replacing water pipe from mains

[DuelingFanjo]

has anyone done this? We have discovered a leak under the floorboards and have had to take up floorboards in one room. We think the whole pipe will need to be replaced.

It needs to go from the mains outside the front (terraced, straight onto the street house) and through two small reception rooms then to the kitchen.

Will we have to rip up the floor all the way through the house? We have wooden floorboards all the way apart from the kitchen which is, I think, Concrete.

Dh says we could put it under the floorboards and then around the back of the kitchen units and that we could use plastic piping?

we can't afford to get someone in to do it for us :(

Can you not just cut the pipe where the leak is. then add new pipe just for that bit with the attaching bits you can get from a plumbers.

Or, as a first try - you can get a putty sort of thing and a bandage gauze stuff (again, ask in plumbers shop) and you fix it like fixing a hole in a car's exhaust.

this would be my solution but DH thinks we should replace the whole thing incase other bits go later.

I am worried that we're going to have major disruption.

Also, because it's the mains ppe I assume it has the most pressure on it of all the pipes in the house?

Well yes, other bits might well go later, but it looks from your OP that you want to keep the cost down.
You know I think that if you were to get someone in to do it for you, they'd just replace or fix the leaky bit and that might cost you less than you doing 2 rooms worth of piping under the floorboards by yourselves.

(Disclaimer, I don't know that much about it, but have fixed a couple of leaks with DH after having burst pipes in the winter).

thank you

DH thinks we can just put a whole new pipe in, feed it under the floorboards the same way as the old one and then through the kitchen?

Is that a question? I don't know.
I'd try and bandage it (if it's just a small area of pipe), if that failed I'd try changing just the broken area of pipe then resort to the bigger job if it needed it. (I guess it depends what the pipes like).
But your DH's idea could well be a better plan.

I really would replace the whole water pipe as once you fix one piece they usually spring leaks elsewhere!.But i would get a plumber in to do it as it sounds a complicated job.If you have lead pipes you will need to ask the water company to change the connection at the mains.Even if you have a short area to dig out in front of the house it is a job for builders who know what their doing[as all major gas/electricity and maybe telecommunications cables are usually underground].I am speaking from experience as we have had to replace a 45 metre pipe down our driveway, and had to sack the first builder, before finding someone reliable who had the 'nouse 'to do the job properly.

Speak to your water company: our one did ours. DH managed to shear the turning bit off of the mains tap outside our house and when they came to repair it they also replaced the old, lead pipe leading into the kitchen. They used a special, burrowing piece of equipment (like a mole) which basically dug the route and took the pipe along with it. They only had to lift some of the floorboards to make sure it was going the correct way.

If the leak has caused any damage you could claim on your house insurance. My sister had to do this, but her carpet had been ruined.