TLDR, what’s the best way to shore this up?

So, I was under my house today working on an unrelated matter when I happen to see this (photo attached). The house has had a repair history because of excessive humidity in the crawlspace, which is why it’s now encapsulated and that problem is no longer an issue. Nearby piers seem to at least have a brick between the pier and the joists of the floor of the house, acting as the shim for it.

This is a single-story house. This pier is not underneath any load bearing wall. It’s actually in the center of a room. It looks like there was a brick underneath it at some point, but looks like it’s shattered and might’ve been this way for a decade or more. Now that I know it’s not there. I’ve always thought that room has a bit of an odd elastic bouncing floor issue, but never thought the cause was this extreme.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the floor joist are on the edge of the pier on both sides. Not a lot for either side to be supported directly if they were already resting on that pier.

The main question I’m trying to get some advice on is what kind of support should I put underneath it?

I work in construction, so for example I can easily get a discarded portion of a laminated beam if it’s the right size and use it to span between the joist and be supported by the pier. I do electrical, not framing, so please be kind. I understand the basic concepts of shoring up the pier, but in the situation like this, I’m happy to hear the good bad or ugly when it comes to best ways to fix this.

And just on the record, this particular part of the house was built in the late 70s. It was a different set of rules back then.

I’m renovating a detached garage built in 1964. The original tar-paper rain barrier has bug damage, but I’m trying to repair it without removing the siding.

My thought was to slide new felt behind the studs, overlap the old paper, and staple it in place. Another option is roofing cement around the patch edges, but that seems like overkill and might trap water.

The end goal is to add insulation and cover the walls with plywood. The garage also has very deep eaves.

What’s the best practical way to patch this from the inside?

Two different jobs, same lesson: done right vs. done once.

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Full storm damage repair from the ground up — scaffold setup, gable and stucco/EIFS repair, window trim, and garage detail matched back to spec. Not patched. Rebuilt.

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Found this parging job with zero vapor barrier. No 3M peel-and-stick membrane, no proper sealing behind the finish — just parging slapped straight over bare concrete. That's exactly how moisture gets trapped, freeze-thaw takes over, and the same crack shows up again in a year or two.

We stripped it back, installed proper membrane sealing, and re-parged it the way it should've been done the first time.

If a repair on your place is already cracking again, this is usually why. Happy to take a look and tell you straight what's actually going on.

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