When to Add Crawl Space Supports Under Your Raised Foundation Floor

If you live in a home with a raised foundation, you’ve got a major advantage: access. Unlike slab homes, raised foundations allow skilled tradespeople to reinforce or level your floor from below — often without touching the finished flooring or drywall above.

The most effective fix in many of these homes? Adding or adjusting crawl space supports.

At Orange County Handyman Services, we’ve installed, reset, or replaced dozens of pier blocks, wood posts, and adjustable steel jacks in crawl spaces across Orange County, Los Angeles County, and the Inland Empire. If your floor is sloping, sagging, or creaking — the fix might be waiting just under your feet.

🏠 Raised Foundation = Hidden Problems (and Opportunities)

Homes built before 1980 in areas like Fullerton, Whittier, Pasadena, and Santa Ana often have floors supported by a grid of wood beams and posts resting on concrete pier blocks.

But over time:

• The soil beneath those piers can settle or shift
• Wooden posts can rot or warp
• Beams may crack or sag under added weight
• DIY remodels (e.g., tile or stone flooring) overload the system

And because it’s out of sight — it often goes unchecked for decades.

🔍 Signs You Might Need Additional Support

You may benefit from underfloor reinforcement if you notice:

• A sloping floor that worsens near the middle of the room
• Excessive bounce or creaking underfoot
• A door or window that’s out of square or hard to open
• Visible joist sag or separation from girders

Sometimes, the fix is as simple as resetting a shifted pier. Other times, we may need to add new supports to carry load more evenly.

🛠️ What We Do in the Crawl Space

1. Evaluate Existing Layout
   • Map pier and post spacing
   • Check for cracked piers, dry rot, or missing hardware
2. Locate Sag Zones Using a Laser Level
   • From inside the house, identify the low points and trace them to the joist below
3. Add Supplemental Support Posts
   • Use concrete pier blocks + treated 4x4s, or adjustable steel screw jacks
   • Shim tightly to the beam or girder with metal or wood blocks
4. Secure and Inspect
   • Double check for solid bearing
   • Use fasteners to secure wood-to-wood connections if needed

🧠 Pro Tips:

• Never rely on stacked bricks, blocks, or DIY shims — they will shift over time
• Steel jacks are ideal for adjustable support in crawl spaces
• Combine underfloor supports with sistered joists above for maximum stiffness

We recently fixed a mid-room dip in a 1970s Whittier home by adding just two posts under a 14-foot unsupported beam — no demo needed upstairs.

📚 Other Articles in This Series:

• 👉 0202 – Why Old Homes Have Sloping Floors — And What You Can Do About It
• 👉 0204 – Sistering Floor Joists to Re-Level Raised Floors
• 👉 0211 – Why Second Story Floors Can Feel Crooked — Even in Newer Homes
• 👉 0212 – Signs of Foundation Settlement vs. Normal Floor Sag

🧰 Serving All of SoCal’s Raised Homes

If your home has a crawl space, and your floors are starting to slope or sag, we can help. Orange County Handyman Services proudly supports homeowners in OC, LA, and the IE with safe, affordable underfloor support fixes.

We don’t push unnecessary foundation work — we offer honest evaluations and common-sense repairs from people who’ve worked under dozens of homes just like yours.