"What is this?", Round 8911

March 17, 2023 3:59 PM

Once again, in playing Real Estate Scavenger Hunt, we've come across something we can't identify. Does anyone know what these things are cut into the basement wall?
posted by DrGail to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: Plate anchors to stabilise the wall against the pressure of the soil on the other side - see the ECP Plate Anchors Brochure for some examples.
posted by offog at 4:09 PM on March 17 [14 favorites]

Those look to me like tiebacks. Basically, what offog said.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:56 PM on March 17

Those are interesting. A friend was in Venice last year, and in his pictures I found these all over the place, but on the outside of the buildings. Some of them seem to be very old.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 9:59 PM on March 17

They are sign that reads: keep looking, this is not the one
posted by Caxton1476 at 7:31 AM on March 19 [1 favorite]