diff --git a/pageserver/src/branches.rs b/pageserver/src/branches.rs
index 23af734060..3bd30bb26a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/branches.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/branches.rs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ use std::{
 use zenith_utils::zid::{ZTenantId, ZTimelineId};
 
 use log::*;
+use zenith_utils::crashsafe_dir;
 use zenith_utils::logging;
 use zenith_utils::lsn::Lsn;
 
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ pub fn init_pageserver(conf: &'static PageServerConf, create_tenant: Option<&str
         println!("initializing tenantid {}", tenantid);
         create_repo(conf, tenantid, dummy_redo_mgr).with_context(|| "failed to create repo")?;
     }
-    fs::create_dir_all(conf.tenants_path())?;
+    crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(conf.tenants_path())?;
 
     println!("pageserver init succeeded");
     Ok(())
@@ -135,12 +136,12 @@ pub fn create_repo(
     }
 
     // top-level dir may exist if we are creating it through CLI
-    fs::create_dir_all(&repo_dir)
+    crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(&repo_dir)
         .with_context(|| format!("could not create directory {}", repo_dir.display()))?;
 
-    fs::create_dir(conf.timelines_path(&tenantid))?;
-    fs::create_dir_all(conf.branches_path(&tenantid))?;
-    fs::create_dir_all(conf.tags_path(&tenantid))?;
+    crashsafe_dir::create_dir(conf.timelines_path(&tenantid))?;
+    crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(conf.branches_path(&tenantid))?;
+    crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(conf.tags_path(&tenantid))?;
 
     info!("created directory structure in {}", repo_dir.display());
 
diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
index 7425dc6da5..0cf4fe9359 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ use zenith_metrics::{
 };
 use zenith_metrics::{register_histogram_vec, HistogramVec};
 use zenith_utils::bin_ser::BeSer;
+use zenith_utils::crashsafe_dir;
 use zenith_utils::lsn::{AtomicLsn, Lsn, RecordLsn};
 use zenith_utils::seqwait::SeqWait;
 
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ impl Repository for LayeredRepository {
         let mut timelines = self.timelines.lock().unwrap();
 
         // Create the timeline directory, and write initial metadata to file.
-        std::fs::create_dir_all(self.conf.timeline_path(&timelineid, &self.tenantid))?;
+        crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(self.conf.timeline_path(&timelineid, &self.tenantid))?;
 
         let metadata = TimelineMetadata {
             disk_consistent_lsn: Lsn(0),
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ impl Repository for LayeredRepository {
             ancestor_timeline: Some(src),
             ancestor_lsn: start_lsn,
         };
-        std::fs::create_dir_all(self.conf.timeline_path(&dst, &self.tenantid))?;
+        crashsafe_dir::create_dir_all(self.conf.timeline_path(&dst, &self.tenantid))?;
         Self::save_metadata(self.conf, dst, self.tenantid, &metadata)?;
 
         info!("branched timeline {} from {} at {}", dst, src, start_lsn);