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Original House Drawings from 1924 Show Possible Issues

D107
D107 Member Posts: 1,902
edited October 26 in Plumbing

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.


Comments

  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 2,989

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

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

    D107
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,783

    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

    D107
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 9,161

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

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    PC7060D107
  • D107
    D107 Member Posts: 1,902
    edited October 27

    @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.

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,783

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

  • D107
    D107 Member Posts: 1,902

    @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
    CLamb Member Posts: 319

    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.

    PC7060