crawl space: And A River Ran Through It - The House, That Is
- 01/25/17 02:57 AM
And a river ran through it - the house, that is.
Inspecting a crawl space, as I am wont to do, the dirt floor was completely covered with thick, black plastic. That's good! The underside of the floor was insulated. That's good! The ventilation was open all around. That's good!
But on one end I heard water dripping. It was raining that day, hard, and all day long. But dripping water? I looked at all the plumbing all around and saw no dripping.
So I followed the sound.
It was at the top of the crawl space, which inclined from the front of the house … (9 comments)
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crawl space: How Deep Does The Water Get At Times In This Crawl Space?
- 12/29/15 07:09 PM
How deep does the water get at times in this crawl space?
I report, you decide.
All around the foundation wall there was staining consistent with the staining you see here.
You can see from the different lines that the water level happens regularly, and at different heights.
It had not rained in many days previous to this inspection, but there were still puddles here and there on top of the plastic vapor retarder, dried stains on the plastic from other puddles, and very soft spots all over underneath.
This is a crawl space that gets very wet, and often! And apparently this has gone mostly … (12 comments)
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crawl space: Wet Crawl Spaces Make For Wet Houses - A Follow Up
- 08/14/14 05:38 PM
Wet crawl spaces make for wet houses - a follow up.
My previous post about wet crawl spaces and wet houses spurred me to do additional research.
When I have HVAC or ventilation questions, I contact Dr. Max Sherman. His team at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs is integrally involved with ASHRAE and RESNET/HERS energy standards. Familiar with him for decades, I have an engineering book in my library he wrote years ago! Dr. Sherman has always been exceptionally generous with his time and has always answered my questions.
I wrote him about the confusing info out there about ventilation - summer … (19 comments)
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crawl space: Wet Crawl Spaces Make For Wet Houses
- 08/13/14 09:21 PM
No doubt about it - wet crawl spaces make for wet houses.
Walking into the house we could smell the dampness and mildew. And the entirety of the perimeter of the house was sitting on a crawl space.
This homeowner must have had previous problems with freezing pipes or well equipment in his crawl space. Why do I think that? Because walking around the house the few, very few, crawl-space vents were all closed.
Unless specially constructed, with special materials, crawl spaces MUST ventilate. And they should summer and winter!
If there is vulnerable plumbing it simply must be protected against … (15 comments)
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crawl space: Water Pressure - If What's Below Moves, What's Above Usually Follows!
- 03/18/14 07:32 PM
It should be an old adage - water pressure - if what's below moves, what's above usually follows!
That's why when something utilizes something else as a foundation, the foundation should be strong! Hence the word ... foundation.
This is a 40 year old house, with a 15 year old addition. The addition is a large family room. It has a brick foundation, with a continuous-wall crawl space underneath.
The basement door of the original house used to exit to a stairwell.
They decided to enlarge that space with a retaining wall that extends to the foundation wall of the newer addition, … (34 comments)
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crawl space: Half The House Smelled Deeply Of Mold
- 03/02/14 08:16 PM
There was a new side and and old side to this house, it had been entirely remodeled, and half the house smelled deeply of mold.
Entering through the door on the new side, which part of the house was on a slab, I knew from walking around the exterior earlier that the older side was on a crawl space.
We couldn't get into the crawl space from outside. So in we went.
Finding the hatch I dropped down and began, well, crawling!
Insulation which used to be under the floor had fallen down over time. It was on the ground, hanging, … (64 comments)
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crawl space: And This After The Proclamation Of "Termite Free"
- 01/31/14 08:18 PM
My clients, Marine friends of my son, are being transferred to Quantico VA from California. They were unable to come to be present at the home inspection.
I am very uncomfortable when clients aren't present. It means I have to be more careful with photos and explanations that would not be necessary if they were present.
And necessarily, since they aren't present I have to be extra careful. They aren't present!
The house features a screened porch off the master bedroom.
Very nice feature!
But inside it I noticed some weird moisture, and could not determine where it was coming from.
… (20 comments)
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crawl space: So, You Tell Me. Was This Northern Virginia Crawl Space Ever Wet?
- 11/07/13 09:35 PM
In addition to the features list of this house the seller decided to add that the crawl space was bone dry and had never gotten wet.
So, crawling into the crawl space, through an opening 18" wide and a space a hefty 4' high, I saw this.
There is a mud stain on the wall, all around the space, 10" high.
There was squishy mud under the plastic, visible in this photo.
Tell me - was this crawl space ever wet?
I am not sure that a comment along with a features list saying that it has always been dry is … (55 comments)
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crawl space: Reliving The Dream, Or Is It A Repeat Nightmare? And A Surprise Hire!
- 05/16/13 05:20 PM
The other day I had a home inspection on a house with many, many difficulties. Two of them in particular related to a dangerous oil tank causing problems and a crawl space too small to enter. Here is the post.
My first inspection a couple of days later had exactly the same scenario, among many, many other problems! Was I reliving the dream, or is it a repeat nightmare? And a surprise hire!
Incredibly the house had a dangerously-supported oil tank (yes, that's resting on a pile of concrete blocks on top of a sagging deck!) and a crawl space opening … (17 comments)
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crawl space: Floating Foundation
- 04/15/12 08:26 PM
Every now and then I run into something I have never seen before, like a floating foundation!
Brick facade house, nice addition on the side, masonry block foundation connected to the main house with a right angle. Plenty of crawl space vents.
So far so good.
But when I got into the house, and looked into the crawl space I noticed that the last 5 concrete blocks of support are literally floating in the air!
Interestingly the other side was the same way!
Having never seen it before I shot off an email to an engineer friend of mine, with photos.
… (23 comments)
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crawl space: Wood Gets Slippery When Wet - Resulting In Rot
- 01/17/12 10:37 PM
From many (wonderful) excursions into crawl spaces, home inspectors all know that wood gets slippery when wet - resulting in rot.
First we need some excuse to stay wet all the time.
Let's not have gutters on the front of the house!
In addition, the soil in front, and sidewalk, and porch (!), should all incline toward the house.
That will all contribute to making the crawl space really wet! Home inspectors also enjoy a water view!
That is one front corner of the house, with the standing water extending out about 3'.
The rest of the front wall and the … (31 comments)
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crawl space: Don't Ever Forget Home Security!
- 05/20/10 11:52 PM
In the interesting crawl space I beamed into I discovered another frightening thing, to me anyway. This crawl space was not secure! One side had a small door secured with a stick and the other had no door but was bricked over. That bricked access is visible in Beam Me Down, Scottie. While crawl spaces can be made secure, this one obviously has not been for some time.
This is typical of many crawl spaces, where an old stair case door has been walled over in favor of the small outside accesses.
And while that stair case is in itself … (17 comments)
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And a river ran through it - the house, that is.
;)
;)
;)
