obtain.

The finish can be a choice on shot blasted tubes with or without varnish (matte, satin, gloss).
But it can also be simply baked linseed oil or a paint with the color of his choice.