Flooring

[ineedhelp]

What is the best way to lift flooring to prevent damage.

Most of the house is pine floor boards, one room has been relayed as chipboard floor panels, and the bathroom has a tiled floor.

I want to run telephone and computer network cables under the flooring but I will need to lift boards in all of these rooms to do that.

She who designs the rooms wants to take up the carpet and clean the boards up so I need to make a clean job of it.

How??

 

[johnny_t]

I'd poke it under the skirting if I were you......

 

[dingbat]

Firstly, strip the room you need to lay cables through and see if any boards have been lifted previously for running pipes or cables. These will be the easiest to re-lift, but you will need to route your new cables away from any power cables.

If you need to lift new boards, you will need to cut through the tongues and cut across the boards (unless you can lift a whole run of board in one go.) Tongues can be cut with a circular saw set to just below tongue depth (so as not to slice through any pipes/cabels lying below) or, with a Stanley knife. Cutting across boards without damaging adjacent boards is another matter.

Getting nails out without damage is also tricky - you may be just as well to lever boards up and pull the nail heads through the board, then replace the nails with screws.

If you can lever up a mid-section of a board whose tongues have been removed, you may be able to saw straight across. (Only cut through boards at joists)

But, without doubt, the best way to deal with boards is to use one of these:

http://www.feinmultimaster.co.uk/products/feintools/multimaster/multimaster.htm

 

[Gary0]

Or run a wireless network and save yourself the bother.

 

[ineedhelp]

Thanks for that dingbat, I have useda circular saw to di it at my last house but it was b****y awkward if I had to lift a board near the wall, and made a right mess cutting across the boards.

Is it ok to do the same with the big chipboard boards?

What can I do about the bathroom floor?

Gary0, I'd love to go wireless but she who makes the decisions won't go for it. We have a cordless phone aswell as a corded one and she'll walk past the cordless to get the corded one!!

 

[dingbat]

Thanks for that dingbat, I have useda circular saw to di it at my last house but it was b****y awkward if I had to lift a board near the wall, and made a right mess cutting across the boards.

Which where the Multimaster really comes into its own.

Is it ok to do the same with the big chipboard boards?

Provided you provide extra support where you've removed tongues between joists when you replace them.

What can I do about the bathroom floor?

Tiled? You're f***ed, mate. I doubt you'd even get a pro to touch it. Your only option is via the ceiling below... I bet she'll love it when you hack down the kitchen ceiling!

 

[ineedhelp]

Thanks again for the help. That looks a great tool but I don't know if I can justify the cost for this job.

That cost, plus hacking down the ceiling may be the way I can justify the wireless network.

Watching changing rooms etc, I guess more people are tiling the bathroom floor, how will the pro's cope then?

 

[Qedelec]

Quite simply with a sharp intake of breath and "it'll cost you madam"

Nails in board are best knocked in with a long punch, available from decent hardware and tool suppliers (as opposed to sheds).

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ha! - I'd like to see you drive cut floor brads through most of the thickness of 50-year old boards into 50-year old joists...