Another privy question

[Bottles r LEET]

I think I know of a house that once had a privy, but how can I find the exact location?

 

[David Fertig]

Practice, patience, hard work, and luck.

Dave

 

[Clam]

There are a ton of factors that go into locating a privy and they will just give you a approximate location to start probing. Some of the main factors that will need to be answered are type of dwelling(residential,farm or commercial), area that is in (farming, industrial, residential) What type of pits were used in the area, How old is the property, the property age and the building age could vary by as much as 200 years. Rowhouses usually have the pit in the back corner of the yard on the other side of their rear door but earlier houses had them in the middle of the yard, if it is a single family house it should be within 20 ft of the rear door. There are so many varibles to pit location you would need a small book to list them all and even then you would miss something.

 

[GuntherHess]

I have heard a dowsing rod will allow you to find a privy.

Here is how it works...
Make a dowsing rod out of a wishbone shaped piece of willow, it should be light and flexible.
Lay you dowsing rod in the center of the privy containing yard in question.
Use a Bobat tractor to remove the top 4 feet of soil from everywhere except where the dowsing rod sits.
Stand next to the dowsing rod and pick it up.
Turn around 360 degrees scanning the yard.
The privy should be apparent. If it isnt then you are standing on it.
Congrats on your first dowsed privy!

 

[David Fertig]

Gunther has some great advice. I thought this house might have some bottles in the basement, so we went to work following his instructions exactly.

Dave

 

[GuntherHess]

looks similar to my house ... always wondered what it would look like if the Transformers attacked it.

 

[Clam]

Now that is one hell of a method for finding a pit Matt ! That picture of the house demo is a sad picture, I really don't know why someone would want to tear down a 200 to 250 year old house I love that colonial look. Just sad.......

 

[David Fertig]

Clam,

Some call it progress. I'd rather restore them, but when the choice is salvage or landfill, I'll do the salvage.

It was a nice house, but the previous owner gutted it for the materials before I got involved. Besides needing a new roof and mechanicals, the end wall needed to be removed and re-layed (laid?). Plus some other work. But is would have been a good start for someone.

Dave

 

[GuntherHess]

they had a nice old house like that here on property owned by a roofing company based in the mid-west.
One day they decided it was a liability and bulldozed it before anyone could even say anything.
The county was pissed but once its gone , its gone.

 

[GuntherHess]

my house had no water, heat, little electric, and was missing several windows when I moved in.