Our small town announced that a block of sidewalk was going to be torn out and replaced. I drove past the site for literally six weeks after the work was supposed to have started and finally one day saw they had begun to remove the old walk. The block is 2/3 brick and 1/3 really old-looking concrete. The first section I found nothing but a few square nails. They finished the tearout early this week and I hit the remainder. No coins, did find what appears to be a garter clip with an animal's head design (tiger or panther etc) and a folded piece with a vine and flower pattern... one side has a small hole through the flower... maybe a hair barrette? Plus a clock gear. What I'm wondering is... the sidewalk was probably 60-70 years old. it was dug out when laid to be even with the ground, or maybe slightly raised, so 4-5 inches of dirt had to be taken out, so it seems to me the removed dirt would have had all the goodies in it. I did hold my detector weird and scan the sidewalls of the "trench" - that's where the barrette was - but it was pretty much a letdown after weeks of anticipation.
What am I missing about sidewalk tearouts?
- Thread starter Iggyks
- Start date
GKL
Forum Supporter
With a sidewalk that old I can definitely understand the letdown, you likely might be right that it being dug out back then also removed some good finds.
Does look like old finds for what you did find though ! (not sure what the other 2 things are though)
There is a past thread someone made where they had real good success with a sidewalk tear-out, I guess theirs did not need to be dug out back when first made.
I keep hoping for a sidewalk tear-out around here.
Does look like old finds for what you did find though ! (not sure what the other 2 things are though)
There is a past thread someone made where they had real good success with a sidewalk tear-out, I guess theirs did not need to be dug out back when first made.
I keep hoping for a sidewalk tear-out around here.
metaladdict
Elite Member
Sidewalks/tearout/green strips for me are 90 percent fail
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Scooterjim
Elite Member
I think it depends on what was there before it was a sidewalk. If it was an old board or brick sidewalk in a business district you can hit paydirt. If the sidewalk was put in as the town was expanding into farm land there might be nothing.
Probably half my sidewalk tear-out finds are in the piles of dirt. It all depends on how they are removing the sidewalk. I have done better on newer sidewalks being torn out if I can get there when they have lifted the concrete, but before they have removed dirt to prep for the new walk.
I use to wait for the workers to leave, now I try to get there as they start. I have found that if I stay out of their way, especially when they are running equipment, the workers don't care. As soon as they shut down the backhoe, I'm right in the middle of it. Normally I get more detecting and finds questions than questions about if I have permission to be there.
Probably half my sidewalk tear-out finds are in the piles of dirt. It all depends on how they are removing the sidewalk. I have done better on newer sidewalks being torn out if I can get there when they have lifted the concrete, but before they have removed dirt to prep for the new walk.
I use to wait for the workers to leave, now I try to get there as they start. I have found that if I stay out of their way, especially when they are running equipment, the workers don't care. As soon as they shut down the backhoe, I'm right in the middle of it. Normally I get more detecting and finds questions than questions about if I have permission to be there.
Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 20,725
They are hit and miss. Possible explanations to your sterile results are:
1) It's possibly 2nd generation walks already (ie.: previously replaced in the 1950s or 1960s), at which time they put fill dirt in, before the next walk. This is why some old town sidewalk projects are lame. That even though the area of town might date to the 1800s, and even though the *original* walks might have been laid *right* over the yesteryear dirt path, yet : The original walk was already replaced.
So when it comes to old-town sidewalk tearouts, it's always best if the walk coming out, was the ORIGINAL walk.
2) Possible that when they took out the concrete, that the tractors scraped some soil out at the same time. If they took 3 or 4" of soil with them, then that might have been your "sweet " layer.
1) It's possibly 2nd generation walks already (ie.: previously replaced in the 1950s or 1960s), at which time they put fill dirt in, before the next walk. This is why some old town sidewalk projects are lame. That even though the area of town might date to the 1800s, and even though the *original* walks might have been laid *right* over the yesteryear dirt path, yet : The original walk was already replaced.
So when it comes to old-town sidewalk tearouts, it's always best if the walk coming out, was the ORIGINAL walk.
2) Possible that when they took out the concrete, that the tractors scraped some soil out at the same time. If they took 3 or 4" of soil with them, then that might have been your "sweet " layer.
Thanks everybody for your helpful input! Well, they haven't started putting up forms yet so I went over it again, this time not running out of daylight like I was last time. In a large clod off to the side I found a 1940 wheatie so not totally skunked on coins.
IDXMonster
Elite Member
Point number 1 above is IMO the answer to your woes. They’ve dug up the “old” and carted it away the first time, now they’re digging up the “nothing” they brought in to construct the current tear out.
Wmass guy
Senior Member
Ya when they used to do a tear out here in my town they’d pile the dirt up to backfill and I’d detect that @ the end of the work day. But now they haul the dirt and demo materials away to get sifted and crushed into fill. So most tear outs here don’t produce much more than doing the curb strip before the work starts.
