[tyb525]

I think it would be interesting to share our crawlspace stories. Worst ones, most interesting ones, nastiests, smallest, etc.

I don't have anything great yet, except for the time I was cutting a Tee into a 3" main and the HO flushed the toilet. I barely got out of the way. Plus there was plastic on the ground so that water didn't just soak in...

Smallest crawlspace I was in required me to crawl in the joist bays on one end of the house, I couldn't get out of that one fast enough.

I don't have pictures, but you all know they are a great thing to have :thumbsup:

 

[overanalyze]

All my crawl space nightmares have been blocked out...I won't let myself re-live them...no I won't...you can't make me!!

 

[Lester P.]

Manufactured homes. Earthquake preparedness to qualify for FHA loans, or something like that. 12" from slab to bottom of steel joists.

Program was to drill into steel joists, attach bolt, drill into slab, attach redhead. Run metal strapping from redhead to joist bolt. Every four feet. Every joist.

Crawling, belly crawling, dragging cords and lights to the far corner to start the day, knowing that it was a 75 foot crawl to the access to get back out, easy to get a case of the heebies.

To this day, the worst project I have ever been a part of.

 

[steex]

This wasn't really the worst one I've ever been in, but I came across this picture recently while looking for something else. Since I was the skinny one, I used to be the guy that always got stuffed into small holes, so I have many crawlspace experiences that I would rather forget. I remember this one because I stuck my hand in a glue trap.

 

[Metro M & L]

This thread is awesome.

I have two. Worst by far was a presale punchlist. The ho installed a bunch of insulation under the home upside down. It was december and the temp was about 35 degrees and raining. The crawlspace was exposed on beams. My job was to peel off all of the chicken wire holding up the insulation, turn the insulation around, and restaple the wire. freezing hands, numerous cuts and abrasions, rats nests, and a 200 square foot section where the clearance got down to ten inches. Imagine rubbing nasty rat, slug, spider filled insulation in your face for sixteen hours and youd about have it. Made 300$.

#2 drove an hour to look at a crwalspace that had been flooded twelve months prior and wasnt drying. Twelve month old standing water covered in mold and slime. Crawled through that crap to come up with a plan of attack. Customer refused my bid and refused to pay the forty bucks i wanted for my time to come out and bid. I think that was the last bid I ever did for a middle eastern person.

 

[MTN REMODEL LLC]

I'm from Colorado high country, where we don't have Brown Recluse spiders......;

I'm just wondering from others where the brown recluse is, what do you do to protect yourself when crawling a foundation, or an attic I guess.

Also, anyone know if there are brown recluse in San Francisco area.

 

[Kowboy]

Manufactured homes. Earthquake preparedness to qualify for FHA loans, or something like that. 12" from slab to bottom of steel joists.

Program was to drill into steel joists, attach bolt, drill into slab, attach redhead. Run metal strapping from redhead to joist bolt. Every four feet. Every joist.

Crawling, belly crawling, dragging cords and lights to the far corner to start the day, knowing that it was a 75 foot crawl to the access to get back out, easy to get a case of the heebies.

To this day, the worst project I have ever been a part of.

Sir, my admiration is yours. I couldn't have done it.

 

[Golden view]

I'm from Colorado high country, where we don't have Brown Recluse spiders......;

I'm just wondering from others where the brown recluse is, what do you do to protect yourself when crawling a foundation, or an attic I guess.

Also, anyone know if there are brown recluse in San Francisco area.

Can't answer directly but I'm quite sure I got bit 2 months ago by a hobo spider in a crawl space. Was replacing posts made of logs with precast concrete and pt posts with Simpson connections.

The most notable symptom of the spider bite was a week long headache.

 

[bddog]

Albany Oregon. A Historical Remodel . Replacing sill plate on an one hundred twenty year old home that never had any ventilation. The ground was saturated. It would just jack down into the earth , not up.
The worst part was the fungus. It was like one big mushroom.
We would come crawling out a half dark, half bright, Purple!
Soo slimy.

 

[rselectric1]

I think a sister thread should be started about attics!:laughing:

All electricians dread hot attic season too.

My worst crawl was about 50 feet from the access to the kitchen and all the gravel seemed to be razor sharp. This was within the last month and I still have scabs on my knees.

Nobody had obviously been down there in years. My first of 30 or so treks down there provided me with a covering that looked like a cobweb sweater. It was pretty thick.

No pics sorry.

 

[Brian Peters]

Anyone read Patrick McManus? He had a good story about some plumbers finding a snake under his cabin...

 

[tedanderson]

The worst one that I dealt with was this Section 8 rental property. The owner vented the dryer under the house, it caused the joists to weaken, and then the sag in the floor pulled the drain away from the tub.

So when I was called out there to fix the pipe and to jack up the house, I discovered that the tub drain had been running freely under the house for several weeks. I didn't know this ahead of time and I was a broke college kid who needed $50. So I had to swim through this cesspool of hair, soap scum, and other human entrails that find their way down the drain.

Never again.

 

[The Coastal Craftsman]

My worst one was my brother in laws house. talk about a black widow nest. It must have had thousands of these thing in it. They were all dug into the dirt walls and nothing we did would kill them so just had to work around them.

the whole crawl space flooded to the floor joist twice and i thought this must have killed them as it was flooded for weeks. after it was drained we went down there the next day and sure enough they were all still alive! guess they dont need that much oxygen to survive in their little nests.

 

[Brian Peters]

This is a good thread for this time of year with Halloween just around the corner!

 

[MTN REMODEL LLC]

My worst one was my brother in laws house. talk about a black widow nest. It must have had thousands of these thing in it. They were all dug into the dirt walls and nothing we did would kill them so just had to work around them.

the whole crawl space flooded to the floor joist twice and i thought this must have killed them as it was flooded for weeks. after it was drained we went down there the next day and sure enough they were all still alive! guess they dont need that much oxygen to survive in their little nests.

BC....... What did you do to "work around" them.... I don't think the black widow is as dangerous as the brown recluse.... but still dangerous.

Did you just stay away from the walls... is there any kind of repellent, do you tape your clothes tight, does light scare them or attract them....

Not just curious, but I may be helping someone in Vegas area, where I understand they have the brown recluse.

Maybe I should start a thread on it.

TIA

Peter

 

[jlsconstruction]

I was in one one time,nothing was that bad about the crawl space, but I was about 70' from the exit and we had a pretty good earth quake. I was crawling 100 mph out of that death trap.

 

[Brian Peters]

Black widows scare me more than brown recluses, I don't know which is worse really.

 

[ExtremePride]

We don't go under a house in this area until the exterminator has had his time in there. 3 days later and his pesticide is still dripping from the floor joist. We have both brown recluse and black widows here, as well as scorpions

 

[wookie]

These stories bring up blocked out memories LOL. Pizzs me when previous remodelers use the crawl space as a dump! No fun crawling over broken tile, concrete and wire.

I wear a heavy weight crawl suit, it has an attached hood when needed for spiders and such.High power LED headlamp makes a suck job tolerable.....barely.

wookie

 

[Metro M & L]

Black widow bites are said to be some of the most excrutiating pain there is; but not fatal.

Brown recluse just causes massive tissue destruction and possible secondary infection.