A Visit To The Crawl Space

Nobody really wants to admit that they have one especially if you haven’t been down there for a while or ever. I just bought a new to me 1988 home and what I found told a story. Fortunately, I had a prepurchase inspection and so there was not much shocking to deal with. As a teaching tool, here is what I found and what I did not find.

What I Found

1. I knew that there had been a substantial flood. 30K worth and so there was a nice new Visqueen on top of the old stuff which I thought was weird.
2. The ground was flat and free of debris
3. The metal ductwork had insulation falling off of it. The insulated flex lines were well supported
4. The plumbing lines were well supported.
5. The gas line was well supported.
6. There were no open electrical boxes
7. When I started to reattach the insulation by wrapping it all the way around the duct I detected that the ductwork had separated and was filling the crawl space with nice warm air.
8. At some point, the dryer vent had fallen off and had filled the crawl space with warm air and lint was hanging all over the joists in a focal area of about 10′ square.
9. The PEX plumbing repair was obviously needed and there were polybutylene pipes everywhere. (A ticking timebomb) In this shot, the new PEX is installed already.
10. I did see that the shower pan drain was very loose and leaking so I loosened it further and added silicone to the connection and tightened it back into place.

What I Did Not Find

1. Wet areas or previously wet areas with high water lines.
2. Cut floor joists. This is the number one bad thing we find when looking at crawl spaces.
3. Debris. What a convenient place to store debris. This house was clean but most I see are a junkyard of old heating and plumbing parts. general trash and junk.
4. Crawl space vents that were in good working order. Closable in winter and openable in Spring-Fall.
5. Evidence of infestation, no spider webs or dead or live mice.
6. No foul odor.
7. Evidence of bio growth or any plants or roots.
8. Connection from the crawlspace into the envelope of the home ( This space like the attic must remain completely separated from the living space).

Frightening Thing I have Found in Crawl Spaces

As a Paramedic, my favorite question included something like what was the worst thing you ever saw. I refuse to answer that one but here are some things as a contractor I am willing to share.

• I saw a frog infestation, yes they were cute little guys that were hopping up into her home from the crawl access hatch. The soil was clay and she had a pond in her crawl space because of the shallow water table.
• I went into a crawl with mold everywhere. I couldn’t believe it then I freaked out once I figured out what was going on. A supply line had fallen off and was providing warm moist air to a test tube of mold growth.
• Spyders are a thing and Black Widdow spiders were everywhere. This was not a safe place to be. It needed a bug bomb first.
• The crawl space access hatch was opened to see water just below it like a lake. 53,000 gallons were pumped out. The pressurized irrigation was the culprit. Water filled his crawl from an opened foundation vent caused by a ball valve in the wrong position. (OOPS)

In Summary

Crawl spaces are for running mechanical lines and keeping clean of debris and moisture. This is a good place to hide a safe and have good access from below to things like the water shut-off valve. (I had mine relocated into a wall for faster access). It needs to be rodent and infestation-free and mold-free. Not looking down there is not an option, it should be calendared for an inspection because things change and you must be confident that you are not experiencing a problem.

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Your comments are welcome. To ask questions or get more information about fixing stuff, call 208-639-1808

I do these things during non-Levco time to be sure it doesn’t interfere with the Remodeling business. Repairing things and understanding homes is just another passion of mine.