We have a huge lounge in our new house (in the UK) and it is covered with parquet flooring which we dislike. The little wooden blocks are starting to work loose here and there, so I don't see it as too much of a problem to remove them.
However, I expect the layer of black tar/bitumen/glue underneath is going to be rather firmly attached to the concrete base. I don't fancy scraping it off by hand. The room is 29x12ft!
Since the room is always cold in winter, despite 2 wall-mounted radiators, I am thinking about installing underfloor heating (plastic pipe with hot water from the main boiler). The cost/effort of digging down an inch or two to make space for the pipes will absorb the problem of the black sticky stuff on top!
So the question is: How much do I need to dig out (how deep, and over what percentage of the floor area) or should I forget the underfloor pipe idea (because you know a better way to strip the tar off)?
Best Answer
Alternative solution: use an underfloor heating type which goes over your existing floor. Polyplumb do one called Overlay, which was what we had installed. 18mm thick panels are laid on the floor, which have grooves for the pipes to run in.
Obviously you're either a) going to need to put this in every room downstairs, or b) have a level difference between this room and the rest of your downstairs.