Tag Archives: Crawlspace

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  Explaining Post and Pier foundation

  Posted on March 20, 2017 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Have you ever heard of post and pier and wondered what that was? I had a recent home inspection that gave me the opportunity to explain this to a client. For those of you unaware let me try to explain… Most homes are sitting on a poured concrete foundation that outlines the perimeter of the house. […]

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  Foundations are out of sight, out of mind

  Posted on March 6, 2017 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Little is thought of or known about the foundation of our houses because we seldom see them. They are buried and built over, all the while supporting the assembled materials, furniture and people for a century or more! For those of you interested I thought I would briefly show you the most common type of […]

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  Sewage + Pump = SUMP

  Posted on February 13, 2017 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  In case you are wondering what a sump is… Sewage pumps, or “sump pumps” as they are commonly called, are used to help move water from under our houses and down grade. There are three common purposes of these electrical pumps: To move grounds water, gray water and black water. The one pictured is a grounds […]

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  What’s the black plastic for?

  Posted on August 15, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  The black plastic in crawlspaces are called vapor barriers. Vapor barriers have two purposes for a home. First, they reduce ground moisture from entering the crawlspace. Our goal is to keep moisture less than 20%. Second, they provide a timeline of crawlspace activity. Plumbing leaks, rodent activity, ground water issues, repairs, and previous inspectors all […]

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  How small can mice go?

  Posted on August 8, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  The only pets I had as a child were gerbils. These are those creatures that are best in a cage or plastic tube and terrifying if scurrying under the kitchen fridge. I remember coming home from a short vacation to discover with my parents the gerbil cage was empty. Both of them were gone. Somehow we managed to recover […]

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  When you find an ant in your house

  Posted on May 16, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  We have a lot of aunts who visit our house and I can say honestly that they are not a problem. We love Jenny, Becky, Bethesda, Katy, Aunty Julie and Aunt Natty to name a few. What about “ant” problems? First, truth be told, ants are not infringing on our territory we have built our homes […]

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  Ready to impress a home inspector?

  Posted on February 1, 2016 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Last Thursday was a hard day for me with my inspections. There were two homes I inspected – one built in 2001 and the other 1968. Both had very large crawlspaces and the moment I popped the covers I was overwhelmed by that all-too-familiar smell of rat urine. Disgusting! It got worse as I pushed through rodent droppings. Structurally […]

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  What to change this time change

  Posted on October 19, 2015 by mikew in Fix It & Use It

  Sticky notes, white boards, iPhone reminders, and my wife all help me to remember the important things I need to do. Well this is a quick reminder of what we need to do around our homes as we prepare to “fall” back one hour. These are all simple tasks that could all be accomplished in less than 30 minutes and […]

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