The first photo is the “good” section of the crawl space…the others just shows the amount of debris and pipes preventing access. The areas of the dug basement/crawl space I could get into were pretty scary…I remarked to my partner on the job site “worst crawl” space of 2013…I should have traded the exterior septic inspection under 18 inches of snow with him. Some days I wonder.
Photo#3 looks like old floor board’s, did ya take them
WoW!
That is one disgusting crawl!
Glad you made it out of there without harm.
Also very glad we don’t have many crawl spaces here!
Tom
Damn Mark that is nasty, you should have done the septic.
By the way, hows the frost down your way. We have a couple inches up here.
At least it was well insulated 
Hey Peter. Frost very light as we had early snow cover. Haven’t had to pull out the jack hammer yet. Ground is pretty wet though from the recent rain. If the snow cover melts and we have a hard freeze we’ll need an excavator to break through the ice. When do you decide the ground is too frozen to dig a septic?
Would not have crawled that fer nothing.
Mark is a working CMI 
That’s roomy. What’s the problem? 
I love it when I see a crawlspace that looks like this. I will not enter it 
OSHA defines a crawlspace as a confined space. Confined space entry is something every inspector should be wary of. I will not enter a crawlspace in this configuration or condition. The price of the inspection is not worth the price of personal injury.
There is nothing in any SOP, including state mandated SOPs, that require an inspector to enter into or onto a portion of any dwelling where there is a possibility of personal injury. Although a sole proprietor is responsible for himself, and thusly not subject to OSHA rules, not so for anyone who employs people. For multi-inspector firms, the OSHA rules do indeed apply.
Those rules should be observed REGARDLESS of whether we work for ourselves or not. We have a DUTY to ourselves and our families to remain safe at all times.
There is nothing that I see in that first picture that would prevent me from entering that crawlspace.
I certainly would not crawl over debris with protruding nails or over electrical wires, but I will always try and find a safe route to crawl and document what I can.
The possibility of hidden dangers is huge. Can’t count the number of times I have “found” loose electrical cables on the ground and dangling, open sewer lines dumping onto the ground, broken glass, bricks and old rusted iron and sheet metal in crawlspaces (not to mention feral cats, racoons and snakes).
Before anyone says, “Wait a minute. You live in Florida and every house in FL is on a slab.” NOT TRUE! Around here it is about 50/50 with lots of very old, nasty crawl spaces to investigate.
When I swing the pick axe and frozen dirt hits me in the face…LOL
You guys might try borrowing pink ruffled panties from the KC guys its just another crawl space.
I hear duct tape around the bottom of your pant legs works good also it keeps the ants from crawling up your legs and eating your candy Butt:twisted::p;-)
Tyvek suit, (with hood,) full face mask, gloves, safety glass, knee pads and ear plugs and off you go, would not crawl over any pipes or HVAC ducts.
Better than than opening a FPE stabloc panel.
Some of you take safety as a joke I for one do not.
CMI DOES NOT MAKE ONE A FOOL if anything a CMI should be more educated in the possible dangers and be smart enough NOT to take STUPID risks for minimum reward.
Your a s s is not worth the piddiley fee you will get for any home inspection.
Would I risk my a s s for an insane amount of money Unfortunately in my current situation YES but not in that situation and not for what he likely got for the inspection.
Troy,
Talk all the smack you want but I have learned my lesson on safety. I hope you do not learn like I did.
Thank you for all the comments. I actually did not enter the more open space shown in Pic #1. That picture was using a zoom, I shot the Pic past a huge pile of debris that I was not going to climb over. Bob…to answer your question that was the seller hiding behind that pile of debris making sure I didn’t say anything to kill the deal.