What's the weirdest/grossest thing you've found during a demo?

Question

I'll start: 10+ lbs of cat food ... in the wall. (I broke the shopvac)

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Cutest was a nest of baby raccoons I found inside the wall of a house that was slated to be torn down...   Momma was further up inside the wall making the most furious noises. I did not attempt to negotiate with her.  I replaced all the tiny bandits and then came back the next day and everyone had taken the very wise move of moving to places that weren't about to become a pile of rubble.

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Also, porn. So much porn.  At this point I consider it good luck if I find porn in a foreclosure/rehab.

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New rehab project, I was diagnosing an electric issue with a wire that ran through an attic near what had been a squirrel nest. I started removing insulation to get to the wire, and found what I thought was a stick and pulled it out. It turned out to be the tail of a mummified squirrel. I threw it into a trash bag and then found another dead mummified squirrel just under that one, and then another one under that one. The bottom squirrel had been chewing on the wire and electrocuted itself. I don't know how two more died above it, but what I did realize was that apparently the other squirrels had pushed the insulation back on top of the dead squirrel(s), until (apparently) they went hunting for that delicious electricity and died as well.

It wasn't particularly gross since they had long since mummified in the hot dry attic, but it was really unsettling.

Grossest was a foreclosed house that had been a dog hoarder house and was so bad that my throat would close up from the ammonia when I walked through it. It had to be gutted to the studs and parts of the subfloor replaced, and then the whole structure sodablasted and then sealed with shellac.

It wasn't particularly gross since they had long since mummified in the hot dry attic, but it was really unsettling.

Grossest was a foreclosed house that had been a dog hoarder house and was so bad that my throat would close up from the ammonia when I walked through it. It had to be gutted to the studs and parts of the subfloor replaced, and then the whole structure sodablasted and then sealed with shellac.

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The spoon and needle were likely related. I recently cleaned out a junkie squat, and there were needles everywhere. They had even hidden one up in the metal track of a sliding closet door. I was helping the demo crew when the track was hit by a hammer and the needle flew out and hit me on my back. It was the only needle in the whole house actually capped.

There were also needles in the ductwork.  Before I had a new furnace installed, I went down and very carefully removed all the ductwork and cleaned them out so the HVAC guy wouldn't get stuck.

It is crazy how revolting just a picture of used needles is... I feel bad even posting this picture..

Also pictured: bedbugs.  That was from an occupied house though, very clean and tidy tenant had brought them home from a hospital job :(  They were everywhere, I just picked a couple off the floor and sealed them in tape as evidence for the exterminator.

Karl B. · Answer

I typically find the weirdest things in the vents. I've found everything from a USB drive to a torn in half photos of a couple. Less weird vent items tend to be pens/pencils/markers and loose change (pennies are almost always under carpet as well).

JD Martin · Answer

Rat and squirrel skeletons. Found someone's 1925 high school diploma in a wall once. Old dog tags. Considering I'm in the Bible Belt I've always thought it curious I never found any porn.

Dawn P. · Answer

I was finishing this house up, cleaning out the ducts on the floor before putting new vent covers on. I pulled out several little Hot Wheels (cool!), about $2.50 in change (yay), a bottle of nail polish (okay, color's not bad), a spoon (what the...), then the syringe (aw, hell no!) from one duct.

I also got about five pounds of fossilized dog turds from the vents in the kitchen and dining room. I don't even want to know what was going on in that house...

Christen G. · Answer

I think this place had a pack rat? - We also found a dog ball, the shoe, an old airplane bottle and door pin in the exact same spot.

Christen G. · Answer

Oh - and this small child's shoe... again... in the walls

What's the weirdest/grossest thing you've found during a demo?

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