If you are an inspector that routinely look at houses for specific problems, like water damage, storm damage, wind damage, etc, you know how it can be to crawl underneath the crawlspace of a house if it does not have a basement. What are some things you will want to be looking for that may constitute replacing some of the foundation out while your inspecting the crawl space? Here’s just a few things to keep in mind.
First of all, you want to make sure you have a flashlight and a mask for your mouth to keep all kinds of dirt or dust from getting into your precious lungs. Basically what you will be looking for under the crawl space is evidence of animal infestation, such as groundhogs, chipmunks, snakes, etc that could potentially cause damage to your home. Once that’s out of the way, you can start looking at the foundation from a structural viewpoint.
You want to make sure that there isn’t any water damage, i.e. flooding that could have potentially shifted the foundation in any way. Also, keep in mind if you have wooden rafters at the bottom of your foundation, you will want to look for any signs of molding, any splinters in the wood, anything that could put into jeopardy that integrity of the house’s foundation. Once you are done with that, do another quick sweep for any signs of any other damage, and you’ll be set to go!
These are just a few things to remember when you go out inspecting a crawl space beneath someone’s house.
