Any ideas what I can do with this trench in my floor

[Marthafarqua]

Hi all I'm new to this so forgive me if I've posted in the wrong section. We recently had a flood and the insurance won't pay out (long story) but now it's up to me to figure out this problem. The concrete floor and the wooden floor were joined by concrete but when I took up the carpet up it had all crumbled so I took it up today. Now I'm left with this trench, gap and not really sure what to do. The concrete floor is higher than the wood, by abou an inch I would like to sand the wooden floor and tile the concrete floor but what about the gap and any ideas of how I could make this a decent transition. Before we had carpet and it was slightly ramped. How should I fill this hole - Any help would be most grateful My kids are already falling into this trench in thee busiest room in the house - eek

 

[John D v2.0]

If the floor level is not even you would have to raise the lower one if the other is concrete. The trouble then is your skirting, doors etc will all need adjusting.
If you have a limited budget I'd be tempted to take up a board or two at the edge, knock out a few bricks at the transition if possible, and build a timber ramp from one room to the other and continue the boards right to the edge of the concrete. Then you can put the carpet on that, or even board the whole two rooms with thin ply or hardboard first.

I assume the concrete room is an extension? We have specified a matching timber floor where our house is being extended, to allow a level and consistent floor through from the existing to the new. Your photos are useful to see how they match things up, so thanks!

 

[chappers]

Could you fix a batten to the edge of the concrete and then lay another floorboard in there on the angle to re-create your ramped transition

 

[Marthafarqua]

Thanks for your suggestion a ramp may well be the option although I still have the problem of a massive hole in that trench. It's not an extension it's a knock through and the wall has been taken out. There was concrete in the hole, which had a small ramp transition. Then it was covered by carpet. This was done by the previous owners had has lasted 15 years but sine we had a flood I had to take up all the flooring and the concrete was just crumbling like dust. This is my busiest room in the house and I have 4 kids running round so lifting the floor seems really daunting. Ideally I would like to sand the floorboards and tile the concrete. Thanks for your ideas the're really helpful

 

[vinn]

Why not measure the height difference - then we would know what we are talking about?

Neither do we know if the T&G is higher than the bricks or lower?

If the ply (or whatever) board & vinyl is lifted you will drop the surface by perhaps about 20mm.
However, the whole floor in that room (the kitchen?) will have to be lifted.
Fixing ceramic tile will raise the surface by ... it would depend on the tile & the state of the concrete surface.

Another possibility would be to remove the top course of bricks, clean off and fix a piece to take up the gap from on top of the joists to butt up to the concrete.
Then use a ramp reducer.

google transition ramp reducers to get some idea of whats available.