Crawl Space Sump Pump

[Notatestpilot]

Do I need full PPE when digging the dirt out in my crawl space (not a basement) for a sump pump? Also, do I really need to dig four feet down?

 

[Daleandee]

Can't speak to how deep to dig (a body goes in 6 feet BTW)

Seriously ... PPE should be used when in spaces and places like that. You have no idea what you might encounter. Cheap insurance ...

 

[kyleb]

I installed one in a previous house. No PPE, and the pit was only 18" deep since the water intrusion was very localized (it wasn't water table or ground water related). Seemed to work fine for the 10 years I had the house. The crawl space was lighted and had 3-4' of headroom, so it wasn't a horrible work space.

 

[Brad W]

For the PPE..... if you are putting a sump pump in, then it must be wet

I've worked under several different houses in the crawl spaces. Many times. Always dry, no ppe, never a problem....just get dusty

Then when I got married, was working on my wife's house getting it ready to sell. It was perpetually damp under that house. A week or two later while on vacation I ended up with a rash from $%#@ on my back...itchy as all get out. Bad enough to go to an out of town Doc. I was told it was chicken pox...so we cancelled our flight and extended the rental car for the two-day drive home (was advice to stay away from elderly, etc...). It progressively got worse, and I eventually landed in the hospital with bilateral pneumonia. One step below ICU...I forget what they called it. Parade of many Docs in the hospital, said it's not chicken pox but they really didn't know what it was..... My theory even 21 (or22?) years later, is that it was the molds under that old house.

So between mold...and in my wisened older age now I also wonder about things like rodent droppings and such under there and what a person might pick up from those too.....
yeah, I'd wear PPE in a wet crawl space especially!

 

[Dana]

You're giving me flashbacks to a year ago when I was digging out and replacing a sewer pipe in the crawl space under our house, about 18" of headroom. I had to dig a trench just to get myself in, all with an army surplus entrenching tool, no room for anything bigger. I felt like the guys digging the tunnels in The Great Escape. No PPE, probably should have, but no ill effects. It was a l-o-o-o-n-g weekend, but I had to get it done. Next day I went into the hospital for (unrelated, scheduled) hand surgery.

 

[Racerx]

Just put in a gas range in the rental, was previously electric. Which meant running a new gas line. Once you got over the cobwebs belly crawling wasn't so bad. Just dusty.

It was dry however. Add some dampness which probably means mold and were talking a whole new ballgame.

 

[Notatestpilot]

Thank you all. I have the answer I was seeking.
I'm going to hire someone to do it.

 

[Ventucky Red]

Then when I got married, was working on my wife's house getting it ready to sell. It was perpetually damp under that house. A week or two later while on vacation I ended up with a rash from $%#@ on my back...itchy as all get out. Bad enough to go to an out of town Doc. I was told it was chicken pox...so we cancelled our flight and extended the rental car for the two-day drive home (was advice to stay away from elderly, etc...). It progressively got worse, and I eventually landed in the hospital with bilateral pneumonia. One step below ICU...I forget what they called it. Parade of many Docs in the hospital, said it's not chicken pox but they really didn't know what it was..... My theory even 21 (or22?) years later, is that it was the molds under that old house.

I was crawling under my house to run some cable for the bedroom and the office. Felt a sharp sting and thought nothing of it.. Couple of hours later I was felling like crap, and by the time the girlfriend got home I was feeling like I had the flu along with the worse tequila hangover ever... and a big welt where I felt the sting.

To my fortune she was a trauma nurse and right away she asked what I was doing earlier and how long I had been felling like this, in about two second she summed it up to a black widow bite, and off to the ER we go.. There is really nothing they can do for it except for some industrial strength ibuprofen along with a few somas, and monitor me for a few days. They also gave me some antibiotics to ward an infection should one develop..

Thank you all. I have the answer I was seeking.
I'm going to hire someone to do it.

"Sometimes yajustgots to pay daman his money...."