Not everyone wants to crawl under their house. That’s exactly why we do it.
If you live around Macon, Warner Robins, or Perry and haven’t looked under your home in the last year or two, there’s a good chance something is already happening in your crawl space—whether you realize it or not.
At Stapleton Foundation Systems, we’ve seen it all under Middle Georgia homes—the good, the bad, and the ones that make you wonder how they’re still standing.
Here are the top 7 red flags we find most often—and what they’re trying to tell you.
That damp, basement-like odor you smell—especially when your HVAC kicks on—is probably coming from the crawl space below. Roughly 40–50% of the air on your first floor rises from beneath your home. If it’s humid or moldy down there, you’re breathing it in.
One Warner Robins customer thought it was ductwork—it turned out to be moldy insulation beneath their living room.
Feeling a dip or bounce as you walk? It’s not just “old house charm”—it could mean your joists are weakened. We’ve seen this often in homes with high humidity or standing water under the floor.
One home near Zebulon Road had settled over an inch in the back. We stabilized it using SmartJacks and sistered joists to restore the structure.
If it looks like a science experiment under your house, it’s time to act. Mold spreads fast in dark, damp environments and can destroy subfloors and framing while polluting the air you breathe.
We once found black mold covering 80% of the subfloor in a Gray, GA home—completely hidden from sight above.
After rain, water should never pool under your house. In our clay-heavy soil, that moisture won’t evaporate fast enough—and it can stick around for months.
One homeowner in Byron had inches of standing water under their home for six straight months—only discovered by a pest control tech.
This white, chalky residue on concrete or block isn’t “just a stain.” It’s a sign that water is moving through your foundation and leaving mineral deposits behind.
If moisture is coming through the walls, it needs to be controlled at the surface and below.
We’ve seen it all—snakes, roaches, rodents, even a possum that moved in under a vent. If your crawl space is damp and open, pests will find it.
One Macon homeowner’s cat led us to a possum living right under the floor vent. We’re still not sure who was more surprised.
If your crawl space insulation is sagging, clumpy, or pulling away from the subfloor, it’s likely soaked and failing. Wet insulation loses its effectiveness and traps moisture against your home’s structure.
This forces your HVAC to work harder and can lead to mold or rot.
Don’t feel overwhelmed—most crawl space problems start small. But in Middle Georgia, small issues often grow quickly if ignored.
At Stapleton Foundation Systems, we offer free crawl space inspections. We’ll check moisture levels, take photos, explain what we see in simple terms, and walk you through real repair options—no fluff, no pressure.
Call us today and let us do the crawling so you don’t have to.
Catching a small issue now could save you thousands later.
