Restoration project with a surprise

[Gridwalker306]

So friends of mine just purchased an old farm, they are going to burn the old house and buildings and build/move in something new. I have detected here a few times, but somebody beat me to it years ago. I still managed to find a few coins including one silver quarter. They didn't want some of the old furniture that has been rotting in the old house, and I really liked this old couch. It's probably near 100 yrs old, and is in pretty rough shape. I'm going to lose the old hide-a-bed mechanical part and make it into just a couch. When I took it apart in the old house, four quarters from the 1970's fell out, as well as a really nice 1919 wheat penny, and a little ring too! No stone, and is plated. Still pretty cool though. It's going to be quite the project, keep me busy until spring when I'll be able to detect again.

 

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[mr helton]

Awesome! My uncle's brother had a super old house in his yard that had 50% collapsed. He said I can have whatever I wanted out of it, so I spent a couple hours carefully going through it, and I managed to find 3 indian head pennies and 2 silver dimes and a silver quarter. Some were in the couch like yours, and the rest were in the pockets of clothes scattered on the floor!

 

[Gridwalker306]

That's cool Helton! I'm thinking I need to check this house out a bit more. It's basically empty and pretty clean, minus the mouse droppings, mold, and dirt. I'd like to detect inside the house an see what's in the walls.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

I think it a shame to tear down that house, it's roof is straight as a string, so it's obviously structurely sound. Oh well not mine.

If there are going to "get rid" of it, might as well tear up the boards on the porch, see what fell down the cracks ?

Don't think your detector will work to well "in" the house with all the nails, and wiring ?

 

[Gridwalker306]

They are going to burn it sometime this winter, I really want to tear into some walls, and check the floor cracks for some old treasures. I have heard of people detecting inside old houses, I'm going to research into that a bit.

And yes I agree it's a total shame to see the house destroyed. It would cost an arm and a leg to move it, and it needs a ton of work. It's completely full of mould, and the lath and plaster is probably asbestos based. As old hoses go however, it's pretty solid. "Good bones" as they say.

 

[bootybandit]

It would be pretty neat to see what's under the foundation.

 

[CRUSADER]

Always good to recycle a piece of 'trash' & save it from landfill.

 

[ironhorse]

I think it a shame to tear down that house, it's roof is straight as a string, so it's obviously structurely sound. Oh well not mine.

If there are going to "get rid" of it, might as well tear up the boards on the porch, see what fell down the cracks ?

Don't think your detector will work to well "in" the house with all the nails, and wiring ?

I agree, that house could be resurrected

Having done a lot of renovation work over the years and found dozens of old coins and other things in old houses, I've found lots of coins just under the edges of baseboards; if the house is going to be razed in the future, your coin collection could be supplemented greatly with a crowbar and not a detector in that spot!

Good luck, and I like old furniture myself, it was built to last a few lifetimes back then

 

[mr helton]

That's cool Helton! I'm thinking I need to check this house out a bit more. It's basically empty and pretty clean, minus the mouse droppings, mold, and dirt. I'd like to detect inside the house an see what's in the walls.

Absolutely! I bet there are coins that fell on the floor and between the cracks where the wall meets the floor. I'm kicking myself for not checking that in the house I mentioned because most of the floor was ripped up already.

 

[treblehunter]

I discrime out nails all the time and when I don't they just grunt at me, I don't think it would hurt to at least try and run your machine in there?
Fun stuff none the less!

 

[mr helton]

The ultimate I think would be to sift out the dirt under the floor. I'd love to find time to do that.

 

[g-olden years]

hmm.... taking crowbar to baseboards & busting into walls seem good ideas, but with mouse droppings, mold, possible asbestos please be sure to wear an appropriate mask to avoid hanta virus, lung problems, etc. Most of you guys probably know lots more about proper tear-down masks than I do.

Looking forward to your future finds at that site! Andi

 

[jmastny78]

Thats a sweet looking couch! Good luck on the restoration!

 

[DMN]

Great to make finds where you can. Found some nice coins jammed in the sides of old furniture.

The floorboards look like they are decent shape. Old lumber has value all it's own. Don't know if it's worth it to you but it might be worth pulling the floorboards and selling the lengths before the torch it. At least check it out. And them you'd see what's below too.