Several years ago while inspecting the sill in a crawl I moved a piece of insulation to see the rim joist and had a mouse jump from the sill down my shirt, I don’t know who was more freaked out, me or the mouse. In another crawl I discovered a yellowjacket nest that spanned 2 floor joists, I looked around and they were everywhere on the ground, luckily it was January, and although we had a warm snap, they were still somewhat dormant. Another crawl I entered had snake skins a foot deep. I inspected one that had Vermiculite spread all over the place, I’m guessing it was an attempt to absorb all the water. You never know what you’re going to find, but some attics a can be just as bad, and a whole lot hotter.
Luckily there aren’t many crawls in my area, most are basements followed by slabs.
Unfortunately inspecting crawl spaces is part of the job and an important one, that’s where a slew of problems can fester for years until discovered by an inspector.
If you make it your company policy not to inspect crawls, be sure to disclose that to your clients upfront and include it in your PIA. And even if they tell you there isn’t one, I’ve discovered many crawls that the client didn’t know about until the inspection.
I’ve told this before, but one crawl space I opened had about a 4’ long snake skin hanging above the entrance door. The client was there so I grab it and took it the client. He wanted me to enter, although my reluctance to snakes. I did and kept an eye on my surroundings. I saw nothing.
The HVAC inspector followed me a short time after my inspection. He told my client that he saw a black snake, around 5ft, sitting on the upper entrance to the crawl space. I know black snakes are fine, but the fact I didn’t see it made my skin crawl!
I wear yellow rubber rain gear and a good pair of knee pads, a small broom or stick or something similar can come in handy too for clearing spider webs away.
This one feeds off drunks falling overboard. Clocks in at about 800 feet, captured swimming along side Oasis of the Seas after pulling out of port Lauderdale.
Crawlspace are nothing more than urban spelunking. As with any type of sport, proper gear and knowledge are required to make the adventure a success. I’m an “eyes on” type of guy. I want to see a defect from a couple of angles to get a better understanding. That’s the main reason I don’t use a crawlbot.
I just got some new gloves at Home Depot… thin enough to manipulate phones, cameras, etc. and they work on smartphone screens. Definitely better than taking off gloves every pic or rolling through with exposed finger tips.
As for the topic….. yeah, I feared this a lot when I started but in a couple decades+ I’ve never been too surprised and my area has A LOT of crawl spaces. Like anything, the biggest cure is prevention. Look for openings ahead of time. And I suppose it’s also worth mentioning there really aren’t venomous snakes in my area. If there were? I might have to find another way to feed the family
Care to share which? I’ve tried several different ones and have sorta given up.
I don’t do a ton of crawls, averaging maybe half a dozen a year, but I’ve yet to encounter anything living down there. No ants, no snakes, no rats, no nada.
Same here in NE Ohio. For crawls, I usually wear a disposable zip up Tyvex jump suit and my bump cap with the visor removed. Though attics can be challenging at times. Rodent dropping, live rodents, squirrels, raccoons, wasp nests etc. I can’t wear the Tyvex suit in the attic-too hot! I do wear a good mask and googles, however.
Here’s a picture. They really aren’t much for warmth but will keep your hands clean at least. The only semi-annoyance is the ability to work on phones is only in the pointer and middle fingers so zooming is a bit awkward but doable.
I also got some warm weather gloves at Costco recently that are made by the ski gear company Head. Not the type I want to trash in a crawl space but good for outside and they work on my phone.
