Wonder if I've driven a nail through a radiator pipe?

[Kenton]

Hi, think I might have messed up here. The carpet threshold strip (think that's what it's called) between my sitting room and my kitchen was loose and I thought I'd try and secure it because occasionally I'd trip over it where it was slightly raised and loose.

To the best of my knowledge, underneath the carpet in the sitting room is concrete and in the kitchen is a thick slate floor. The nail I replaced was missing so thought I'd just bang in a nail and everything would be good.

However, since I did this on Sunday night I noticed that a dehumidifier I had been using on and off in the kitchen very close to the threshold strip the tank was completely full when I got up this morning. Of course, this could just be coincidence but it got me thinking. Could I possibly have banged that nail into a hidden radiator pipe or something? I keep checking the carpet but there's no sign of damp. I also think it's best not to attempt to remove the nail for the time being.

Has anyone got any advice for me please as to what I can do? Thanks.

Post some photos please. pull back the carpet.

Hands up, I’ve done this before. Drop in boiler pressure gave it away. Well that and the drip coming through the ceiling!

Please excuse the state of my sitting room carpet. I was trying to scrub it clean a couple of hours ago and it's still damp (and dirty)! I've taken a photo of what it looks like now before rolling back any carpet. The offending nail is the one on the far right hand side. If I roll the carpet back should I just try and slide it out from the threshold strip whilst leaving the strip in place with the nail undisturbed? I will then take more photos. Thanks.

If you can lift the carpet off the spikes on the strip, you should be able to see the floor

If it is a rubber-backed carpet it might be glued down

Looking at the strip, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't screwed down.

PigletInABlanketJohn I think I'll take the photos in the morning. Thanks for your help so far.

My Dad did this in my flat once. It took ages to discover. It was a very slow leak. Can't remember now how we discovered it.

I've been at it since 9.00 am, very slow progress, I'm afraid. I was trying to ungrip the carpet from under that threshold strip without disturbing that end nail. I'm seriously wondering if I should just get a Stanley knife and cut away, say, a few inches of carpet which butts up to the threshold strip so I can see what's going on. Otherwise, the only way I can roll the carpet back is to ungrip the entire length of the room.

On a positive not though, I left the dehumidifier in the sitting room last night with the door shut and there was only a small amount of water in the tank this morning.

Have managed to ungrip the carpet to the left of the sitting room door with a pair of pliers and have just realised that the best thing to do would be to use the Stanley knife to make a cut in the carpet just near that double socket. Currently there is an armchair in front of that socket so that would disguise the cut. However now that I've thought about it it may be better to move the armchair further along that wall into the room away from the socket because knowing my luck I'll probably find there are electrical cables under the carpet and I'll probably cut right through them!

We had this. Concrete floor throughout with a channel in the floor where the water main runs. There was a wooden board on top of the pipe and a carpet fitter pierced the pipe. Resulted in a very small slow leak which went undetected for years but which caused damp in a cupboard.
Would recommend investigating sooner rather than later

The Stanley knife blade is now blunt and I don't have any spares. There is only one bit of carpet left that I have to remove. It's under that threshold strip where the nail is that I banged in on the right hand side. The nail goes right through that piece of carpet so I'm reluctant to tug on the carpet to try and free it. I have tried cutting that last bit of carpet off with scissors and kitchen knives and it's not working. That nail keeps moving up and down a bit and I'm worried I'm accidently going to pull it out completely. Will have another go later but if it doesn't work I will have to go out tomorrow and get replacement Stanley knife blades.

Check within the Stanley knife. Sometimes there are blades inside.

As said above, have you checked if the boiler has lost pressure? That would give you a good indication if you've gone through a heating pipe.
Our central heating generally runs about 1.3-1.5 bar when the heating is off.
The manual for the boiler will tell you how to check.

I did once saw into a CH pipe when cutting through some wooden panelling, didn't realise how close the pipe was to the back of the panel.
That came spraying out in my face and there was certainly no doubt that I had gone through a pipe!
From what you are saying, the nail you have put in is now moving about; if there is no water obviously leaking (and the CH is not losing pressure) then I think it's unlikely you have hit a pipe.

Im pretty sure if your boiler had lost enough water to fill a dehumidifier overnight just from moisture in the air you wouldn't have any heating (assuming pressurised system). Coupled with no damp carpet I don't think Id be worrying enough to be tearing up carpets. I would monitor the dehumidifier and boiler for a few days. Did you have any washing or anything in the room with the dehumidifier?

I think the way to get carpet up is to lift it off the spikes in the gripper strip.

Or, if it has no spikes and bites into the carpet from above, take out the screws or nails holding it. If it turns out that a nail or screw is in a pipe... put it back to block the hole.

A claw hammer is a bit big, but a "tack lifter" is ideal and a useful thing to have. Will also open paint or treacle tins, staples, and upholstery nails

Sometimes included in screwdriver sets.

www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2505460.m570.l1313&_nkw=tack+lifter&_sacat=0

Have been taking photos of the boiler pressure gauge several times every day since Sunday night, both when the heating is on and when it is switched off. Every day the pressure guage has remained constant as follows: heating off it reads 1.5; heating on it is just past the 2.

I never dry washing indoors.

If I remove that last nail and it is in a pipe will water spurt upwards like a fountain or will it just be leaking downwards out of sight?

It would squirt

Until you put the nail back

Or until a bucketful has come out

PigletInABlanketJohn So if it does start squirting out will turning the water off at the stopcock be the right thing to do?

The stopcock turns off the water supply to the taps. The radiators, boiler and their pipes contain a sealed amount of water, plus an air balloon to pressurise it, so will squirt out until the pressure is gone. About a bucketfull.

Older boilers are not pressurised and work differently.

Have just cut through that last bit of carpet that was still attached under the metal carpet bar. Here are the photos, what do you think?

I can't see a leak.

I would have pulled the nail out by now.

Is it a concrete floor, and have you got a drill? Screws in plasplugs would hold the strip much more securely.

P.s.

You can repair carpet with copydex. Put it on the base and glue the tufts down tightly. No glue on the tufts themselves. If the base is damaged you can repair it with thich coarse cotton, glued on from the back.

I think it's highly unlikely there is a pipe there that close to the surface as the nails from the gripper rod that is already there would have gone through it and caused a leak, coupled with the fact that the boiler is not losing pressure and the dehumidifier is no longer filling up overnight.