Access floor plumbing
We have a house that was built in 1900s and a bedroom was made into the bathroom.
The plumbing is in the floor.
Plywood was screwed around the plumbing as an access door and then carpet was placed over it – of course the carpet got moldy after many, many years. Now we want to place ceramic tile in the bathroom – how can we still get access to the plumbing easily if something goes wrong and there is tile there?
I want to think you can do a tile an access panel that can be removable but would it leak if it got wet? Help!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You really cannot unless you tear up the tile or go underneath the floor and work up to it. If it is on a second floor you will have to tear out part of the ceiling on the first floor. If it is on the first floor you can access it underneath the home.
Well that just practily happend to my family but in your bathroom leave an area open to get to the plumming and pun something like a decortoin the comes on and off over it and p.s HAVE FUN!
Trace the path of the plumbing and place a plank of wood over it. Tile the plank and then lay tiles as usual around it. Be sure to mark the ends of the access panel.
It will not leak if you are not clumsy.
For one thing the panel would crack if you tiled it. Tile has to be on a surface that can not flex or it will crack My suggestion is to use vinyl floor covering that has a pattern that will match the access panel, cut out can then be caulked. Or cover floor complete, cut out panel when needed.
It is not unusual for plumbing to be under the subfloor. Your contractor should be able to easily remedy this. Most plumbing repairs are not to pipes whether running under the floor or in the wall or overhead. Most plumbing repairs are in the fittings at the sink or toilet. You may have to have piping extended and new fittings put in so any problems can be taken care of in the wall.
Make sure the pipes under the floor are in good shape and the connections are solid before you lay the new floor. You should have no trouble with them and there should be no need to tear your floor up if they are in good shape. And if the fittings are good, you don’t have to worry about leaks/moisture.
That said, what is the shape of the overall plumbing in the house? If you have corroded pipes in other areas of the house, leaking can occur from any site. You may want to have a contractor check out all of the plumbing before you do the flooring project.
If your not happy with the answers you got, you might want to try this…. they now make a laminate floor that looks a lot like tile you could leave the screwed down plywood and go over it with the laminate. then if you have to get to it just remove the molding and threshold piece and the laminate (as long as you don’t glue it) will lift out one piece at a time from the last piece installed in. (you might want to buy the type with the foam backing so that will come up with the floor)