Repairing Wood Damage In A Crawl Space
Repairing, Reinforcing, & Replacing Wood That's Damaged By Rot And Mold
Rotting structural wood in a crawl space can lead to many issues in the house, including cracks in drywall, uneven floors, and jamming or sticking doors on the floor above.
If your crawl space's structural wood has been damaged by mold, rot, and moisture, your local Basement Systems Dealer may be able to help. Many of our experts provide services in ripping out and replacing rot-damaged wood from a crawl space.
We recommend combining this service with a crawl space encapsulation system, which will keep the wood dry, and protect it from recurring damage.
Rotting Crawl Space Wood
To date, 10% of wood production is used to repair damage from rotting wood. Each year, wood rot destroys about 20 billion board feet of timber -- which is far more than the annual amount of wood destroyed by fire!
Creating a drier, healthier crawl space will help to prevent this damage, while also making the crawl space healthier and more energy efficient.
Many of our Basement Systems Dealers offer services in repairing rot-damaged structural wood in crawl spaces. We can also help you seal and dry your crawl space to prevent future issues.
It costs you nothing to meet with one of our specialists for a free crawl space repair estimate! Our network of more than 300 certified dealers serves throughout Canada and the United States! Contact us by phone or e-mail today to get started!
Before You Repair & Replacing Rotting Wood...
If you repair the damage in your crawl space without addressing the source of the damage, you're setting yourself up for the same repairs in the future. Before ripping out that structural wood and repairing it, we recommend that you address the following problems:
- Standing Water: Plumbing leaks (including slow plumbing leaks) and groundwater flooding can go on for weeks, months, or more without a homeowner noticing it. The standing water that results, however, will damage wood and lead to ideal conditions for mold, rot, and mildew.
How To Solve It: Repair all plumbing leaks, and install a perimeter drain and sump pump system to address groundwater flooding in the crawl space.
- Gradeline & Gutter Issues: If your yard is sloped towards the crawl space, that means that rainwater will run downhill towards the house and pool around the foundation. And if your gutter downspouts are depositing water directly at the base of your foundation, then your foundation soils could have 500 gallons of water per inch of rain. This water can easily begin to intrude into your crawl space, becoming a source of standing water.
Alternatively, if the soils are reaching too high up your foundation walls, they may be allowing a pathway for termites and carpenter ants to access through the lower sill plates.
How To Solve It: Maintaining the gutters and extending the downspouts away from your home will help to keep water away from your foundation. The soil around your home will also need to be sloped away from the house -- by about 6 inches in the first ten feet.
There should also be a minimum of 4 inches of clearance between the foundation walls and the rest of the home. This will help to deter insects, and will allow inspectors to detect the dirt tubes that subterranean termites build up the walls to your home. This gap will also help to keep the house away from any puddling water from the soil from damaging your home.
- Pest Infestations: Many homeowners and contractors have made the mistake of removing and replacing termite or pest-damaged wood, assuming because there are no visible pests that the infestation had "run its course". However, subterranean termites (for example) are subtle and hard-to-find creatures that can exist in a home for decades without detection. They will often abandon old tunnels and move on to new areas. In this case, replacing the damaged wood may simply be renewing its food source in your home.
How To Solve It: Inspect any home that has insect-damaged wood with a pest inspector to ensure that all infestations are eliminated before the repairs are planned. This will ensure that your new wood is protected from the same damage that caused the old to need replacement.
What Kind Of Damage Is It?
Is your mold damage simply cosmetic, or is it damaging your structure? Is that termite damage, carpenter ant damage, or wood rot? Identifying the damage can be tricky -- so we've created an online guide to help.
More about Identifying Wood Damage
Restoring Damaged Wood
When inspecting damaged wood in your crawl space, the contractor will have three challenges:
- Determining which wood must be replaced
- Identifying areas where wood can be repaired
- Assessing where repairs are unnecessary
In the case of sections of structural wood, the entire piece of wood (not just the damaged section of the wood) will need to be replaced or reinforced with a sister beam.
This is true with structural posts, floor joists, beams, girders, and similar wood components.
Why Repair The Damage?
If left unrepaired, a damaged crawl space structure will begin to sag inwards. This will cause uneven floors upstairs, which will cause doors to jam. As the damage increases, floors may become "springy", and a musty odor may prevail in the home.
A sagging crawl space will also pull down on the walls and framing above. This pulling can lead to cracks in drywall and skewed door frames.
Crawl Space Supports
Crawl space jack posts are steel, adjustable supports that are used to add support to a sagging crawl space.
They can be installed quickly in a crawl space -- often in about a day -- and provide a permanent solution for structural damage.
Our SmartJack® Support System is designed with corrosion-resistant galvanized steel, ensuring that it will be strong and adjustable for many years to come. The system is uniquely engineered to not sink to your crawl space soil for maximum effectiveness.
More about our Crawl Space Jacks
Repairing Your Crawl Space Structure
Compared to other types of structural damage, reinforcing a weakened crawl space is easy, cost-effective, and is very successful.
Crawl space jack posts are installed at key points along the structure and are "jacked up" to attempt o lift the floor back to its original position. If the wood is severely damaged, a sister beam will be installed alongside the normal beam to add structural reinforcement for the jack system.
At Basement Systems, our dealers have seen it all -- and we have a solution for you! Below are just a handful of the damaged crawl spaces our experts have seen over the years.
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Preventing Future Damage After The Wood Has Been Repaired
Crawl space repairs are not a job you'll want to have done again! Once they're completed, you'll want them to last for as long as possible.
At Basement Systems, we recommend taking these three, common-sense steps to preserve the new structural wood and make the most our of your repairs:
Avoid Wood & Debris By The Home
Wood-destroying pests such as termites, carpenter ants, and wood-eating beetles flock around piles of firewood, leaf piles, stick piles, and other sources of wood and debris.
Locate these piles of debris close to your home, and you're exposing your crawl space to a literal breeding ground for wood-destroying insects! And, in the case of subterranean termites, they may burrow underground, entering your home covertly.
Firewood and debris piles should be located at least 20 feet away from your home. Firewood should be placed on concrete blocks along the ground, with PVC poles laid across them, raised at least five inches from the ground.
More information about Pests In The Crawl Space
Seal The Crawl Space
Even if all plumbing issues are addressed and you have installed a sump pump system to address groundwater, you can still have a damp crawl space.
This is because moisture will continuously enter the crawl space through the vents (during humid weather, rainy weather, damp weather, etc), as well as through the pores of the concrete itself.
A sealed crawl space is the best way to protect your structural wood from the conditions that can allow for mold, and rot. Sealing off the crawl space vents (and installing an airtight crawl space door) will keep insects and rodents from making the crawl space their home.
More information about Sealing A Crawl Space
Install A Dehumidifier
An important final touch to restoring your crawl space is to install a crawl space dehumidifier in the space. This system will circulate dry air throughout the space to maintain the environment and to address wet structural wood that may not have needed replacement.
When choosing a dehumidifier, it's important to find a self-draining system. Otherwise, you may need to empty a collection tray every 12 hours or so, or the system will be rendered useless.
A powerful, energy efficient system is ideal to keep your space reliably dry. One that's rated for the cooler environment in a crawl space will prevent the coil from freezing, which can shut the system down.
More about our SaniDry™ CX dehumidifier
Your Local Expert Can Restore Your Crawl Space!
At Basement Systems, our certified experts specialize in creating drier, more energy efficient crawl spaces. Our complete crawl space system includes a 25-year written warranty that is transferable to the next homeowner, should you decide to sell.
To schedule a free, no-obligation crawl space repair estimate with your local professional, contact us by phone or e-mail today! Our experts proudly serve throughout Canada and the United States.
Each free estimate includes an on-site inspection and measurement of your crawl space, as well as a professional consultation, where we'll answer any questions you have. Before the end of the visit, we'll have a customized cost estimate for you -- which we provide in writing.
When you schedule your appointment, we'll also mail along a complimentary, full-color copy of our crawl space book! This book is filled with everything you need to know about building science in the crawl space, as well as information about our products and services.
We're standing by to help you! Schedule your free estimate today!
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