Lifting laminate floor to get to central heating pump?

cubegame

Good morning.

About this time last year I happily fitted a laminate flooring over where our central heating pump is thinking that the pump would probably last longer than the laminate anyway.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and the pump is now buzzing and stopping/starting intermittently. I need to get to it to check it out and wondered if anyone has tips for lifting laminate easily. The edges of the laminate are under skirting and it's not practical to lift the whole lot if necessary.

The room is like this....
______________________________________
Airing Cupboard |
Airing Cupboard |
Airing Cupboard |
Airing Cupboard |
______________|
| DOOR
|
|
| X PUMP
|
|
|
|
|
| DOOR

The laminate has an exposed edge inside the airing cupboard so I'm hoping to work from there. Is the easiet way going to be to remove the skirting from the left hand wall so I can work from two sides? The laminate is glueless.

Hope that is clear and someone has some ideas.

Thanks.

ormus

which way is the laminate laid? in your sketch. ie north/south or east/west?
removing the skirting is obviously the first step.

or make a trap door inside the airing cupboard? to access the void.

thats what ive got in my hallway. under the carpet.

ps. its very small. about 2ft sq.

cubegame

The laminate is laid east to west in the diagram. Hopefully with removing the skirting I should be able to slide some planks free........does that sound reasonable?

ormus

it might be. probably very difficult though to get it up an down again without breaking summat.
do you have any spare planks?

you maybe better off starting at one end, (ie the nearest wall), and taking it all up to the point required.
youll need to remove 3 skirtings then.

are you sure the trap door method isnt feasable?

anotherbaldrick

You say the laminate is under the skirting board ? Does this mean the skirting board has a moulding nailed on to mask the edge of the flooring or that the skirting board was installed after the flooring and now covers the edges ?
If the former take the moulding off so that you can unclip the flooring by pivoting the edge upwards. You wont shift it any way other than unclipping it

jennifernil

And.............Once you do get to the pump, consider moving it to the airing cupboard.

Owain_Moneysaver

You may be able to use a Trend Routabout to make a trapdoor in the laminate at the required location.

The removed section of laminate/floor fits into the plastic ring and goes back into the hole as a trapdoor.

cubegame

Pump has now given up the ghost.

I like the look of the Routabout but it's costly for one job and I also don't have a router so that's a bit of a expense.

I've looked up techniques for removing planks from floor middles which involve cutting out the offending plank and replacing with a glued section. Might be a weak point but we have a rug in that position anyway to cover any noticable stuff.

However, I did wonder if anyone had experience of actually exposing the joints by putting a length of wooden dowel parallel to the joins though? As I can get under the floor nearby it occurs that I might be able to cut the joins with a knife without cutting the planks.

ormus

i have replaced the odd plank by cutting the tongues off, and glueing the new one in place.
however its not to be recommended. generally.
it really all depends on where the problem area is, in the room.
ie is there any footfall in that area.

cubegame

ormus wrote: »

i have replaced the odd plank by cutting the tongues off, and glueing the new one in place.
however its not to be recommended. generally.
it really all depends on where the problem area is, in the room.
ie is there any footfall in that area.

There isn't really any footfall in the area to be honest so this probably seems like the best option apart from lifting the whole lot. There's always the option of a rug!