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Crawl Space Wood Rot

BAY Crawl Space & Foundation Repair Helps Provide Safe & Healthy Homes

Crawl Space Wood Rot – Causes and Repairs

Moisture in a crawl space has been known to cause many issues under homes. Wood rot is among the worst issues that arise from crawl space moisture because it can compromise the structural integrity of large areas of your home, leading to high (and preventable) costs for repair.

Have you discovered the presence of wood rot under your home? Did a termite inspector or HVAC technician surprise you with unwelcome news? You’re in the right place. This guide serves to educate you about the Causes of Wood Rot, Eliminating the Causes of Wood Rot, and the Best Solutions for Wood Rot today.

For more help, request a free inspection and estimate from one of our trained crawl space repair experts. We will provide honest, helpful feedback at a great price, and we guarantee all of our repairs.

Crawl Space Wood Rot: Causes

Without moisture, your home would never develop wood rot in the crawl space. It’s the combination of high wood moisture content and wood-destroying fungus that causes most wood rot.

But what causes high wood moisture content and the growth of wood-destroying fungus?

These causes of wood rot arise because of long-term exposure to moisture. There are 3 main sources of moisture in a crawl space:

  1. Moisture from the damp earth
  2. Moisture from groundwater and flooding
  3. Moisture from the humidity outside

It’s these 3 sources of moisture that are the root source of all moisture problems, including wood rot, mold, and wood-destroying fungus in a crawl space. After years of fixing problem crawl spaces, we’ve discovered the exact formula to eliminate all moisture problems.

Since we know there are only 3 true sources of moisture in any crawl space, we should identify which sources your home is experiencing first. This is where a professional crawl space inspection is necessary. But if you’re a DIY type of person, you can identify the problem areas yourself.

Here are some things you can look for that are obvious sources of moisture: exposed ground (not covered by a vapor barrier), standing water, open foundation vents in the summer, watermarks on piers or walls, a thick layer of dirt on the plastic, condensation on ductwork, wet insulation, and more.

Crawl Space Mold Wood Rot Mildew Broken Joist

Crawl Space Wood Rot: Eliminate the Causes

The first and most important step to take when your home has developed wood rot is to control the moisture that allows the wood to rot in the first place.

Our professional recommendation is to always address potential flooding in the crawl space first. If your home has flooded due to groundwater in the past, it’s likely to happen again in the future. If you don’t control potential future flooding, you risk having to replace any other moisture solutions when the next big storm arrives. Our tried-and-true crawl space drainage systems resolve flooding every time.

After flooding has been controlled, the next step is to control moisture from the damp earth. This is done by covering 100% of the ground with a Class A Vapor Barrier. For homeowners, we typically recommend a 12-mil or 20-mil Guardian Liner vapor barrier, which has a highly protective 10-year or 25-year warranty, respectively.

Finally, to 100% eliminate the causes of wood rot, we recommend our ‘Dry Space’ Crawl Space Encapsulation. We’ve perfected the art of crawl space encapsulation and guarantee to keep your crawl space moisture at healthy levels throughout every season.

Crawl Space Wood Rot: The Best Solutions

Once the wood framing under your home is rotten, it needs to either be repaired or replaced. But first, it’s important to kill any wood-destroying fungus that caused the rot in the first place.

Before performing any structural repairs on wood rot with wood-destroying fungus, we will remove the floor insulation and perform a mold treatment to kill the wood-eating fungus.

Next, we assess the condition of the framing for the best wood repairs. Many homes are unique so they might require custom repairs but here are the most common and most effective repair options:

Joist Sisters

Fasten a mirror-image piece of wood to the rotten joist to add significant strength to the failing joist. A properly Sistered Joist is stronger than the joist was originally before the wood rot.

Beam Replacement

Most beams that are rotten should be replaced. When replacing beams, the floors must be lifted to remove the old rotten beam and insert the new strong beam.

Beam Reinforcement

Some beams that are minimally rotten can be reinforced with structural steel. This can be especially useful when the floors above are prone to damage if they are lifted. Materials like glass, tile, and granite are delicate and can crack when lifted.

Subfloor Plating

Where the subfloor becomes soft and is not critically damaged from wood rot, adding subfloor support from below is a great option, that is non-invasive.

Subfloor Replacement

Once a large area of the subfloor is damaged, it should be replaced from above. This will require the flooring to be removed and the subfloor to be cut out from inside the house.

Entire Floor Structure Replacement

Sometimes the floor structure is too damaged to be repaired but needs to be replaced. This is true when the crawl space is difficult to access or dangerous due to the extent of the damage. Our professional technicians can remove and rebuild your entire floor structure if needed. This is a difficult and technical job requiring great hands-on expertise. Trust the experts.

Inspecting for Crawl Space Wood Rot

Our Expert Advisors are trained to identify the causes, signs, and best repair options for any crawl space wood rot solutions you might need. If you’re concerned about the integrity of your home, we offer free, no-obligation, no-pressure inspections and estimates.

Why Choose BAY to Fix Your Crawl Space Wood Rot?

BAY Crawl Space & Foundation Repair is your one-stop solution for crawl space wood rot in Virginia Beach, Newport News, Suffolk, and the surrounding region. Our expert teams have over 400 collective years of experience fixing homes in the Hampton Roads, VA & NC region.

Our staff includes engineering experts, repair specialists, and a full support team ready to deliver exceptional customer service and a fast turnaround of your project. This is why BAY Crawl Space can offer great long-term warranties on the installation and materials for your repair.

You can learn more about BAY’s crawl space wood rot solutions by taking advantage of our free crawl space and foundation inspection. Your inspection will give you a much better understanding of the issues at hand, along with your best options for repair.

Contact BAY Crawl Space & Foundation Repair today by filling out our online form or call 757-460-0444 for a free inspection.

About BAY Crawl Space & Foundation Repair

BAY is an award-winning crawl space and foundation repair contractor. We’re proud to service an 80-mile radius around our Norfolk, VA headquarters, Monday to Friday, from 7 am to 5 pm.

BAY is best known for having amazing reviews (quality & quantity), superior expertise, special methods, and affordable pricing options. We have the ‘Best of the Best’ on our team. Our All-Star Team delivers great customer experiences and the best quality for a great price.

Our reputation in the Hampton Roads community with homeowners, engineers, city permitting offices, home services professionals, and online as a crawl space foundation repair contractor is outstanding.

Reviews Summary & Links We have ranked #1 for crawl space repair in Hampton Roads for 8 years (Google: 2015-2023), ranked top 5% in the USA with Super Service Awards for 5 years (Angi: 2017-2022), were voted Best of Foundation Repair locally for 6 years (CoVA BIZ 2018-2023), were voted “Best of the Best” nationally in 2020 for the foundation repair category, and won the “Best Places to Work” award (CoVA BIZ).

Customer Reviews

Our Reviews Reflect Our Commitment to Taking Great Care of Our Customers

  • After shopping companies and getting several bids on the same project, we chose Bay Crawl because of their reputation and price. They had our whole house leveled and stabilized in two days. Left our property cleaner than they found it with a smile on their face. Do NOT plan your next project without getting an estimate from Bay Crawl.”

    – Ryan Simpson
  • “Our experience with Bay was outstanding. From first contact everything was smooth and made as easy as possible for us. We were kept informed every step of the process via email, phone, and text. The work was top-notch. The cost was extremely reasonable. We were impressed that Bay did not try to sell services that weren’t required.”

    – Teresa Lackey
  • My experience was nothing but the best with Bay Crawl Space. The price was much more affordable than what another company quoted. Scheduling was easy and painless. They were professional and treated my home as if it was their own. They left me feeling very confident in my decision to go with Bay.”

    – Michael Turner
  • It was an easy decision to choose Bay Crawl Space over the three other estimates I had gotten—not only was the price reasonable based on my research, but Jamie was the only sales advisor who described more than one option that I could choose. The scheduling was very smooth! I am confident that if I have any problems, I can call & they will resolve them.”

    – Diane Taylor
  • “Severe water damage to the structure. We thought we were in real trouble but after talking with them, we felt much better as we were assured that this was “Easy.” Our experience with Bay was better than we have had with any other contractor EVER. Upfront with what to expect, honest in their communications, and fair pricing.

    – Mike O’Neill
  • “We had our crawlspace encapsulated by BAY three years ago at a fraction of the cost of JES’s estimate. The work was done on time and to exceptional standards. The office has been courteous, the workers arrived on time, and the work was accomplished as promised. BAY gets my highest recommendation.”

    – Bob Essman
  • “I am delighted with the crawl space encapsulation completed by Bay Crawl Space & Foundation Repair. What I particularly appreciate about BAY is their attention to detail & commitment to excellence. They were punctual and very much worth the value. I highly recommend Bay Crawl Space to anyone looking for excellent service & an affordable product.”

    – Leslie Ballard
  • “I’m not one to take home repairs lightly so I try and do my research. I got over 4 estimates to have my crawl space encapsulated and some repair work done. BAY beat the others prices by over 10k. Oh and they actually did more work that what the others quoted us to do. They also do quality work. So value for money, BAY is the company to go with.”

    – Benjamin Alexander
  • I had an independent civil engineer out to inspect prior to the BAY visit. I was afraid I might be oversold on repairs I didn’t need. This was not the case. BAY made the same observations and gave same explanations or better. Great job BAY on hiring honest and competent assessors. Very professional, will work with you again!”

    – Zachary Frey
  • “I’m super pleased with the work Bay did us, it made a difference almost immediately. Our service advisor, Beau, did an excellent job of identifying the issues in our crawl and offering reasonably priced solutions. The team they sent out to do the work was awesome. They were friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient!

    – David Green
  • Bay Crawl is by far the number 1 company for all of your crawl space and foundation needs. They are fairly priced. When coupled with the amazing service you receive, its a value that’s unbeatable. Every employee I interacted with was professional, polite, knowledgable, and hard working. You will not deal with a better run company than Bay Crawl.

    – Nicholas Cipriano