.. in the cavity behind the one-piece bath/shower surround of our 30+ yr-old house -- many offcuts of sheetrock and an empty sheetrock adhesive container. I assume they simply couldn't be bothered to pick it up and take it away. Is/was this a common practice?
When I opened up a knee wall area to put in storage shelves, part of the framing created small cavities that were to be covered with drywall.
Before I closed it up, I had each of my 4 kids draw a picture, sign it, date it and stash it in a cavity. If anyone ever remodels that room, they'll find a few cute surprises.
My comment will go off topic but this string made me think of it.
About a year ago we were doing some repair on our 5th wheel trailer so we could sell it. On one side the basement floor floor had a small area where the plywood sub-floor had rotted (basement is a lower storage compartment on these RVs). I decided to do the repair right and cut out an entire section of the floor and replaced it with plywood. When the floor panel was removed the insulation, which rested on a rubber belly membrane, was damp. I pulled the insulation out and got some similar fiberglass bat insulation to replace it. As I was preparing to install the insulation it occurred to me if water found its way in again, the insulation would again get soaked, again exposing the lower plywood to rot.
At that time we were cleaning up the gift shop of the museum where we do volunteer work. I remembered we had a bunch of 2" rubber balls we were going to donate to the towns Christmas parade group for give- away's. When it went to the museum I also found a box full of yellow rubber ducks that were also slated for give away, so I grabbed a hand full.
The dozen or so balls and ducks worked well. I scattered them around the rubber membrane, put the insulation bat in and installed the new plywood floor. A little Bondo smoothed things out and I reinstalled the vinyl flooring. It was as good as new.
As I was cleaning up a vision came to mind. Some day, in the future, some RV repair guy was called on to fix wiring or plumbing in this area. As they often do, he was lie under the trailer with a box knife and slice the section of membrane away for access. He would then be pummeled with an avalanche or rubber ducks and balls. "What the F***!!!!
I know people who have put the day's newspaper in such places. The way newspapers are going, those who find them likely won't have a clue what they are. ;-)
My grandfather was a mason. In his day, they would sh*t in the empty concrete bags and toss them into the back of a truck to take to the dump.
He loved to tell the story of how he was teaching a young mason the tricks of the trade.
"After laying a few courses, step back a bit to make sure your lines are straight."
He was so engrossed in the "teaching moment" that he forgot he standing on some scaffolding. He fell backward off the scaffolding into the back of a truck.
Luckily a bag of sh*t cushioned his fall. Not so lucky was that the sh*t squirted out of the bag.
From some reason the young mason didn't want Grandpa to teach him anything else that day.
Always fun finding these treasures in older homes. I have a pretty good collection of old bottles, magazines, newspapers and a half eaten slice of fruit cake.
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