Hit a water pipe affixing a toilet to first floor floorboards - is the pipework normal?

[ThomasAnderson]

So yeah, helped a mate take out sink, toilet, rip up floor. Installed new floor, went to fix new toilet to the floor. Previous toilet setup was different, you screwed in further away from the wall at the bottom of the toilet. This was a bracket you affix to floor then drive a screw horizontally through one of the "honeycomb" holes in the bracket. I went to put a screw through the bracket just to bite into the floorboards and it hit a water pipe. Not a good day! But I've never had this problem before. How normal is it to find pipes routed under where you'd need to affix a toilet?

 

[CBW]

It’s not that common imo but have seen it in the past. Actually had it where someone punctured a gas pipe as the 5 pipes from kitchen where combi installed ran under the toilet.

 

[ThomasAnderson]

It’s not that common imo but have seen it in the past. Actually had it where someone punctured a gas pipe as the 5 pipes from kitchen where combi installed ran under the toilet.

Well, at least that puts it into perspective! Thanks

 

[Madrab]

It's not good practice .... any reasonable professional plumber wouldn't run pipework under any kind of water appliance/outlet that may be screwed to the floor unless absolutely necessary. A toilet outflow pipe would be a dead giveaway of what might be fitted there. If it was necessary then the floor should be marked or a note left for the next trade.

 

[James Carmichael]

Use the right length screw, which means the depth of the floor layer plus the bracket.

 

[ThomasAnderson]

So it's a case of never trust where anything could be and play it safe as possible? Yeah, I can dig that. Thanks

 

[roguetrader]

You never know what you'll find under a bathroom floor.
Bathrooms get moved around and remodelled and it's a nice project for a competent DIY'er. All of which create ???
So unless it's a new house, you just never know.

 

[bernardgreen]

So unless it's a new house, you just never know.

Even with a new house the average owner will have no information about where pipes and/or cables are located,

 

[roguetrader]

Fair point, but you'd expect it would have been piped by a tradesman to suit the layout.

 

[Madrab]

I suppose there is always a case to check under floors before anything needs to penetrate the floor. Most of the side fitting kits give you screws for concrete with plugs but they would always be a lot longer than the floor thickness.

Hard one to judge correct fixing length too unless you know exactly how thick the floor is.