Hello!
I need some advice from you. I live in a house with a floor structure made of light concrete. The previous owner installed electric underfloor heating in the hallway, which he leveled and then the surface layer is tiles. Presumably, other electrical wires also run in conduits laid at the top of the floor structure.
Now it's time to renovate the entire floor level (entry-level) including the kitchen, living room, and the entrance where the problem arises. Leaving the current underfloor heating is not an option since we will be removing walls, etc. Additionally, the ceiling height and the fact that it is a shared floor level with an open floor plan make us want the same height for the three floor areas (entrance, kitchen, and living room). Chiseling is not feasible because Siporex (light concrete) is so "soft"/porous.
How on earth do you get rid of the current layer of leveling compound including the underfloor heating?
The tiles are removed with a wide chisel and hammer, which can be a lot of work but it's doable. Perhaps find the heating cable and hope that it's not deep, then pull it up. Then with a bark spade, hack sideways into the filler (very low with the handle). It will detach a bit from the lightweight concrete, but that's to be expected. You might also need to reapply filler to get the even height you want.
Great suggestion! I was considering renting a floor grinder to try to remove it that way, but maybe it's smarter to use a barkspade (didn't even know that was an option). As you write, I would prefer to avoid ending up in a situation where I take parts of the joists if I don't have to, as I don't want to weaken them.
Don't know, but a floor milling machine might make it more even and doesn't chip the lightweight concrete, it usually becomes a bit of a roller coaster when you chip it away, but the tiles handle it well.
Sitting with a hammer and chisel or a bark spade...no! There is absolutely no reason to go back in time! Tiles and self-leveling compound can be incredibly tough, and doing this by hand seems completely unnecessary, if even possible in the foreseeable future. What you should do is rent a small power tool with a wide chisel; if you're lucky, it will go easily with that, and expect that you'll cause some damage to the lightweight concrete. But as long as you approach it from a low angle with the machine/chisel, it will be fine. Don't forget to disconnect the underfloor heating first
I have successfully used a rotary hammer drill* with an SDS chuck and a "tile chisel" to remove self-leveling compound, adhesive, and similar from siporex. If you're lucky, the top millimeter of siporex will release, and you can remove large slabs of the compound.
But as Jörgen says, it's important to chip "from the side" so you don’t create deep holes in your flooring.
Edit: *I’m only using the "hammer" function on the drill. My point was that you probably don't need a dedicated demolition hammer for the task.
It would be absolutely fantastic if it could come off in chunks instead of having to sand and thereby contaminate the house for an eternity. I've understood that every time you even show a concrete floor a router or sander, you could be cleaning for a couple of years afterwards and still enjoy concrete dust.
A thousand, thousand thanks for your fantastic advice. It's absolutely wonderful to get such great help. I hope I can help someone else in the future.
