The rains came and suddenly the crawl space was full of water. The issue of crawl space, and even more serious usually, basement water, is a real concern. It is also tricky for the home inspector. In the Pacific Northwest it is possible to inspect a home in dry months and think it looks good, or at least not alarming, underneath. Then you end up going back in October to February and the piers and posts are underwater or the vapor barrier is floating. At least that kind of situation can apply in the crawl space. In a basement, people's belongings might be underwater. As an inspector, even in dry weather, you try to look for clues of moisture or past moisture -- houses cut into hills or on sloping lots, lots of mud or water stains on the foundation, vapor barrier or structural wood. Problem is, especially in new houses, you just might not be lucky enough to get any of those clues. Below are a few pictures of a home I inspected in summer, and the lower  photos are the same crawl space in winter. Fortunately, I had told the people (house built into hill and I was familiar with the neighborhood) that I ought to come back and check it for them in the winter. It was a home warranty and, for this issue, we were really inspecting the wrong time of year. So, gratis, I drove back out in December. The circumstances were pretty different and glad we did that. You can see how people can end up pretty mad at an inspector, when the crawl space changes so much. The top three pictures were dry time of year, the lower three were winter, same house.