Moving a rising main that's under a suspended concrete floor
 

We are hoping to build a summer room or a conservatory and would
prefer it to be off the kitchen. Ideal scenario for access to this
would be to take out the kitchen window and chop out the wall below.

Moving the kitchen base units and even the sink is no big deal
but...as usual the rising main "rises" under the sink. I only need to
move the pipe say 18 inches to one side of the window opening.

Problem is, all ground floor rooms in our house have suspended
concrete floors, so the question is...

Is it safe to drill a hole in the floor large enough to get an arm
through so as to grab the rising main so that I can re-route the
offending pipe?

Has anyone tried this before? I'm not sure how deep the cavity is
below the floor so I've already realised I would need to tie some
string round the end of the pipe before pulling it below the floor (in
case I drop it).

cheers
Mitch

Moving a rising main that's under a suspended concrete floor
 

On 6 Aug 2004 10:56:28 -0700, (Mitch) wrote:

We are hoping to build a summer room or a conservatory and would
prefer it to be off the kitchen. Ideal scenario for access to this
would be to take out the kitchen window and chop out the wall below.

Moving the kitchen base units and even the sink is no big deal
but...as usual the rising main "rises" under the sink. I only need to
move the pipe say 18 inches to one side of the window opening.

Problem is, all ground floor rooms in our house have suspended
concrete floors, so the question is...

Is it safe to drill a hole in the floor large enough to get an arm
through so as to grab the rising main so that I can re-route the
offending pipe?

Has anyone tried this before? I'm not sure how deep the cavity is
below the floor so I've already realised I would need to tie some
string round the end of the pipe before pulling it below the floor (in
case I drop it).

cheers
Mitch

I don't know how many types of suspended concrete floor construction
there are, so I find it a bit difficult to clearly envisage your
situation. I'm only answering your post because no-one else has yet.
I take it that there's no under floor access, otherwise you'd be using
it.

There's a lot to recommend the method of tying the pipe to a flexible
cable but I wouldn't tie it around the pipe but find some way of
fixing an eye to the end of the pipe. This way you can minimise the
diameter of the new hole you make and fish for the cable instead of
making a hole big enough to put your arm through, which if badly
placed could damage an important part of the structure of the floor.
--
Tony Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

Moving a rising main that's under a suspended concrete floor
 

Tony Halmarack wrote in message . ..
snip

Tony,

Thanks for the reply, yes we have no underfloor access, I should of
course have pointed out that the rising main is under the window that
we intend to chop out to make an entrance to the proposed extension.

I'm going to try and contact the builders to ascertain the nature of
the suspended floor. Some of them I think use concrete beams that are
infilled with blocks. In that case I shouldn't need to worry about the
hole, as long as I drill through a block and not a beam :o)

My initial thought was that the floor itself was made from
pre-stressed slabs, a bit like lintels. Drilling a wide hole in one of
those would presumably relieve the "stress" and thus allow the whole
"lintel" to fold.

I'll let you know what I find out from the builders.

cheers
Mitch