Odd thing in brickwork

[Cassie]

I’m getting bored of cement hacking now, only about a third left and then I’ll take the plasterboard ceiling down and see what lurks beneath. Something funny in the brickwork-I wondered if it was something to do with ventilation perhaps?? I’ll leave it alone obviously! Pic and progress pic attached

 

[a twig]

Looks like a repair job to me, gap too small for a brick, but too large to just be filled with mortar, so slates used instead to help pack it out and provide a bit more structure. I always keep a few old roof slates around when doing repairs for similar reasons. Great progress on the plaster, well done, and those windows are lovely!

 

[Cassie]

Thanks twig! You could be right-it does look a bit narrow for a brick and mortar. I had to use bits of slate to help level a new brick I put in to replace rotten timber brick because the one below has deteriorated a bit. I didn’t really know if that was the right thing, but I could see it elsewhere so thought it might be . I’m itching to get the ceiling down now, but I have to be patient otherwise I’ll have loads of guff falling on my head

 

[stuart45]

Slate is fine to use in mortar. I've used loads of it in the past when running in the footing courses on out of level foundations

 

[Cubist]

Bit of a shame that Cassie, could have been much more exciting. There was a news article recently about a couple finding a cache of gold coins hidden in the floor of their kitchen.

On the other, and less pleasant, hand though my Grandfather used to recount a tale of a family making repairs to a wall in their home that resulted in the discovery of an occupied coffin. One of the wall of the house had been built off a stone retainer wall of the local churchyard.

 

[Cassie]

Blimey,that must have been a shock on both counts! The only things I’ve found under the floorboards are bits of rubbish and old screwdrivers! And the loft, instead of old masters, sadly contained only old hoovers and a ridiculous amount of empty cardboard boxes. There may still be treasure in the darkest corners though

 

[malcolm]

I have a 15mm pipe cutter under my floorboards somewhere. It's round and has probably rolled away somewhere. I refuse to buy another but I also refuse to lift the floorboards again to find it as it could be in a number of different places. My stand off will probably continue until I need to cut 15mm pipes again.

 

[Feltwell]

I'll take your 15mm pipe cutter, and raise you to a walkie-talkie buried inside many tons of concrete in a bridge abutment next to the M6. Some daft junior engineer dropped it in about 1991

 

[paulc]

Found a couple of well desiccated mouse corpses.
Also a scrap of old floorboard with the names of the guys that laid the original floor. Dated too, so I have a pretty good idea of when the house was built.

 

[LadyArowana]

I got a scrap of newspaper with an advert for a “Pie Supervisor” for a local pie making factory. Sadly I was about 50 years too late to apply, although the company still exists under a different name after various mergers, and no, not the ubiquitous Greggs