Thread: Crawlspace

I had an inspection last Friday for a self proclaimed "Contractor". It was a last minute request and in the brief phone discussion I asked about the existence of a crawlspace. He told me, "Yes, it has a crawlspace but the opening is in a strange place. You'll need a step ladder or something to get to it." I get to the house and it's a 1960 split foyer. I asked myself where could the crawl space be? I ended up asking him where was the access to the crawl space since I hadn't seen anything. After checking that I had my ladder (Telesteps) he said it was down the hall. So we walk down the upper level hall, he points up to the attic access hatch and says, "That's it. Can you get up there?"

I choked back a session of hysterical laughing and said, "Sure!"

I should have known this inspection was going to be a turkey. I had some visitors keeping an eye on me as I was taking a ladder of the truck.

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Stuart;

It's fairly common here that people call the attic a 'crawlspace'.

I don't know where they get that notion, but I hear it often.

I get the same thing here when I ask clients if the house is a slab, crawlspace, or basement. There are a lot of people that call attic space a crawlspace. I guess in a sense, it is, just not what I'm calling it.

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

I get the same thing here when I ask clients if the house is a slab, crawlspace, or basement. There are a lot of people that call attic space a crawlspace. I guess in a sense, it is, just not what I'm calling it.

Okay Okay. I don't claim to be familiar with Yankee-isms or accept responsibility for their invasion of other more refined areas of the country to their South but then I would also have to assume that this "Contractor" had only seen crawlspaces under a roof that had a set of stairs up to it because he thought it was unusual that you had to use a ladder to gain access. Come on guys, I wouldn't expect a "contractor" from my neck of the woods (Well, only close to my woods, he was from Northern VA) to point UP to an attic and say, "It's right up there" when asked where the crawlspace he was concerned about was located. I wouldn't have thought anything about it except that he called himself a contractor and said he had been one for some time.

Well, since it was a split foyer, and probably didn't have any crawlspace under the house (because its on a slab), he might have thought that the attic was the crawlspace you were talking about.

Makes sense (i.e. attic) to layperson if they've had to crawl through it.

Originally Posted by Daniel Mummey

Makes sense (i.e. attic) to layperson if they've had to crawl through it.

People, people - the point is the guyclaimed to be a CONTRACTOR. CON-TRACT-OR as in one who contracts for the construction or repair of structures. He stated that he had been a contractor since he was a teenager and worked with his father building houses. A CONTRACTOR from my neck of the woods wouldn't call an attic a crawlspace. Even my wife knows the difference between a crawlspace and an attic. She is about as "layperson" as you can get.

Anyway - since my little parade has been rained upon, I'll just take my story, go home, and snicker about it all I want to.

Attic - crawlspace - contractor, snicker snicker.

Kinda touchy aren't we? You laughed - I thought I'd continue the humor. Try to loosen up a little.

I would call it a crawl attic, not a crawl space!

I did an inspection a few weeks ago and the woman who scheduled the inspection showed up about 30 minutes after I got started. She had told me that the home had a crawlspace when she scheduled the inspection. I had already walked the exterior and the home appeared to be slab on grade with no hint of a crawlspace. When I talked to her I asked if I had missed something. I said you told me it had a crawlspace but everything I see indicates that it is a slab.

She then said that it had a small crawl space in the hall way. Just as said here, we went into the hall and she pointed to the attic access. I never heard of an attic being called a crawlspace until then.

Originally Posted by Robert Sole

I did an inspection a few weeks ago and the woman who scheduled the inspection showed up about 30 minutes after I got started. She had told me that the home had a crawlspace when she scheduled the inspection. I had already walked the exterior and the home appeared to be slab on grade with no hint of a crawlspace. When I talked to her I asked if I had missed something. I said you told me it had a crawlspace but everything I see indicates that it is a slab.

She then said that it had a small crawl space in the hall way. Just as said here, we went into the hall and she pointed to the attic access. I never heard of an attic being called a crawlspace until then.

Thank you Robert!

Anyone that calls an attic a crawlspace is just thinking about all the creepy-crawlys up there.

We have to expect the unexpected. Even when the realty blurb say 'slab', the place will have a crawlspace when you get there. The worst case is the crawlspace with no access and they're all saying it's slab-on-grade.