Engineered oak floor - take up and back down again?!

[cakehoover123]

I have a bedroom with an engineered oak floor. See pic - sorry it's not great quality.

We need to get under it to wire ceiling lights in to the room below. Can't just cut into the ceiling of that room as it's ancient lath & plaster, held up by hopes and prayers.

Does anyone have any experience of taking up engineered oak, and putting it back down successfully?

I suspect there's no good solution, but maybe there's a way?

I think it depends how it was initially installed. If it was glued then it's tricky (or not possible ) but if it is just 'floating' then it's pretty straightforward to lift and put it back. Make sure you number each piece if you lift it to enable you to put it back down.

What are you doing with the lighting? Are you adding in extra fittings or moving one? You can do quite a lot with drilling small holes and a cable rods like these https://www.screwfix.com/p/magnusson-3-9mm-flexible-cable-rod-set-10m-14-pieces/301xg
A good electrician might well be able to work out how to do it if you don't feel confident and they will be used to dealing with lath and plaster ceilings.

This. I’d be checking which way the joists run in the downstairs room. Put a hole where you want the light to go and then one at the wall where the switch will be. You probably don’t even need rods as 1.5mm T&E which you’ll be running is stiff enough to push through. You may encounter a noggin or two en route so may need a hole or two more to negotiate this. If your ceiling is that bad then this may be the time to just pull the lathe and plaster down and update to 12.5mm plasterboard. Messy messy and did I mention messy job, but then you can get the lights sorted whilst doing that.

We had to cut ours with a multi tool when we needed a couple of planks lifting for electrical work. It’s gone back down but it sticks out like a sore thumb where it was cut

Have you looked at the Philips Hue range of lighting or Quinetic switches? I'm currently looking at these for a C15 cottage to reduce the amount of disruption to old plaster. The light fittings either have wireless bulbs or a connection to a tiny wireless hub (which can be hidden) and the switches work wirelessly so there's no need to link them physically with the light fitting... just a thought

(You can get more traditional (less ugly) switches that fit the Quinetic switch too - I will find the link if you're interested.)

I'd be going with the option of taking down the ceiling and replacing it with skimmed plasterboard. I agree with a PP, it is incredibly messy, but it would solve 2 issues in one go (access and replacing an unstable ceiling). If the oak floor is floating, the boards not glued together, and it doesn't run under the skirting boards (ie it will all come up fairly cleanly) then lifting and re-laying will be a comparable cost to replacing the ceiling. If the floor is glued together it will most likely have to be replaced, and if it runs under the skirting boards you are looking at some repairs to the walls and redecorating in the bedroom from where they will also need to come off, either of which would cost more than just dropping the L&P ceiling, plaster boarding and skimming (and significantly so if you need to replace the floor).

Thank you all for the suggestions, you're all briliant!

Unfortunately replacing the lath and plaster ceiling would get us in trouble as the house is listed.

@m0llyr0se that is a GENIUS suggestion about Hue lighting. I will look into it immediately!

And if that doesn't work for some reason, cable rods sound like a good second best.

Thank you for saving my floor! 🙏🙏🙏🙏