Lofts are amazing as insights into people’s lives and psyche
In our previous house loft we found an old clock and a knife very firmly embedded into a rafter at an angle suggestive that a very short knife fight had occurred.
Almost forgot, when we removed the bath in my old house we found a rotten floor joist caused by damp leakage next to a still live 13 amp socket, which was nice. The previous owner was a copper and the work on the house had been done by his brother who was a (cowboy) builder. His handiwork was everywhere in a random, lash-up sort of way.
Our first house had an unusual bulge in the Hall wall. About 150cm off the floor and in the middle of the wall. It looked like someone had filled a hole with Pollyfilla or similar and it had tried to run out while it cured.
Anyhow first job was to smooth this back down to the wall level so we could decorate.
While chiselling off the 'lump' I found some bare Copper wires. I stopped immediatley and put an electrical test meter on the wires.
Yep they were LIVE with 220v.
It seems the previous owner had ripped out an Alarm Control box the day before we moved in and simply hadn't worried about disconnecting the power!
I used to wonder if Ford would bring out a sort of fun SUV lite type vehicle called the Razzle.
Not a shed, a basement.
The highlights included most of a car down there, seats, body panels, wheels, etc. and a steel box (I still have the box) containing 70s/80s porn.
Is that you Shaun?
Mate of mine (called Shaun obvs.) found very similar, bought a big 3 storey end terrace (late 19thC build) for bugger all as a project.
Found that one of the walls of the cupboard under the stairs was actually a door that had been nailed shut, probably some time in the 60's and filled/painted. House had changed hands many times between then and when he got it (late 90s). It'd been a family home, student digs, a drug den of sorts and empty for several years too. No one who they could track down knew anything about it.
The basement windows and exterior door had been bricked up and covered from the outside (either flag stones, flower beds or weeds all round the house!), there was still working heat, electricity and water down there. Also an almost complete Series II Land Rover, mostly restored and ready to rebuild, two classic motorbikes plus loads of parts, thousands of pounds worth of old tools and workshop supplies, stacks of high quality wood ready for whatever projects the person who bricked it up had in mind. A mini lathe, pillar drill and a few workshop style woodworking tools. Dozens of old workshop type books cars/metalworking/woodworking/electrical/plumbing/bricklaying/roofing all sorts.
And about 200 kilos of dust.
When i moved away from the area a couple of years after they moved in, they were still trying to sort out the basement, while simultaneously trying to make the house habitable...
Nope, not Shaun.
This was a terrace house on the edge of Manchester, bought as a repossession in late 2000. Apparently, according to the neighbors, it was a young couple that took on the house when the parents moved out. They then had some sort of falling out, and BOTH moved out leaving the bank to repossess the house. It appears they were in the process of refurbishing the place but had mostly just gutted it. I think a lot of the junk in the basement was from the parents rather than the young couple. There was no boarded up door, just so much stuff you couldn't see past the top landing to the steps down! We got the place cheap as it was priced to sell to a developer. The first couple of years while living in a building sight was a little tough....
We lived in New Zealand between 2000-2008.
Found a WW1 era bayonet.
Still got it. No idea what to do with it.
Attach it to the rifle and charge the enemy. It's a simple concept.
