Seattle Contractor Finds Grenade During Remodel

What’s the strangest item you discovered during a demo? Polar Bear Construction Owner Vadim Kharkhavyy found his answer this week: a grenade.

Previously, the most exciting things Seattle-based Kharkhavyy found were old China sets, bullet casings, and the ever common inappropriate magazines. But it will take a while for something to top his Tuesday discovery.

Kharkhavyy was remodeling a bathroom like any other day when something caught the corner of his eye.

“I thought it was some kind of ventilation pipe, and then as I moved the tub and got closer, I said ‘Oh my god, that looks like a freaking grenade,’” he tells Pro Remodeler. “So I got a little bit frightened and put the tub down and ran out of the room, and just gave it about five minutes just in case. I didn't know if I set something off.”

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After stepping away from the grenade, Kharkhavyy zoomed in using his phone to double-check the unidentified object hidden in the bathtub’s surround.

A very unusual phone call to the equally shocked homeowner followed, and then a call to the police department and then the arrival of the bomb squad. But there was no chance Kharkhavyy was stepping back in that bathroom until it was deemed safe.

The bomb squad determined it was not a live grenade and upon further investigation, found the grenade was placed in the wall through a small compartment that accessed underneath the bathtub through the closet on the opposite side of the wall.

“Even if you open that compartment, you still would not know it's there. You wouldn't even have known if you put your head in there because everything is so tight with all the electrical and plumbing in the way,” says Kharkhavyy. “So somebody had to know you know that it was there because of the way they reached in.”

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Comments (3)

Found Gold

Submitted by Erik Brubaker (not verified) on Mon, 01/22/2024 - 14:15

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Found Gold

We found over sixty thousand dollars of gold and silver coins in a wall.
Grenade

Submitted by Elizabeth Falconer (not verified) on Mon, 01/22/2024 - 14:22

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Grenade

We also found a grenade during the demolition of a circa 1920's home. Our demo contractor didn't bother to tell us, but sat it on the curb and told the next door neighbor. She did the prudent thing and called the police, who brought out the robotic bomb squad...who actually detonated it in their bomb unit. It was a LIVE WWI bomb left in the house...but stranger than that, we found fossils in the foundation of home---tens of millions of years old. Our client, a neurosurgeon just said "bury them." We did.
Grenade found in bathroom remodel

Submitted by Mike Black (not verified) on Mon, 01/22/2024 - 15:34

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Grenade found in bathroom remodel

We found a live artillery shell in the walls of a house we were doing a Reno on.
I took it home thinking it was cool and was using it for decoration by the patio. A neighbour who was a major in the army came over for a beer and seen it. Thought it may still be live so he took it to their range. They apparently used something to detonate it which caused a massive hole in the gravel pit at their range. Never know what you are going to find