What to do about 2x4 embedded in floor

[Iconoclast4130]

Hello all, I'm trying to get ambitious and overcome my inexperience with house stuff. I hope to get started finishing my garage soon and I have one issue I can't find any info on. The floor in my garage has a 2x4 right in the middle of it. I can't find examples of this anywhere so I wanted to ask you all what I should do. It is 18 feet long if that makes any difference. I imagine I should dig it out and fill the remaining channel with some sort of cement product. My aim is to epoxy coat the floor in the future. I will attach a picture to help a bit.

 

[ConCretin]

I'm sure I'm not alone in my curiosity as to why you have a 2x4 imbedded in you slab. Might be a new low for sloppy finishing. Keep working on the pics. Nothing yet.

 

[dmcintosh]

My first thought was that maybe they added a second 1/2 to the slab after the fact?

 

[jdewitt]

Pics will help. Maybe it was supposed to be a control joint?

 

[rsanter]

Was the garage added on and that used to be a driveway?

There was a time it was popular to have a pattern in the driveway using wood. As you can imagine what happens over time.
Most people pull the wood out and fill with concrete. If you are lucky they put nails in the wood to anchor it in place. If you are careful and leave these they will anchor the concrete you fill it with in place

 

[mike93lx]

Could there have been a wall in that spot at one point? Maybe concrete was poured around it, then at some point the wall was removed and they left the bottom plate

 

[Iconoclast4130]

Could there have been a wall in that spot at one point? Maybe concrete was poured around it, then at some point the wall was removed and they left the bottom plate

I don't believe this is what happened. The 2x4 in question is approximately 1/2 the distance from the overhead door to the rear wall. I should've added that info to my original post.

 

[Iconoclast4130]

Pics will help. Maybe it was supposed to be a control joint?

I will try to fix the picture issue. I was wondering if it was a sort of control joint (I admit I had to look up what that is). If it is a control joint, would it be acceptable to remove it now? The slab was poured in 2005

Let me know if the picture works now. It shows on my laptop now but it did earlier and then stopped working. I think my post count was too low

 

[Kaizen]

Pic works. Pull it out. Suggest drilling and chisel out a part to make sure it is just a 2x4. Hopefully not attached to anything and you can pull it out.
Put up more pics of that floor. Looks really rough so epoxy might be a lot of fix work


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[The Cobbler]

probably a poor mans expansion joint . concrete finish doesn't appear to be that great, probably an amateur job . may have been used as a grade point too, in which case it could be staked in. regardless, it can be removed without any concern to the integrity

 

[CGT80]

If you don't care about a flawless floor, especially considering how that concrete looks, what about cleaning it well and then caulk the wood to the concrete with a flexible sealant such as a polyurethane one, and epoxy over it. I used the poly around a threshold that sits on plywood and meets a concrete slab. It is very tough yet flexible and sealed out water from going under the threshold.

Pulling that 2x could be a royal pita. I know I could do it, but I work in the trades. If it was me, I don't know if it would be worth the trouble. If you go for it, try a pry bar and maybe run heavy screws into to to pry on. If that fails, slit it with a circular saw and pry or chisel it out. I highly doubt it serves a purpose now that the slab is poured. A footer would not consist of a single 2x on edge, so I would rule that out and the location backs that up.

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[James-W]

Can you chisel out the 2X4 and fill the void with hydraulic cement?

 

[tecmec]

You could fill it with a product called "Slab Gasket".

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[gungatim]

probably a poor mans expansion joint . concrete finish doesn't appear to be that great, probably an amateur job . may have been used as a grade point too, in which case it could be staked in. regardless, it can be removed without any concern to the integrity

I can't see your pic, but this is my guess as well. I have seen a lot of DIY garage or barn floors at poor-man-farms done that way. used as a grade to screed over and just left in place.

 

[rayra]

probably a poor mans expansion joint . concrete finish doesn't appear to be that great, probably an amateur job . may have been used as a grade point too, in which case it could be staked in. regardless, it can be removed without any concern to the integrity

If there's stakes in there he could easily spall off some of the adjacent concrete edges as the board is levered out of there. But there's little to be done about that and he has to fill the void and is top-coating it anyway.

OP, watch some youtube vids on 'self-leveling cement'. You've got a lot of work to do to prep that slab for a decent epoxy coating.

 

[rayra]

oh and OP, that's a fine opportunity for running an electrical conduit pipe or anything else you want to run across that floor. Air line? And depending on the grade of the floor or how wet your local weather gets, a chance to put in a drain channel. Since the trench will already be there.