basement

Hello, I apologize in advance if this was the wrong forum to ask this question, but here it is. First off, our house is a 4 level split and the area in question is the 3rd level (1/2 above ground 1/2 in ground). The house came with an old cast iron wood burning stove (which we removed). The stove sat on a brick floor which is laid into the cement floor. My guess is this is half brick, but we are not certain. We want that brick area gone. It is right in the middle of the floor and takes up a large area (about 3x5 feet). My questions are many: -What is the best way to do this? -Will be encouraging a weak spot in our floor and potential area to invite water into that level? -When they lay brick like this, is their cement under the brick or just dirt usually? -What is the best way to remove this stuff without causing a huge mess. Our goal would be to remove the brick and level off with cement. We want carpet in the area some day, but until this is gone we cannot do that. It sticks up about an inch or so and is just enough to cause us grief. We tried to paint it and see if it would make me less annoyed, but that didn't work ;) We can only arrange the furniture one way because it is right in the dang middle of the floor.:wall: Thanks in advancel for the help! ~andrea

I'd like to finish off my garage wtih drywall. Before I do that, I'd like to create access to the potential attic space above it (the roof over the garage is a typical V shape, leaving plenty of room up there). The ceiling of the garage looks like 2x10 joists spaced at 12 inches. Obviously a stair can't fit in 12 inches, so how do you cut the joists without wrecking the structural integrity of the attic floor?