What Do My Joists Do?

Your floor joists are essential parts of a functional home. You may not notice just how important they are to your home’s structural integrity, however, until they start to fail. 

Hardworking Floor Joists 

The team that originally built your home will have installed floor joists in your crawl space and throughout your foundation. These joists are designed to support the weight of the upper levels of your home. More often than not, they’re made out of natural or treated wood—materials that can fall victim to water damage if you don’t take care of your home. 

I-joists support your floor in a collaborative effort. A lone weakened joist isn’t going to spell the end for the upper floors of your home. However, if you allow a damaged joist to fester, or if you fail to recognize the other signs of damage that might appear in your crawl space, the system of joists beneath your floors may begin to fail entirely. 

Signs of Floor Joist Damage 

If you don’t know what signs of damage to watch for, then floor joist damage can seem to come out of nowhere. You tend to find yourself dealing with over spanned joists, however, when your crawl space suffers from an unusually high level of humidity. Other forces, like shifting soil, can also play a role in your joists’ condition, but even these forces tend to allow more moisture into your crawl space. 

Unfortunately, the moisture that plagues your floor joists isn’t going to disappear unless you choose to do something about it. The longer you wait to repair minor damage in your crawl space or throughout your home, the worse that damage is going to become. With that in mind, some of the earliest signs of floor joist damage include: 

• Standing water in the upper levels of your home 
• Unusual levels of humidity in your crawl space and other floors of your home 
• Damp walls 
• Moisture on your windows and walls 

If you find yourself contending with a bouncy floor or a floor that makes more noise than it used to, reach out to local professionals as soon as possible to schedule joist repairs.