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How Do You Search Inside Buildings?


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For a long time I've wondered what is a good way to search inside buildings for metal valuables hidden in walls, floors, masonry (such as fireplaces), etc.  Given most wooden structures are riddled with nails, it seems like a tough task even compared to nail infested soil.  Is discrimination key?  Has a manufacturer ever made a detector specifically for this task?  Is anyone aware of mods that can be made to standard detectors to make them easier to use in these conditions (particularly mounting of coil and control unit to be more manageable in tight locations)?

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Years ago I detected a 2 step stair up to a room.  It was closed off around the stair. The  Detector sounded off  LOUD.  One of the steps was loose & we moved it up.  In it was a 1 gallon bucket with a push in lid.  Shucks, something was in it, probably had hog lard in it...  The owner said *hj*h3*2*k1kl  or something like that

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When you say "valuable objects hidden within walls" , I assume you're talking about larger sized objects, right ?  (caches, and things like box and jar sized stuff).  Right ?  Not individual coins, right ?

 

Then if you're talking about cache hunting in walls, then ironically, the less sensitive the machine is, THE BETTER.  Doh !  So for example,  and old school 77b auto or 94b auto, would be perfect.   They do not see individual nails.   And are wimpy (depthwise) on coin sized targets. 

 

Or simply get a 2-box machine (although that would be difficult to man-handle sideways on walls and ceilings).   A 2-box machine will simply not hear anything smaller than a soda can.  Thus the perfect discriminator for nails, single coins, wires-in-walls, chicken screen (for reinforced plaster/lathe walls), etc...

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In one of the books I have written by Charles Garrett & Rot Lagal, they recommend low sensitivity, small coil and just enough Discrimination to eliminate SMALL nails. Remember that money caches were often placed in tobacco tins or similar containers. You would also need very good coil control to be thorough & to be able to trace out pipes or wiring.

Searching old structures used to be more common in the past. Most are gone now.

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4 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

So for example,  and old school 77b auto or 94b auto, would be perfect.

Sufficiently old enough that I'm not familiar with the devices you refer to.  Would you please elaborate?

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If the house has no fireblocks in the walls why not run an endoscope down from the attic and just look?

I think wires, pipes and nails would be too much to try to listen past.

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Grandfather and I used his Tracker IV with some good luck on a friends old farm house before they tore it down.

We had the sense at half way up, all metal mode, and kept the coil off the floor and walls a few inches.

Finally found the stash that they were looking for, and about 20 different electrical lines.

Just keep the sense down and take your time is what we had done.

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23 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Sufficiently old enough that I'm not familiar with the devices you refer to.  Would you please elaborate?

 

Do a google images search for "Compass 77b" and "Compass 94b"  

 

These are circa 1972 to 1975 -ish, all-metal TR machines.

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