New here - difficult crawl space dig

persephone

Tenderfoot
Dec 6, 2021
7
17
Hello, I am new here but I have read a number of the threads on this site and I would like to dive in and ask for some feedback. I am not a metal detecting hobbyist. I own a very old (early 1890s) home that has been in my family for a very long time. The original owner (my great, great uncle) was eccentric and there are stories about how he went through some conflicts that made him paranoid and he started hiding his valuables and no one ever found them. He died suddenly and had no kids. Anyway, the home has hardwood floors and the living room floor has an odd square cut out that I always thought was a repair. The floor had been covered for many years with carpet. I was thinking of having the floor redone and when I examined the "repair" I realized that it is in fact a hatch to a section of the crawl space that was otherwise blocked off and inaccessible. You can only get to this area by going through the hatch. Another odd thing is that it appears that a trench was dug in the crawl space and then filled with non-native soil -- a lot of loose sand.

I bought a Garrett 2500 and did a few runs through the crawl space -- I found a lot of very cool 1890s handmade nails and some very old ironstone (marked) pottery and also a small vial that I suspect was for opium or morphine. I suspect that there is something else buried more deeply down there - I tried using the all metal mode with a deep seeking coil and got a strong signal in the center of the crawl area. With the big coil though, you get no discrimination -- just a loud audio tone and a single cursor scale that maxed out in that area. It could be a box of interesting goodies or it could be a big can. The other problem is --- the sand. It is easy to dig of course but the space is so narrow that there is nowhere to pile it and so when I dig a hole it just rapidly refills with sand. I think the only way to dig down into the crawl space is to actually remove the sand from the crawl area-- and the only way to do that is through the hatch which would be very labor intensive. My back hurts just thinking about it. Should I give up? It has been fun discovering this weird old hiding place but I don't know how to get a lot of sand out through that hatch without ending up in traction. Thanks for reading this and for any advice!
 

oldkoot

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Jan 18, 2017
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i would not give up you just never know what might be
back in early 2010 my wife and i purchased a home in Ohio that was built in 1889 we had a vary large back yard 3/4 of an acre completely fenced in i found many great finds in that back yard but the best find was not found in the yard but under the house in a crawl space the only difference in the crawl space under our house and what you describe under your house is that once inside the crawl space under my house you could literally stand up and swing a detector it had 8-10 foot ceiling in it and it was 8-10 feet wide and approximately 30 feet deep the crawl space

the crawl space under your home seems quite small and was probably built to hide something if your relative was as eccentric as you state

the find i made in the crawl space of our home some would consider it to be a once in a lifetime find it was a wooden box with many old coins so you just never know if it were me and i was younger i would get someone you trust to help and start removing buckets of sand again you just never know unless you are willing to dig
just my opinion
 

Gare

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Dec 30, 2012
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Nokta makes a very small detector, It can use a 5 inch coil or a 8 inch coil.if you lived near me i would let you borrow one.

good luck keep us posted please

BTW I am near Canton Ohio
 

pepperj

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If your detector is getting a signal then you're close enough to dig it out.
First discount why the sand is there in the first place.
Cheap backfill, easy to handle, why was it put there.
Where is the bathroom vs the septic tank 4 "cast iron drain pipe (common) and there might be the answer.
Then again, it could be that buried savings.
Best of luck
 

OP
OP
P

persephone

Tenderfoot
Dec 6, 2021
7
17
If your detector is getting a signal then you're close enough to dig it out.
First discount why the sand is there in the first place.
Cheap backfill, easy to handle, why was it put there.
Where is the bathroom vs the septic tank 4 "cast iron drain pipe (common) and there might be the answer.
Then again, it could be that buried savings.
Best of luck
This is a very useful insight, thank you! I have had a lot of plumbing work done on the home and I think I can figure out if there is a pipe that is running under the crawl that is creating that signal.
 

OP
OP
P

persephone

Tenderfoot
Dec 6, 2021
7
17
i would not give up you just never know what might be
back in early 2010 my wife and i purchased a home in Ohio that was built in 1889 we had a vary large back yard 3/4 of an acre completely fenced in i found many great finds in that back yard but the best find was not found in the yard but under the house in a crawl space the only difference in the crawl space under our house and what you describe under your house is that once inside the crawl space under my house you could literally stand up and swing a detector it had 8-10 foot ceiling in it and it was 8-10 feet wide and approximately 30 feet deep the crawl space

the crawl space under your home seems quite small and was probably built to hide something if your relative was as eccentric as you state

the find i made in the crawl space of our home some would consider it to be a once in a lifetime find it was a wooden box with many old coins so you just never know if it were me and i was younger i would get someone you trust to help and start removing buckets of sand again you just never know unless you are willing to dig
just my opinion
Thank you for the response and the encouragement!
 

OP
OP
P

persephone

Tenderfoot
Dec 6, 2021
7
17
i would not give up you just never know what might be
back in early 2010 my wife and i purchased a home in Ohio that was built in 1889 we had a vary large back yard 3/4 of an acre completely fenced in i found many great finds in that back yard but the best find was not found in the yard but under the house in a crawl space the only difference in the crawl space under our house and what you describe under your house is that once inside the crawl space under my house you could literally stand up and swing a detector it had 8-10 foot ceiling in it and it was 8-10 feet wide and approximately 30 feet deep the crawl space

the crawl space under your home seems quite small and was probably built to hide something if your relative was as eccentric as you state

the find i made in the crawl space of our home some would consider it to be a once in a lifetime find it was a wooden box with many old coins so you just never know if it were me and i was younger i would get someone you trust to help and start removing buckets of sand again you just never know unless you are willing to dig
just my opinion
Thank you for sharing your story and for the encouragement!
 

Back-of-the-boat

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Apr 18, 2013
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Just make sure you don't undermine any footings that are supporting your house. Sand seems like something weird to have under a house unless the trench was for drainage, does the trench extend out from beneath the house to the exterior or is it just isolated to under the house.
 

OP
OP
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persephone

Tenderfoot
Dec 6, 2021
7
17
Just make sure you don't undermine any footings that are supporting your house. Sand seems like something weird to have under a house unless the trench was for drainage, does the trench extend out from beneath the house to the exterior or is it just isolated to under the house.
Thank you for your reply. The trench runs parallel to the foundation wall inside the crawl space for about 15-20 feet (a little less than half the length of the wall). It does not extend out beneath the house. The native soil is pretty firm clay so it is very obvious that someone dug it out and filled it with the sand. I get your point about the footings. The brick foundation wall is about four feet above grade and I do not know how far below (I had it evaluated when I was considering whether to replace the brick. The engineer told me it was in very good shape and did not recommend replacement -- I was surprised).
 

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