Vegetation Grwoing in Crawl Space

[carolinainspector]

Every once in a while I run across this type of vine growing in the crawl space. Should this be included in the summary? If so, what could I comment about it. It doesn't appear to be doing any damage. I just don't like it. </IMG>

[Jae Williams]

I would remark about--it can damage the insulation and serve as a pathway for termite intrusion. Just shrubbery should be kept away from the outside walls; it should also be kept from the inside. It could even find its way into the living quarters.

[Skip Erwin]

Thanks Jae. That would be creepy and damaging if it made its way into the house! I see your point.

[Russel Ray]

Vegetation, especially vines and roots, should be kept away from houses and kept out of crawl spaces. Vines seek out new places to sow their seed, and they can do significant damage when they find a small crevice to grow through and make that small crevice larger as they grow. If you look at the woody vines in that picture, they are pretty big. They started out as small vines. Mother and Father Nature are quite powerful; don't underestimate them.

I had a really cool picture of a vine that had totally destroyed the raised foundation, but all I can find right now is this tree picture. This tree was in the neighbor's yard (having already destroyed that foundation) and had grown into the yard of my Client (and had already caused damage to my Client's foundation). This tree was in the process of being removed and the neighbor's house gutted and renovated (you should have seen the crumbled slab in the living room of this house--that's the living room window with the tree root below it--the picture through the glass didn't come out well). These roots, though, have probably been visible for, oh, 20 years or so! How could someone not see that these roots are going to cause problems?

Vines can be just like these tree roots.