Why is nothing quite as straightforward as it ought to be....!

Just started ripping everything out of one of our rooms to lay an oak strip
floor. Now, I was dismayed to find a while ago that this room is not
boarded as others are, but instead has a floor of 18mm ply that runs under
the walls and into the bathroom on one side and the hallway on the other.
My plan had to been to hire a door trimming saw (an earlier thread
conclusion) and trim next to the walls so that I could remove the boards for
this room only without having to rebuild the partitions.

However, it now looks like this would be an awful lot bigger job than first
anticipated and for awkward spots like under the door frames ply won't give
into brute force of hammer & finest abuse-grade chisel as chipboard would
have done.

So, I'm considering just secret nailing the new floor on top of the old
one - it's pretty level, being constructed in the main from 8x4 sheets.

Gut instinct tells me that this could be a bad move if I _ever_ need to get
under the floor to rewire or sort out a heating leak, but what do others
reckon?

(I suppose I could fabricate a conventient access hatch for the area
surrounding the radiator...)

--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 16:46:56 -0000, "RichardS" noone@invalid wrote:

Why is nothing quite as straightforward as it ought to be....!

Just started ripping everything out of one of our rooms to lay an oak strip
floor. Now, I was dismayed to find a while ago that this room is not
boarded as others are, but instead has a floor of 18mm ply that runs under
the walls and into the bathroom on one side and the hallway on the other.
My plan had to been to hire a door trimming saw (an earlier thread
conclusion) and trim next to the walls so that I could remove the boards for
this room only without having to rebuild the partitions.

However, it now looks like this would be an awful lot bigger job than first
anticipated and for awkward spots like under the door frames ply won't give
into brute force of hammer & finest abuse-grade chisel as chipboard would
have done.

So, I'm considering just secret nailing the new floor on top of the old
one - it's pretty level, being constructed in the main from 8x4 sheets.

Gut instinct tells me that this could be a bad move if I _ever_ need to get
under the floor to rewire or sort out a heating leak, but what do others
reckon?

(I suppose I could fabricate a conventient access hatch for the area
surrounding the radiator...)

I had the same issue exactly on the upstairs landing and decided not
to muck around with trying to remove chipboard adjacent to various
walls.

My solution was to cut access ports in strategic places in the
chipboard with the Routabout set up.

Then in areas above them (two boards width), I ripped short sections
of tongue and have laid and fitted the boards with screws, finally
using a plug cutter and oak plugs. Not noticable at all unless I
look hard. The boards are random length so it's easy to get away
with this.




--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Andy Hall wrote:

Then in areas above them (two boards width), I ripped short sections
of tongue and have laid and fitted the boards with screws, finally
using a plug cutter and oak plugs. Not noticable at all unless I
look hard. The boards are random length so it's easy to get away
with this.


I've always wondered - how do you remove plugs so that you can undo the
screws? Drill them out? Or is there a non-destructive method?


--
Grunff

On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 17:25:07 +0000, Grunff wrote:

Andy Hall wrote:

Then in areas above them (two boards width), I ripped short sections
of tongue and have laid and fitted the boards with screws, finally
using a plug cutter and oak plugs. Not noticable at all unless I
look hard. The boards are random length so it's easy to get away
with this.


I've always wondered - how do you remove plugs so that you can undo the
screws? Drill them out? Or is there a non-destructive method?

I've tended to use glue sparingly and then to remove drill them out
carefully using increasing size drills, with the last one a mm or so
less than the plug diameter. THen the remainder chips away fairly
easily.

Obviously you don't want to do this every week, but with care you can
fit a replacement plug of the same size back in. Any minor damage
around the hole can be fixed with a little sawdust and PVA or some
Liberon wax of the right colour.





--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

"Grunff" wrote in message
...
Andy Hall wrote:

Then in areas above them (two boards width), I ripped short sections
of tongue and have laid and fitted the boards with screws, finally
using a plug cutter and oak plugs. Not noticable at all unless I
look hard. The boards are random length so it's easy to get away
with this.


I've always wondered - how do you remove plugs so that you can undo the
screws? Drill them out? Or is there a non-destructive method?



Haven't encountered the problem of having to remove them yet, but I don't
generally glue plugs in, tightness of fit keeps them in well enough. So if
I need to remove them it's a case of popping them out with a sharp pointy
object or as you say mostly drilling them out.

Goodnight Irene for the plugs, though, but I normally keep a length of the
boards back to make some new ones with should I need to.

--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 25 Nov 2004 16:46:56 -0000, "RichardS" noone@invalid wrote:

Why is nothing quite as straightforward as it ought to be....!

Just started ripping everything out of one of our rooms to lay an oak
strip
floor. Now, I was dismayed to find a while ago that this room is not
boarded as others are, but instead has a floor of 18mm ply that runs
under
the walls and into the bathroom on one side and the hallway on the other.
My plan had to been to hire a door trimming saw (an earlier thread
conclusion) and trim next to the walls so that I could remove the boards
for
this room only without having to rebuild the partitions.

However, it now looks like this would be an awful lot bigger job than
first
anticipated and for awkward spots like under the door frames ply won't
give
into brute force of hammer & finest abuse-grade chisel as chipboard would
have done.

So, I'm considering just secret nailing the new floor on top of the old
one - it's pretty level, being constructed in the main from 8x4 sheets.

Gut instinct tells me that this could be a bad move if I _ever_ need to
get
under the floor to rewire or sort out a heating leak, but what do others
reckon?

(I suppose I could fabricate a conventient access hatch for the area
surrounding the radiator...)

I had the same issue exactly on the upstairs landing and decided not
to muck around with trying to remove chipboard adjacent to various
walls.

My solution was to cut access ports in strategic places in the
chipboard with the Routabout set up.

Then in areas above them (two boards width), I ripped short sections
of tongue and have laid and fitted the boards with screws, finally
using a plug cutter and oak plugs. Not noticable at all unless I
look hard. The boards are random length so it's easy to get away
with this.




Ta, good to know I wasn't the only one worried about that.

Reckon I'll fashion a similar solution, probably won't bother with the
expense of the routabout bit though.

--
Richard Sampson

mail me at
richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk