Installing Post Jacks or Repairing Wood in Crawl Space? Do This First

Before you begin any foundation repair or structural work in your crawl space—like installing post jacks or repairing wood beams—there’s one crucial step you must take first: remove the mold! 🦠 Mold growth in crawl spaces is a common issue that can weaken the wood structure and affect the long-term integrity of your foundation. 

Ever wonder why your crawl space repairs keep getting plagued by mold and moisture issues? Stick around because Michael Church from Crawl Space Ninja is about to reveal a critical mistake many contractors make that could save you thousands of dollars. Imagine investing in brand-new wood supports, only to watch them be compromised by mold due to overlooked moisture problems. Michael shares an eye-opening story from his early days, showing how failing to address mold and moisture before structural repairs led to disastrous and costly consequences.

You'll get practical advice on ensuring your crawl space is ready for structural support, especially if you're planning to add heavy features like a kitchen island. Michael stresses the importance of drying out existing wood and eliminating mold to avoid infecting new installations. This episode is a must-listen for any homeowner looking to safeguard their investment by addressing moisture and mold before diving into structural repairs. Michael's insights are invaluable for anyone wanting to maintain the integrity and longevity of their home.

Check out Michael's book, "Crawl Space Repair Myths-Busted" now available on Amazon!

Need help: https://crawlspaceninja.com or https://diy.crawlspaceninja.com

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

Michael Church, crawl Space Ninja. We are continuing our Crawl Space Misconception Series, and today I want to talk about something that a lot of contractors overlook, and that is should you start structural repair in the crawl space, sistering joys, putting in post jacks before drying the wood and addressing mold? Many years ago I went to this house and we fixed the crawl space, and then I had this idea to knock on the house next door and introduce myself and tell them that we did the work on the house their neighbor's house and so I knock on the door. This nice couple answers the door. They said oh yeah, we had some structural issues taken care of in our crawl space, but if you want to go down there and look, they were really kind and I know knocking on a stranger's door isn't really practiced today, but this was many years ago.

Speaker 0: 0:44

So I go in the crawl space and I look up and they had all this wood sistered against nasty, moldy, disgusting wood. And guess what happened to that brand new wood that they had installed on that nasty, moldy, bad wood? It started growing mold. So we actually had to go in and we had to cut out the new wood that they installed as well as the old wood because the company that addressed the bouncing floors and different things like that did not dry the old wood out. They did not address the mold. They didn't put any kind of protectant on the wood to keep it from growing new mold and infecting the new wood.

Speaker 0: 1:24

So if you're looking to address your bouncing floors, you're maybe putting an island in the kitchen. You're putting some floor jack posts underneath there to support that, because that island's going to be heavy. Make sure that the wood is dried out and there's no mold on that wood or you can be creating a huge problem in the future wood, or you can be creating a huge problem in the future and it was way more money to redo that project than it was if they would have done it correctly the first time. So dry and remove all the mold off the wood before you address any structural issues. I'm Michael Church Crawl Space Ninja. We hope you make it a happy and blessed day and we'll see you later.