About to close on a property, but this worries me.

[Bryce Wong]

Hello fellow friends! 

I am just about ready to close on a property that appears to be of tremendous value, but something came up during the inspection that worries me. 

When going down the crawl space, the inspector noticed that the beams and the joists were being supported by stone cinder blocks that are merely placed on the dirt instead of digging in a deeper footer for support. The crawl also appears to be quite moist, since there weren't any vapor barriers set up to prevent moisture from building up.

I am worried that over time the soil could shift, causing the supports to give way. It appears to be sturdy right now, but only time would tell.

Would this be a concern to you if you were buying it? A logical solution to this is to obviously remove the concrete cinder blocks and properly add supports with a deeper footer, but that might add a lot of unnecessary costs in the equation. 

Also, according to your experience, would you recommend setting up a vapor barrier in crawl space?

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. 

Here are some pictures:

[Patrick O.]

Me, personally, I'd try my cheapest and simplest options first and work my way up unless I see something that is just obviously a major issue. I'd add an air vent through the block first and build up the ground around the perimeter and extend gutters to ensure good drainage like Deanna alluded to. Then I'd add a dehumidifier in the area and maybe run an extra hit off of my ductwork around that area. And if none of that worked I'd start thinking about encapsulation. These are to address moisture issues. As far as structural I'd take a hard look at the floor above. If it's tile and you're seeing lots of cracks you likely have an issue. Walk it real well, don't be afraid to jump on it a bit and feel if something's wrong. If you're not comfortable call in a structural engineer. Not sure how your part of the country is but another thing to keep in mind is termites and other insects nesting under there. Oftentimes, if it's damp they'll find their way there