I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
and l/room.

The problems I can see are:

* Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
pipe at some point.

* Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?

Would it be worth changing all the floorboards for new ones (some of
the existing ones are pretty bad).

Also, could I avoid the warping problem?

Thanks.

On 3 Nov, 20:27, Bill  wrote:
> I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> and l/room.
>
> The problems I can see are:
>
> * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> pipe at some point.
>
> * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?
>
> Would it be worth changing all the floorboards for new ones (some of
> the existing ones are pretty bad).
>
> Also, could I avoid the warping problem?
>
> Thanks.

Well depends how many pipes you have running under it and what routes
they take... praps you could re route some (in plastic) easily enough
aiming to group them all in one or two areas that you would have to be
prepared to gamble on taking up if worst happens.

you could buy a little extra floor and keep it to repair the damage
caused by lifting the section to fix a leak?

warping - spose depends on moisture content of new floor vs humidityof
subfloor area vs humidity of room - to minimise you should let the new
stuff acclimatise before laying and tbh expect it to move a bit whilst
it acclimatises and also with changing seasons - part of the beauty
IMHO.

Where CH pipes are you could maybe fit some sort of metal heat shield/
spreader plates to spread the heat out away from just above the pipes
- tho if they are *that* hot esp under your ground floor you maybe
could insulate them anyway?

cheers
JimK

On Nov 3, 9:53 pm, JimK  wrote:
> On 3 Nov, 20:27, Bill  wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> > and l/room.
>
> > The problems I can see are:
>
> > * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> > individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> > saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> > pipe at some point.
>
> > * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> > pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?
>
> > Would it be worth changing all the floorboards for new ones (some of
> > the existing ones are pretty bad).
>
> > Also, could I avoid the warping problem?
>
> > Thanks.
>
> Well depends how many pipes you have running under it and what routes
> they take... praps you could re route some (in plastic) easily enough
> aiming to group them all in one or two areas that you would have to be
> prepared to gamble on taking up if worst happens.
>
> you could buy a little extra floor and keep it to repair the damage
> caused by lifting the section to fix a leak?
>
> warping - spose depends on moisture content of new floor vs humidityof
> subfloor area vs humidity of room - to minimise you should let the new
> stuff acclimatise before laying and tbh expect it to move a bit whilst
> it acclimatises and also with changing seasons - part of the beauty
> IMHO.
>
> Where CH pipes are you could maybe fit some sort of metal heat shield/
> spreader plates to spread the heat out away from just above the pipes
> - tho if they are *that* hot esp under your ground floor you maybe
> could insulate them anyway?
>
> cheers
> JimK- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks Jim. Sounds good advice.

On 3 Nov, 20:27, Bill  wrote:
> I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> and l/room.

I did this recently as well, and faced the same sorts of decisions as
you.

> * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> pipe at some point.

Yes, so make sure that your plumbing is up to scratch! Burst pipes
might be a problem if they aren't properly lagged, and you don't set
your heating appropriately (e.g., use a frost-protection setting on
your C/H or set it to run a little each day when unoccupied). Buy a
few spare boards to provide replacements if the worst does happen, or
even just to cope with a change in the pipework like a slightly
different radiator.

> * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?

If you have a suspended floor, are the pipes notched into the top of
the joists? That brings them very close to the boards, and can cause
localised heating, drying-out, and warping. Where I encountered
notched pipework, I re-ran the pipes underneath the joists instead.

Because I re-plumbed a fair bit of the C/H when I did the floor, I did
wonder about using plastic pipes. I had a long talk to one of the
technical guys of a plastic plumbing company (Hep IIRC) though, and he
said that the lifetime of plastic pipe (or more properly, the
fittings, which are the weakest point) is realistically about 20
years. Since I was laying a very nice oak floor, with an expected
lifetime far beyond that, he hinted that soldered copper might be a
better option, but wouldn't say it outright!

dan.

On Nov 4, 9:43 am, dent  wrote:
> On 3 Nov, 20:27, Bill  wrote:
>
> > I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> > and l/room.
>
> I did this recently as well, and faced the same sorts of decisions as
> you.
>
> > * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> > individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> > saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> > pipe at some point.
>
> Yes, so make sure that your plumbing is up to scratch! Burst pipes
> might be a problem if they aren't properly lagged, and you don't set
> your heating appropriately (e.g., use a frost-protection setting on
> your C/H or set it to run a little each day when unoccupied). Buy a
> few spare boards to provide replacements if the worst does happen, or
> even just to cope with a change in the pipework like a slightly
> different radiator.
>
> > * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> > pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?
>
> If you have a suspended floor, are the pipes notched into the top of
> the joists? That brings them very close to the boards, and can cause
> localised heating, drying-out, and warping. Where I encountered
> notched pipework, I re-ran the pipes underneath the joists instead.
>
> Because I re-plumbed a fair bit of the C/H when I did the floor, I did
> wonder about using plastic pipes. I had a long talk to one of the
> technical guys of a plastic plumbing company (Hep IIRC) though, and he
> said that the lifetime of plastic pipe (or more properly, the
> fittings, which are the weakest point) is realistically about 20
> years. Since I was laying a very nice oak floor, with an expected
> lifetime far beyond that, he hinted that soldered copper might be a
> better option, but wouldn't say it outright!
>
> dan.

Best bet is to ensure there are no fittings under there, just
unjointed pipe. Probably not possible though.

One of the things I like about old boards that aren't T&G is the ease
of lifting.


NT

On 4 Nov, 10:01, NT  wrote:
> On Nov 4, 9:43 am, dent  wrote:
>
>
>
> > On 3 Nov, 20:27, Bill  wrote:
>
> > > I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> > > and l/room.
>
> > I did this recently as well, and faced the same sorts of decisions as
> > you.
>
> > > * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> > > individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> > > saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> > > pipe at some point.
>
> > Yes, so make sure that your plumbing is up to scratch! Burst pipes
> > might be a problem if they aren't properly lagged, and you don't set
> > your heating appropriately (e.g., use a frost-protection setting on
> > your C/H or set it to run a little each day when unoccupied). Buy a
> > few spare boards to provide replacements if the worst does happen, or
> > even just to cope with a change in the pipework like a slightly
> > different radiator.
>
> > > * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> > > pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?
>
> > If you have a suspended floor, are the pipes notched into the top of
> > the joists? That brings them very close to the boards, and can cause
> > localised heating, drying-out, and warping. Where I encountered
> > notched pipework, I re-ran the pipes underneath the joists instead.
>
> > Because I re-plumbed a fair bit of the C/H when I did the floor, I did
> > wonder about using plastic pipes. I had a long talk to one of the
> > technical guys of a plastic plumbing company (Hep IIRC) though, and he
> > said that the lifetime of plastic pipe (or more properly, the
> > fittings, which are the weakest point) is realistically about 20
> > years. Since I was laying a very nice oak floor, with an expected
> > lifetime far beyond that, he hinted that soldered copper might be a
> > better option, but wouldn't say it outright!
>
> > dan.
>
> Best bet is to ensure there are no fittings under there, just
> unjointed pipe. Probably not possible though.
>
> One of the things I like about old boards that aren't T&G is the ease
> of lifting.
>
> NT

indeed perhaps the OP can engineer those sectoins of floor above pipe
runs etc to be easier to lift in future by mangling/adapting the T&G
of the new oak floor ? a few brass screws countersunk in, add a bit of
floor wax - who'd ever know?

JimK

On Nov 3, 8:27 pm, Bill  wrote:
> I've been wondering about having an oak floor through the d/room, hall
> and l/room.
>
> The problems I can see are:
>
> * Access to a burst pipe would surely be a nightmare. I have seen
> individual planks replaced by cutting the original out with a circular
> saw but knowing my luck with houses, there probably would be leaking
> pipe at some point.
>
> * Some of the floorboards have warped because of central heating
> pipes. Surely this might cause a new floor to lift as well?
>
> Would it be worth changing all the floorboards for new ones (some of
> the existing ones are pretty bad).


In our Victorian house lots of the boards had been severely chopped
during repeated installations of pipes and wiring.  We swapped these
for longer runs from other parts of the house where the boards are
hidden, and then we had the whole thing sanded and varnished.  We
think it looks great, but of course it does not look new.

 I also like the abilty to lift individualy boards, so we screwed down
quite a few of the new boards for easy access.

Robert