Here we have another item that brings back fond memories of my youth on the farm. This machine is indeed a corn sheller. While it can be operated by one person it is much easier to have two people, which of course was usually two young boys ranging from about 10yrs old and upwards. If you examine the machine you will see the crank on one side and an open flywheel on the other side. On top you see the feed point where ears of corn are fed in one at a time. When facing the machine from the crank side you will see a square opening near the top on the right hand end of the cabinet where the corn cobs eject out of the machine. To operate one person turns the crank at about 35 to 40 revolutions per minute and the other person feeds the ears of corn in one at a time. As the ear passes through the machine the kernels of corn are stripped from the ear and they fall out the bottom and the bare cob is then ejected out the end. We generally placed a basket or box under the machine to catch the kernels which were then put into two bushel burlap sacks, but you could also just let them drop on the barn floor then shovel them up later. If two guys work steady they can produce about 6 to 8 bushels of shelled corn per hour. That may not seem like much, but we generally did not use much shelled corn. For the cow feed we did not shell the corn. Instead a large truck mounted feed grinder would come to the farm every other week and we would mix one ton of corn on the cob, 1/2 ton of grain and ten bales of hay which was ground into a course powder called "chop" to be fed to the cows. The entire ear was fed to the hogs & horses and they would eat the corn off the cob. Shelled corn was only required for feeding chickens, dried corn for the house, which was then ground into corn meal or at planting time we would have to shell corn to prepare it for planting. Shelling corn was often considered a good job to keep the boys busy on a rainy day, but then they didn't get much argument from the boys because it was actually fun to do. On a side note. After the corn was shelled the cobs were also collected into sacks, and you won't believe what became of them. Are you ready for this? Corn cobs were placed in a little hopper in the outhouse and used as toilet paper. The standing joke on the farm was that corn cobs are both red and white. You would first use a red one, then use a white one to see if you needed another red on.

Or smell of dead animal in the walls, which will cure itself, eventually. Is the smell a relatively recent change (and you know it didn't exist last year at same time)? Then my money would be on the dead animal poss. If it comes back every year then it's more likely to be bats because they tend to reappear annually. Bats, aside from the smell which isn't universal, pose two problems: one is safely getting rid of the guano (aka bat poop) which has some health risks (mainly for breathing) and secondly, having bats in the house offers the small possibility that one will get into the occupied space while you are asleep. If this happens (particularly where children are sleeping) there is the possibility of inadvertent bat/human contact raising the risk of rabies transmission. Teach the kids to stay away from bats and report immediately if they see one. No need to panic if you're absolutely sure the bat has had no contact with humans (or pets). Let the bat out by opening a window and leaving the space. If there's any doubt, then you may have to trap the bat and take it to be euthanized and tested. Bat rabies is nothing to fool around with as in many areas it is the most likely vector for fatal human rabies cases. These are very rare, but do happen. Most bats, by far, are not rabid, and are great beasties to have around, but there is the very small, but real, risk with any bat/human contact. Your county health department would be your resource here to assess local risk and get treatment post exposure. Since I don't like having anything euthanized, I put a lot of effort into keeping the bats out of my living space. Sadly, I did have to have one tested because it was found in a child's room. It was euthanized, but tested disease free, so I felt doubly bad, particularly because in my area bats of most kinds are suffering a major disease outbreak (of a kind humans can't get, only bats) and their populations are very threatened. A dead animal in the walls, while not pleasant to think about, is something that will dry up and stop smelling in a few weeks. One other possibility: an old bee nest in the walls. Sometimes these can smell pretty rank if the honey ferments. This is also self-curing.

The DWV (Drain,Waste & Vent) layout is determined by the location, distance and elevation between the structure and the municipal sewer tap or the septic tank location. Build identically the same floor plan on a dozen different jobsites and you will end up with a dozen different DWV layouts. We must also consider that both the cost of Labor and materials can vary greatly from one area to another. Under some circumstances reworking an existing structure, even though it is totally open to the studs can involve considerably more labor than building from the ground up. Due to the infinite number of variables involved it would be impossible to even offer a legitimate ball park figure. The only method of getting a reasonably accurate figure would be to solicit a number of bids from local plumbing contractors in your area.

My experience, biggest problem with an old system ain't the age itself, it's how many times things've been f'd with over the years. Older the system, more likely it's been abused, over'n over. String of homeowners and handymen, new fixture here, new bathroom there...things get pretty funny after awhile. As an electrician doing service calls, I sometimes feel like onna' them jaded TV cops who's seen too much horrible stuff. Y'see, until about 80 years ago, electricity was exotic. At first, people never figured it'd be good for anything but lighting, and darn little of that. In a house, one ceiling light per room was about it (pull-chain, no switch). OK, so the house is built, walls up, wiring's in, then whup, what's this, ma - dern, it's a new modern device ye' need to plug in somewhere. Reckon we need work. And so on and so on. Get the big picture? When your boy heard 1800's, I expect that's why he simply said, "Rip and replace. Twelve grand oughta' do 'er." Perhaps your guy's unkind, perhaps not. From where I sit, it's hard to say. The variables are endless, but one thing's sure: you do reach a limit where it's no longer practical to graft onto an old system. That happens, it's like Old Yaller (God, I loved that movie); take that old system out and shoot it. OK, reckon I've muddied the waters enough, so I'll quit now.