definately possible to do. contractors do this all the time in my area, especially when a garage is converted to living space as the slab is much lower than the finished floor on houses with basements

I don't know how costly. Essentially you would be putting in floor joists, new subfloor, repair the damage done by raising the floor and new trim along the base.

you're essentially lowering your ceiling height by raising the floor, does that cause issues?

I wouldn't have a real idea what it costs to do you should get a few people in to give you estimates. You should have an idea as to what kind of flooring you want there too.

The only other concerns might be electrical receptacles being too low after the new floor framing is put in. Also if there's an entry door in the room, that will have to be addressed. Get real world estimates from reputable contractors in your area.

Windows and door might also be a concern. If there are doors to the outside they will need to be removed, reframed, new headers, siding repaired, etc. Also, if the windows are now too close to the floor (18" in my area), the glass needs to be tempered.

Thank-you for all your responses!
There are no doors in the room and only 1 window. The window is about 3' off the ground so raising the floor 8" shouldn't be a problem.
I didn't think about the electrical outlets. The drywall is being taken down so hopefully moving them higher won't be much of an issue.
The ceiling is the same height through out so that won't be an issue either.
The entire room is about 24 x 18 but only half is sunken. I have no idea what the person who designed this plan was thinking. Taking a nice big room and dividing it in half with an 8" drop.
I have put the word out we are looking for a contractor to do this for us. Hopefully we find someone who can recommend somebody.

Do not overlook a good handyman for that as well. I did three of those exact jobs.

The electrical was a problem. But by using junction boxes(by code) it was not much of a problem to raise the outlets.

You do have to know what kind of flooring you want installed, since the height of finished floor is a combination of the new subfloor and the floor treatment.

I always did a moisture test on a slab before adding pressure treated(necessary) joists. That is done simply by taping a square of plastic to the floor for 24 hours. Any moisture under the plastic means there is noisture in the slab. Usually not a problem, but does require a moisture barrier.

We are replacing the flooring in the entire house. That's why I thought it would be a perfect time to try and tackle this project.
I am not against hiring a handyman. Just the job market is so bad here that everybody who is out of a job is suddenly a "handyman".
We are in San Diego. If anybody reading this post is in the area and would like to give me a bid on the project feel free to leave your contact info in your posting as well as a rough estimate if possible.
Thanks again!

Hi trofywife
My husband raised our floor about 4 years ago and we love it..we have a 20 x 20 den with a cathedral ceiling, so the heighth wasn't an issue. Left all electrical same and that was no issue. Our stone fireplace hearth is now about 4 inches off the floor which I like better too. We built a plywood subfloor and put down laminate wide plank flooring. No complaints .

Shelleyrenae: That is exact measurements and exact plan for what I want to do. Can you tell me how much you spent?

I realize I don't live in your house but I love sunken living rooms. We had them in two different apartments in NYC(same building). However if you plan to use your living room alot I could see how you would want to change it. Our friends have a sunken living room and it is more of a formal room so its sets it apart from the other areas. Anyway I am just commenting on a design aspect but I'm sure a flooring expert could advise you and that is who I would consult because we have had flooring work done and they always know about subflooring issues.

Just wondering if you ever ended up doing this as we are considering the same.

I would like to hear from anyone that did this also..... We r considering doing it soon and would like to know cost... One general contractor said he built the wood sub floor...... But said he would fill with concrete next time.... As the wood portion of the floor sounds different when u walk on it.....

We did this about 18 months ago. DH says he believes the cost was $2200 labor and materials, not including what was done to the fireplace (different folks). We're in a high cost area (SF). This is the original:

This is after the fireplace and hall tile were removed by the masonry guys:

Rug out and floor joints in. Notice that the hallway section also needed to be raised:

Fireplace hole covered and plywood on (that dark square is a piece of cardboard):

After the new floor was installed, but before LR furniture:

I think going through the flooring store helped a lot to keep pricing reasonable.

We are in San Diego and also and have a 8inch sunken family room on slab concrete along with the rest of the house. Some contractors say wood joists and others say pour concrete. I am worried about joists moving and sounding different over time. As for my worries with concrete is the moisture entering the studs in the walls and cause mold issues. WE NEED HELP!

I too had all those concerns. We interviewed many concrete companies, you are right raising floor with wood will sound different. We r pouring concrete next week... Using rebar, metal flashing... Our floor is not post tension.. 1 day $2800

they all mentioned we do not need moisture barrier since pouring directly on concrete

I hope this helps

What about the walls absorbing moisture from the concrete curing

They remove drywall , then put metal

flashing all the way around pour concrete wait till dry replace drywall from what I understand

in our home the majority of the square footage is sunken so Wondering how difficult/costly it would be to lower the higher levels to match the Lower ones. The tricky part is that the higher levels are the entry and the main Hallway. But compared to all of the common areas being lower (living room, dining room, family room, kitchen, laundry room eTc.) it would seem to me to make more sense to raise the rest.