diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 8bd7988289..e4d81b2327 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ else()
 #===============================================================================
 if(libmesh)
   find_package(LIBMESH REQUIRED)
+  list(APPEND cxxflags ${LIBMESH_CFLAGS})
 endif()
 
 #===============================================================================
@@ -415,11 +416,11 @@ if(dagmc)
 endif()
 
 if(libmesh)
-if (debug)
-  target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH_DEVEL)
-else()
-  target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH)
-endif()
+  if (debug)
+    target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH_DEVEL)
+  else()
+    target_link_libraries(libopenmc PkgConfig::LIBMESH)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 #===============================================================================
diff --git a/src/initialize.cpp b/src/initialize.cpp
index 7ec7ab0f5f..3260e051ee 100644
--- a/src/initialize.cpp
+++ b/src/initialize.cpp
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ int openmc_init(int argc, char* argv[], const void* intracomm)
 // initialize libmesh
 if (!settings::LMI && !libMesh::initialized())
 {
+#ifdef OPENMC_MPI
+  settings::LMI = std::make_unique<libMesh::LibMeshInit>(argc, argv, n_threads, comm);
+#else
   settings::LMI = std::make_unique<libMesh::LibMeshInit>(argc, argv, n_threads);
+#endif
   settings::libmesh_comm = &(settings::LMI->comm());
 }
 
diff --git a/src/mesh.cpp b/src/mesh.cpp
index 7306d40f08..3b6891907f 100644
--- a/src/mesh.cpp
+++ b/src/mesh.cpp
@@ -2217,6 +2217,7 @@ void LibMesh::initialize() {
 
   // bounding box for the mesh
   bbox_ = libMesh::MeshTools::create_bounding_box(*m_);
+
 }
 
 int LibMesh::n_bins() const {
diff --git a/src/state_point.cpp b/src/state_point.cpp
index 0eb7334b65..29430ed6cb 100644
--- a/src/state_point.cpp
+++ b/src/state_point.cpp
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ openmc_statepoint_write(const char* filename, bool* write_source)
   // Write message
   write_message("Creating state point " + filename_ + "...", 5);
 
+#if defined(LIBMESH) || defined(DAGMC)
+      // write unstructured mesh tallies to VTK if possible
+      write_unstructured_mesh_results();
+#endif
+
   hid_t file_id;
   if (mpi::master) {
     // Create statepoint file
@@ -167,11 +172,6 @@ openmc_statepoint_write(const char* filename, bool* write_source)
         tally_ids.push_back(tally->id_);
       write_attribute(tallies_group, "ids", tally_ids);
 
-#if defined(LIBMESH) || defined(DAGMC)
-      // write unstructured mesh tallies to VTK if possible
-      write_unstructured_mesh_results();
-#endif
-
       // Write all tally information except results
       for (const auto& tally : model::tallies) {
         hid_t tally_group = create_group(tallies_group,