How to cover floor after removing fireplace?

[ksashok]

Hi Workshop Community, 

I wanted to remove this non functioning gas heater from my house. I got the plumber to remove the heater and cap the gas line.

How it was at first

After removing the heater, I could see that this was a fireplace previously and had hearth underneath. We removed the bricks and want to patch the wall flat.

The current flooring is laminate with timber flooring underneath. I want to remove the laminate and then sand and polish the timber floor. The house is on stumps.

But this part near the heater is concrete which is at the same level as the timber flooring. I could see the ground underneath.

What is the best way to lay the timber board at this part where there is concrete?

Thanks in advance.

[JacobZ]

Hi @ksashok,

Is there any reason to keep the gas line there? If not, then I'd suggest you have a plumber remove it completely. Even a capped line could be a problem if there is still a live gas system in your house. It's much better to deal with it entirely now while you have access.

Do you have access to the crawl space beneath your house to take some photos of how the concrete sits in relation to the subfloor? Maybe you could put the flash on your camera and get some photos through the break in the concrete?

Assuming there is sufficient subfloor material available to tie a new frame into, and you use sufficiently sized timbers to span the gap, then I think the timber floor would be the way to go.

If you wanted to cut away the concrete before using the hammer drill to remove it, you could use a Demolition Saw. This would make your life a whole lot easier. 

Like @Dave-1 mentioned, your rotary hammer might struggle depending on how hard the concrete is. If this were the case, you could also hire a Medium Breaker to speed things up.

Jacob

[Nailbag]

Hi @ksashok 

I am very confident that you could reduce the thickness of 100mm of reinforced concrete for the small amount required.. However if you felt more comfortable, yes your could definitely go along the lines of what @Dave-1 suggested and use a demo saw to cut the concrete completely open and build and internal frame and line it with Yellow Tongue.

To get the depth of cut required to cut the concrete you will need to hire a cordless demolition saw being used indoors.

Nailbag

[ksashok]

 Thank you everyone for your valuable comments. I got the concrete removed by using the rotary hammer drill. Then my flooring guy had put the timber of the same size to cover the floor. The flooring would be sanded and polished next.