Lifting up Karndean flooring to get to pipes - anyone done it?

[nothingisnothing]

We've suddenly got a terrible water hammer problem within the pipework under our bathroom floor. It's got to be sorted otherwise the pipe joints will work loose in time and flood the house. Trouble is, we've got karndean tiles.
Is it possible to lift them so they can be relaid? and how do I do it?
I still love the floor and there's no way I can afford another at the moment :(

well you could take the ceilings below down to get to it,

If you do this, drop the ceiling, you then have the opportunity to rearrange your lighting arrangements, insulate the space, sound proof, add radiators,

It comes down to size costs, the floor space, or the ceiling below,

so what size is the bathroom floor and what size are the ceilings below?

It's got to be sorted otherwise the pipe joints will work loose in time and flood the house.

yep that will happen, make sure your insurance is up to date and nothing irreplaceable is below.

I thought water hammer was a system pressure/pipe size/valve problem? Have you been told you must get to the pipes because if not I'd hold off before ripping Karndean up. Get a plumber in.

Hi
When we had our Karndean laid the guy told me that they can be lifted by heating so the glue melts. I think . He gave us a load of spares and said that if any got damaged then they could be lifted and replaced. I have a vague memory that we would have had to call them out to do it though.
I would second checking with a plumber first to be certain you need to lift it.

Thanks for your replies. I'm not looking forward to having to sort this out at all.
gobbin I thought the same too (after googling) especially as it's all started because of a problem with the toilet. The stop cock or whatever it's called, inside the toilet cistern, goes funny about once a year - it won't shut off the water.
This time, instead of giving it a clean, DP tried to replace it with a better quality one. New one wouldn't fit so put old one back on. Ever since, if the water supply to the toilet is on, whenever we use the taps upstairs or down the pipes start vibrating and banging. The noise sometimes happens for no reason too. It sounds really loud like someone's core drilling. But turn the water off to the toilet and there's no problem at all!!
Is there anyone reading this who can shed some light on what it can be???
Google told me it was water hammer which we told the plumber over the phone. He said that a pipe has come out of it's bracket so we need to have a look
freshwest Yes, I think you're right. We choose it over laminate for the dining room too for incase any coal from the fire burnt the floor. I think we'd need to take up at least half the bathroom floor though and I don't think we can re-use the same tiles.
Will probably go through the living room ceiling as quoteunquote suggests......

Is there not access to the pipes without lifting the flooring, I'd be surprised if the floor had to be lifted, ounds excessive and expensive. Don't you have an access hatch to under the house or a hatch going into the eaves of the house or even loft access.

Consult a plumber, water hammer may not be a big problem to solve.

Hi frontdoorstep no, it's an 100+ year old terraced house - although I had all the pipework replaced 13 years ago when I had central heating inslalled - so all the pipes are in the spaces between ceiling and floor.
Either DP has relayed the problem to the plumber correctly, or the plumber has misunderstood because after googling some more, I really don't think it's loose pipework. Water hammer is as gobbin suggests.

A couple of sites I've come across tonight suggested draining the system of water. I've just done that and so far so good [smiles] even the toilet isn't making the clonking sound it's made for years when the water shuts off!!
So fingers crossed, the problem's solved

That should read *incorrectly