Fortunately for my business there are not too many crawl spaces associated with the majority of the homes inspected. Crawling around a confined space with protective coveralls, gloves, bump cap and respirator in the middle of a hot Georgia afternoon is not something I look forward to (not to mention the snakes, spiders and other critters sometimes found).
Some older homes in this particular area of middle Georgia were built on crawl spaces and require the inspection. While under a crawl space yesterday I had just about finished and was backing my way out and noticed a plumbing drain pipe leaking. This particular home had been vacant for some time and the water had not been run. The plastic vapor barrier under the leak had only a small collection of water, most likely a result of my inspection as I ran through the systems. The only reason I was able to catch this leak was the buyer's Realtor had washed his hands in the hallway bath while I was in the crawl space. If he had not run the water while I was under the home I probably wouldn't have noticed the leak.
That got me to thinking......why not have someone (buyer, seller, agent) run the water in the various rooms while inspecting the crawl space? Some of you inspectors who are from areas where crawl spaces are more prevalent may already do this. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but I haven't heard the idea up until now so I thought I would share it.
Howard Tennyson
Ace Home Inspection, LLC
Office (478) 954-9791
Fax (888) 273-9868
acehomeinspectionllc@gmail.com
http://acehomeinspection.biz
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