kevin wrote:
So....I would like to pull up the concrete slab to find out what I am
up against. My question is, what is the easiest way to get this
concrete up causing the least damage to what's underneath?

I don't get it at all. Normally, "what's underneath" a concrete slab in
a home is just dirt and gravel. Is there a basement underneath this
concrete floor? If so, you would just go down and look at the joists
from below, so I'm assuming there is NOT a basement or crawl space.

The wood you are finding down there could be bits of the wood they used
to make the frame into which the concrete was poured. It serves no
purpose now at all, and is fine just rotting away under there, since it
is buried in dirt anyway.

Now, cracks in concrete are inevitable and unavoidable. How bad was the
crack? Just a hairline, or could you slip a pencil down it/ Or more?

Certainly make sure your tub is not leaking, but before you go ripping
out your slab, maybe you can fix this problem by (a) ignoring it
because it isn't really a problem, or (b), just patching the one spot
from above, sealing the area, and making sure the tub isn't leaking
anywhere.

-Kevin

Good suggestions. I guess I can provide some more info that I forgot. I
do have a crawl space and I can't see concrete from the crawlspace, so
it was poured in the house and not just inserted as a whole there.

The "crack" basically separated a corner (which I removed to find the
rotten board underneath). The joists look ok from the bottom, but that
one area that wasn't properly sealed definitely needs replacing. I
figured since the slab is missing a corner and the area needs
repairing, I could be pro-active and remove the slab.

Thanks for the suggestions....I can already tell this is going to be a
fun task.