New wood flooring raising floor above fire hearth level

[Na]

Hi there

We are having new wood flooring installed in our Victorian terraced house. The living room and dining room are open plan, with the dining room some cms higher than the living room.

Our builders have suggested levelling the entire space at the level of the dinging room, with floor insulation this will result in the living room being 5cm higher than it currenlty is.

All skirting boards have been removed for this and walls prepared, however, I have the following problem - a solid Iron, gorgeous fireplace with ugly concrete hearth, attached to my wall/chimney breast. My builders are suggesting leaving the mantlepiece at sub floor level so that there is a 5cm drop from the oak floor down to the hearth.

The exitsing hearth is made of concrete and I have asked them to chisel some of this out so that the area can be retiled to look nicer (needs to be chiselled out as otheriwise tile level will be raised above mantlepiece legs and grate level). They have told me they can't chisel this out and would need to cut the small door under the firegrate that houses the soot.

I am concerned of the height difference between the floor and hearth and am concerned this will look like a botch job - depsite us paying an absolute fortune for the house renovation, plus I am not convinced the chiselling out of concrete is that difficult - am tempted to try it myself.

Any advice? Should we be raising the fireplace or is this a no no? And is chiselling out of a hearth a real problem or are my builders being difficult?

Thanks

 

[Nige F]

Sounds like they don`t know how a standard iron fireplace is attached to a wall and wether it could be removed and lifted a bit But that`s London builders for you

 

[Na]

I tried looking on the web for lifting a fireplace but I can't find any more information.

Is this easy to do? is it expensive?

Is it normal to have a drop of 5 cms from the floor to the fireplace?

 

[Nige F]

Should be a couple of fixing lugs on the sides - under the plaster. Also depends on how it`s backfilled . It could be carefully eased off and lifted then replace . It would be a lot simpler if it is not used for fires , because it won`t need sealing back to the flue after . Probably best with a new hearth in maybe granite . It needs a tradesman who can wield a lump hammer and chisel with the skill of a surgeon Plus an assistant , probably a day + the granite hearth.