Crawlspace Post and Beam Repair in Burien

Floors that sag or bounce

From above, the signs are a dip in a hallway, a bounce when someone crosses the room, a dining table that tilts, or a doorframe that has racked. From below, you may see a post leaning, a girder with a visible bow, or a gap between a post and the beam it should be holding.

These signs do not all mean the same thing. A floor can slope because a post has failed, because the soil under a pad has moved, or because the foundation has settled, and the foundation settlement and piering page covers the last case. Sorting these out is the first job.

Posts, pads, girders and sills

The parts run from the ground up. Pads sit on the soil, posts on the pads, girders on the posts, joists across the girders and the floor on the joists. The sill plate is the odd one out, lying on the foundation wall around the edge.

A Forest Service decay manual makes the general point that wood kept damp for any length of time is infected by fungi that cause decay and reduce its strength. Under a house that translates into one task, finding the damp wood, before anyone decides what to replace.

Moisture under the house

Federal Building America guidance makes two points that shape this section. A sealed plastic ground cover belongs in a crawlspace whether or not it is vented, and in vented ones bulk water from grading, a missing perimeter drain or gutter trouble dominates the moisture.

So a ground cover is a moisture measure and not a cure for standing water. If water comes in, the drainage page covers where it comes from.

Working in a low crawlspace

A crawlspace can be low, wet or tight, and access shapes the job. We look at the entry, the clearance and the ground before scoping the work.

New supports are added where the plan places them, and loads are taken up in small steps. We do not promise to bring a sloping floor back to level, because the framing and the finishes above may not allow it.

What changes the cost

Crawlspace repair is priced from what is under the house. The factors:

• The number of posts, pads and beams to be replaced or added
• Crawlspace height and how far the work is from the entry
• The condition of the girders, joists and sill plate
• Moisture that has to be dealt with so the new wood does not stay damp
• Whether the floor above needs support in stages

What Burien lots and rules add

Burien’s building code requires a permit to alter or repair a building, and its ordinary-repairs exception leaves out removing or cutting a structural beam or a load-bearing support. Replacing a post or a beam falls near that line, so ask the city before work whether the job needs a permit.

On a lot the city treats as a critical area, steep slope or landslide hazard area, the permit exemptions do not apply. Confirm the current text with the permit center.