GB2364271A

GB2364271A - Cutting holes in floors

Info

Publication number: GB2364271A
Application number: GB0011847A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Colin Pitts
Original assignee: BROWN BARRY ROBERT
Current assignee: BROWN BARRY ROBERT
Priority date: 2000-05-18
Filing date: 2000-05-18
Publication date: 2002-01-23
Also published as: GB0011847D0

Abstract

A method for cutting and repairing a hole in a floor comprises: positioning on the floor a template defining a first guide surface for a cutter adapted to form the hole; using a rotary cutter guided by the first guide surface to cut the hole; positioning on a free piece of flooring material a second template which defines a second guide surface; and using the rotary cutter and second guide surface to cut a piece 64 from the flooring material. This piece has a rebated edge and is of a complimentary shape and size to the hole cut in the floor. The hole is repaired by locating the cut piece into the cut hole with the respective rebated edges inter-engaging. The shape of the cutter defines the rebate shape imparted to the edges of the hole and the cut piece of flooring that fills it. The invention also includes the template or templates which define the guide surfaces. Such templates are usually circular in shape.

Description

2364271 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING HOLES IN FLOORS The present

invention relates to a method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor, as well as to a kit of parts for use with such a method.

5 Most houses have some form of void defined beneath the floor, which void serves a number of purposes which include its ability to increase insulation and allow the location of services such as plumbing and electrical wiring at a point invisible from the rest of the room. Whilst it is easy to gain access to that space when building a house before the flooring material is laid, there is often a need to 10 gain access to that area on subsequent occasions. For example, builders, plumbers and o.thers need access to that under floor void, for example to maintain the or add to the services. It is necessary for them to quickly to gain access through the flooring, be able to carry out their task through the opening they have created, and subsequently repair the floor without causing signific ant visual or 15 structural damage. What is more, new floors are often damaged during the construction process, and these must be repaired to conform to building regulations.

The problem associated with these tasks are particularly acute when dealing with floors formed from large board rather than older style narrow boards.

20 Most modern houses having such floorboards use large pieces of particleboard such as fibreboard or chipboard. With old fashioned narrow board it is at least possible, if inconvenient, to lift one or a few boards, thereafter gaining access to the under floor void and then replacing the boards or returning them to their original position. However, this is time consuming and to do well requires 25 specialised tools and skills, that are no longer commonly available. With the more 1 1877sp.doc modern style of large particleboard floor, it is difficult to lift the boards without causing them significant damage or without necessitating extremely inconvenient and extensive work to clear a room and lift an entire board.

It is far more common nowadays simply to cut holes in the floorboard and 5 then to patch those holes once the work has been completed. This is particularly common when the board is covered by carpet or other such floor coverings. This method currently has a number of drawbacks. Specifically, it is difficult subsequently to patch a hole in the floor, even though an insert can be cut to fit in the hole, because there is often no support for the underside of the insert, and 10 even if there were to be a support (e.g. a joist) it would impede the access through the floor for maintenance. In addition access is only possible to the upper surface of the insert once inserted in the hole, but it is extremely undesirable to leave fixings standing proud of the original surface so fixing from above is both structurally and visually unsatisfactory. In summary, conventional methods

15 frequently cause damage to the floor, which damage can visually and structurally impair the floor.

It is of course possible by taking time and care for a skilled craftsman to properly complete the task. However, such additional time and expense is not always acceptable even if the person carrying out the job has sufficient skill, 20 which, with the increasing preference for people to do the job themselves, is for from certain. It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a means of easily and speedily creating and then making good a hole in a floor in order that access may be gained to a sub- floor space or the floor may be repaired to a visually pleasing and structurally sound state.

11877sp.doc It has been suggested that a hole could be cut in the floor, and then by providing suitable interlocking inserts on both the edge of the hole that has been cut and on the piece that has been cut out of the floor, that the piece cut out could be placed back in the hole to make it good once access is no longer required.

5 This method however has a number of disadvantages. Foremost amongst these is that the inserts are not only expensive and unsightly but also can fit only on specific thicknesses of floor and specific sizes of hole. Frequently, the thickness of the floor cannot be ascertained prior to cutting and therefore it is necessary for the craftsman to carry a substantial supply of varying inserts. What is more, the lo insert may stand proud of the surface in order to function, and this is undesirable.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method and a set of tools that allow a person to cut and subsequently make good a hole in a floor, which hole is both structurally sound and virtually invisible once made good. It is also important that the structural integrity of the mended hole is not determined by any underfloor 15 supporting mechanism such as joists. It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a method of cutting and making good a hole in the floor where in no material other than flooring material is needed to fill the hole, Therefore according to the present invention there is provided a method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor, which method comprises the 20 following steps: positioning on the floor means defining a first guide surface for a cutter adapted to form the required hole; employing a power driven rotary cutter to -cut the hole in the floor using the first guide surface to guide the cutter, the cutter being adapted to form a rebated hole of a shape defined by the first guide surface; positioning on a piece of flooring material means defining a second guide surface; 11877sp.dc>c employing the rotary power driven cutter to cut a piece out of the flooring material which piece has a rebated edge and is of a complimentary shape and size to the hole cut in the floor; and making good the hole by placing the cut piece of flooring material into the cut hole with the respective rebated edges inter- engaging.

5 In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first guide surface is defined by the inner circumferential edge of an annular template, and the second guide surface is defined by the inner circumferential edge of a second annular template, the second annular template having a greater diameter than the first annular template. Alternatively, the first and second guide surfaces could be lo defined on a single template. Preferably, this single template would be generally annular and would define inner and outer circumferential edges, the first guide surface being defined by the inner circumferential edge and the second guide surface being defined by the outer circumferential edge of the template.

In use, it is preferred that the-template or templates are fixed temporarily to 15 the floor (or flooring material) so that once positioned they cannot move accidentally out of alignment. Preferably, such fixing could be achieved by nails, screws or pins that pass through small holes in the template or templates and enter the flooring material. This would prevent any undesired lateral movement of the template during cutting of the hole. If lateral movement did occur, the hole or 20 the replacement piece would be misshapen, and would not fit with the other.

It is necessary that the rotary cutter forms a rebated hole, and whilst other shapes of cutter are possible, it is preferred that a cutter with a generally T-shaped configuration is employed. Such a T-shaped cutter would preferably comprise a shank removably mountable in a power driven rotary cutter, a cutting shaft co-axial 25 with the shank and designed to cut through the thickness of the floor, and a pair of 11877sp.doc opposed lateral cutting arms which in use form the rebate. In order to aid in the creation of suitably sized rebates when forming the hole and cutting the piece of flooring material, it is highly preferable that a depth stop setting guide is used to set the desired depth of cutting. Such a depth stop setting guide may preferably 5 take the form of a suitably proportioned block which allows at least two depth settings to be defined. Such a guide operates in co-operation with standard gauges provided on routers to permit the cutter to enter the floor up to a pre-set limit. For example a block that is 50mm long 11 mm wide and 9mm deep may be used. By rotation of the block around its long axis a stop of 11 mm or 9mm may lo be formed. These are convenient for standard flooring thicknesses of 22mm and 18mm.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a kit of parts for forming and then making good a hole in a floor, said kit comprising: means defining a first guide surface; means defining a second guide surface; and a 15 power driven rotary cutter.

Advantageously, the kit would also comprise a depth stop setting guide adapted to allow the operator of the power driven rotary cutter to conveniently cut to an appropriate depth thereby forming an appropriate rebate.

By way of example only the present invention will now be described with 2o reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure I is a plan view of one embodiment of rotary cutter for use with the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the cutter shown in Figurel; Figure 3 is a perspective view of one embodiment of first template; 11877sp.doc Figure 4 is a perspective view of one embodiment of second template; and Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the templates arranged on some flooring material; Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the first steps of cutting flooring 5 material; Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 6 but now showing the rotary cutter passing through the flooring material and forming the rebate; Figure 8 is a perspective view of a hole in a floor and of a piece of flooring material cut to fill that hole; and 10 Figure 9 is a perspective view of the parts shown in Figure 8 but now interengaged to fill the hole.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show a rotary cutter for use with the present invention. The cutter comprises a shank 10 that is configured for removable mounting in a power driven rotary cutter, for example by clamping within the collet 15 of a conventional router. Connected to the shank 10 and co-axial therewith is a cutting shaft 11; and a pair of opposed lateral cutting arms 12 and 13, in the form of radial extensions, are formed at the base of the cutting shaft 11.

In use, the cutter is rotated by a drive means (not shown), about an axis extending through the shank and cutting shaft, in the direction of arrow 15 20 (anticlockwise when viewed in Figure 1). When the cutter is used, the tip of the cutting shaft 11 first penetrates the surface and continues to cut through the thickness of the floor. The lateral cutting arms 12 and 13 in use form the rebate around the hole tha t the cutting shaft has formed.

Figures 3 and 4 show one embodiment of a first and second template 25 according to the present invention. The first template, generally indicated 20, and 11877sp.doc the second template generally indicated 21, are both of an annular shape. The second template 21 has a larger diameter than the first template 20.

The inner circumferential surface of the first template defines the first guide surface 22, and the inner circumferential surface of the second template defines 5 the second guide surface 23. Both templates have a respective upper face 24 and 25 and lower surfaces (not shown). The lower surfaces are placed in contact with the flooring material and the templates are temporarily secured in place by inserting nails or screws through holes 26 and into the flooring material. The holes 26 pass from the respective upper surface 24, 25 to the respective lower lo surface.

In Figure 5 one of the templates (here indicated 30) has been located on some flooring material 31 whether that be the floor or a separate piece thereof, and has then been secured in place by pins 32.

Figures 6 and 7 show sequential stages in the process of cutting either a 15 hole in a floor, or indeed the cutting of a piece to fill a hole. A template 40 of a generally annular shape is attached to some flooring material 41 by a pin 42. A rotary cutter 43 is mounted in a power drive means 44 for rotation thereby.

Connected to the power drive means is a guide structure 46 that permits the raising and lowering of the cutter 43 whilst being guided by a guide surface 48 20 on the inner circumferential face of the template 40.

The guide structure comprises a bar 50 fixed to the power drive means 44, which bar is slidably connected to rods 51. The rods 51 are attached at their lower ends to a generally annular base ring 52, which in use slidingly abuts the guide surface 48. Springs 53 are disposed around the rods 51 between the bar 25 50 and the base ring 52. These springs urge the base ring 52 and bar 50 apart, 11877sp.doc but by downward force applied to the power drive means 44 the cutter can be extended through the base ring 52. This allows the base ring to be placed on a surface and then once rotation of the cutter has been commenced, to gradually extend the cutter to cut the flooring material 41.

5 By using standard guide bushes attached to the lower surface of the base ring 52 it is possible to cut a different diameter hole using the same templates. As long as the same guide bush is used when cutting the floor and the piece to fit that hole, the two parts will still match. A standard guide bush defines a further guide surface which when used in the present invention abuts on the first or second 10 guide surfaces defined by the templates. By choosing a guide bush that defines its guide surface at a suitable position relative to that of the base ring 52, the size of the hole cut may also be varied accordingly. For example if the guide surface of the guide bush where more centrally-disposed with respect to the base ring a hole of a larger diameter would be cut. The formation of different sized hole could 15 also be done using different sets of templates.

In Figure 6 the tip 55 of the cutter has just penetrated the top surface of the flooring material 41. In Figure 7 the cutter has cut all the way through the flooring material with the tip 55 extending past the lower surface of the floor 56. Lateral cuffing arms 57 have cut into the flooring material on a much larger diameter than 20 the cut formed by the tip 55, and have formed a rebate 58 in the flooring material adjacent the template 40. They have also formed a rebate 59 on the other side.

If the flooring material is cut like this all the way round the annular template 40, a rebated hole corresponding to the shape of the template can be cut.

The setting of the depth stop may be achieved by the following steps. First, 25 a suitable cutter is secured to the collet of the router. Then the lower surface of 11877sp,doc the lateral cutting arms 57 is aligned with the lower face of the base ring 52. An abutment (not shown) is provided on the support structure 46 and a co- operating adjustable part (not shown) is provided on the router. A depth stop setting guide (not shown) is positioned between the abutment and the end of the adjustable 5 part. The adjustable part is then positioned to abut on the depth stop setting guide and locked in place. The depth stop setting guide is then removed. When used the lateral arms of the cutter will be allowed to enter the floor or flooring material up to a depth equal to the width of the depth stop setting guide.

Therefore by using different sized depth stop setting guides different cutting lo depths can easily and repeatedly be set on existing inaccurate equipment.

Figure 8 shows a hole 60 that has been cut in a floor 61. The hole is generally circular and a rebate has been cut to form a ledge 62. The Figure also shows a piece of flooring material 64 that has been cut to fit the hole 60. The piece 64 has a lip 65, the lower surface of which will rest on the ledge 62 to 15 support the piece 64. The diameter of the piece in the region of the lip 65 is marginally less than the diameter of the hole 60 above the ledge 62. In this way, a snug fit will be formed, which fit is hard to see.

Figure 9 gives a cut away perspective view of the piece of flooring material 64 inserted into the hole 60. The hole is generally circular and has a ledge 62 20 formed by a rebate. The lip 65 on the piece 64 rests on the ledge 62 and is supported thereby.

As is shown in Figure 9, the piece of flooring material used to fill the hole does not need to be of the same thickness as the floor. It is necessary that the lip has a thickness equivalent to the depth of the rebate, so that the upper surface 70 25 of the piece 64 is flush with the floor's upper surface 71. The lower surface 72 of 11877sp.doc the piece 64, however, may extend beyond the floor's lower surface 73 or may stop short as shown in Figure 9.

11877sp.doc

Claims

1 A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor, which method comprises the following steps:

5 - positioning on the floor means defining a first guide surface for a cutter adapted to form the required hole; - employing a power driven rotary cutter to cut the hole in the floor using the first guide surface to guide the cutter, the cutter being adapted to form a rebated hole of a shape defined by the first guide surface; 10 - positioning on a piece of flooring material means defining a second guide surface; employing the rotary power driven cutter to cut a piece out of the flooring material which piece has a rebated edge and is of a complimentary shape and size to the hole cut in the floor; and 15 - making good the hole by placing the cut piece of flooring material into the cut hole with the respective rebated edges inter-engaging.

2. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in claim 1, in which a template defines the first and second guide surfaces.

3. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in 20 claim 1, in which the first guide surface is defined by the inner circumference of an annular template, and the second guide surface is defined by the inner circumference of a second annular template, wherein the second template annular template has a greater diameter than the first annular template.

4. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in 25 any of the preceding claims in which a depth stop setting means is used to ensure 11877sp.doc the formation of a correctly-proportioned rebate on both the hole in the floor and on the cut piece of flooring material.

5. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the means defining the first guide surface 5 and the means defining the second guide surface are held in place using removable fixings once positioned in the appropriate locations.

6. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which the cutter is substantially Tshaped having a shank removably mountable in a power driven rotary cutter, a cutting shaft coaxial 10 with the shank and designed to cut through the thickness of the floor; and a pair of opposed lateral arms which in use form the rebate.

7. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in any of the preceding claims in which a guide bush is used to alter the size of the hole and cut piece produced by the templates.

15

8. A method of forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in any of the preceding claims and as substantially as herein described.

9. A kit of parts for forming and then making good a hole in a floor comprising:

- means defining a first guide surface; - means defining a second guide surface; and - a power driven rotary cutter.

10. A kit of parts for forming and then making good a hole in a floor as claimed in claim 9 which further comprises a depth stop setting guide.

11877sp.doc