Removing concrete subfloor

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Bes

Bes

Bes

Soldato
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Hi

I am doing a renovation project where a galley kitchen and dining room are being combined. The dining room has an original (not tongue and groove, but just laid end to end of that makes sense) pine floor and I would like this to be across the 2 combined rooms.

The problem is the kitchen has a tiled floor which is laid on what I think is a concrete subfloor sat on the joists, but i can’t be sure what is under it. Pulling up a floorboard near the kitchen floor I can see a ‘brick wall’ under the floor starting at the edge of the tiled area with a joist saton top. This may or may not continue across the whole kitchen floor.

How difficult will it be for a builder to dig this out to a level where they can lay reclaimed pine boards? I am very worried they are going to say it can’t be done or end up spending £££

This is the only option other than laying a fake wooden floor or tiling the whole thing as the new kitchen will be in the current dining room, so obviously can’t have a quarter of the new combined room tiled at the current kitchen end.

Thanks!
 
By the way the builders are removing a big chimney breast/ fireplace whilst they are in our property so they will have some labourers/ brick/ concrete breaking equipment already...! I am more just concerned about whether this is something a team of builders can make light work of.

The kitchen area in question is about 5sq metres (tiny).
 
Sounds like you have exposed the sleeper walls that bear the floor joists - they are very important. It sounds like a timber suspended floor but why then there would be a concrete slab on top sounds weird - unless I’m confused
 
Yeah I don’t know. I think there used to be a partition wall where the ‘brick wall’ exposed is, so I guess that is why it is there but there is clearly some kind of solid subfloor under the tiles. If you stamp on the kitchen area it’s pretty solid (but I don’t believe it’s concrete all the way down) as everything still rattles) I’m tempted to go at it with a hammer and chisel tomorrow and see what I uncover. Annoyingly there is also at least one pipe buried in this subfloor for the heating, so I think this could get expensive :(
 
The kitchen wobbles which sounds very unlike a solid concrete floor but your construction sounds odd. You need to smash some to be sure what you have. Even if it was solid concrete a couple of labourers should make short work of 5sqm the only costs being time and waste disposal plus someone then laying a new floor.
 
Get your SDS drill out and drill a hole through floor - if you hit sand or dirt it's solid - hit a void then you know it's suspended - Why suspend a concrete floor I don't know -- My old kitchen had tiles on rubble - All my downstairs floors were quarry tile on compacted rubble/MOT stuff and was build in 30's
 
Thanks. I also suspect it is sat on a load of compacted rubble stuffed between the joists, underneath a generous slab of *whatever is holding the tiles to the floor*

I don't have an SDS drill unfortunately - I will see if I can chip through it with a hammer and chisel.
 
Well now the room is stripped bare, it seems like it is solid concrete- which I think is strange in a 1900’s property....! Will speak to the builder again tomorrow but they don’t seem to think it’s going to be easy to skim 6 inches off and lay joists over from the conversation we had on the phone yesterday. Or if they do it could get pricey.

Might need to look at tiling it unfortunately.
 
Builder quoted about £1,000 to dig it out, dispose of the mess, make it totally damp proof, and lay floorboards down, so that's a non- starter :(
 
Surely it'll cost circa £1000 odd anyway to tile it? I had karndean down to merge multiple floor levels and cost circa £1700 all in (with a lot of mass filling) for ~7*4m room
 
This area is about 3.5mx1.5m so not a huge area. £150 of tiles I reckon, or £1,000 to dig out then £150 of reclaimed floor boards. 8* the cost overall.

I think I have to just tile only the concrete bit... I won't tile the whole room, just that strip, as it is by the back door and runs across the room. It's going to be a bit... quirky, esp as it is in the dining area/ where the sideboard sits, but this build has cost me enough already!
 
How did you get on with this? I'm now in the same situation. 1907 mid terrace, half concrete kitchen floor put onto soil and the other half is suspended timber with air bricks. Getting damp (possibly historic can't say for certain as the plaster is in a terrible state to begin with!) and the concrete is cracked. Been quoted around £1600 to dig up the concrete and lay a suspended timber floor. Not sure if that's a good price
 
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