House renovations (plumbing and flooring basics)

[Grenage]

Hi Chaps,

We're decorating the house from top to bottom, although renovating is probably a more appropriate word. Pipes 'ping and ting' when the heating is on, and the flooring could do with some love - so I'm planning on pulling up all of the tongue and groove chipboard. I want to make sure that pipes are lagged at joists, and generally inspect.

I was thinking about relaying plain 18mm ply for the floor, with joins on the joists. I hate T&G, I hate chipboard, and ply seems to be recommended.

The radiator pipes all come up out of the floor in the middle of the radiator, then branch off to the sides. I assume this was done to save time notching an extra 4 or five joists, but it looks sodding awful; I plan to solder some extra pipe and notch the joists. Nobody can think of any other reason for this to be done, can they?

The radiator is on an exterior wall, and I'm sure I recall reading that you aren't supposed to notch within a certain distance from the end of a joist - is it better to use a hole saw and feed through the middle?

Lastly, and ultimately least importantly, I was planning on using chicken-wire and rockwool to insulate between the floors. The bedrooms can get a little warm, so it seems like a cheap and way to help with the heat bleeding through from the living room. A TR on the new radiator might do the job, but I don't want to bring the floor up again later.

Could anyone offer suggestions as to anything else I might want to do, while the room is being ripped apart? Any criticisms of my (relatively basic) plans would also be appreciated.

 

[ree]

What you are proposing sounds like overkill - ripping up all your GF flooring, essentially, because you "hate T&G and chipboard" and for access for a few of simple tasks.

Does your GF have a sub floor space deep enough to crawl? If so, then most of what you propose could be done from below.

Gaining access at the rad might only require cutting out a section of the in place chipboard.
If the sheets have been screwed down then its a simple task to lift whole boards without damaging them.
Prying up face nailing will also work.

Pipes "ping and ting" because of thermal expansion, typically a nest of tightly installed pipes at the end of a pipe(s) run where they turn say ninety degrees.
Also where they chafe anything that they are touching due to poor, or non existent, isolation clipping.
Full remedial action would involve lots of cutting and re-soldering.

Notching is fine for CH pipework.

Re-wire and/or extend wiring.

 

[Grenage]

Hi Ree, thanks for your reply.

The upstairs floors don't seem particularly even; I'd go as far as saying a bit bulbous in areas. It's possible that the laminate and carpet hasn't been laid very well, but it feels pretty solid. I was working on a worst-case scenario, and expect to find it in poor shape, possibly after some water damage in years gone by.

If the floor is in fact just fine, and I can get at what I need to without annihilating the T&G, I'll save myself the money and effort.

The GF is solid concrete, and I'm only dealing with the upstairs rooms for the time being.

I've bought a torch and have scrap pipe/ends to practice soldering. I've also got some pipes above the floor that need sorting out first, so I'll hopefully have had a lot of practice by the time we get to the CH pipes. If all my work has been shocking, I'll get a plumber involved - I don't want to use compression fittings under the floor.

Thank you for your advice.