leaving nail boxes in walls -- by DIY-er?!?

[EricU]

So I always figured that workers left trash and particularly, nearly empty boxes of nails in walls because they were disgruntled.  But last night I was ripping out the drywall in the basement and found a box of nails that had been left there by one of the previous owners of the house.  Now I'm re-assessing my previous assumption about this practice.  Is it supposed to be good luck or something?

Doing all this because it finally dawned on me that the basement floods we used to get every spring probably caused mold in the walls down there.  We fixed the flooding problem a couple of years ago, but it took me this long to get up the energy to fix the flood damage.  I hear that the flood protocol is to cut the drywall just above the flood level and gut right away.

[MikeBob]

Inner walls b4 the drywall is up is a garbage/dumping area. You should have seen what was behind my nephews prefab fiberglass shower enclosure when we ripped it out for a new tile shower. All the dry wall scraps from a few rooms.

[Bob10]

nope means he lost track and the nails at the same time, probably find some pencils in them too.  I was looking at some higher end housing being built near me and was considering making an offer on one.  So I walked the builds as they were pretty much left open for viewing on weekends when the workers were gone.  I saw lots left in the wall cavities but when I saw the trash from Mcdonalds and the like in the walls I was a bit put off.  I pointed it out to the RE in charge of sales.  No idea if anyone got fired I just know the next time I looked into the wall cavities all that mess was gone

[JGrout]

I once found a fully functioning #5 Stanley handplane in a wall 

House was built in 1948 

who knows why 

Joe

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[Bob10]

One of the strangest things I came across in an old house was 1920's adult novels probably about 30 of them directly in the center of an attic floor that was nailed down not allowing access from any direction that would not involve demolition.  I found a marble slab in a wall in a house I had in the 80's.  Then there was a jaguar from the 50's in a house that was moved to where it was so a freeway could be built.  I never did figure out why it was there but the only ways to get it out involved removing an exterior wall or a cutter torch.  I know it kept me from making an offer on the place

[MikeBob]

I once found a fully functioning #5 Stanley handplane in a wall 

House was built in 1948 

who knows why 

Joe

---

And he is saying "where the heck is my plane, I had it just a few days ago".

[EdL]

Had a blocklayer here that used to fill the cores with pbr cans......




Ed

[Anak]

Part of UC San Diego used to be the Camp Matthews USMC base.  When I was there they still had a few of the quonset huts and used them for classrooms.  Since then they have taken them out, but in the demolition process someone got lucky: Found a 1911, still wrapped up in wax paper (or whatever the original protective shipping material actually was).

[FBranco]

I usually leave a few current pennys inside the wall cavities for the next guy to find. There's no good reason why I do that.

[MikeBob]

I usually leave a few current pennys inside  the wall cavities for the next guy to find. There's no good reason why I do that.

Time capsule!!! My first house had a alk in closet with a window by the front door, built in 39, I sided over the window and covered it the glass with paint on the inside. I put in a time capsule, that days local paper, that days Wall Street Journal, some pic of the house b4 and after the new siding and a new $1.00 bill for inflation effects. I bought it in 74 sold it in 79 for over 2xs what I bought it for. and it is still going strong. Location, location, and more location.