Wood flooring and plumbing

ajsdoc · 21 Apr 2014

My wife (God bless her) has the idea she would like us to replace the downstairs carpets with wood flooring. Now, I'm not convinced - not because I don't think it will look good but because I'm a practical type who worries about pipes and leaks, access to electric wires etc.

My wife maintains that these floors are very common and therefore plumbers, electricians etc will have ways of dealing with problems if they happen. I maintain with carpet you just peel it back, lift floorboards sort the problem and move on.

I can't see an easy way with wood floors, so my question is how much destruction is there if things go wrong and do plumbers put them in their own homes?

Any answer will be adding to a mild domestic dispute....

Dean744PiN5 · 21 Apr 2014

Yep there are ways of dealing with problems under wood flooring.....RIP the whole lot up to get access but expect to have to put it back yourself or pay a floor layer to do it and keep plenty of packs of spare floor.
Hope that scares her enough mate

Newboy · 21 Apr 2014

I'm afraid there is no magic way of dealing with laminate/engineered etc. floor coverings.

My heart sinks when we have to inform a householder that the floor has to come up to access services concealed under 'wooden' flooring.

If the flooring has been professionally installed then it's almost impossible to remove without it being damaged, if it's been 'DIY'ed' then it's sometimes possible to remove edge beading and lift the material from one edge - but it's rare to be able to refit once disturbed.

AngelesPlumbing · 21 Apr 2014

Agreed on laminate flooring, nightmare for plumbers

Dan Robinson · 21 Apr 2014

No, women are a nightmare for plumber's.

Lots of glossy magazines fill the space in their brains normally reserved for common sense with daft ideas and assumptions that evolution nearly managed to do away with until the mid 70's.

Now, Western prosperity and some bastard who invented a place called Ikea has inflicted modern MAN with a fate worse than PMT.

Rant over - fornow at least.

Newboy · 21 Apr 2014

Good luck with the domestic dispute!

I'm married and we always compromise -

My wife wanted a cat
I don't like cats
We compromised
We got a cat

Dan Robinson · 21 Apr 2014

Universal constants. They're all mental.

I got an earful for not hearing her call my name as I drove off with the dude this morning.

We'd just said good bye. I told her the dude didn't need a drink. Someone phoned me.

So I get in the van talking to him.

Apparently she had fooked off to get the water bottle anyway. Unbeknownst to me of course, the last words uttered from my lips being "Bye".

I was actually taking him out for lunch FFS

So 5 minutes later she calls my mobile squawking that I never listen

I never LISTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or in her case "you never risten"!

AngelesPlumbing · 21 Apr 2014

Law states men are be followed on outside the property and women must be followed if you are inside the property...lol..joke

EFLImpudence · 21 Apr 2014

Yep, you can keep arguing with her about the flooring or -

give in and argue about something else.

longdogs · 22 Apr 2014

If you use the 'Click' type flooring, it is normally easy to take up and put back, perhaps having to replace some edging.

dcawkwell · 22 Apr 2014

Tell her no.

It may look good but don't ever expect to get it up and down the same should it ever need to come up.

True I'll be only too glad to pull it up for you or you can have someone
do it for you. But I won't be putting it back down. I haven't got a day to waste trying to get it to fit back together again.

Stay practical.

leakydave · 22 Apr 2014

Feeling about happier about being divorced after reading all the previous comments. Wood flooring looks nice but it will be firewood should it ever need to come up again.

I would never put wooden flooring over pipes and would never tile an upstairs floor in my own home.

...but come on, she will do what she wants but it will be your fault should it ever need to come up.

Dan Robinson · 22 Apr 2014

It's aaaaaalllllllwwwwaaaaayyyyyyssssss YOUR fault.

ajsdoc · 22 Apr 2014

Thanks to all for your help.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not downtrodden and I'm master of my own house.

Well, strictly master only of the shed, but you know what I mean.

Dan Robinson · 22 Apr 2014

Universal constants dude.

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Wood flooring and plumbing

Dean744PiN5

Newboy

Newboy

longdogs

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