Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.

Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building up
you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it will be
rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with
your SDS in chisel mode :-)

Malcolm

a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.


Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building up
you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it will be
rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.

Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building up
you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it will be
rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

You can hire a Kanga(?) as well.. its a reciprocating hammer chisel with
a toothed bit,..held at an angle that will rip an inch of concrete
fairly quickly. Then use levelling compound floated on to smooth up.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.

Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building
up you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it will
be rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

You can hire a Kanga(?) as well.. its a reciprocating hammer chisel with
a toothed bit,..held at an angle that will rip an inch of concrete
fairly quickly. Then use levelling compound floated on to smooth up.

IME the Kango type tools are good for breaking up a floor but I'm not so
sure about restricting it reliably to 1/2"

wrote:

high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I would go for a series of cuts in the raised bit using a wall chaser or
an angle grinder (if very well sheeted up for dust!), then chisel of
with SDS or a small breaker. Latex levelling compound to finish.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

You can hire a Kanga(?) as well.. its a reciprocating hammer chisel with
a toothed bit,..held at an angle that will rip an inch of concrete
fairly quickly. Then use levelling compound floated on to smooth up.


Kango hammer.

It's about the best electric breaker you can get. Sort of SDS on
steroids - lots of them. Useful for those 'in between' jobs where a
compressor and air tools would be overkill.

stuart noble wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.

Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building
up you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it
will be rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

You can hire a Kanga(?) as well.. its a reciprocating hammer chisel
with a toothed bit,..held at an angle that will rip an inch of
concrete fairly quickly. Then use levelling compound floated on to
smooth up.

IME the Kango type tools are good for breaking up a floor but I'm not so
sure about restricting it reliably to 1/2"

Used it to strip render of brickwork once. Its not such a brute as it
sounds.

On 6 Nov, 22:03, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
Our house is a semi-detached former council house, built in 1959. The
kitchen, dining area, and hallway on the ground floor are all
connected, with horrible old carpet that needs to be replaced. *The
back corner of what is now the kitchen/dining room was once an
external store room (for coal, I presume?) and has a concrete floor,
about 2 foot x 4 foot, which is approximately 1/2" higher than the
rest of the ground floor of the house.

We would like to put laminate flooring in the dining area but we
aren't sure how to deal with this corner without trying to raise the
height of the rest of the ground floor, which would be far more work
than we want to tackle and would create a large step between the
kitchen and dining areas. *A friend suggested we try to "shave" the
edges of the high spot to create a more sloping transition between the
high spot and the rest of the floor. *I have no idea what tools to use
for this sort of a job, and I'm not sure if the laminate floor can
cope with a slope like that. *Does anyone have a suggestion or a good
source of information?

I'd try and get rid of the raised section altogether. If you drill a
series of holes using an sds drill with a depth stop, it should be
fairly easy to chop out the rest with a bolster and club hammer. That
way you should end up with a fairly level surface.

Laying a straightedge across the area will show you how much building
up *you'll need to do to create a smooth transition. I suspect it
will be *rather a lot if the step is 1/2"

You can hire a Kanga(?) as well.. its a reciprocating hammer chisel
with a toothed bit,..held at an angle that will rip an inch of
concrete fairly quickly. Then use levelling compound floated on to
smooth up.

IME the Kango type tools are good for breaking up a floor but I'm not so
sure about restricting it reliably to 1/2"

Used it to strip render of brickwork once. Its not such a brute as it
sounds.

Hmmm. That sounds like it might be beyond my skills no matter which
tool I use. I'm afraid of screwing up the slab the house is built on
if I attack it with something like that!

Any ideas for raising the rest of the floor to the same level? I
thought perhaps installing a plywood subfloor around the uneven bit,
but since the old floor is just those 1960s plastic tiles glued
directly to the concrete slab, there isn't really anything to nail it
to. My father suggested I glue sheets of plywood directly to the old
tiles using tile adhesive but I don't know if that would work or not.

wrote in message
...
On 6 Nov, 22:03, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
wrote:
snipped
Hmmm. That sounds like it might be beyond my skills no matter which
tool I use. I'm afraid of screwing up the slab the house is built on
if I attack it with something like that!

Any ideas for raising the rest of the floor to the same level? I
thought perhaps installing a plywood subfloor around the uneven bit,
but since the old floor is just those 1960s plastic tiles glued
directly to the concrete slab, there isn't really anything to nail it
to. My father suggested I glue sheets of plywood directly to the old
tiles using tile adhesive but I don't know if that would work or not.



Can you see if the concrete floor is actually under the walls? If it isn't,
then you might be able to remove the whole slab and level the floor off
throughout. If it is an old coal bunker as you say, they were normally
poured concrete over timber joists. To see if your floor is like this, you
will need to lift a section of floor boards to make sure the joists run
directly under the concrete. If they do, then the concrete slab should be
easy to remove and the joists and floor fixed to match the rest.

To remove the concrete should be as simple as drilling a cross of holes
through the concrete, and break it into pieces with a big hammer. It sounds
like hard work, but you are guaranteed a lovely finish to any floor
coverings you lay in the future.