Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor that IMO should be concrete

[4570Man]

Under normal conditions no I wouldn’t unless done my way, but it’s my buddy’s and he wants me to help him. Some idiot poured his back pouch using manufactured joist and plywood to support the slab. To make matters worse he’s got water issues that need addressed. The joist that shouldn’t have ever been used like this have rotted and the concrete has settled about 2”. It’s not flush with the brick and even worse has broke the brick off. I don’t think the remaining brick has any support so it’s in danger of falling off. It would be possible to jack the slab back up but it would be dangerous so I’m not big on the idea. And he doesn’t want a concrete slab for some reason anyway. My suggestion was saw the existing slab out ( with the thought process that sawing would be less likely to make the brick fall off ). Then backfill the hole which will take about 40 yards of material then repour the slab. I’d feel pretty good about this being a lasting solution and assuming it doesn’t fall off during construction you’d have support for the existing brick back. For some reason he doesn’t want a concrete floor and wants wood. I’m afraid that even if the water issues was fixed and adequate ventilation was added it would still rot.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

I guess someone figured it was no different than putting ceramic tiles on a conventional wood joist floor.

 

[4570Man]

Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be conc

I haven’t calculated the load rating of the joist. Considering the concrete didn’t break and the joist didn’t sag during the pour maybe they didn’t do awful in that aspect. The biggest flaw was they didn’t have any other support for the concrete and they used a product not meant for wet location in a wet location. If the concrete had any means of support that didn’t rot away it probably wouldn’t have fallen in.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

To me, wood and composite is just temporary garbage, so I have to give them credit for working with stone. Shame they screwed up so bad. You could try and support it, but what's the use? It would cost more than to Demo and start again. I was guessing that access to the underside was a requirement.

 

[4570Man]

Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be conc

It’s actually stamped concrete not stone. If they had of supported the concrete better and only used the wood as temporary support they would have been alright. But the concrete is only poured inside a wall and once the wood rotted away its slipping down.

 

[ZTMAN]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

So why can't they just mud jack it.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

A friend constructed all kinds of elaborate raised concrete patios and walkways supported by columns. All heavily reinforced. When I said stone, I meant cement, stone or whatever, just not wood or some other second rate product. How thick is it? It it well reinforced?

 

[4570Man]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

A friend constructed all kinds of elaborate raised concrete patios and walkways supported by columns. All heavily reinforced. When I said stone, I meant cement, stone or whatever, just not wood or some other second rate product. How thick is it? It it well reinforced?

I don’t know anything about the slab. Drilling a hole through it is about the only thing I could do to measure and that still wouldn’t tell if it was reinforced.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Metal detector? If you knew the floor was solid, you could just put in patio stones for footing and short jack posts.

 

[4570Man]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

So why can't they just mud jack it.

I guess that’s a possibility but it’s about a 40 yard void on the bottom side.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

I guess it depends on what resources you or your buddy have at your disposal. Me, I don't have cement smarts, but access to steel, so I would try and support it.

 

[Citydude]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Why fill the void in if he wants a wood deck?

 

[4570Man]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Metal detector? If you knew the floor was solid, you could just put in patio stones for footing and short jack posts.

The best way I see about going about it would be to put to pour 4 piers under it and then put 4 jacks under it for temporary support. Then tear out all the wood joist and get 2 I beams. One across each side with a jack under all 4 corners. Then jacking it up using air powered bottle jacks to minimize the danger. Then put 4 permanent post under the beams. That’s still a lot of work under a sketchy slab and if it slips or breaks up you’re dead. I really don’t feel comfortable with the plan. And the guy wants a wood floor not concrete. That was the point of the whole thread.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Why, so he can replace it in five years or deal with some other issue in perpetuity? (that's a word, isn't it?) This new computer has no spell checking at all!

Yeah, so the way you described, you would do it is pretty much what I would do. I think, any danger can be mitigated.

 

[dnw64]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Stressed concrete slab will eliminate the need for fill. You can put anything you want on top - stamped concrete, actual stone/tile, etc. It will last near forever and will never "rot".

 

[Morning Wood]

Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be conc

Rip it all out. Repair the brick on the house. Rep our a reinforced concrete slab supported correctly or frame a deck with PT and be done with it. I don’t see any reason or way to save that abortion. Who are you going to get to go under it and add proper supports. It’s too fing dangerous.

How tall is that crawl space? And how much of it is above grade or below grade for that matter? I’m thinking get rid of all the brick and just go with a wood deck. Not really sure about the grade though. Do you have a pic from way back that gets the whole thing with grade?

 

[4570Man]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Why, so he can replace it in five years or deal with some other issue in perpetuity? (that's a word, isn't it?) This new computer has no spell checking at all!

I agree. Although it’s a covered porch that he intends to inclose. So if all the moisture issues got fixed and he closed it in it would probably be fine. I seriously doubt he’ll ever finish enclosing it and I doubt he’ll fix the water problem. I think the better plan is to either have him pay me to do the whole project or let me concentrate it or walk away. I’m not a big fan of doing work that without a lot of other work will fail.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Our house and patio is coreslab. Flagstone on the patio, but it leaks into the fruit cella from snow melt! Also a nighmare since they never figured a thermal break was required to the outside brick walls!

 

[XSKIER]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Although I can't tell for sure by the pictures, it appears as though the brick vernier wall is supported by the concrete on the failed wood. If there was a brick ledge on that foundation block wall, you may have to underpin the brick down to it. How's your masonry skills?

 

[4570Man]

Re: Would you touch this with a 10 foot pole? Wood floor in a job that IMO should be

Rip it all out. Repair the brick on the house. Rep our a reinforced concrete slab supported correctly or frame a deck with PT and be done with it. I don’t see any reason or way to save that abortion. Who are you going to get to go under it and add proper supports. It’s too fing dangerous.

How tall is that crawl space? And how much of it is above grade or below grade for that matter? I’m thinking get rid of all the brick and just go with a wood deck. Not really sure about the grade though. Do you have a pic from way back that gets the whole thing with grade?

I’m not hiring anyone to get under it. If I decided it’s to dangerous for me to do than I’m not doing it. I figured 6 feet height for the 40 yard figure. It’s really probably between 4-5 feet. I don’t have a picture of the drainage but I’m pretty limited in what can be done because a septic tank and fill lines are in my way.