Demo day discovery: hidden surprise behind the drywall in my 1970s bathroom

I was tearing out a shower surround in my fixer-upper in Cleveland last Saturday, planning a simple tile swap. About halfway through, I pulled a chunk of greenboard and found a full newspaper from March 1974, plus a rusty putty knife and what looked like a dried-up tube of caulk someone had stashed behind the wall. The paper had a coupon for a local hardware store that went out of business in the 80s, so I stopped to read the classifieds for a solid 10 minutes before remembering I was dripping sweat into my eyes. I snapped a photo, saved the knife for a paint scraper, and tossed the rest in the dumpster. Anyone else find weird stuff behind walls, or am I just lucky with my house's earlier owners? The plumber I hired said he once found a full set of dentures behind a toilet flange, which I think beats my find.

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river_jones7d ago

Old newspapers are a classic find. My uncle bought a house in the 60s and found a whole stack of Playboys from the 50s behind a built-in bookcase. The putty knife is the real keeper though. Those old ones hold an edge way better than anything you buy today. Also, the dentures story made me laugh, that plumber must have seen some stuff. Good luck with the tile work.