Council House, Squeeky floorboards, screwed into pipes

[T1tsortyres]

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes.
So I moved into a new house on Monday, a council house (gasp). Lovely big old house and I'm so happy with it despite some teething issues like PVC windows sticking and door bottoms needing shaved etc.

Anyway, council informed me the carpet fitters were arriving today (this morning) to fit carpets. I noticed this morning whilst waiting for them to arrive that quite a number of floor boards were very squeaky, one even had no nails or screws in at all. I rushed about before the carpet fitters arrived screwing screws into all the squeaky slightly warped boards making sure to screw at the joist sections and at each side. I had no drill so simply just used a screwdriver by hand.


Whilst screwing one board down I heard water running or hissing, not sure which and I started to panic, damn!! in my amateur DIY attempts I hadn't given any thought towards sunken pipe depths and where those pipes might be, didn't think to pull the boards up first to check as I was in such a hurry trying to get it done before carpet guys arrived.

I noticed the end of the board was split anyway so I hacked it up to check the pipe underneath, there was NO pipe underneath I could see, just a joist, but I thought maybe the pipe runs through the middle of the joist? anyway I decided I probably hadn't damaged a pipe due to not seeing one and I carried on screwing down lots more boards in both the bedrooms.

When I went to make a coffee in the kitchen I noticed my boiler was making a kettling type noise and had zero bars of pressure, no pressure at all. st! I then decided I MUST have screwed into a pipe, potentially the same pipe multiple times or multiple pipes.

I'm quite concerned about leaks downstairs at this point as i switched the boiler off and I have not lost any pressure in my taps, so I'm assuming it was a boiler pipe? not sure how the system all works but obv I am concerned about downstairs (4 in a block, I'm upstairs) but more so I'm terrified about informing the council as to the fk up I've made, will they charge me for this? money is extremely precious just now. Should I fess up or play dumb? my step dad thinks I should play dumb and deny all knowledge but I'm worried the plumber/engineer might not find ALL the leaks if I've created numerous leaks in different places and simply don't tell him. If I'm going to get charged heavily for this and won't get away with "playing dumb" then I might just consider unscrewing some floorboards, finding the pipe pathing then unscrew some more to find the damaged pipe and braze on a screw fix patch with a blowtorch. Also stopcock under boiler/sink doesn't seem to turn off the water.

I'm such a bell end I can't believe I could be so dense, especially as I'm a 10yr experienced home mechanic (cars) perhaps I should stick to working on cars. I have some time off work but not for much longer, I need to get this all sorted somehow, I have no hot water and downstairs ceiling might start leaking.

Any advice/thoughts would be much appreciated

[Second Best]

T1tsortyres said:

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes.
So I moved into a new house on Monday, a council house (gasp). Lovely big old house and I'm so happy with it despite some teething issues like PVC windows sticking and door bottoms needing shaved etc.

Anyway, council informed me the carpet fitters were arriving today (this morning) to fit carpets. I noticed this morning whilst waiting for them to arrive that quite a number of floor boards were very squeaky, one even had no nails or screws in at all. I rushed about before the carpet fitters arrived screwing screws into all the squeaky slightly warped boards making sure to screw at the joist sections and at each side. I had no drill so simply just used a screwdriver by hand.


Whilst screwing one board down I heard water running or hissing, not sure which and I started to panic, damn!! in my amateur DIY attempts I hadn't given any thought towards sunken pipe depths and where those pipes might be, didn't think to pull the boards up first to check as I was in such a hurry trying to get it done before carpet guys arrived.

I noticed the end of the board was split anyway so I hacked it up to check the pipe underneath, there was NO pipe underneath I could see, just a joist, but I thought maybe the pipe runs through the middle of the joist? anyway I decided I probably hadn't damaged a pipe due to not seeing one and I carried on screwing down lots more boards in both the bedrooms.

When I went to make a coffee in the kitchen I noticed my boiler was making a kettling type noise and had zero bars of pressure, no pressure at all. st! I then decided I MUST have screwed into a pipe, potentially the same pipe multiple times or multiple pipes.

I'm quite concerned about leaks downstairs at this point as i switched the boiler off and I have not lost any pressure in my taps, so I'm assuming it was a boiler pipe? not sure how the system all works but obv I am concerned about downstairs (4 in a block, I'm upstairs) but more so I'm terrified about informing the council as to the fk up I've made, will they charge me for this? money is extremely precious just now. Should I fess up or play dumb? my step dad thinks I should play dumb and deny all knowledge but I'm worried the plumber/engineer might not find ALL the leaks if I've created numerous leaks in different places and simply don't tell him. If I'm going to get charged heavily for this and won't get away with "playing dumb" then I might just consider unscrewing some floorboards, finding the pipe pathing then unscrew some more to find the damaged pipe and braze on a screw fix patch with a blowtorch. Also stopcock under boiler/sink doesn't seem to turn off the water.

I'm such a bell end I can't believe I could be so dense, especially as I'm a 10yr experienced home mechanic (cars) perhaps I should stick to working on cars. I have some time off work but not for much longer, I need to get this all sorted somehow, I have no hot water and downstairs ceiling might start leaking.

Any advice/thoughts would be much appreciated

To be honest chap I think you need to just grin and bear it, it'll be obvious to the plumbers that you've done a whoopsie when they see a mangled floorboard, fresh screw heads and a shiny part of a burst pipe / burst pipes.

I expect the (council) landlord will claim on their own insurance, regardless of whether they bill you or not, but given the damage I would assume an assessor will see the problem straight away. Although, you could reason, that given the recent cold weather, they may chalk it down to old pipes, freezing water, burst mains. If you're a gambling man, then that might be a bet worth considering.

I'm not a lawyer, expert, or anything in between. Just my thoughts.

Good luck.

[Crumpet]

We all fk up. Just do the right thing and own up to your mistake; I hate when when people can’t own up to screwing up. It’s like when people cut you up or pull out in front of you while driving. You give them a little toot on the horn and instead of holding their hands up and saying sorry you receive a torrent of abuse like they’re the innocent ones!

Anyway, lesson learned but if a floorboard is loose the reason is almost always because it was taken up by someone to run a pipe or cable! Always lift and check to see what’s underneath.

Have you actually located your leak?

[Djtemeka]

Always pull up a board and pop your head under.

You can probably see 5 or 6 boards in either direction for pipes and cables.

We have all hit pipes or cables before and will possibly do it again.

Call a plumber. It’s a quick job. 1 hour max.
£60

Not including any damage to the ceiling below but that will just be cosmetic for now.

Wait a couple weeks then paint with damp seal. Preferably Zinsser. Then paint the whole ceiling 2 coats of emulsion.


This isn’t a big issue or job

[Unreal]

T1tsortyres said:

Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes.
So I moved into a new house on Monday, a council house (gasp). Lovely big old house and I'm so happy with it despite some teething issues like PVC windows sticking and door bottoms needing shaved etc.

Anyway, council informed me the carpet fitters were arriving today (this morning) to fit carpets. I noticed this morning whilst waiting for them to arrive that quite a number of floor boards were very squeaky, one even had no nails or screws in at all. I rushed about before the carpet fitters arrived screwing screws into all the squeaky slightly warped boards making sure to screw at the joist sections and at each side. I had no drill so simply just used a screwdriver by hand.

Confused. You moved in on Monday. You post at 3am on Thursday so when exactly did you do this?

Wrong forum. Homes, gardens and 'DIY'...

[StescoG66]

Hopefully it’s not a gas pipe and The OP isn’t already in orbit.........

[toasty]

If it’s any consolation, I’ve done the exact same thing.

[The test driver]

toasty said:

If it’s any consolation, I’ve done the exact same thing.

Same Same, I dead centred a 22MM hot water pipe with a nail doing the exact same thing as OP.

[skeeterm5]

I did the same.

Went to B&Q and bought a push fit repair piece, cut the pipe where the hole was, inserted the repair push fit piece. Took 10 minutes and job jobbed.

Something like this….

[Triumph Man]

I've done it too .

I had a deal with the sparky when doing up my house that I'd get the floor up for him. 8pm one night, after a few beers, I just thought I'd buzz up some flooring before bed - quick job. Oh no, only went through the main central heating pipe, which was now pissing into the Kitchen below...

[Viperzs]

It's easily done in the moment. The best thing to do is not try to cover it up or get around it. If you can't find the problem then it needs looking at properly and fixing ASAP.

The landlord may be really decent and just ask you to pay for the repairs, which would be entirely fair. At the same time, you can ask them about the process for other minor snags you find, such as loose floorboards to see if that's something they can arrange to be resolved for you in the future.

I hope you get it sorted.

[ScoobyChris]

I did exactly the same and managed to screw through a hot water pipe that had been laid through a cut-out in the joist (had I gone the other side of the existing nail I'd have been fine ). One emergency plumber and a lot of p***-taking by the family later and it was all sorted. Before we laid the carpet, I marked on the floor the location of all the pipes so I (hopefully!) don't do it again...

Chris

[Simpo Two]

skeeterm5 said:

I did the same.

Went to B&Q and bought a push fit repair piece, cut the pipe where the hole was, inserted the repair push fit piece. Took 10 minutes and job jobbed.

Something like this….

Get one of those round metal pipe cutters too - they're brilliant.

[simon_harris]

I suspect this thread may descend into a "I screwed into a pipe as well" confession-fest.

But having just completed re-decorating our lounge and in a fit of diy frenzy I thought while I am at it I'll sort out that squeaky floorboard in the bedroom while I have my tools out. One punctured water pipe later I had to redo the lounge to fix the water damage.

[KAgantua]

Gone through 3 pipes and 1 cable in my time. It happens.

[Rockettvr]

The convention is that services such as gas/water or electric should be run in the centre of the floor board run leaving room at the edges to nail or screw the board down. They should also be in the centre of the joist meaning they should be deep enough to avoid being hit unless you’re using 50mm (2inch) plus length screws/nails
Get a plumber in - be honest with him as to where the damage is and save time and ultimately money

[B'stard Child]

The test driver said:

toasty said:

If it’s any consolation, I’ve done the exact same thing.

Same Same, I dead centred a 22MM hot water pipe with a nail doing the exact same thing as OP.

Me too - creaky chipboard floor rolled back the carpet and underlay laid a straight edge accross the floor to line up with the screw heads to work out which way the floor joist ran and rattled in a 3 inch screw. "Winner winner chicken dinner" no creaks

Put all the underlay and carpet back

1 day later noticed a dark patch on the ceiling below - 20 mins later the plasterboard burst and a couple of gals of water made a bid for freedom.

Dead centre on a 22mm flow pipe to the rad in the bedroom that was passing thro a notch in the joist

Oh how I laughed!!!!

Chipboard Floor board had to come up - tongue and grooved as well as glued so I made a mess of the floor getting the section up and made the required repair and screwed it all down again

Bloody floor sodding creaks now

[kambites]

I'm another person who's done this, although fortunately the room below was also part of my house not someone else's! The really annoying thing was that when I looked carefully at the floor boards I was screwing down, they actually had the pipe locations drawn on them.

[geeks]

KAgantua said:

Gone through 3 pipes and 1 cable in my time. It happens.

1 pipe and 1 cable.

The pipe was in almost identical circumstances to the OP. We still have the infamous bit of pipe somewhere

[Daggle74]

To be fair I think I could top trump you all....

My brother lived as a groundsman for a castle, he lived in the gatehouse which was built in the 12th Century, you could imagine how that looked. I thought I'd be helpful and fit a carpet in the spare room for their new born daughter. Fitted the carpet, no problems, just had to fit the piece of trim that sits at the entrance to the door, a simple job of drilling out the concrete floor, some 6mm rawl plugs and screws.

Drilled three out of four fixings and on the last one, yep you guessed it, hit the mains water feed that fed the bathroom. Water was pouring out and when I asked where the stopcock was, I was met with blank looks by my brother.....

It took hours to turn the water off, there was no stop cock fitted in the gatehouse. In the end they had to get a mini digger into the house to dig up the dining room floor and find the water pipe where it ran into the house as the supply, just so that they could fit a new supply with a stop cock.

Fitting carpets fills me with dread everytime I do it, but touch wood I haven't had a bigger problem since