Spider webs

[Paul Kondzich]

I have never seen anything like this place. The termite guy agreed. There was literally piles of ant carcasses 2 inches high along all the baseboards. If anyone remembers Gilligans Island I was expecting to see that giant spider from that one episode behind a door somewhere. Not sure about the pic quality, but you had to wade into the rooms through the spider webs.

[Dom D'Agostino]

I have never seen anything like this...


Based on the photo, I have to agree. ;)

[Tim Allison]

How long was it vacant? I used to see nasty things behind peoples furniture back in my moving days but not solid bugs.

[Paul Kondzich]

House buile in 2006 never lived in, so 4 years....

[Ted Menelly]

I have never seen anything like this place. The termite guy agreed. There was literally piles of ant carcasses 2 inches high along all the baseboards. If anyone remembers Gilligans Island I was expecting to see that giant spider from that one episode behind a door somewhere. Not sure about the pic quality, but you had to wade into the rooms through the spider webs.

You would have not seen me wading into the room thru the spider webs. If there is nothing else on this planet that spooks me.....spiders do. I can move around them, squash them etc but intermingling with them, going into a crawl loaded with spiders and webs......ain't happening.

[Rick Bunzel]

You don't want to be inspecting crawlspaces in the Pacific NW. We have some overachieving spiders here. Some crawlspaces are clear and other your need a broom to push the webs aside. It pays to have a bunny suit with hood and booties (plus the respirator) but they webs still get on your face sometimes.

It just all in the job!

[Dana Bostick]

You don't want to be inspecting crawlspaces in the Pacific NW. We have some overachieving spiders here. Some crawlspaces are clear and other your need a broom to push the webs aside. It pays to have a bunny suit with hood and booties (plus the respirator) but they webs still get on your face sometimes.

It just all in the job!

LOL, as I recall from my plumbing and repiping days, nothing handles spider webs (and the spiders) faster than a self-lighting MAP gas torch.:D

[Rod Butler]

You don't want to be inspecting crawlspaces in the Pacific NW. We have some overachieving spiders here. Some crawlspaces are clear and other your need a broom to push the webs aside. It pays to have a bunny suit with hood and booties (plus the respirator) but they webs still get on your face sometimes.

It just all in the job!

Ditto the Desert SW.

[Glenn Duxbury]

Hi, ALL &

Have to agree with Rick -- "just comes with what we do" (at least here in the Pacific Northwest area), when it comes to crawlspaces...

Have to 'get over it' & just do what's needed to get the job done !

I've often used that as a 'guage' (for guys I've been Mentoring)...

That' why I ALWAYS leave the 'crawl' to the end - slip off those messy coveralls & pitch 'em outside once I've come back up for 'air'. Sometimes the Client looks at me with astonishment /amazment /appreciation /gratitude.

Can't imagine trying to explain /justify why I 'wouldn't go down there', just because there are /might be some spiderwebs...


CHEERS !

[Ted Menelly]

Yes, I go in crawls and no I will never get over it. There is nothing worse than having a Black Widow on you when trying to get the suit off. If going under mobile home there are some of the strangest looking spiders on the planet around the skirting. I love the three inch banana spiders with their legs stretching them to 6 inches across an opening to a crawl.

If I open a crawl and see a few black widows right off and see signs further in of multiple more, I do not go in any more. Think of the reality....I have never been bitten by a Black Widow. I am at an inspection alone. I go into a crawl. I am at the far end and feel this bite on my neck. I just may be one of those folks that with in one minute I am about paralyzed from a sever reaction. Now what might I do at that point but be in a tight crawl lying there and not being able to move. The affects are slowly get worse. Someone may come or may not. They might be trying to call you and tell you they cannot make it. Or if they do come...then what. Slide into the crawl and try to drag my sorry but out or do they call the fire department and cut a hole in the floor to drag my sorry but out.

A lady in Texas many years ago when I was living in Florida was bitten by a brown recluse while vacuuming. The last thing she remember was a pinch at the back of her leg and then she wakes up six months later out of a coma with missing body parts including her nose and a couple limbs. True story,

I am not sure of the types of spiders you folks up north west have but in the south they are pretty serious.

Before one makes the blanket statement about getting over it and "get er done" you may want to think about the reality of the what could happen......have any of you been bitten by a poisonous spider and know what happens after the fact?

This is kind of like going on those steep roofs. When I was younger I tempted fate all the time. Now when I get to the top of the ladder I let the soul tell me whether I should continue on. Not a chicken....just a tad bit smarter. I slipped yesterday on a roof that was about a 10/12. Luckily I was not at the edge

That Black Widow story about being on me when I got out. It was killed by someone else that was there. It was on my collar of my crawl suit and a little to close to the flesh.

I posted a pic a little while back under pics of the week. That lovely black and yellow marvelous spider was a fraction of an inch away when I turned my head to keep walking. There is only one place spiders can be from and I think it is hell :D

[Fred Herndon]

I have never seen a house like that one, either. They need a good pest control operator to get rid of the spiders AND the ants before going any further.



If I open a crawl and see a few black widows right off and see signs further in of multiple more, I do not go in any more.

This is kind of like going on those steep roofs. When I was younger I tempted fate all the time. Now when I get to the top of the ladder I let the soul tell me whether I should continue on. Not a chicken....just a tad bit smarter. I slipped yesterday on a roof that was about a 10/12. Luckily I was not at the edge
:D

I have to agree with Ted on this one. My contract specifically states that "your inspector reserves the right not to enter any hazardous areas, such as steep, wet or frost covered roofs". I have also included a crawl space that was literally infested with black widows under this category. Told them to get it fumigated and call me back. Never heard from them again, which was just fine. I don't worry too much about snakes in crawl spaces, I am slow and noisy with a bright light and carry a 2' steel probe, but widow and recluse spiders definately give me the creeps. Don't particuarly care for the giant wolf spiders that have lived down there for a few years and are the size of tarantulas, either, but at least they are usually easy to spot (little green eyes shining back at you in the dark).

[David Fraser]

Wow, isn't that what a realtors 5% is for? At least it's not like finding a floater in a toilet on inspection day. That's alway fun to hear the realtor explain their way out of that one. :rolleyes: