Man renovating 90-year-old building discovers hidden safe beneath floorboards

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The safe beneath the flooring (Image: Reddit)
The safe beneath the flooring (Image: Reddit)

A renovator was left mystified after discovering a mysterious hidden safe beneath the flooring of a 90-year-old house he was doing up.

The $6million (£5m) house in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hancock Park in the US was being done up when the safe was uncovered.

Sharing a picture of the rubble-covered safe on Reddit the builder kicked up a frenzy of excited speculation about what was inside.

In the image, the safe can be seen inlaid in the floor with a numbered dial and handle visible among the dust and debris.

The post quickly gathered tens of thousands of likes with 3,500 people users commenting.

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Man renovating 90-year-old building discovers hidden safe beneath floorboardsThe man had been working on renovating a Los Angeles house (Getty Images)

Giving a little more information about the renovations, the builder explained: "Job started in 2020 but had some set backs. Will likely take just under four years. The amount of stuff they’ve done here is insane.

"They dug a room beneath the house for a theatre and added a 2 story (accessory dwelling unit)."

Among the comments asking for updates one user who claimed to be a locksmith shared some more information on the type of safe.

They wrote: "That looks like a Fire king safe. Wear a mask. Most likely lined with asbestos as most safes back then.

"However you break it open understand that there is a 99% chance that safe has asbestos lining."

This isn't the first time a secret safe has been discovered during renovations then posted about on Reddit.

Users frustrated with a lack of an answer as to what was inside with these other cases warned others not to get excited this time round.

Man renovating 90-year-old building discovers hidden safe beneath floorboardsThe safe was uncovered during building works (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

One user wrote: "I can't be hurt again."

Another called for the poster "to be banned if they don’t post an update within 24 hours".

Responding to this, one commented: "Banned is going too easy. Tried at The Hague at minimum."

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Not willing to risk going to the Hague, the original poster got back with a response.

He responded: "The owners are aware of the safe and informed (the project manager) it’s empty and instructed it to be removed and disposed of.

"It’s possible we may open it tomorrow just to check but it’s unlikely it’s worth the time to do so considering we’ve been told it’s empty and time is money.

Man renovating 90-year-old building discovers hidden safe beneath floorboardsThe work is expected to take four years in total (Getty Images)

"It’s the owners anyways so even the contents had value we couldn’t keep it. Sorry to have such an anticlimactic ending."

But after the poster explained the house was being done up as a summer home for the owners who live in New York, one user speculated: "This couple has a 6M second home.

"Their version of "nothing" is very different from yours and mine."

It'll be up to the builder to find out.

Charlie Jones

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