www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hey chaps,

I have a question about the best way to go about lifting the floorboards in our bedroom to do some electric work (adding a couple of new double sockets).

Whats the best thing to do..? Someone from the Electrics forum suggested the following:

"I think you cut along between the boards to break the tongue and groove - MAKE SURE there are no cables / pipes where you are cutting.
Then using a very wide chisel / bolster lever up the board you want to cut. I'd support under the lever to avoid damaging the board you are levering against - if you know what I mean. The idea is to bend the board just enough so you can saw through it without damaging the ones either side. Try to make this cut over the middle of a joist as this will support the end when you put it back. Then do the 'lecy work. You might want to consider screwing the board back into place just in case you want to lift it again to get to the JB. This is just the best suggestion I can offer. The pro-chippies will know better."

Is this pretty much what I should be doing..? I'm not sure that the boards are even tongue and groove (or will they definitely be? - the house is 100 years old).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Tilly

Hi again Tilly, I'll just throw in a couple of comments while the real pros are away ...

Floorboards are sometime T&G, but just as often, flat-edged. what you have should be very visible when you look at them - the flat edged boards will probably have very obvious games between each board, especially on 100 year-old floorboards.

If you have central heating in the room with underfloor pipework, you may be able to lift a few previously cut boards from that work (and earlier electrical rewiring) and that may well give you more room to play with when it comes to popping up other boards where you need them.

Also, one possible gotcha - depending on what walls are load-bearing in the house and what walls are just partition, you may have some floorboards that continue into the next room or landing - they can be right buggers to support if they are cut - as it can be very awkward to cut a board so close to the wall and joist.

And screwing down instead of nailing any boards when they go down again is definately a good idea.

yep circular saw set 0.5mm LESS than the depth to cut the ends [1mm to the sides of the nail heads]or chipboard flooring

5mm less to cut the tounge on normal flooring only

trying to lift the floor clear off the adjacent floor boards so the saw wont mark the ajacent boards wont work unless you lift several foot each side because wood doesnt stretch along its length

if you use a circular saw like the ryobi one + you only get a 1.2mm gap

at what ever point you lever out the the board to remove it you will get compression on the adjoining edge untill the board is above the surrounding boards

Thanks guys.

Hoovie - you get everywhere!

OK, I'm pretty certain the boards are not T&G from my inspection of them last night. Also, looks as though I won't have any issues with boards running into other rooms under walls etc, they run the other way across the room which stretchs the full width of the house.

I can see that a couple of the boards have been cut in the past to allow some of the works you describe.

Never lifted boards before (my last two houses were modern places that needed sod-all work doing to them). Wasn't sure how difficult it would be until I got my hands on a few of them last night and couldn't budge them much...

A circular saw Looks like I may start needing to spend a bit of money on some new tools.....

Looks like I may start needing to spend a bit of money on some new tools.

Hey - don't be sad, spending money on tools is the best bit of DIY.

In fact it's probably the only reason I do it..!

I can't help sticking my oar in A lot of these jobs, I've 'been there' already, same as slugster, I guess . While I don't necceseraly know the best way, I know some ways NOT to do things (from experience )

Re Tools ... there is a great little power tool that will help you do cuts in tricky places with ease. UHM has a review here of the BOSCH pmf 180e

Power Tools ... The mans answer to shopping for shoes

If you want to keep expenditure right down to a minimum then you dont need many tools for this job.
Floor boards are easily lifted by hand tools.
Unless you have heaps of them to lift then a portable circular saw needn't even be on your priority list.
I will agree that a board is better cut on a joist than along the side of one but for a diy job it will be much easier for you to cut along the sides of a joist or joists and screw on a bridging piece to support floor board once laid again.
If you do decide to use this method depending on the gaps between floor boards then insert a thin pointed pad saw or begin by boring a starting hole and then insert saw to make the cuts.
Always screw on your bridging pieces to the sides of joists to save them sinking and make sure that you keep them hard up to the underside of existing flooring either side also pre bore them to prevent splitting.
As a precaution if using this method then when making the cuts in flooring then angle cut the boards like a big wedge shape so if your bridging pieces ever did fail then your flooring would not sink down between the joists because of the tapered shape it has been cut.
These are not the methods that i would personally use but sometimes as hoovie said boards may continue into another room and where the joists land may not allow you to do this any other way than mentioned above.
Besides if you do not have a portable circular saw then you are probably not experienced in using one.
Don't take that the wrong way but i have known of skilled tradesmen having bad accidents with these tools.
THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!!
Besides unless you were using a portable circular saw with a sprung riving knife such as those made by festool the length of cut required would extend way over the start of the board edge you needed to cut up.
So for that reasons alone you decide.
Dont forget to pre bore all floor boards before refitting to save them from splitting!!!
Oh and finally if your flooring is tongue and grooved then the tongues are easily split out by hand using a feather splitter and hammer.
You would only need to do this on one side of the board though.

Hoovie - the more the merrier. You're combined brains are certainly more powerful than mine alone...

Slugster - would love to increase the size of the toolbox but funds are few and far between at the moment... Plus, I have to put petrol in my other toy (Bandit 650)

Steve - Thanks for your detailed advice. You are correct that as I don't already own a circular saw, I have bugger all experience of using one either. You advice is not falling on deaf ears.

This 'simple' electrical job is turning out to be a 3 month marathon of many new skills to learn and cock-ups to perform

Tilly, this is the tool I used to get under my floorboards before I had a circular saw - a purpose made Floorboard Saw. It is harder work then a circ-saw but you can see what you are doing all the time, which is a bonus.
The curved part will let you cut down over a joist which is handy as it saves you making a bridge support and by flipping it over, you can make sure you cut only the board you are lifting
One of those, a wide bolster and/or a couple of these Pry Bars to act as levers and you should be sorted enough to ply a trade as a floorboard lifter

Sweet! Perhaps I should pack in my job in Finance now and start off a small but perhaps profitable business in lifting peoples floorboards

On second thoughts, I shall wait and see how my own place turns out first

Regardless, looks as though an order to screwfix.com for that saw and a couple of those pry bars is imminent

Those bars will double up as a nice self-defence tool should someone be silly enough to break into my house

They'd have to have some serious excrement in their eyes to look through the window and still want to get inside though. They would risk electricution or falling through some dodgy-cut floorboards should they make it as far as the master bedroom

heeelllooo steve f

yep your spot on about using a circular saw and the dangers and having to run the riving knive down the groove the blade makes

this you have to ballanced against the chance of cutting surface mounted services that may be located immediatly below the boards if you dont have a depth stop

i also agree about only having to remove the tounge one side but
if you remove it from both sides you can lift a floorboard from the end which will only involve leverage dammage at the very end

Nice touch of humour Tilly
Good luck with the project.

big all- Great minds think alike!!!