pouring concrete around/over PT wood? God idea? Bad idea?
Hi,
This is related to my previous post about raisiing my sunken liviing room floor. If you want more deatils about this bizarre fiasco, you can check that out.
I currently have what is essentially a wooden, living room sized loud drum. One of the fixes the contractor has proposed is taking off all the plywood/osb and pouring concrete around/over the PT 2×4’s. Is pouring concrete over PT wood ok? We’re in Phoenix where aird is putting it nicely, if thats relevant.
I like that I’d be guaranteed to not have a noisy floor and my confidence in what he tells me about thow to make it not loud is limited since he says its not loud in the first place and had a tantrum yesterday when I pointed it out.
Ive been told by half a dozen contractors that pouring a roughly 4″ addition to my 12 1/2′ x 20 1/2′ space would require mesh and/or rebar. I was never quoted less than $2000 to do this. Is that incorrect?
I’m trying to figure out if pouring aroud the wood is even a good idea because its really hard to undo if it turns out badly.
(The other opetion is making him lay PT 2×4’s corectly and getting stone wool to fill in the gaps. You can read more about that and see pictures of the weird thing he did on the other ppost if youre intereted.)
Thanks for any advice.
Replies
Pouring concrete next to/on FOUNDATION GRADE treated wood is OK. Pouring on plain old "treated" wood is iffy.
Never a good idea to encase wood with concrete. It's an invitation to termites and rot. Very poor construction practice
Never a good idea to encase wood with concrete. It's an invitation to termites and rot. Very poor construction practice
With any kind of structure exposed to the elements at all, there would be no possible argument against your statement. But this is interior construction in a very arid climate, and it is PT wood. What could possibly damage it?
There's no way termites or moisture is going to get to that & besides the wood is PT.
Given the situation as it is, that might be the OP's only way to get what they want.
Ed
Even eliminating termites and rot it's still a poor construction practice. It is a shortcut approach done by hacks and amateurs.
Hi there, Sorry to hear about the situation. I saw photos from your other post and you absolutely need to start 100% over. There is nothing done correctly, fixable, worth saving whatsoever. Remove all of the wood and pour a slab with mesh or wire. It is easy, quick, and should be fairly cheap. A 2 car garage slab with wire is about $1500 here in Boston.... has to be cheaper there. Do not consider pouring concrete around the wood, put it in the dumpster and move on. A properly built, quiet (insulated), wood-framed floor with some kind of finish flooring over it would be twice the cost of concrete. Yikes.... good luck.