Kitchen Floor Replacement / Kitchen Cabinet removal - Insurers

[sentinal73]

Hi Guys,

I've recently had a water leak in the kitchen which has damaged the flooring. The Insurance company have agreed to replace, like for like.

The contractors who the Insurance company would like to do the work need to replace the whole flooring, which goes all the way under the kitchen cabinets to the walls.

They want to prop up the kitchen worktops and slide out the kitchen cabinets, replace the flooring and then re-fit the kitchen cabinets under the worktops.

Is this a suitable way of doing the work?

My gut feeling is that it wouldn't work and the kitchen wont go back together as good as it was before.

Can you advise?

Thanks!

 

[foxhole]

What flooring type?

 

[sentinal73]

Its wood engineered flooring, glued

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Is the floor under the cabinets damaged?

 

[sentinal73]

The plywood subfloor is damaged. The insurers have agreed to replace the whole flooring, like for like.

The plywood subfloor and engineered floor goes all the way under all the cabinets too.

I'm not too comfortable with their suggested method of removing the cabinets and leaving the worktops in place whilst they do the work.

 

[foxhole]

You would not normally floor under units because of the risk of water damage.[As you discovered] personally I would not use hardwood flooring in a wet area.
The method they suggest should be possible if done carefully, I would suggest just running the new floor up to the units to avoid more water damage, you may not always be covered by insurance.

 

[OwainDIYer]

A difficulty is that worktops usually go on last. When dismantling a kitchen they should logically come off first. Leaving the worktops on may mean that unit fixings are inaccessible.

Also I'd be surprised if the worktop can be supported adequately to ensure that no joints crack even slightly.

 

[sentinal73]

A difficulty is that worktops usually go on last. When dismantling a kitchen they should logically come off first. Leaving the worktops on may mean that unit fixings are inaccessible.

Also I'd be surprised if the worktop can be supported adequately to ensure that no joints crack even slightly.

Exactly my concerns..................

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

How are they gonna support them, suspended off the ceiling? I'm facing a similar dilemma in my own home, though I have chipboard with tiles and the tiles are cracking so am going to replace the chipboard with ply and put Lino down, but my point is that as mentioned replacing an unsuitable floor finish with another unsuitable floor finish is foolhardy.