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Michael Chambers
10-12-2011, 12:06 AM
Does anybody have any idea what this box might be? It is installed in a 2nd story eave, and I had no way of getting any closer to it than this. The adjacent room is just a bedroom, and there was no hint in this corner of the attic. It did not appear that it had anything to do with the satellite dish antenna above it, though I could easily be wrong on that. Thanks!

Steven Turetsky
10-12-2011, 01:11 AM
Your pictures are dark, but it looks like an alarm box (with siren inside). Are there little holes on one side?

Rick Cantrell
10-12-2011, 03:41 AM
I agree with Steven

Has the right shape and size to be a siren box
but even after enhancements it's just to dark to see

Michael Chambers
10-12-2011, 06:11 AM
I agree with Steven

Has the right shape and size to be a siren box
but even after enhancements it's just to dark to see
Hey, I apologize for the photo quality - or lack thereof. This was zoomed in, under the eaves, with a lot of overhanging trees, and a bright sky above. Tough conditions to get a decent photo!

I couldn't tell if there were holes in the box or not. It looked like there was, but they would have been small - probably perforated metal, and not screen of any sort. The house did have an alarm system on it, so your two guesses at least make some sense.

Thanks a lot for the quick responses!

Michael Thomas
10-12-2011, 09:55 AM
Not like any siren housing I've seen, usually they have visible holes or louvers... looks like a duct of some kind, passing through the exterior wall and the soffit... or a POS siding and soffit job around an existing box...

What was on the roof? In the attic? At the interior of the wall?

The third and forth pictures ares what the siren housings typically look like in my market, sorry they are not better pictures, but they are enlargements from wide exterior pics from Mondays inspection, I wasn't trying to a pic of the box...

Michael Chambers
10-12-2011, 06:27 PM
As you can see part of in one of the original photos, a brick chimney and dish antenna is close by, but don't appear to be involved with this. In the attic it's a standard hip roof corner - you can't even tell where the chimney is from the attic space. And the 2nd floor interior room at that corner of the house is just a plain bedroom.

Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure there was a siren in the attic, but not close to this area. I'm wondering if there might have been an exterior siren that got replaced with one in the attic, then a solid cover was put on the box to eliminate the louvers. Sheer speculation of course.

Adrian Dunevein
11-29-2011, 06:35 AM
Hmmm ?

Venting the bathroom fan into the soffit perhaps ?

Tech 9 Home Inspections
11-29-2011, 10:25 AM
Just curious. Did the home ever have a wood burning stove? Could this possibly be the fire seperation for the flue and it was closed off at the bottom? Newer siding so attachment points would be hidden. Is the wall in the basement under that area damp or wet.
Did an inspection where water was coming in from the floor.
Later found out that the hole in the foundation for the flue was closed off by a square piece of plywood shoved inside the hole and stuffed with towels lol.

Food for thought!

Michael Chambers
11-29-2011, 12:46 PM
The bathrooms weren't anywhere close to that corner. As to a possible past wood burning stove, I guess anything's possible, but I didn't see any indication of one. Of course a good contractor can make something like that completely disappear.