Said It Here

White fungus growing on crawl space wood

Unexpected fungal growth or mycelium in a crawl space or basement points to moisture issues that cause wood rot and compromise structural integrity. Discovering rotted sections of structural wood like band boards requires immediate assessment and repair to prevent further damage.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    scraping it off the surface
  2. 2
    buying a moisture meter
  3. 3
    putting a dehumidifier down there
  4. 4
    having a professional come and assess the full situation
  5. 5
    Using temporary wood supports and jacks to hold up the structure until it can be professionally evaluated
  6. 6
    removing the caulking
  7. 7
    pulling the piece of trim off to check the extent of the rot

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

Went down into my crawl space today and noticed white stuff everywhere that wasn't there before.source ↗

DesertFart · r/HomeMaintenance · 4,570 upvotes

I noticed some mushrooms were growing in between the door frame this morning. I've never seen this happen before anytime I've been here.source ↗

JW9403 · r/HomeMaintenance · 6 upvotes

I was replacing the trim in the back of my house from water damage wood rot, and I noticed that the band board is water rotted about a 2 to 3 foot sectionsource ↗

DarrthJas · r/homeowners · 6 upvotes

damp wood and mushrooms means rot already set in man. that dark frame against the brick is a classic spot for water to sneak in especially with the humidity lately.source ↗

Spiritual-Insect9357 · r/HomeMaintenance · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised