I try to keep from getting downright dirty and seedy here at Active Rain. But sometimes, an honest man has no choice but to get down in the dirt in the trenches. This is a seedy blog! We are going to talk rodents, mice and rats. When an inspector goes into a crawl space, one of the first clues that there are "vermin in our midst" is insulation that has been torn or pulled down from under the floor or that has been torn off heat ducts

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as one would like and sometimes the problem is that the insulation was not well-supported and it tumbled down by itself. If the bodies of vermin or droppings are present, those establish occupancy by undesirables. However, sometimes the clues are less disgusting but equally obvious. The photo below is an example of a way to make a 100 percent positive ID of rodents. 

bellingham wa home inspector king of the house

All that chaff is bird seed, mainly sunflower seeds. Around here we do not have birds that thrive in crawl spaces so how does bird seed get up in the insulation --- yes rodents. The situation in the photo below is a bit less common -- bird seed along the sill plate but, again, it was not left by any stinkin' bird. Had I been guessing, I would have thought this might have been activity from mice. In this case, I passed by a dirty rat, very deceased, on the way to the other side of the crawl space. So I guess the big guys were in play too. In the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham, every homeowner needs to keep an eye out for these critters. They are opportunists and can live just about anywhere.

Steven L. Smith

Bellingham WA Home Inspections

 

5 Comments on Today's Very Seedy Blog

I believe that every home inspector who inspects a crawl space deserves a medal.  Or at least an extra $150 or so. 

We had one house with black snakes.  Oh, wait.  That was mine.

07/22/2008 11:19 AM by Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Real Estate

Sometimes it looks as if the rats have picnics on top of the insulation----I can just envision the rats being dumped onto the crawl space floor as one too many rats comes to the picnic.

07/22/2008 01:01 PM by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector (Charles Buell Inspections.com)

You and Charles have more fun in crawl spaces than anyone can imagine!  You'll must just get under there and make friends with all sorts of vermin.  This crawl space doesn't look so bad.  Remember the movie Crocodile Dundee where he could talk to the animals?  Lets make a movie of you two in the crawl space.

07/22/2008 04:06 PM by Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR (RE/MAX Advantage)

Uggg, Back in the late 1980s I worked for a local retailer in Louisville, Kentucky. Their "original" store was located in downtown Louisville and consisted of three  old houses which had been remodeled and made into one store with NUMEROUS rooms of merchandise. The first thing they told me when I went to work for them was to NEVER place my hand anywhere that I could not see first. They were always killing rats in the store and the rats would nest behind stacks of bluejeans which were kept in bins on the wall for sale. Every night before we left we always set the rat traps and usually would find a dead one each morning.

Such is life in the big city.

Sean Allen

07/22/2008 05:21 PM by International Financing Solutions

Pretty seedy story Sean.

Barbara, Charlie and his little friends have tailgate parties in crawl spaces.

07/22/2008 05:45 PM by Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection)

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Inspector: Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector (King of the House Home Inspection)
Steven L. Smith, Bellingham, Wa. Home Inspector
Bellingham, WA
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King of the House Home Inspection

Office Phone: (360) 676-6908
Cell Phone: (360) 319-0038
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