Thread: Ok guys - I need your help

Why would it be necessary to install these treated posts and beam next to the foundation wall in the crawlspace.

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Looks like they may be attempting to support a 2x10/12 acting as a beam to support the floor joists ... maybe due to a rotted sill?

Target rich environment you got there.
Is that a plastic corrugated pipe for the dryer or bathroom fan?
Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
Water logged and failed insulation

The sill was good. Thats why it puzzles me.

You are correct. The camera was flashing like crazy in the crawlspace.

First guess is that there was a problem with the way the floor joist were bearing on the foundation and someone told "them" that additional support was needed....maybe from a previous home inspection? Was the foundation 4" block?

This is why crawlspaces suck.

no it was not 4"

One day I will enter a crawlspace and there will be a big screen tv, fridge and a waitress. I cant wait!

Temporary support while they laid up the stem wall? The joists are on a bottom plate on the stem wall, right? Sometimes I see it similar when there were holding a bolted ledger board in place until they got the bolts set, but that doesn't seem to apply here.

This crawl space has a lot of issues,water,maybe rot,and who knows what else,looks to me to be a patch job for structural issues.

Crawl is obviously taking in lots of water. My guess is the joist and posts were installed to stabilize the CMU wall from tilting in as it sinks. This would also help support the floor, slow down floor to wall separation issues on the 1st floor and help minimize drywall/plaster issues for the time being.
I would have checked the CMU wall with a level. Any amount of lean or sinking and it would be written up as structurally unstable.

Looks like pilasters to hold the wall straight and plumb - how high was the fill on the other side of the wall?

Looking at the photos, the 4x4s are next to the wall, the 2x10 beam is on the wall/on sill plate, but neither is on the 4x4s.

The 2x10 may be near the inside edge of the wall, which would load the wall eccentrically, not concentrically as when the 2x10 is centered over the wall. Eccentrically loaded at one edge of the wall could cause the wall to rotate.

I am sure that you also got that white plastic dryer vent duct which is not allowed.

That spot in the center is very wet, almost like there is an underground spring there? I thought you guys were having a heat wave. So where's all that water coming from? Maybe there's a water supply pipe leaking there.

The 4X4's are lending very little support for the house, since they don't appear to be on footings.They are only going to help out until the termites start using them for corridors. Or maybe it's too wet for termites. In any case, there is a world of trouble in the one pic.

Treated posts are not waterproof, and if the ends are cut, they are not treated on the cut ends, either.

Looks like it was engulfed in a total flood zone and has washout issues.

DIY type temp bracing during pump out and during digging.

Get a geo-technical and structural engineering survey & report.

With all these huge cutouts there is no strength in the support "beam"
Maybe they had to repair the concrete wall and needed temp support for the joists

I would need help also. Serious moisture problem, but cannot say why a later post & beam assembly was installed. My best guess is that the water problem was making the footing settle and that was the unwise fix. Doesn't even look like treated wood. Regardless, the water problem remains.

Looks like pilasters to hold the wall straight and plumb - how high was the fill on the other side of the wall?

How would it hold the wall straight without some kind of bracing perpendicular to the beam?

Maybe they had to repair the concrete wall and needed temp support for the joists

This was my thought, too.

Looks to me like the posts where installed to help support the overhanging mud sill? Of course the rim & floor joist are weighted over that support also.
I'd recommend a SE for full evaluation of the home's foundation system.

John,

I have two questions:

- Has anyone asked the current owner?
- Is it listed on the disclosure?

The current configuration does not provide enough horizontal support to be effective for wall movement.

So my initial guess, like Bruce, was the new framework was temporary vertical support to replace the rim joist or mud sill plate, but why go through the trouble to cut out for the foundation vent, etc. Block walls are the worse foundation type for termites. The open cavities are like the Metro subway system to them.

Also waste trap or supply line is leaking.

Did anyone mention the fire hazard clothes dryer duct being that white plastic stuff?

Everyone has picked up on something, but it really is time to call the SE. Where that apparent level and quantity of water has been present there is no telling what is going on out of site. I used to have an older apartment building north of Baltimore. I suddenly had several inches of water in the basement. Turns out my 70 years old building suddenly had a stream running directly under the middle of the basement slab. There was no evidence of any prior history or repairs.

Hey all, I'm new here - first post. Make sure you watch that for termites as well. With all the moisture and the wood-to-soil contact, it's a termite infestation waiting to happen.

It is hard to tell from the picture, but I have 2 guesses. First, the 2x10 is there to support the floor joists at the vent and duct openings in the masonry wall. It doesn't look like there is enough of a masonry section above the openings to support the load, so they added the 2x10, and then cut great big holes in it. Secondly, maybe they cut the floor joists too short, so they needed the 2x10 to support the stubbed joists. In any case, the 2x10 does not appear to have adequate lateral support or to be adequately anchored to the posts.

I can see only one floor joist in this picture and it is sistered. The 4x4s appear to run to the footing. It also appears that the lumber between the floor joists and the 4x4s runs the length of the foundation. I suggest that there may have been some rotting at the ends of the floor joists and this was the "solution" to the floor settlement.

Did anyone consider the condensate drain? Looks like all the moisture on the foundation is right below it.

I've seen this in a few occasions in crawl applications.
House built w/o the use of a mud sill. End of story.

The sinking rotting floor joist ends are usually supported by legers after the fact however, and that also provides a few problems.
The posts in constant damp soil in the pics would not be a permanent fix as stated by others.

Oh ya, did anyone notice the plastic dryer vent?