I typically go ahead and cap those permanently. They fail at the most inconvenient times. Replace the pipe section that has the saddle valve.

The saddle valve will lead to corrosion and eventual leaking.

I knew these answers already, exactly what I feared. The crawl has about 3 and half feet of headway. Im pretty leary of soldering in the confined space... I have a hard enough time crawling around in there.

In general, is it bad practice to have shut off valves in crawl spaces where it takes some doing to get at them?

I also see a gate valve which shuts off water to a back bedroom also in the crawl. I also see a gas shut off valve in there too for a fireplace starter. Both of which would take some effort to shimmy through the crawl to get at them.

3 1/2 feet high crawl space? Heavenly compared to some! Some of the old houses I wired (when the power lines came through) had the floor joists too close to the ground to crawl under. Crawled up between joists and then backed out to crawl between the next two- on my back- since the space was too tight to turn over.

busdriver... you must be an agile guy, I would need the paramedics to get me out of that situation. The 3 and half feet to me is like being in a squirel trap, since I am around 6'7 350 lbs. Very tired and with bad back and knees none the less....

So in other words, a licensed plumber in good health would have no problems soldering in my crawl?

Is the idea of shut off valves OK in this setup? If I only planned on staying the property for say 5 years... should I make the effort to cap these lines assuming they are sound and not leaking?

"I also see a gas shut off valve in there too for a fireplace starter. "

Should be in the same room as the equipment.

Personally, if you have the work done I woudl get a new ice maker valve installed (not the pierce type). While you may not use it, the next owner might. I spent $400 having an icemaker line run when I bought my current house.

So the pierce type is just considered bad?

Also Brickeye- What can I do in that situation? It is what it is? should it be changed? Would the key on and off valve for the starter be considered the valve in same room?

"So the pierce type is just considered bad?"

They are not code approved.
The lack of any actual seat results in them rarely closing correctly.
They are also not made of copper, and that causes long term electrolytic corrosion problems.

"Also Brickeye- What can I do in that situation? It is what it is? should it be changed? Would the key on and off valve for the starter be considered the valve in same room?

If you have a hole in the floor and an extended valve key to shut off the gas valve it is considered "in the same room".
It is not the physical location of the valve so much as that it is operated from the same room as the appliance.

Hey Brickeye thanks for your information. Its not exactly as you describe, a hole in the ground with key. They key toggles the gas starter pipe. Under the floor board there is a standard 1/4 turn shut off valve to shut off gas from below before it gets to the keyed starter.

Also I agree with the pierce type, usually slapped on by the sears delivery driver.

With restricted piping in crawl spaces, how should I approach inspecting for leaks... like once a month? Or dont worry about? How would one know if there was a leak in the farthests corners of a crawl?

You can have extra shut offs, but one of them needs to be accessible from the room with the equipment.
It sounds like the keyed starter is operated from the same room so your installation is fine.
The extra valve is not required, but allowed.