Strangest thing you have found in a property?

[Gavin John Hyde]

just reading another thread where somebody joked about using midgets to run cables and it got me thinking whats the strangest or most unusual thing you have found in a property?
Mine would have to be a pile of WW2 stuff under a floor.

Was working with a team rewiring a house in Swindon. When we pulled up the groundfloor floorboards we found some metal cases. We lifted them up and after a bit of banging and leverage discovered a collection of WW2 weapons, a couple of grenades a gas mask and few bits and bobs we didnt recognise that would be useful if you were looking to cause havoc. It was a one man army stockpile.
The owner said he recalled being told by his late dad that he hid stuff in the floor during WW2 in case the Germans invaded and had forgot all about it since his dad passed away a few years beforehand. His dad had been sent home after being injured at the start of the war and then was an auxiliary tasked with a sort of resistance type role in the event the Germans landed.
Having been a weapons technician in the forces myself prior to leaving through poor health I took it all into the back garden, i took the view we had just battered the boxes to open them up so it was quite stable. The Lee Enfield rifle, (cant recall which version) was rusty but the pistol was covered in an oil rag and looked fully operational, as was the shotgun. The ammo looked pretty good nick too. only slight discoloration on the casings and around the primer area. My colleagues went out the front whilst i carried it out back... not sure why? it was only a few grenades
When it was phoned in all hell broke loose. I got a right telling off by the police when we called them for moving it but the Royal Logistics Corp C/O just laughed when i told him my past career. Not sure what happened to it all after that - hopefully in a museum but the ammunition and grenades were destroyed elsewhere. but we were not popular with the neighbours for having them evacuated for a couple of hours! Most likely the only exciting thing to ever happen in Swindon..

Whats everybodys unusual discovery in a property?

 

[Strima]

I only find dead rats and the odd dead bird. Why do I never find anything good?

 

[Octopus]

A pile of 1980 play boy mags in a loft. All dated since the owners moved in ..... Brought back memories!

 

[NDG Elecs]

I didn't actually find this but it was there somewhere!

Got called to a rental where the light fitting in bedroom had 'fallen down'. I got there and it seemed obvious the light had been pulled or otherwise caught and yanked. There was also a smashed mirrored wardrobe door lay on its side. Then I saw the telltale black circular imprint on the ceiling. Turns out the tenant had a thing for pole dancing, neighbours complained and reported her for it but the letting agent couldn't really do anything about it. The letting agent asked me to keep an eye out when I went round there. The bedroom was only around 8x10ft with robes and a bed in, so there was barely room to swing a cat, never mind pole dancing!

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Piles of gay ---- mags left around VERY obviously when I was rewiring a property for a fella living on his own. I had to keep mentioning my wife to him. Once I had my head under the floor on the landing trying to find a cable, --- in the air, and heard him ascending the stairs. Fastest I'd moved all day.
Nice chap though.

 

[westward10]

Not strange but two young ladies who were naturists and asked if we would be offended should they be naked all day, I had to think about it.

 

[NDG Elecs]

Not strange but two young ladies who were naturists and asked if we would be offended should they be naked all day, I had to think about it.

That has just reminded me of my first job when I left school. 16 yrs old and working in a sports centre. I can't recall what the event was on the particular day, but the entire centre was basically overrun for the entire day with models walking around topless and covered in body paint! Any belief on my part that there is no god was dispelled that day!!

 

[kingeri]

I once went to a house and found a full set of electrical certificates for the installation. Very, very strange.

 

[KEV 1 N]

I was working at some tower blocks years ago, the council were clearing out one of the flats. They had one of those open backed cage trucks. The old guy I was working with noticed an old singer sewing machine table in the truck, he said that would nice in his hallway. So asked the council lads if he could have it.
"Aye mate just take it!" They said.
We carried back to our site cabin and when we looked inside there was a loose panel, behind that panel was an envelope with £300 in old tenners!

 

[kingeri]

In my own house, I was removing an old cast iron fireplace from my son's bedroom (which I sold for £400!), and found the chimney was stuffed full of really old ladies and kids shoes, about fifty pairs. A bit creepy!

Elsewhere, lifted a crappy chipboard floor to reveal the original floorboards underneath and found a body shaped blood stain on the boards...very creepy!

 

[telectrix]

once did some work in a flat for a pair of lesbian girls. in the bedroom were 4 vibrators and a stack of dead AA batteries thrown all over the floor.

 

[KEV 1 N]

once did some work in a flat for a pair of lesbian girls. in the bedroom were 4 vibrators and a stack of dead AA batteries thrown all over the floor.

Aye that's the trouble with those pound shop batteries, they should have used Duracell

 

[telectrix]

think those ones were some strange chinese ones .... fannycell.

 

[KEV 1 N]

Another tale at the same block of flats, basically all the tennents were moved out whilst they were refurbished then went back after. Anyway there was one tennent they had trouble getting out, so once we finally got in, the flat was an absolute hovel! He must not have thrown anything away! There were tins of food 20years out of date!

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

There was research done on tinned food. Some of it has been shown to still be safe to eat decades past the best before date.

 

[telectrix]

that's good to know. i got some corned beef tins left by my da. he got them in the R.A.F., Libya 1943. he always said, waste not , want not.

 

[Midwest]

Was working with a team rewiring a house in Swindon. When we pulled up the groundfloor floorboards we found some metal cases. We lifted them up and after a bit of banging and leverage discovered a collection of WW2 weapons, a couple of grenades a gas mask and few bits and bobs we didnt recognise that would be useful if you were looking to cause havoc. It was a one man army stockpile.
The owner said he recalled being told by his late dad that he hid stuff in the floor during WW2 in case the Germans invaded and had forgot all about it since his dad passed away a few years beforehand. His dad had been sent home after being injured at the start of the war and then was an auxiliary tasked with a sort of resistance type role in the event the Germans landed.
Having been a weapons technician in the forces myself prior to leaving through poor health I took it all into the back garden, i took the view we had just battered the boxes to open them up so it was quite stable. The Lee Enfield rifle, (cant recall which version) was rusty but the pistol was covered in an oil rag and looked fully operational, as was the shotgun. The ammo looked pretty good nick too. only slight discoloration on the casings and around the primer area. My colleagues went out the front whilst i carried it out back... not sure why? it was only a few grenades
When it was phoned in all hell broke loose. I got a right telling off by the police when we called them for moving it but the Royal Logistics Corp C/O just laughed when i told him my past career. Not sure what happened to it all after that - hopefully in a museum but the ammunition and grenades were destroyed elsewhere. but we were not popular with the neighbours for having them evacuated for a couple of hours! Most likely the only exciting thing to ever happen in Swindon..

Whats everybodys unusual discovery in a property?

Least you didn't take the hoard to the Cop shop, like some do!

 

[The Ghost]

Up in a loft found (I guess) a full blown satanic circle on the floor with symbols and various paraphernalia indicative of an active circle of some kind of dread rituals going on. Not a good working environment.
Adding a few sockets in another place. Found that readings on one particular part of the RFC suggested some damage to a particular run of cable. Lifted up the boards and found a car loads of tinned food, which was just the beginning as we found that every board with screws in had been used to store stacks and stacks of food. The lady said her ex was stocking up for armegeddon and the wild roving gangs inevitably found at such times. Note to preppers: If you have a stack of food be prepared to get robbed at best of everything you have.

 

[Midwest]

Up in a loft found (I guess) a full blown satanic circle on the floor with symbols and various paraphernalia indicative of an active circle of some kind of dread rituals going on. Not a good working environment.

That's called a Masonic Lodge.

 

[KEV 1 N]

There was research done on tinned food. Some of it has been shown to still be safe to eat decades past the best before date.

We opened a tin of pineapple slices.....there was just black goo!

 

[kingeri]

We opened a tin of pineapple slices.....there was just black goo!

Very nutritious black goo though!

 

[telectrix]

obviously not a 1960's tin. that would have been green goo.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Least you didn't take the hoard to the Cop shop, like some do!

Would have been tempting to pull the pin and make a quick exit

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

The lady said her ex was stocking up for armegeddon and the wild roving gangs inevitably found at such times. .

You laugh about these things but there is an active prepper scene in the west country, they get together and practice survival skills and have kits prepared in case the proverbial hits the fan to survive. One bloke was interviewed in the paper, he lived out near Glastonbury and was adament he could survive and protect his family.

 

[static zap]

We opened a tin of pineapple slices.....there was just black goo!

Discovered that with local corner shop , most tins keep well Meat/veg , but acidic fruit
rots cans sooner ! Quality brands for preppers -Not cheap tinned potatoes.

 

[Pete999]

once did some work in a flat for a pair of lesbian girls. in the bedroom were 4 vibrators and a stack of dead AA batteries thrown all over the floor.

The Lady who was our office manager was a looker, Pete any chance you could fit me a shower in my house , which I have just bought with my partner, sure no worries, gave her a price, she gave me the keys, anytime she said, so one morning roll up about 09:00 open the door tramp upstairs,open what I thought was the bathroom, oops, twas the bedroom, there was my office manager, in bed with her partner who was of the same orientation ie both Ladies, well I never did look at her in the same way ever again.

 

[ipf]

Working on a main street property, I remember being called upstairs and found a hole in the wall. Labourer was sinking socket box in the wall when it turned out to be single brick and went straight through to next door..........Barclays Bank.
The bank manager called us 'the hole in the wall gang'.

 

[Pete999]

Working on a main street property, I remember being called upstairs and found a hole in the wall. Labourer was sinking socket box in the wall when it turned out to be single brick and went straight through to next door..........Barclays Bank.
The bank manager called us 'the hole in the wall gang'.

They don't like it up em Mr Mainwaring

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Working on a main street property, I remember being called upstairs and found a hole in the wall. Labourer was sinking socket box in the wall when it turned out to be single brick and went straight through to next door..........Barclays Bank.
The bank manager called us 'the hole in the wall gang'.

Imagine that happening today and they would panic... i would have quoted the money to strengthen the wall on the otherside to protect the bank. I worked on a refurb once where a closed bank was becoming a well known coffee chain shop. where the walls were thin and joining the book shop next door they had put metal plate on the walls and then rebar grid welded on. this was boarded over then plastered - we discoverd this when trying to chase the wall for new cables, the place was like a metal box. We had to put a new lot of plasterboard and timber up but with a 2 inch gap behind for cables and stuff. They also had rebar and metal in the ceiling and roof space. biggest downside was you couldn't get a phone signal inside unless right by the window!

 

[Charlie Crocker]

I was working in audio on a Gibraltar marina in the 80’s and a guy spent a packet on a new sony hifi system and wanted the speakers fitted all round his huge yacht. Said I could not do it until the weekend, guy says fine, come round Saturday, having a bit of a party but you can crack on.

Turned up, unboxed and started laying the cables in this massive lounge below deck, just looked up through one of the portholes and was met by a triangle of minge, everyone on deck was starkers – I made a mess of that job….

 

[Pete999]

I was working in audio on a Gibraltar marina in the 80’s and a guy spent a packet on a new sony hifi system and wanted the speakers fitted all round his huge yacht. Said I could not do it until the weekend, guy says fine, come round Saturday, having a bit of a party but you can crack on.

Turned up, unboxed and started laying the cables in this massive lounge below deck, just looked up through one of the portholes and was met by a triangle of minge, everyone on deck was starkers – I made a mess of that job….

Minge, what's Minge?

 

[ipf]

Found this innovative way of installing a ceiling rose. Don't know how they managed to screw the cover on but they did. On the ceiling, it looked normal until unscrewing, with difficulty....wondered where the cables where....dumbfounded.

 

[Pete999]

Found this innovative way of installing a ceiling rose. Don't know how they managed to screw the cover on but they did. On the ceiling, it looked normal until unscrewing, with difficulty....wondered where the cables where....dumbfounded.

View attachment 38825

The mind does indeed boggle

 

[ruston]

Fitted by Pollyanna's brother.

 

[Percyprod]

Went to a house where they were getting shocks off sink unit. Not using dno earth, 34 amps to earth. Complained he couldn't keep up with pre payment meter,
"Oh, and about my cold water"
"What about it"?
"It's hot"
Was using old cast iraon water pipe as earth electrode.

Other one was Chinese restaurant complained about flickering lights. Found cut-out fuse replaced with copper water pipe in the fuse holder, so hot couldn't touch it, and they had a fan on a chair blowing cold air on it to cool it down. They were really upset when I told them I was disconnecting supply until cut out could be changed!

 

[Des 56]

I have to turn this thread around for my tale
Did not find any of the hundred or so Scorpions I knew nothing about that were let loose in the empty house I had just wired

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I have to turn this thread around for my tale
Did not find any of the hundred or so Scorpions I knew nothing about that were let loose in the empty house I had just wired

Scorpions released... what bunch of nutters release scorpions in a house?

 

[Phil Thompson]

Last month I was at a mm couples home, it was a large house, and I walked into a room and there was a mannequin with a wig and fur coat on.
Scared the poop clean out of me it did lol

 

[littlespark]

I did a job on a camp site popular with divers.
Walked into the disable toilet and found a drysuit hanging from the attic hatch.... It looked like a body on a noose.

 

[gazdkw82]

once did some work in a flat for a pair of lesbian girls. in the bedroom were 4 vibrators and a stack of dead AA batteries thrown all over the floor.

How did you know they were dead? ;-)

 

[elsparko]

guy i worked with once found a dead body if that counts? is that a c2 or c3?

 

[elsparko]

Last month I was at a mm couples home, it was a large house, and I walked into a room and there was a mannequin with a wig and fur coat on.
Scared the poop clean out of me it did lol

we were hired in to set up for a farmers show, when it was cleanup time i walked into a tent and was confronted with a lifelike cow statue, almost gave it a swift right hook

 

[elsparko]

another tale from the crypt, colleague at a rewire lifted a caret to find hundreds of used syringes

 

[JOURNEYMAN]

Few years ago now I was replacing some light fittings and wiring in a farmhouse and had the lad working with me above in the loft pulling some cable when all of a sudden he came down stairs white faced and declared that he wasn't going to work up there anymore! I asked why and he just pointed not saying a word. I went up and took a look at what he'd found and it turned out to be a small recording device wired up as a phone tap to the house phone. Apparently the client had hired a private detective to 'investigate' his wife as she was having an affair with the local builder! Needless to say a divorce followed shortly after!

 

[Squid]

we were hired in to set up for a farmers show, when it was cleanup time i walked into a tent and was confronted with a lifelike cow statue, almost gave it a swift right hook

Reminded you of the ex wife?

 

[elsparko]

Reminded you of the ex wife?

never getting married, seen too many men lose almost 90% of their property to a woman who thinks because she cleans dishes after supper that she is entitled to half the home, and everything in it

my initial thought was that the cows had heard i love steak and chips with a bit of peppercorn sauce and were about to make steaks out of me

 

[elsparko]

another belter, 2 boys i worked with thought they had found some hash wrapped up in clingfilm, turns out upon further inspection that it was a used tampon.

 

[elsparko]

another belter, 2 boys i worked with thought they had found some hash wrapped up in clingfilm, turns out upon further inspection that it was a used tampon.

 

[Pete999]

another belter, 2 boys i worked with thought they had found some hash wrapped up in clingfilm, turns out upon further inspection that it was a used tampon.

Bet is was -----.

 

[elsparko]

Bet is was -----.