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It is not every home that is lucky enough to have a basement. They are a common feature, but not in all homes. Some homes are stuck with that creepy dirt bottomed area we call a crawl space.

In some cases it can be very shallow and more often than not you literally have to crawl when under your house. Sometimes these crawl spaces are equipped with lights, but in most of older homes they are not.

You might wonder why you would ever need to go under there anyway, but there are a few reasons. Ever so often you need to check and see if there is standing water under there.

This is a more frequent problem than you think, especially with older homes whose foundations might not be as waterproof as they once were. There are vents that may be installed around your foundation that will automatically open and close to allow moisture under your house to dry out.

Older homes may not have these, but you should probably get them. They are not that expensive and are fairly easy to put in. When there is always excessive moisture or standing water under your house, it can cause the wood to eventually start rotting and lead to structural problems. This would be the first reason to look under there.

The second reason is just as important as the first. Leaking pipes is something that can also cause water to stand under your home. Your main water line comes into your home from here. In homes with older plumbing, rust spots and leaking connections can develop easily.

Even with newer plumbing leaks can happen if the plumbing was installed poorly or incorrectly. Anytime water is leaking or spraying and coming into contact with wood there is potential for water damage and it can happen more quickly and with less water than you might think.

Under the house is also where your outside water spigots and the start of your sewer pipes are located. The spigots might not present much of a problem, but a faulty sewer line coming out of your house certainly can be. It can create a terribly nasty, unsanitary and extremely smelly mess fast!

Any leaking under your house needs to be attended to as soon as possible. You might not think it is really hurting anything if there is water under there, but it could be hurting a lot more than you know.