Original House Drawings from 1924 Show Possible Issues

D107

I dug into the original house drawings from 1924 and found many interesting things that may relate to issues I've had like sporadic sewer odors, unexplained wall cutout, etc.

There are a number of waste lines all running into a main trunk. From refrigerator waste, plumbing, laundry trays, a floor drain (if that was covered over or abandoned that could be a source of sewer odor if it was ever connected to the sewer.) I don't know what the D in a circle symbol is. House didn't connect to sewers until 1955, thirty years after these drawings.

These drawings do not always reflect the way the actual house was set up. e.g. house never had a furnace, always a boiler. In this case waste lines are showing at the basement front, whereas in reality they —and the laundry—have always been in the back of the basement —notice my blue 'septic tank' conduit note where there was a cutout in the rear wall of the boiler room. Yet strangely, exactly where that front drain line ends at the front basement ball is where I found a 7x7 cut out to the outside where it says 'cleanout pit'. This is nowhere near the fireplace, so perhaps years ago on the outside there was some kind of accessible pickup pit. Also some symbols some of you might better interpret.

Big Ed_4

You may have dry traps .. Pour water down unused drain lines ..

mattmia2

Th d with a circle may have been a laundry cooker/boiler of some sort

the drain for the fridge was for meltwater from the ice block

EdTheHeaterMan

someone mixed up the coal bin with the vegetable bin. They must have starved after shoveling all that food into the furnace.

D107

@EdTheHeaterMan Yes, lol, at the bottom of the drawing there is written 'BBQ' which might refer to the result of that vegetable shoveling. The drawing is an interesting slice of life of that time, a century ago. Coal being shoveled through an open window, then into the boiler... Vegetables being kept cool in the basement…hand laundry, probably dried on a backyard clothesline…a much physically harder life than we live today.

mattmia2

I didn't think barbecue was an english word 100 years ago. Did the house have manufactured gas service when it was built?

D107

@mattmia2 They certainly didn't have 'BBQ' then lol. Barely had electric in '24. (There are some icons and writing referring to 'Power.') No gas until 1930, 3/4" service. But hot water (gravity fed) boiler stayed coal until probably 50s, then converted coal boiler to oil, then WM gas boiler and separate gas HWH installed. The owner from the '50s heard from the prior owners: '…A ton of coal would be delivered by two guys carrying canvas bags on their shoulder and put down chute.' Ah, the good old days…

CLamb

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1816478#Comment_1816478

Maybe the intent was to make their own coal out of the vegetables so they could live "off-grid". All it takes is vegetables, heat, and pressure.