Embedded wood in concrete...

[kattparet]

Torn up wooden floorboards resting on wooden joists on a partially finished concrete floor in the basement. I don't know if they used the building codes from the 60-70s, but they placed some form of plastic over the concrete, then embedded the wooden joists.

Upon moving in, it was noted that there was a mold smell in this particular room we are fixing, which has become more noticeable since we tore up the floor.

Is it appropriate to leave them there? The idea is to use leveling compound to even out the floor and seal cracks and the like that are present in the floor.

 

[TheGame]

No, embedded wooden beams should be removed.
Especially if it smells like mold, then they're not healthy, so to speak

 

[kattparet]

No, embedded wooden studs should be removed.
Especially if it smells like mold, then they are not healthy, so to speak

Should I, like, chisel them away in the worst case? I haven't tried breaking them loose, but there will probably be some organic material left on the surface of the concrete, I think.... unless there's soil directly under the wooden stud...

 

[TheGame]

Should you like, chisel them away in the worst case? I haven't tried breaking them loose, but I imagine some organic material would still be on the surface of the concrete... unless there is a dirt floor directly under the wooden beam...

You should probably remove as much as you can.
At least where you are going to renovate.

I had embedded beams in the garage floor.
I removed everything and filled in the trenches left after the beams.

 

[kattparet]

You should probably remove as much as you can.
At least where you are going to renovate.

I had cast-in studs in the garage floor.
I removed everything and re-cast the trenches that were left after the studs

I don't understand why studs were cast in at all like that. They are not level with the floor either, like hidden in a valley. Some kind of silly idea they had in the 60s-70s, like those awful floor drains?

 

[hempularen]

We have a room in the basement with a built-up wooden floor. Recently tore it out due to a broken sewage pipe. Minor water damage, but it was open for rats via the broken pipe. That room was renovated during a remodel around 1960. There were planks embedded in the concrete, nails in the planks were embedded with the heads down in the concrete. Then there was a thick layer of tar over the concrete and planks. Floor joists were placed across the planks. Most of the planks were destroyed now. The joists rested on empty "tunnels" in the tar. The joists were largely okay.