I hear you on the peace of mind thing—nothing like knowing exactly what’s behind your walls. Still, I’ve seen some old-growth lumber or brick that’s just better than what you can buy new, even after factoring in cleanup. Curious, though—has anyone here actually found something salvageable in their yard that turned out to be worth the hassle? Or is it mostly just a money pit?
Curious, though—has anyone here actually found something salvageable in their yard that turned out to be worth the hassle? Or is it mostly just a money pit?
I’ve actually had some luck, though it’s hit or miss. Dug up a stack of old bricks behind my garage—turns out they were original to the house, 1920s clay. Cleaned them up and used them for a garden path. The labor was no joke, but the quality and patina beat anything I could buy new. That said, I’ve also unearthed plenty of junk—broken concrete, rusted pipes, you name it. Sometimes you strike gold, sometimes it’s just landfill fodder.
Sometimes you strike gold, sometimes it’s just landfill fodder.
That about sums it up. I’ve seen folks spend weeks clearing out old debris, hoping for something valuable, only to end up with a pile of scrap metal and busted glass. On the flip side, I once demoed a backyard where we found a stack of old flagstones under a foot of dirt—must’ve been a forgotten patio. Those things are pricey if you try to buy them new.
But here’s what I’m curious about: did anyone ever run into stuff that actually caused problems? Like, not just junk, but stuff you had to pay to get rid of—oil tanks, asbestos, that kind of thing? I feel like the “money pit” side of things gets glossed over until someone hits a real headache.
