NOOBIE asks, how do you search a house

[pjchc]

I'm new to the site and I've been sifting through what a lot of people are saying but I haven't seen the answer to something I think should be a standard question: without tearing the place apart, how do you scan the inside of a house for compartments?
Example: You purchase a 150 year old house, a landmark. You want to inspect it for possible hidden items but you can't tear the place apart because of its historical significance. I _think_ you can't use an MD because of all the piping and wiring inside. What's step 1 to start your search?

-phil

 

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[Tricia]

You purchase a 150 year old house and apply for a building permit and then knock out little holes as you see fit. Just repair them to historic specs and you should be good to go.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

I guess first I would want to have reason to believe that there is some type of cache in the house...I am not going to rip apart a wall for a few pennies or dimes.

Since alot of the older houses were plaster and lathe with very little insulation I guess starting in the attic would be your best bet. If you can look down between the walls with a flash light...that would be good.

But ....if someone stashed something valuable inside a house then I would think they would want to retrieve it so it has to have an accessible opening.

Try under stairwells, above joist beams in the cellar, removeable window ledges, hidden box in floor registers, trap doors, closet floor board spaces and hidey holes. Around fireplaces and in cabinets and pantrys for hidden drawers and doors.
Removable newel posts on steps or banisters. Look for steps with hidden hinges.

Using a black light you can tell where plaster patches were made.
Fireplace and chimneys are good places to look.

 

[dowser]

If your any good at dowsing, use Gold to signal Gold, Silver to signal Silver, Gems to Gems. And if your ever in a newer house $20 and $100 dollar bills have their own frequency strip in them. I located a friends cash stach in his house not long ago. Just to see how easy it was, took about 5 min.

 

[kroche22]

Loose bricks or floor boards

Take exact measurements of the house exterior and then the interior to see if there is any dead space or "secret" hallway or room.

Try moving moldings in all directions try moving adjacent moldings at the same time. Don't forget inside of closets and cabinets.

I would think any where there is dead space there is a potential for it being a hiding spot.

 

[gallileo60]

If your any good at dowsing, use Gold to signal Gold, Silver to signal Silver, Gems to Gems. And if your ever in a newer house $20 and $100 dollar bills have their own frequency strip in them. I located a friends cash stach in his house not long ago. Just to see how easy it was, took about 5 min.

Would love to hear about these frequency strips.....how can they be detected from a distance.

 

[Functional]

You can use a metal detector if your experienced with it and it has the ability to detect gold and silver, (nonferrous metals). Remove and inspect all electrical fixtures and switch housings. If your budget allows, get your hands on an endoscope for peeking inside walls and if need be drill small holes and look inside with it. It's all a matter of trial and error. You might end up finding nothing inside and an old cellar, or other stash outside.

F.

 

[gollum]

HOW TO SEARCH A HOUSE:

First, kick in the front door, simultaneously throwing in flash/bang grenades. Go in two by two, never letting your weapon point anywhere you aren't looking. Clear each room, making sure to check closets, under beds, and attic accesses. Anyone not complying gets two in the forehead.



Best,

Mike

 

[idigdirt]

hey gollum, I love your sense of humor! That was supposed to be funny right?

 

[IndianaSmith]

hey gollum, I love your sense of humor! That was supposed to be funny right?

I thought it was funny

Another place, not necessarily to find a "cache", but I'd recovered alot of silver coins, jewelry, and other interesting items in ductwork, having done furnace work for 30 years. Most old homes, if the heating systems haven't been updated to forced-air, had large coal-fired gravity furnaces in them. Some were converted to gas, and many have been replaced by now.

The ducting, being gravity, is extremely larger than todays forced-air systems, because it used the principal of warm air being lighter than cold, and is what moved the warmer air throughout the house. It also usually slopes downwards towards the furnace. In relationship, the registers were much larger as well to assist in the convection. These large registers are "catch-alls" for coins that rolled across the floor into them, and kids always loved dropping things down them. Ductwork can be taken down, cleaned (searched) and reinstalled. Also, these furnaces had sheetmetal covers bolted to "rings" surrounding the large cast iron heat-exchangers. These can be removed, as alot of items made their way thru the ducts, and ended-up on the basement floor inside the furnace jacket, again, because of the slope of the ductwork.

Smitty

 

[Shortstack]

If you don't know anything about carpentry and how a house is constructed, go to a library, checkout a book on the subject and study it. Then, you'll have a little edge.

Presuming that the house is empty of furniture, make a slow survey of the house; room by room. Standing in the middle of each room and simply use your eyes. Slowly look at each section of the room, ceiling, crown molding, wall sections, kick mouldings, floors, mouldings around doors and windows. Using a notebook and pencil, take notes on what you see in each room during this initial check. Examples of things to take note of: any loose mouldings; unusually short pieces of mouldings or floor boards; different shades of color on a wall. If there is wallpaper on the walls; take a bright flashlight and hold it against the wall's surface so that the light beam washes over the surface so you can look for lumps in the face of the wall.

Once the initial check is finished; choose a room and put it to the minute (pronounced my-newt), detailed check. DON'T GET IN A RUSH. Divide the room into small sections and go over literally every square foot. Any short sections of moulding or floor boards? (might be covers for hidy-holes) Loose moulding boards around the door or window? Loose window skirting? Run your hand along the top edge of all doors to check for coin-sized holes drilled there. You should try to eyeball them in case wooden plugs were inserted. Down through the years of floors being swept clean, many times coins will be pushed under door sills. This can be checked for with a thin bladed puddy knife slipped underneath the sill and dragged down the length of the board.

There are so many possibilities. If you can, get the book, Search! by Warnke. It shows everywhere in a typical old house that valuables have been hidden / found.

Happy hunting.

 

[stefen]

HOW TO SEARCH A HOUSE:

First, kick in the front door, simultaneously throwing in flash/bang grenades. Go in two by two, never letting your weapon point anywhere you aren't looking. Clear each room, making sure to check closets, under beds, and attic accesses. Anyone not complying gets two in the forehead.



Best,

Mike

Gollum, gotta tell those out of the area that 2 in the head is a double tap...forgot the 1 to the heart as a closer.

 

[ashleysflyr]

HOW TO SEARCH A HOUSE:

First, kick in the front door, simultaneously throwing in flash/bang grenades. Go in two by two, never letting your weapon point anywhere you aren't looking. Clear each room, making sure to check closets, under beds, and attic accesses. Anyone not complying gets two in the forehead.



Best,

Mike

Gollum, gotta tell those out of the area that 2 in the head is a double tap...forgot the 1 to the heart as a closer.

Or just one shot from a distance...nevermind.