I have a large wood-burning fireplace with a hearth that takes up too much of my floor-space- I am in the process of installing (interior) concrete floors in my house and was thinking that I might like to GET RID of my hearth entirely. I figured that my new flooring choice will be able to handle any fireplace "pops" without damaging my flooring. I have two questions: is this a bad idea, and if so, WHY (is there some other use for a hearth that I am unaware of) and if it's not a bad idea, how on earth do i go about removing the brick hearth from my house (on a cement block). ???