A common problem in the Pacific Northwest, and Bellingham, is water in a crawl space or a basement. In our climate, even a missing vapor barrier over crawl space soil can be responsible for several gallons of water evaporating into the crawl space and, up into the home -- walls, finally into the attic and out. As an inspector I can tell you that, long term, crawl space water can lead to some very icky concerns inside the home and in the crawl space and attic. We are talking wood decay or even mold.
Sometimes people do not think much about it if you say there is water in the crawl space. I have found a means of bringing the information home to them. Real numbers. Even though this photo shows plenty of water, an area about 20' x 15' and 4" deep, when you realize how many gallons it really is, that will knock your socks off.
Check out this little online water volume calculator. I find this super handy in my work.
The puddle below, by the way, is about 750 gallons. Now that gets a person's attention!
Steven L. Smith
Bellingham WA Home Inspections
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Hi Steve. As a fellow home inspector, I personally hate crawlspaces. They are breeding grounds for issues that go unchecked for undetermined periods of times and they are rarely ever dry. Unfortuantely, many crawlspace issues are not discovered until after the problem had snowballed into a large scale or costly repair.