Even the nicer crawl spaces can be inhospitable places----like visiting another planet. Some inspectors even look like spacemen (and space women) when they are all suited up to go in the crawl space.
Lots of inspectors look for almost any excuse to not go in the crawl space. ONE rat turd and they are "outta-there." ONE little water puddle and they are "outta-there." It is important to be safe in the crawl space---but someone has to check it out. While I don't "love" crawl spaces (and on the Planet Charles, there wouldn't be any crawl spaces), I do like them from the stand point that I find some of the most interesting stuff in there---tons of Blog Fodder!
The crawl space I want to talk about today was interesting because, although there was no water in it at the time of inspection, there was tons of evidence that on multiple (and frequent) occasions the entire crawl space (24" tall) fills with water all the way up to the insulation. And not just any water----salt water. This home located at sea level was unfortunate enough to have its entire crawl space fill up with water every time there is a storm surge. SO WHAT EXACTLY AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL MY BUYER! The seller on this one was a little miffed because I inferred that the crawl space might fill up with water again. This first picture shows two distinct high water lines along the side of the beam----yup that is seaweed---SURFS UP!
The next picture shows where the water has left seaweed and discoloration on the underside of the insulation, has pulled down the insulation in one area, and left a high water mark on the heat duct (the high water mark on the duct is where the mark would have been made with the duct floating:).
This last picture shows the heat duct lying on the ground and still full of water, which explained why no heat was being delivered to that end of the home. Every time this crawl space floods the duct work should be replaced. What am I supposed to tell my buyer?----just kidding:)
Charles Buell
www.buellinspections.com
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Charlie,
I had one kind of like that at Point Roberts, right on the beach. What had been foundation vents were kind of sealed off and they had put a duct from the furnace into the crawl to condition it. However, it was still wet under there. The seller admitted that there had been a flood and it filled it up. He thought closing the vents would solve the problem, not allowing it in. Looked to me like, at that point, there were many other problems created. Keep up the blogging.