Remodeling as Time Travel

Small Home Gazette, Fall 2017

Remodeling as Time Travel

by Deb McKinley

Remodeling a bungalow can be a form of time travel. As layers are peeled away during demolition, you might discover decades-hidden paint colors, remnants of wallpaper, or pipes no longer connected. Each gives a clue to the past.

gutted kitchen

Our kitchen remodel revealed our bungalow’s bones. Fortunately, we didn’t find any other types of bones.

At the outset of our kitchen remodel this summer, when the upper cabinets (from a past remodel) were removed, a section of deep salmon-colored wall was uncovered. Was that paint paired with the teal patterned linoleum found below two layers of flooring? If so, I commend the bold choices of Emma Hurley, the first owner listed on the deed of our 1924 home.

We also discovered that the kitchen’s utilities have moved about. From an unattached pipe end in the basement, we knew that previous owners had moved the sink from an interior wall to an exterior wall. That decision, we learned, proved impractical when it reached 30 below zero, at which water pipes in the uninsulated, cantilevered bump-out would freeze.

Demolition revealed where the original stovepipe had vented into the brick chimney. A metal cookie tin lid fell away from the opening as we hammered away at the dry wall behind the upper cabinets.

sweaters

We found children’s sweaters, but no children, secreted within our bungalow’s walls.

When an old furnace heat duct was moved, a trio of children’s sweaters was exposed. This charming wool and acrylic insulation had filled a cavity in the basement wall around the ductwork. We wondered what had happened to the children.

One of the more subtle findings was the state of cleanliness inside the walls. Aside from the dust of age, we found no construction debris left behind. The spotlessness of the original builder’s work was impressive—and far tidier than the work of our contractor today, and maybe even my own housekeeping.

You Never Know What You May Find

When my husband and I shared stories of concealed surprises, it led to hearing other stories. One couple liked to archive sex toys and porn behind the drywall during their remodeling projects. Another friend found bones when she and her husband dug the sand out of an old cistern in their basement. Worried, she took them to the coroner’s office. They assured her that the bones showed signs of having been butchered. While that news was supposedly intended to relieve concerns that they were human remains, it only made our friend more uncomfortable.

clown toy

A woman posted an internet photo of a dismembered clown doll she found in her home’s walls.

A quick web search reveals that cigarette packs and alcohol containers are listed as common concealed objects, perhaps builder leave-behinds. Money, jewelry, and love letters are frequent finds as well. Others include paintings; shoes and cat carcasses (apparently used as talismans to ward off bad luck or spirits); hidden cavities for airshafts and dumb waiters; and yes, human remains.

One family even found that someone was living within their home’s walls (see first web article below). I’ll take mystery sweaters over a mystery guest any day.

Other Discoveries

  • “Family Finds Someone Has Been Secretly Living Inside the Walls of Their Home”
    tinyurl.com/y9tofhqn