Dangers Lurking Underneath Your House
It's not hard to imagine that there could actually be
plenty of dangers lurking underneath your house. If you're
claustrophobic or afraid of the dark, you might think twice before
entering the crawlspace area underneath your home.
In my opinion, the biggest problem that lurks underneath your home would
be tight spaces. The building code requires a minimum distance of 18
inches between the top of the soil and the bottom of your floor joist.
The distance between the top of the soil and the bottom of your floor
girder beams which are supporting your floor joist will be 12 inches.
Even if the underneath of your house meets your local building codes, it
could be very difficult for a large person to maneuver freely without
constraints underneath any home. I wouldn't advise anyone to go
underneath your house, if you have problems squeezing into the actual
access opening.
Another danger that's often lurking underneath your house would be
creepy insects, rodents, reptiles, cats, birds and anything else that
walks, crawls more slithers. It's not uncommon to find skeletons of
animals in these crawl spaces either.
One of the first things I do, before entering the crawlspace is to poke
my head through the access hole with a bright light to make sure that
nothing is moving around in the dark. I will also look for animal tracks
around the crawlspace access opening.
If I find any types of animal tracks, there's a good chance that
something could be living under the house or that something lived under
the house and now might be dead. Dead animals often smell horrible, so
if the crawlspace you are about to enter has animal tracks around the
access hole with an extremely bad odor emanating from underneath the
house, use caution.
If you don't feel comfortable going underneath the house, I wouldn't go
under the house. If you're afraid of the dark, it wouldn't be a bad idea
to carry at least two flashlights, in case something happens to one of
them.
You should also examine these areas for puddles of water, which would
indicate that you have a water leak somewhere and musty smells, which
might be a sign that there isn't enough ventilation under the home.