Please can anyone advise - I think we've put a screw thru' central heating pipe

melb

well when I say "we" I mean OH. We've just had all new carpets and OH wanted to sort problem of squeaky floorboards so joiner friend said put extra screws in - follow the lines of existing screws so you don't risk going through any pipes as you'll be following the lines of the joists. Well this was done on tues/weds, carpets fitted yesterday and 20 minutes ago as we were eating we felt a drip through the light socket and saw a bulge in the dining room ceiling under where new carpets are. we've turned off central heating, OH says there's no need to turn off water at stop-!!!! - is this right? We're ringing plumber to ask him to come round tomorrow. anything else we should be doing. OH just re-pressurised the central heating a couple of hours ago as the radiators sounded to be full of air so this has probably exacerbated the situation. Any other things we should be doing before plumber tomorrow? thanks

Robbo77

DO NOT RE-PRESSURISE THE CH SYSTEM!!. If you do, the leak will continue. Assuming you have hit a pipe feeding an upstairs radiator, you WONT need to turn off the stop !!!!. Mains supply won't be affected but, for safety reasons, draiin the pressure from the system and shut the boiler down until your plumber can fix the issue. Hope this is helpful.

Tucker

If you know where the drain off is on the boiler, you could drain it into a bucket and open up the bleed valves on the upstairs radiators. That will empty all the water from upstairs to limit any more water loss.

In my house, the heating pipes across the top of the joists, so simply following the screws won't really mean you avoid hitting pipes.

Best thing is to take some flooring up, see where they run and draw it on the boards with a marker pen for future reference.

cocktail

do you have home emergency cover? that should cover such emergencies.

melb

no we don'thave home emergency cover but hopefully the insurance might cover it - will have a look at it tomorrow. He re-pressurised the system before we realised we had a leak but we've turned CH and water heating off now. Plumber is coming at 9.00 am tomorrow - he's a lovely bloke and has responded really quickly when we've had emergencies (don't ask!!) the bulge seems to be getting a bit bigger but we've got plastic sheeting across our lovely newly laid carpet in dining room. Now we have to lift carpet in landing and daughter's bedroom before plumber arrives. any tips on how best to do this without causing damage to carpet? We'll have to remove the bars where the landing carpet meets daughter's bedroom carpet - these are lovely modern ones but don't have the screws like older ones - will we just have to lift them as best we can and get new ones? what about lifting the carpet from the edge where it's just newly been laid to gripper rods -any tips on how to lift it without bleeding knuckles bleeding onto new carpet or tearing the carpet? thanks for all your help - much appreciated.

vaio

I'd be tempted to make a hole at the low pint of the bulge to let the water out

melb

sorry vaio I accidentally pressed the spam button on your post then pressed the not spam button to rectify it so I hope this doesn't have any repercussions. the other thing was that we only had most of the house decorated a few weeks ago - including the dining room ceiling where the bulge is - would piercing it cause more or less damage to the decor? thanks

robjcooper

melb,
if you have accidental damage cover on your home contents insurance any damage should be covered and they should pay for it to be repaired. Call them, you've got nothing to lose.

Rob

melb

yesh ... thanks for that ... why pick on my post I'm off to bed to dream of floods and ceilings faling down - nighty night everyone

melb

sorry rob I was, of course, referring to the post before yours not you. x

plumb1_2

Leave the screw in the pipe, until the plumber arrives. You should be able to leave you mains cold water on.