STUFF FROM THE CRAWL SPACE

Stu Pedasso · Mar 1, 2008

The folks wanted to hook up Internet and needed a phone line installed. I volunteered to crawl around in the crawl space and string the cable. I am not a stranger to this area, as I had to fix a water leak for them last year. Their house is 160 years old and there is not much room between the floor joist and the bare ground. I was laying there waiting for someone to toss me some tape when I noticed a pocket knife laying there. Next thing I see is a crude clothes pin, and then a crystal clear marble. I saw what appeared to be an old wooden thread spool half buried in the dirt. I was surprised to see it had a hole in the center with a small cut nail holding a piece of leather over it. Looks like it would fit into the bung of a barrel. Could it be some kind of pressure relief valve? Any thoughts to what it might be? My kid found the spoon(newer) in the dirt floor of the basement portion of the house. I hit the crawl space and basement with my detector, only finding 2 new pennies and a dime.

Stu

Felinepeachy · Mar 3, 2008

All I can think of is SPIDERS!!!

There is no way in the world I could crawl under a house. I wouldn't care what was under there. NO WAY!! Ewwww, the thought of it is making me shaky and nervous right this very second. Congratulations on your awesome finds!! You deserve them for sure.

Stu Pedasso · Mar 3, 2008

Peachy,
It’s funny you should mention the spiders and the claustrophobia. I have never been a fan of spiders, cobwebs across the face, etc. The older I get the more claustrophobic I have become. Even watching TV at night and seeing shows of people trapped in mines or cars almost gives me a panic attach, and I end up changing the channel. Anyway, last summer, the step father had to patch a hole in the coble stone foundation. The winter before was cold, and air was getting in and freezing the plumbing. He took down the bad stone from the floor plate to the ground, about a 24 inch by 48 inch section. While peeking in there he saw water dripping at a pretty good pace. There were two many plumbing pipes and ductwork to get at it from the outside, so I crawled in there through a hole in the basement wall. It was pretty dark until I got to the wall and the sunlight was streaming in. I looked around and the place was alive. There were a ton of those thin bodied, long legged spiders hanging on everything. They were stationary, but there long legs were groping the air around them, feeling for something. Needless to say, I saw the leak was coming from a wall upstairs and got the heck out of there. That is why I did not see the clothes pin, knife, etc. the first time.
This time I wasn’t so worried. It is cold here and I figured the bug activity would be at minimum. Which it was. But, this time there were two new beer can sized tunnels in the dirt with what looked to be fresh dirt piles outside of them. I plugged them with rocks just to be sure something wasn’t going to come out. Here is the good part. My ten year old is pretty brave. We were having a heck of a time under a different section of the house that is way to narrow for and adult to crawl in. So, he volunteered to go in. He is small and very thin and was having a hard time getting between the joists and the ground. I was holding the light for him when he started yelling something about a spider on his hand and started backing up very fast. He said he had a big wolf spider sitting on his hand. LOL. He calmed down and got back up there and finished the job. We couldn’t have done it without him.
I will probably crawl back in there this weekend. As crazy as it sounds, the prospect of finding a lost coin or another primitive object out weighs any phobia I might have. I will let you know what I get, and post a couple pics of what is like under there!

Stu

chrisplay2004 · Mar 3, 2008

Whata great idea. My very first hunt was in my backyard found lots of stuff including some silver dimes. House was built in 1953, I think i'm goin under the house after work!!! WTG