Could do with some advice please.
We have a kitchen island which contains a gas hob. The copper gas pipe runs in a trench dig into the floor, with screed and Amtico vinyl flooring laid on top. It’s been down for 12 years.
I noticed a lump in the floor yesterday. The lump is possibly 4-5 inches wide at the widest point, then it tracks across the floor in a haphazard line.
We took the kickboards off the units either side of the floor (including the island) ti find that the distortion in the floor roughly follows the track of the gas copper pipe. There is no sign of any damp and the lump under the floor is hard.
As the pipe emerges from the trench, under the island. we can see that it’s not lagged with any plastic, though there appears to be a plastic wrapper sitting loose my on top which has worn away. I am assuming that the copper has come into contact with the concrete and/or the screed used prior to the vinyl floor being laid. There is also a significant amount of white powdery substance emerging from the trench, which I suspect is effervescence.
The screed layer visible emerging at the edge of the vinyl has a small crack in the same direction as the pipe. There is no smell of gas.
The lump appeared pretty much overnight. I think the build up of effervescence may have put pressure on the screed layer above it, causing it to crack and bulge.
Does this seem feasible? And what would your advice be? I think the whole door needs to come up, it’s a large kitchen with Continuous flooring into the utility room and the hall, so not an insignificant job. The pipe and bulge lie at right angles to the direction of the vinyl ‘planks’ so even if they can be removed, they need to be cut across.
Thanks for getting this far!
We have a kitchen island which contains a gas hob. The copper gas pipe runs in a trench dig into the floor, with screed and Amtico vinyl flooring laid on top. It’s been down for 12 years.
I noticed a lump in the floor yesterday. The lump is possibly 4-5 inches wide at the widest point, then it tracks across the floor in a haphazard line.
We took the kickboards off the units either side of the floor (including the island) ti find that the distortion in the floor roughly follows the track of the gas copper pipe. There is no sign of any damp and the lump under the floor is hard.
As the pipe emerges from the trench, under the island. we can see that it’s not lagged with any plastic, though there appears to be a plastic wrapper sitting loose my on top which has worn away. I am assuming that the copper has come into contact with the concrete and/or the screed used prior to the vinyl floor being laid. There is also a significant amount of white powdery substance emerging from the trench, which I suspect is effervescence.
The screed layer visible emerging at the edge of the vinyl has a small crack in the same direction as the pipe. There is no smell of gas.
The lump appeared pretty much overnight. I think the build up of effervescence may have put pressure on the screed layer above it, causing it to crack and bulge.
Does this seem feasible? And what would your advice be? I think the whole door needs to come up, it’s a large kitchen with Continuous flooring into the utility room and the hall, so not an insignificant job. The pipe and bulge lie at right angles to the direction of the vinyl ‘planks’ so even if they can be removed, they need to be cut across.
Thanks for getting this far!
