The main floor kitchen/dining room area (300 s.f.) of my ~100 year old house has ceramic tile laid on top of 3" to 4" of concrete. The concrete is poured directly onto the 3/4" floorboards supported by the joists. Unfortunately this concrete subfloor approach was common in my area when laying ceramic tile, but I don't know of anyone who has attempted to remove the concrete from the floor boards in order to replace it with hardwood flooring. Does anyone have experience in this type of demo/removal?

I had 3'' concrete in my kitchen of 115 year old house and had to remove it. It was pain in neck.

Rented a small electric spade cheisel and started at door way.

Made cut about 1' inside room. Then worked under creteand lifted. There was wire mesh in mine and had to be cut.

Set up a negative air system to remove dust while working. This is done by putting a 24'' fan in window on exhaust. Hang plastic over all door ways and tape closed. Use OSHA approve mask.

Good luck

Chuck

Chuck,

Thanks very much. Do you recall how long it took to remove say 100 s.f. of the concrete subfloor? Was there any damage to the ceiling below the floor joists?

You may get a crack or two below but it is possible to do it without any damage, just use nearly horizontal drives with a rotary hammer. It may take 3 hours to break it up and twice that to clean it up. You will have a fairly thick space to build up when finished clearing the debris. This new sub must be very tight and secure to avoid shifting and squeeking. I'd use T&G plywood screwed and glued

I had no damage. Think I was lucky.

Took me all day to do 150sq ft. Including clean up.

Chuck