| A home inspector sees an assortment of debris | | | | items are the biggest worry. They are conducive |
| when he or she inspects crawl spaces underneath | | | | debris and can lead to attracting wood destroying |
| homes. It seems that the common philosophy is out | | | | organisms. Other things I have seen include wood |
| of sight, out of mind. Day after day, I see crawl | | | | planters that always seem to belong to the |
| spaces that are packed with clutter. | | | | homeowner or a previous homeowner. One |
| While many homeowners actually cause the problem | | | | unpleasant find is a crawl space that is a repository |
| by poor management and adding their own clutter, | | | | for old boards with exposed nails or sharp metal and |
| many homeowners do not even know the crawl | | | | broken concrete. These items can injure anyone |
| space is a mess because contractors and other | | | | entering or working in the crawl space. |
| workers have left the debris behind, after completing | | | | In reality, crawl space maintenance and cleanup is not |
| a project. Such workers do not call attention to | | | | complicated but it does require hard work. The |
| having left a mess behind and I am convinced that | | | | solution involves picking up all the garbage and |
| people do not go in their crawl spaces to look for | | | | removing any unessential wood or paper scraps, |
| themselves. | | | | including old form wood. If some scrap is not part of |
| In crawl spaces, commonly, I find beverage cans, | | | | the home, then remove it from the crawl space. A |
| candy wrappers, scraps of wood, paper, cardboard | | | | crawl space full of wood debris, such as stored |
| and fast food boxes. The cellulose, wood and paper, | | | | shingles, can be a fire hazard as well. |