# What have you found in a wall or floor.



## dnconstruction (Apr 5, 2007)

This directly derives from someone's post that made me think of all the weird crap we have found in walls during a demo job. What have you found?? Mine was an old hand gun. We were so freaked out no-one wanted to touch it thinking it was used in some crime or something. But we came to find out it was just a pellet gun lol. Bunch of sallys we are!!!:laughing:


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## CARPENTERDON (Jun 30, 2005)

Back in 1979, in the wall of the house we were restoring, we found a Washington Post dated April 15, 1865. The headline read "President Lincoln Shot".

The homeowner had it authenticated. . .it was genuine. He sent it to the Smithsonian.


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## jarvis design (May 6, 2008)

I always like gutting old houses. A lot of them were stuffed with newspapers and if they are in good shape, make for some interesting reading. Never found anything too valuable...yet! As for crap I have found, I gutted a bathroom once and the inside walls were full of all the scrap pieces of drywall - I think from the entire house!


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## JRSeifert (Apr 22, 2010)

Newspapers mostly. We removed the wainscot in the old kitchen of a house built in 1927 in Minneapolis. Behind the wainscot was the sports section of the Minneapolis Tribune - actually, it was several copies of the same sports section. They'd used it as a backer of sorts. Boxing was the news of the day, and the headline read "Tunney Beats Dempsey!" Big fight! Saved a copy for awhile, but it was too brittle and nail-punctured to be worth anything.


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## cntryJOe (Apr 30, 2010)

I found a leathr bag filled with antique dice, red and green! Still have them. found an antique ring with 2 diamonds and also a real old watch, many toys and other items, too numerous to count


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## DMC (Feb 23, 2005)

*found*

pulled up the flooring and found the entire floor covered with newspapers from 1941 in one room and 1945 in the other. Perfect condition and have kept them, but are now yellowing. Also, found several whiskey bottle from the 30's in the basement tucked into the top row of block. All empty.
never know what you'll find.


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## Gcijeff (Mar 27, 2010)

Interesting thread. So what is the etiquette on letting the HO or Business Owner know what you've found? 

Do you even let them know?

I guess if the HO doesn't know it's there, then they don't know it's theirs. Or does the HO take over all hidden items within a property when they get the deed?

I don't do any renovation, so I haven't found anything. 

Actually, I take that back. We were doing some cut-fill at a big site and turned up a 1952 (I think) Ford F1. It was literally "six feet under".

Not exactly a museum specimen.


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## HSConstruction (Mar 21, 2009)

I find stuff like bottles and newspapers all the time and maybe the occational tool left behind but never anything of value. A few weeks ago we discovered not one but 3 strong boxes burried in the floor. My hopes were high as we spent the time to get them open. If dust and air trapped in a box for 100 yrs was valuable I would be loaded right now :no:


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Gcijeff said:


> Interesting thread. *So what is the etiquette on letting the HO or Business Owner know what you've found? *
> 
> *Do you even let them know?*
> 
> ...


Good question. I think I would have to let them know, if I found something valuable. If it has value, it is convertable to cash, and I would never keep cash.


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## AHC (Feb 5, 2009)

a 1927 tax return, 1909 1 cent coin, 1927 10 dollar bill, lots of hand tools. baseball and hockey cards,


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Was doing demolition in a bathroom on Friday. Homeowner jokingly tells me if we find any large sums of money, we can keep 10 percent. I told him the standard finders fee is 20% because when its 10%, we never find any!:whistling


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Warren said:


> Was doing demolition in a bathroom on Friday. Homeowner jokingly tells me if we find any large sums of money, we can keep 10 percent. I told him the standard finders fee is 20% because when its 10%, we never find any!:whistling


:laughing::laughing:


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## JKBARR127 (Jan 13, 2010)

THE OTHER DAY we found a pair of clamps in the wall. it was actually holding the stud to the track. no zippies. holding the two together. in the same building, we took down a drop ceiling and found rags stuffed between the window and the framing. always find lots of scrap and old budweiser cans too.


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## SAH (May 6, 2010)

a colt officer's 38 special, an 1896 Krag from the spanish american war, many "naturist" mags from the 50's, bunch of old 78's 45's. Old bottles of booze, pop and other junk.

The guns, homeowners wanted them out right away. Being a licensed gun owner, I was happy to take them off their hands. Sold the Krag to a collector after restoring it. Made about a grand which I split with the homeowner 50/50 after my restoration costs were deducted ($120).

I broke a few laws with the Colt transporting it. Had no choice, jobsite wasnt a secure place to store it until the paperwork was completed. 

I hope to find a few more interesting things other than finding incorrect workmanship LOL


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

I found a newspaper from the early 60s. 

Page 2 had a story about Lee Harvey Oswald wanting to return from the USSR.

Page 3 had a story about Jackie Kennedy.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

480sparky said:


> I found a newspaper from the early 60s.
> 
> Page 2 had a story about Lee Harvey Oswald wanting to return from the USSR.
> 
> Page 3 had a story about Jackie Kennedy.



I _knew _it was a conspiracy! :laughing:

Better call Oliver


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## Ten Fingers (Nov 5, 2006)

I reroofed a house and found the signatures of the previous roofers on the roof sheathing. It happened to be guys I knew.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Ten Fingers said:


> I reroofed a house and found the signatures of the previous roofers on the roof sheathing. It happened to be guys I knew.



Back in high school, I helped tear down a house, and we found a dozen signatures on the skip sheathing on the roof. Dated Feb. 2, 1942. Someone recognized a name as someone in town. We looked him up in the phone book, and called the number. His widow answered (he had died 5 or 6 years before), and was absolutely tickled to pieces when we gave her the board. She had no idea tradespeople did that.

About 8 years ago, I wired a remodel that my dad & I had remodeled about 12 years prior. We, as well as the other three working with us, signed a scrap piece of plywood and left it in a wall. The GC I was working for on the second remod had us all sign the other side with a new date, and we left it in the same wall.

It has since been remodeled again, and I don't know what happened to it.


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## William James (Mar 5, 2010)

Gcijeff said:


> Interesting thread. So what is the etiquette on letting the HO or Business Owner know what you've found?
> 
> Do you even let them know?
> 
> I guess if the HO doesn't know it's there, then they don't know it's theirs. Or does the HO take over all hidden items within a property when they get the deed?


yes and yes. I always tell the customer how many beer cans I find in the wall. That way they know how out of plumb & level there house is. 

Also, all the wires outside of studs behind one-piece FG units. Same with the vent pipes. Then I tell them how much it is to move them. 

Never found anything of real value. Only old brass that was cut and left in the floor.


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## bigdifficultme (Feb 28, 2006)

This week I found a smith and wesson 38. cal pistol. It was a in old closet I was cleaning out to demo. The gun looks like its has been in there since 1952 ( all of the other paper work in the closet was dated that year ). The cool thing is its in mint shape. I told the homeowner (farmer) and he said keep it. :shifty:


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## Brewseum (Feb 23, 2010)

Guys-keep an eye out for old BEER cans/bottles.Soda too-theres a few times I paid guys more than the job did.


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## Calisota (Apr 15, 2011)

I still get a little creeped out when we pop open a wall, or crawl under the house, and find the little patron saint figurines. Disturbing that stuff always tweaks me the wrong way. Always put them back.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I recently found a booklet on Sadism from 1971. Had some nice b/w photos. I have some hemp rope that I've been wanting to try out.

Also found a Playboy with Suzanne Sommers and a bottle of Bartles and Jaymes. Must've been a real party.

I found some cancelled checks for insurance on a camaro. These must have been someone's dirty little secrets.


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## aptpupil (Jun 12, 2010)

found a bunch of old coins in a kitchen demo once. also found dolls (apparently the old owner used to make dolls) and an old clock in an attic. newspapers of course, too.


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

I think I have an old Pepsi bottle I found under my grandmothers house. Seems like I dated it to the 50's r 40's.


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## EmmCeeDee (May 23, 2010)

Found some cannisters from a bunch of old stag films in my condos basement. No films, just cannisters. Rats. Also saw down there where little kids had written "Keep Out" and "Lone Ranger Club" on a wall. Funny to think how those kids are Senior Citizens now.


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## kswoodbutcher (Dec 4, 2010)

I had a Plumber that left me a empty bottle of Good Times Bourbon Whisky under each cast iron tub that I took out of an apartment complex back in 95. He dated one as March 13 1953. The same building had empty medicine bottles stuck up above the tin ceiling. :drink:


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## ExtremePride (Oct 27, 2010)

We have come across knives, one s switch blade, a couple pistols and my favorite a unopened very early can of Coka-Cola that was empty. I've never seen a can that old or that looked like it since.


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## nailit69 (Sep 8, 2010)

I've found a few interesting items over the years.

1 case of very unstable TNT and a box of blasting caps, a very old directional radio from an old ship, and numerous other goodies in an attic of a house my parents bought years ago.

Found my dead Grandfathers liquor stash years later in my Grannies attic.

On a remodel of an old homestead, I found an old board game, a couple of old magazines, some toys and a notepad from the early 20's with the owners Gt. Grandads hours from work along with some reciepts for pay, poor guy was walking 10 miles one way, work all day, then walk home for .25 cents a day.

In the same house there were some newspapers under the shower pan from the 30's. Front page was Hitler and his Nazi Party and why the big deal and so much fuss about them... must have been pre holocaust.

Last cool thing I found was hidden in an old chimney, what I can only describe as what must have been an early pinball machine, all wood, steel bearings for balls in an old tin, little nails for pins, rubber bands for bumpers. No idea how old it is but it's been around for a while.


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## jhammer7 (Nov 19, 2009)

*items*

Doing a ceiling repair in an early 1700's house in maine and a leather scabard falls out. Left it with the home owner and later found out it was for a bayonet from the local militia.

In my own house renovation found a b & w picture of a little girl sitting on a cresent moon swing, turns out it's my seventy yr old neighbor who grew up in the house. She was very happy to get it back.

During the same reno found a wooden ice skate.

Lots of newspapers but one was a bundle with the headlines surrounding the Japanese-Russo treaty signed in Portsmouth.


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## Pearce Services (Nov 21, 2005)

I found nothing of value, but found some pretty disturbing notes in a bathroom wall that was adjascent to the daughters room. They were very graphic regarding killing her family and herself, I read a few, figured the girls in the letters was in middle or early high school. 

I prodded the HO to learn that the youngest daughter was now in her early thirties, so I just let it go. I was glad that the notes were15-20 years old, and that no one has been killed. 

No great surprise that the child of this daughter was in the custody of the HOs. 

I thank God every day that my children are content and able to discuss their feelings openly.


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## Magnettica (Dec 19, 2006)

dnconstruction said:


> This directly derives from someone's post that made me think of all the weird crap we have found in walls during a demo job. What have you found?? Mine was an old hand gun. We were so freaked out no-one wanted to touch it thinking it was used in some crime or something. But we came to find out it was just a pellet gun lol. Bunch of sallys we are!!!:laughing:


Yesterday I found $1,000,000.00 in someones attic so if you don't see me posting here lately it's because I'm too busy spending the money. :whistling


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## FlatworkGuy (Jul 25, 2010)

in 1981, I was stripping the carpet and lino off of a floor in one of Dads remodels .. discovered a Cherry/Walnut? hardwood floor under it all .. it ran through the entire house ..

I convinced Dad to leave the old flooring layers till all of the mudding/texture/painting was finished.

We stripped the rest of the house out after, rented a walk behind sander, and put a shine on that old hardwood of the likes I had never seen before, or after .. 

The house fetched a much higher sale price than we all expected all because of that hardwood floor ..


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## abacab (Sep 16, 2009)

I've found a couple **** stashes. My helper was remodeling his landlord's attic, and behind the paneling were hundreds of **** poster boards from the 30's, appearantly used as insulation.


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

abacab said:


> I've found a couple **** stashes. My helper was remodeling his landlord's attic, and behind the paneling were hundreds of **** poster boards from the 30's, appearantly used as insulation.


I'm thinking when you want to type that word you have to use a zero instead of an o  so was it a p0rn stash:no:


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Magnettica said:


> Yesterday I found $1,000,000.00 in someones attic so if you don't see me posting here lately it's because I'm too busy spending the money. :whistling


In Confederate money? :w00t:


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> I'm thinking when you want to type that word you have to use a zero instead of an o  so was it a p0rn stash:no:


Or you could use ó, ò, or ô to bypass the Naughty Word file.


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## English Roofer (Dec 22, 2008)

While taking off an old lead roof off a church for replacment i found a letter pinned to the decking from the oridginal lead plumbers dated and signed! underneath the letter was a 1/2 penny coin cut in to the deck and it was dated from the year 1911, they talk about drinking Sunday areated waters which we gather to be beer as there is a pub(bar)as old as the church just across the road!
Cheers
Dave


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

See that reminded me of what I found in a house I lived in back in the 80's. When removing the P&L ceiling, I found a handwritten note on the joist with something to the effect of:

"D. Barrow built this house for Geo. McCall, Apr. 1 - 15, 1879".

Somewhere in my massive pile of 35mm slides I have some pix of it, but I don't have three weeks to dig through them.


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## Schulerhomes (Jul 1, 2011)

*Old .22*

During A recent remodel I found an old .22 pistol under an old cast iron tub wrapped in a wonder bread bag, after doing some research we found several newspapers that stated, a previous owner of the home we are remodeling, murdered a rancher around the same time the house was built, then killed himself. The police never found the gun which was a .22 pistol


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Or you could use ó, ò, or ô to bypass the Naughty Word file.


I have no idea how to put that stuff above the letters:blink:


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> I have no idea how to put that stuff above the letters:blink:


DWB here's a link:

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html


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## Diamond D. (Nov 12, 2009)

fftopic:
Short of the accents...
I think an @ might work, as in [email protected], I found some old Playboys and [email protected] posters. Or maybe the e, pern.
Just a thought.

D.


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## Dirtywhiteboy (Oct 15, 2010)

mehtwo said:


> DWB here's a link:
> 
> http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/accents/codealt.html


OK Thanks, DWB is always learning! I bookmarked for future. As for all those numbers DWB will have a hard time remembering all of them As DWB is not a very fart smeller and he may just keep using the 0 for o and the ! for i Oh and the $ for s and we have the ( for c. The number lock key:blink: always wondered what that was for:blink:
As for the find, I found a news paper from the 50s behind some kitchen cab. I pulled out and that was very cool to see how cheap stuff was back then. Oh and the homes original building permit was found also, so when the home owner came by I told them someone from the city stopped by and handed to them:laughing:


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## mehtwo (Nov 14, 2010)

Dirtywhiteboy said:


> OK Thanks, DWB is always learning! I bookmarked for future. As for all those numbers DWB will have a hard time remembering all of them As DWB is not a very fart smeller and he may just keep using the 0 for o and the ! for i Oh and the $ for s and we have the ( for c. The number lock key:blink: always wondered what that was for:blink:


No problem, CT recognizes that we ALL aren't computer nerds. Otherwise it would be CNT(computer nerd talk)....you know that could also stand for Construction Nerd Talk.:laughing::laughing:Anyways you get my drift...


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## jdeck (Nov 1, 2007)

I found a stanley everlasting chisel this winter in a wall. Hardest steel I have ever put on a whet stone.


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## JHC (Jun 4, 2010)

Schulerhomes said:


> During A recent remodel I found an old .22 pistol under an old cast iron tub wrapped in a wonder bread bag, after doing some research we found several newspapers that stated, a previous owner of the home we are remodeling, murdered a rancher around the same time the house was built, then killed himself. The police never found the gun which was a .22 pistol


I take it he either didn't use the 22 on himself, or someone hid it after he did. :whistling


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## Mr. D (Jun 7, 2006)

empty bottle of embalming fluid


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## MAULEMALL (May 16, 2010)

AHC said:


> a 1927 tax return, 1909 1 cent coin, 1927 10 dollar bill, lots of hand tools. baseball and hockey cards,


VDB or NO VDB :no:


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

MAULEMALL said:


> VDB or NO VDB :no:


Doubtful, it says AHC is in Toronto.


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

I have found an old anchor door knocker, don't know how it got there, but I took it. Now use it on my door.

Also found an empty pack of cigarettes, the carpenters wrote their names, and dated. Gave it to the home owner, don't know whatever happened to it.


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## dibs16 (Nov 30, 2010)

The best find was not by me but by my helper, he found a condom from about 1930.. still in it's original packaging, hidden away behind a ceiling joist in the basement.

My best find was a sears-roebuck catalog from like 1920 which was pretty cool.

Also found a nice plastic baggy full of the green stuff one time in a drawer cavity... worst part is my friends made me roll it up:shutup: I swear we didn't feel anything


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## Miss Brown (Mar 30, 2011)

Ha! That was my grandfather's house. That man died with 11 guns we COULD FIND in his house. He was ready for the invasion. 

When we pulled apart a 200 year old wall in CT we found handmade leather shoes from nearly 200 years ago. The shoes were singles from every member of the family, they were put there for good luck. We took them to the hysterical...ahem, historical society. We added our shoes to the wall, for luck. I threw in a flip flop.


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## thegreek (Dec 11, 2008)

Ten Fingers said:


> I reroofed a house and found the signatures of the previous roofers on the roof sheathing. It happened to be guys I knew.


That reminds me when your on a huge job and the apprentice screws up bad and ya tell them to sign it.


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## CarrPainting (Jun 29, 2010)

outside of newspapers the only thing I have found of any interest, was the petrified pbj half eaten sandwich.


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## Brutus (May 29, 2007)

CarrPainting said:


> outside of newspapers the only thing I have found of any interest, was the petrified pbj half eaten sandwich.


How'd it taste?! :blink:


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## Resta (Feb 11, 2009)

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/139470


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## broncofatboy (Dec 23, 2010)

The occasional quart drywall adhesive tube stood on end that the previous hangers used as a urinal and were to lazy to either dump out or throw away...


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## 4 seasons (Jan 4, 2010)

I found a real old childrens shoe, definitely hand made. I also found an old pipe dated to 1880.


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## Gary H (Dec 10, 2008)

Lumber reciepts from 1910, coins still in a coin purse from the 1880's, Stanley wood level from 1876 still in its wood case, lots of newpapers, dozens of beer bottles stuck in the wall, aleast a hundred or so 12 oz pepsi bottles under a house, a couple of old hammers, and some single shoes.


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## JWilliams (Nov 11, 2008)

helped do demo on my uncles house when he was remodeling it. found old pepsi bottles, papers, in the bathroom one section of the wall was filled with old razor blades. and in the kitchen underneath the cabinets some one wrote the time and date and that they just finished a poker game.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

LOTS of beer and booze bottles. quite a few signed walls and what I really love is when I find some old figuring on a wall somewhere. 19 7/16+ 28 3/4=48 3/16 that sort of stuff. what i really love is when the math is wrong or it's scribbled out a few times and tried again.

The best though was when i was doing some repair on a set of poured concrete steps. There was a small hole and I thought I could see something under the steps that looked like an old tin, so I made the hole bigger, and bigger, yup an old tin, lets make it bigger and get it out. Bigger, bigger huh? why is there shelving in there, oh wait that's their basement full of old stuff.

I once helped built a monument for people killed in the work place and in the middle we put a penny, nickle, dime, quarter, loonie and toonie in a ziplock bag for others to find.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

oh and one time when i was a kid found a bunch disturbing p0rn while removing a drop ceiling at a convenience store. the guy behind the counter wouldn't make eye contact after that


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Worked in a college office built in 1740 and it had been a boarding school in 1740. Whist pulling out old lead piping for the lights I turned a board over that looked like it had never been touched since the house was built. On the bottom of that board it had a name of a person saying he was 15 years old and the date he wrote it. I guess he done it before the ceiling ever went up as it was sealed in between the ceiling downstairs. It was crazy to think that this kid had lived his life and maybe so did his kids and his kids kids and I'm only just seeing this. It was a strange feeling for such a silly thing. Used to find some strange stuff between walls and floors when you work on building over almost 400 years old. Oldest building I worked in was built in 1600's. You never seen walls lean so much and floors so out of level in your life. The doors were so low you would have to duck if you was 5 ft tall.


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## Pete'sfeets (Mar 20, 2011)

in my first house I found a blown glass lightbulbin the rafters , the darn thing still worked with a funky orange flickering glow. I stripped the hall mirror that was painted to the wall, took out the old silvered mirror and found the protective cardboard was actually an old poster, unfortunately only one half but it was a picture of a pilot with a long scarf and a camel biplane in the background selling camel cigarettes of course.


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## schaefercs (Jul 10, 2008)

In my brothers house while remodeling the bathroom I had hundreds upon hundreds of razor blades fall from the ceiling onto myself. Funny, didn't realize in 1892 when the house was built that they were into bulk savings.


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## A-1 Interiors (Oct 12, 2011)

old coins! the oldest was a 1917 merc silver dime, also found a 1895 sterling silver baby spoon from glenns falls new york , very nice all engraved with a harvest motif 
I showed the boss and he said " you keep them" l think i still have them in a little cedar chest with some other trinkets ive found over the years its weird but i like finding old treasures like that not really valuable but Just cool because someone owned them 100 years ago


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## popagorgio (Aug 8, 2012)

I have some Lucky Lager cans I found in a reno We did about ten
years ago. The cans date back to 1951. 

I also, found an old 1800's whiskey bottle in a old shed We were 
tearing down out in Death Valley a few years back.

But, the craziest thing We ever found was over a pound of Cocaine
in a reno We did back in the early 80's for a drug dealer who, later
got busted and was on the news because He had a lot of guns and
drugs When They raided Him. I suspected He was a little shady
when He paid His 20k bill in a brown bag full of 20's. I gave it back
to Him ( the coke) and He said something like oh Thanks' and just left Us to finish the work :whistling


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## William James (Mar 5, 2010)

The worst thing i found was...
Pulling down a secured curtain rod, all these freaking cockroaches started falling out!!!
Yeah, look what i found!


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## hillbilly512 (Jul 27, 2012)

found some old boy scout stuff one time and old junkies needles and mirrors they chopped up on tucked in the ceiling tiles. and a set of 1932 PA license plates


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

bird skeletons and bat sh*t is all i ever find


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