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Cutting the floor

avidrissman
avidrissman Member Posts: 34
in Strictly Steam
Back in a different thread, when I was talking about my issues, I posted some pictures and y’all got on my case (legitimately) about my flooring going right up to and touching the riser. So today I got out my dremel and started cutting away. It took way too long to get this:



I got some space, but now I see that my subfloor is also right up against the pipe. Does anyone have experience cutting away flooring from the pipe? I have a Dremel that I was using, but I’m not sure that’s the best tool.

Alternatively, what kind of contractor does this kind of work, and is “cut ¼–½ inch around an iron pipe” a reasonable request to make?

Comments

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,248
    There is no way to cut it and have a pretty hole. You might take a drill bit and drill a series of holes around the entire pipe. An osscellating tool, a dremel and a sawzall or hackzall will help. Along with a wood chisel and a hammer

    You can buy a pipe escutcheon to cover up the mess
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,248
    You can buy 1/4" pilot bits that are 16" long.
    These would let you run the bit down around all of the pipes without running the drill into the valve.

    Then clean up as Ed mentioned above.
  • JakeCK
    JakeCK Member Posts: 1,467
    edited September 2021
    This actually reminds me, I have the exact opposite problem. I used to have a large radiator in front of my living room windows. At some point in time it was split in two and put on each side of the fireplace. But that left nice little round 2" holes in the floor. One has a wood plug and looks fine. The other... has ducktape on the subfloor to keep the cats from pulling lamp cords through from the basement.

    Any suggestions on where I can buy oak plugs?
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,683
    EBEBRATT-Ed said:

    There is no way to cut it and have a pretty hole. You might take a drill bit and drill a series of holes around the entire pipe. An osscellating tool, a dremel and a sawzall or hackzall will help. Along with a wood chisel and a hammer

    I vote for the oscillating saw with a narrow long blade
    JakeCK said:


    Any suggestions on where I can buy oak plugs?

    You can make them with a hole saw. If you drill a hole in a piece of plywood using the pilot in the hole saw, you can them clamp that board to the piece you want to cut the plug from, remove the pilot from the hole saw and the board with the hole in it will act as the pilot to guide the hole saw.

    JakeCK
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    Sawzall…

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,248
    @JakeCK

    What @mattmia2 said is true use a hole saw if you can get one that will cut the right size plug. Chances are you will have to sand it to fit which is difficult.

    The other idea is to cut a plug with a hole saw let the pilot bit go all the way through. Then take the plug and put a 1/4-20 bolt through it with a nut to secure it and chuck the bolt in your drill. Then you can spin the plug and hold some sandpaper against it to reduce the diameter
    mattmia2
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,683
    Or just drill a new hole that matches the hole saw, granted you will need to fill the kerf.
  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,505
    What are you guys rambling on about? The OP wants to cut in some space around his pipes, or am I missing something?

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,683
    STEVEusaPA said:

    What are you guys rambling on about? The OP wants to cut in some space around his pipes, or am I missing something?

    JakeCK said:


    Any suggestions on where I can buy oak plugs?

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