Cutting plywood flooring flush with a wall.

[RichardS]

I've finally completed my outstanding tasks for the "on view" rooms in the house, and SWMBO's attention is now turned to our office room...

A few months ago I was fortunate enough to spot a big pile of over-ordered oak strip flooring outside a neighbour's house - they gave it to me, being glad not to have to dispose of it elsewhere! There turned out to be about twice the amount that I would need to replace the flooring in the office, probably just the right amount once the rejects have been filtered out, so a job was born.

My plan was to decamp the computer equipment to another room for a week, strip out the room, remove the old boards and lay the new flooring. Done flooring a couple of times, so shouldn't be much more than a weekend's work. Or so I thought....

Having ripped the old carpet up I was dismayed to find that the old floor wasn't constructed of boards like most of the rest of the house, but 8x4 sheets of 19mm ply. Fine, unscrew them, out they go, quicker than lifting the old boards. Unfortunately, they some of them run underneath the partition wall into the hallway, which was obviously rebuilt after the floor had been laid, when the house was renovated some years before I got it.

I really don't want to lay the flooring on top of this ply for a number of reasons:

1. the wall units, worktop, filing cabinet, etc etc are all fitted based upon the current floor level and the taller units fit right up to the ceiling. Refitting this stuff would be a major PITA.

1. I don't want a level change between rooms

2. it would be a permanent fit, never to be easily removed. IF, for any possible reason, I needed to gain emergency access to the floor void (electrical or plumbing emergency) it would mean ripping up the entire floor. At least if they are laid directly onto the joists I could get away with only lifting a section of the floor, and replacing the strips that would be unavoidably damaged.

So I'm going to have to cut the sheets flush with the walls. (skirting removed for this, obviously).

Any suggestions as to what to use? I won't get close enough with the circular saw, nor a router. Handsaw is a possibility, but I don't relish the thought of sawing through that lot, and there would be a high possiblity that I would end up cutting through heating pipes and cables and things.

Rotozip type thing? Or is it doubtful that I'll find one with enough grunt to get through 19mm ply?

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[in2minds]

cut the ply with a circular saw (set to the right depth) as close to the wall as you can, then you can see if any pipes/cables run und the wall to finish off you could use a reciprocating saw with a suitable blade

Les

[John Rumm]

Your starters for ten:-

1) A biscuit jointer would be able to cut within 5mm or so with the edge

- since you will have the skirting off that may be close enough.

2) You can also hire special saws designed to trim the bottom of doors without first needing to remove them from the hinges etc - that might also do it. 3) As another poster suggested, a longish blade in a reciprocating saw would also get flush. 4) Even a manual "pull" saw would be not to much hard work. 5) A wood chisel on a SDS drill 6) A wood cutting/sculpting blade on a small angle grinder 7) A Chainsaw can be surprisingly controllable for these sorts of task

[Colin]

Interesting... Any idea where I can buy one of these?

Colin

[Ian Stirling]

I believe toolstation have them, or maybe screwfix. The one I have is a steel donut shape, with tungsten carbide grit on it. Works well, even for oak. Produces some dust. I suppose flat ones must be available.

[mrcheerful]

You could use a door cutting circular saw, these will go to within 6 mm of the wall, a small beading would cover the join.

mrcheerful

[RichardS]

thanks, that looks like my best bet. I just wasn't sure whether they could be safely used in a vertical position.

beading ought not tobe necessary because it will be covered once the skirting is refitted, andthat's about 18mm thick.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[RichardS]

Thanks, food for thought there.

Don't possess 1,2,3,5,6 (yikes - the price of them!) or 7, so hire shop is my friend if I go with one of them.

2 looks like the best bet. 7 a possibility if I can hire an electric one, buggered if I'm going to work indoors in a small room with a petrol model!! I could always attack the unwanted holly tree whilst I have it...

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[John Rumm]

Not that cheap but:-

?part=ARBPR04K

[John Rumm]

Even if it was petrol, you will only need run it for about 2 mins ;-)

[mrcheerful]

The only real difference to a standard saw is the guarding, the foot and a slim attachment nut . If you have a spare circular saw you could modify it yourself. Might be cheaper than hiring one. But do be really careful using a modified one, just in case !!

mrcheerful

[RichardS]

Just looked in my local independent hire shop's catalogue - the door trimming saw is £9.90 per day or £13.20 for the weekend, so at that price it's probably not worth my time trying to mod a saw.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[mrcheerful]

True, true. Personally I always find that hire periods are never long enough for me (I work too slowly or get sidetracked) so I usually buy everything, at present I have a spare circular saw, so I would enjoy the challenge of modifying it!! YMMV !!!

mrcheerful

[RichardS]

. If you have a spare circular saw you could modify

Ah, well the defined hire period does always have the effect of concentrating the mind and effort on the job in hand!

Very often I'll find myself hiring a tool if I know I will use it particularly infrequently. A door trimming saw would fit precisely into that category for me because if I actually had any door trimming to do I'd probably mark up, remove the door, then cut it by hand or using normal circ saw with one of my finest home made guide jigs.

The good thing about the hire shop I use is that they do keep their tools in good nick, and they tend to have decent industrial rated tools (they can stand the abuse, I guess), mostly Makita it seems. Often I'll end up buying a tool if doing a job myself saves me more than the tool's cost in pro's fees, and when I get one it's generally a goodun.

I did toy with the idea of buying a super-cheapy saw & modding that, but then looked at the hire charges.... As it happens, I do want another saw, but at the other end of the spectrum giving me the accuracy that the current one (a low-end DeWalt. ) just seems incapable of providing. That would enable me to mod my current saw, but I just couldn't justify the new saw outlay at the moment.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Dave S]

I wonder how many times I've been pondering an upcoming diy problem only to see someone else post with an almost identical problem!! In my case I have chipboard sheets, laid without glue which squeak loudly enough to waken the children. Thinking that I would not easily be able to cut the sheets close to the walls, I was almost resigned to re-laying the chipboard sheets properly and then laying a floating floor on top. However, if I can cut the chipboard almost flush with the walls I could lay a structural wood floor instead.

Richard, I this will be a winter project for me, so I'd be very interested how you get on with the door trimmer.

cheers David

[P.R.Brady]

Will you fit a few removable planks for later maintenence? Phil

[RichardS]

yep. What I did downstairs was to drill, screw and plug the boards where they couldn't be nailed due to distance from the walls, and in the alcoves next to the chimney breasts extend these screwed boards to approx 1m x 1m "access points". This will enable me to crawl under the floor should an "emergency" arise (it'd take me a couple of hours to get under there of course, but at least I won't damage the boards irreparably lifting them).

I'll do the same thing upstairs around the walls, and just extend the plugged and screwed strip area enough to allow me to get a lifting bar under the other strips so I can get them up without too much damage. I'll see how it goes - typically I don't have a complete plan for the job when I start it, but instead modify things as I go along.

I could always glue a few strips together and then screw them down as a complete removable "hatch", perhaps just in front of the radiator.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[BONNIE]

replying to Dave S, BONNIE wrote: TOE KICK SAW MIGHT WORK

[tabbypurr]

That's exactly what I need right now. But I suspect Dave's problem is long since sorted, it was 13 years ago.

NT