Exploring the crawlspace

While attaching plywood to the basement wall so I could install wire shelves (more about that later), Jeremiah and his dad noticed some bottles in the crawlspace under the living room. The space spans the entire length of the house and about a third of the width, with the access panel being a little broken door panel located about halfway down the basement stairs.

Wanting the bottles, but a person who to belly-crawls through scary places, I volunteered Jeremiah to go. (Technically I offered but said I’d need a Tyvek suit and goggles.) Like a trooper, he went – literally – head first with just a respirator and a headlamp.

Oh and I forgot to mention, there were lots of nasty cleaning and building supplies, rusted paint cans, and lawn sprinklers strewn about, plus the out-of-service steam pipes and a big air duct running under there too.

Among the junk he kicked out, he did get a few interesting pieces. The bowl (visible in the image above, upside down just to the right of center) is unmarked and likely relatively new, but from what we could find on the bottles, they date to about the 1940’s. The really puzzling thing is how they got there, since the weren’t manufactured until 15-20 years after the house was completed.

I don’t know what I’ll do with them, but I’ll start with a through rinsing.