What I'm going to do today is something I've been meaning to do for quite a while.
I'm going to go down under the house to have
a look at the foundations and see what's
going on down there at the moment. Now we
did have an inspection done about three
months ago and they went under the house
and had a look for us, took photos and,
you know, everything was fine. But since
then we've had the rainy season and I've been
doing quite a bit of work around the
yard and there's quite a lot of ant and
termite activity so I'm a little bit
more worried about the state of the
foundations now. See if there's anything
in there,
if there is try and nip it in the bud.
Our house is surrounded by quite a thick
and wide concrete foundation so it's
relatively well protected but I imagine
that there are a few cracks somewhere
along the concrete underneath the house
so there is the possibility that
termites or ants managed to get up under
there. We'll have a look. Of course going
under there - a bit nervous - expect there
will be spiders and insects and so on.
Guess what I'm most nervous about is a
snake called the "mamushi". It's a pit
viper, the most venomous snake in Japan
and there has been one spotted in this
area I don't know how recently but our
neighbours told us to look out for it so
I don't know whether my house or under
the house where it's nice and cool would
make an ideal place for it to live or
not but I'll be on the lookout for that.
Now the hole to get into the
foundations is just under this tatami
here. One of the guys cut it out for us
when they did the last inspection. So I'm
going to go down under there. Wish me
luck.
It's about 75 centimetres to the floor
level.
I'm having second thoughts about this.
Actually it's not a concrete base. That
looks like dirt on the ground doesn't it?
I think at least need a better torch.
I don't think I'm going to crawl all the
way around this place I'm gonna see what
I can see with this light. Don't know what this ground... it's quite hard, the ground. Quite
compacted. I don't know... stone or something underneath. Spiders' webs. Some spiders and bugs.
The are I'm most worried about is over
the far side of the house but honestly I
don't think I'm gonna bother crawling
all the way over there.
Ugh, maybe I should since I'm down here. Looks like a kind of path.
If I go out this way.
It's not that damp under here, it's
pretty dry. I want to kill these little
plants. There's no need for them to grow.
Cobwebs.
What are these little insects?
Don't what what that hole is. That's from a mole or something like that.
I don't think snakes would live under ground.
More cobwebs!
In case no one hears from me for a very
long time you'll know where to find me.
In general it looks pretty good under here.
I think though if we do get some kind of
preventative treatment done I'm gonna
hire a professional.
I'm not going to go all the way over there.
It's hard to turn around.
Where's the exit? Oh there it is.
That was fun.
It was hot under there. Yeah know it was a bit of a cop-out not going all the way
around especially to the other side which
I was a little concerned about. I'm 6
foot (184 cms) and it was really
tough crawling around and moving around
there with all the support
beams and so on. Um yeah
We'll see if I go under again and try
and go the whole way. Next time I think
if I do it I might bring someone else
here at the same time to help me out.
All right, well I'm relatively happy with
that, it looked ok under there there were
a few bugs and few plants there
growing but yeah nothing - nothing too
much. Didn't see that many insects. I certainly didn't see like trails of ants or
anything like that or any termite trails
leading up, just from the brief time I
looked at it then. But we will be hiring
someone to come in and really give it a
proper check again. And also to conduct some
preventative measures, whether that be spraying or
painting under there so we don't need to
worry about it for quite a few years, hopefully.
Thanks for watching and see you next
time.
