I have been tearing up wall to wall carpeting in most of my first floor and laying down an exotic hardwood. It looks great and I am very happy so far. I am now in my final room and have ripped up the carpet. I have discovered about a 2 1/2" border of cement around my fireplace. It is slightly above the level of the plywood subfloor that butts up against it. The carpet hid this border and I had no idea it was there.

The top layer of cement is about 1/8" to 1/4" thick and flakes away very easily and leaves "somewhat solid" concrete underneath. The remaining concrete is a little under the grade of the plywood subfloor. I am looking for guidance on the best wasy to proceed. Can I just lay the hardwood over top of the border since it is a small area? Should I try to chip away the concrete and lay down a strip of plywood over the top?

My hardwood is 3/4"thick and I am using a nail gun to install it.

My house is about 20 years old and the concrete and cement are most likely to have been installed when the house was built.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

I think if you just get it flush with the subfloor you'd be OK. Plan on needing some urethane adhesive like PL Premium Polyurethane.

Yeah, I echo Jerry's recommendations. Level the concrete with the plywood with some concrete patch. Then just glue those last few inches where you cannot nail using PL Premium Urethane.

How odd it is that we can send a spaceship to Mars, but cant make a concrete sill the same size as the fireplace thats going to sit on it.
Be thankfull that in your case it is a small discrepancy. I have encountered large concrete areas surrounding not only the front but both ends of the fireplace as well.
What happens is that as the house settles, the wood portion of your home moves downward a little, the fireplace sill, being anchored to the foundation and or footings remain the same.
Anyway as the others said, its no biggie to just hack the concrete patch down to the level of the subfloor and use some glue at that area.

Thank you for the information and also how quickly you responded. I will be finishing up the floor this weekend (I hope).

I would verify that the wood subfloor, is dry from the moisture in the patching compound.