Crude ditching within a crawl space was recently discovered at a home inspection in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Crude ditching suggests water intrusion and, if traversed, can collapse rendering the ditching irrelevant. Typically, a ditch is dug, drain rock and perforated drain pipe installed, and then the ditch is topped off with more drain rock and covered with a vapor barrier. This is the proper way to route water intrusion within crawl spaces. In this instance, I recommended further evaluation and repair by a qualified contractor. Continue reading →