Work on the demo of the master bath is ongoing. Tiles are coming off the walls and walls are coming down. We've also made some interesting and helpful discoveries. When removing the wall between the original bathroom and the closet, we found some old newspapers and burlap bags wrapped around the water pipes for the sink! The newspaper was a portion of the Birmingham News from April 1, 1926 and April 6, 1926. It included the sports section and the classified section. Some parts were not readable and in bad condition due to the fact that they had been wadded up and stuck in the wall for the last 85 years. Some parts were in surprisingly good condition. I hope to get some pictures of them soon. The best part of the paper is that is helps us date the house. There are alot of discrepancies with the date of the house. The tax records say c. 1935, but our neighbor says that she heard 1913 from some research done by the previous owners. We now know that c. 1926 is a possibility too. Much more research is in my future, but finding buried treasure makes all the physical work fun.
When removing the wall behind the toilet, we found some more newspapers! This one was a paper from Jackson, MS c. 1926. I haven't gone through it yet, but it appears to be in good condition and actually has a Birmingham mailing label on it. More research....
The two burlap bags were in almost perfect condition. They appear to be the bags that the original interior plaster came in. They are printed with the words "USG Co." I think it stands for U.S. Gypsum Company (still in existence), maker of plaster and now drywall.
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