Posted on 01/19/2006 11:36:31 AM PST by JZelle
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) -- Real estate broker Cyle Young got a shock when he drove by a house he bought two days earlier.
The home had been stripped of aluminum siding from the ground to as high as a person could reach.
"A couple days later, they broke back in and stole all the copper in it," said Young, who has since renovated the house and has it up for sale. "I can't tell you how many houses we've bought with no downspouts - gutters gone."
High market prices for copper and aluminum are enticing thieves to steal metal to sell for scrap. Fueled in part by a building boom in China, demand for copper has pushed its price to historic highs, and aluminum prices are the highest they've been in 17 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.washingtontimes.com ...
Guess I need to oil-up Ol' Bessy.
From that picture of the house with the stripped siding, I would say the previous owner must have been an Archie Bunker type; putting aluminum siding on a brick house doesn't make a lot of sense.
No it doesn't : )
Hey, leave your personal life out of this.
LOL...
When the Armenian economy fell apart, vandals stole the railroad to Montenegro and sold it as scrap. The actual tracks.
That may not be brick. It looks like an asphalt shingle type of siding I've seen on some older homes in our area (usually under something else).
Strangest theft still is the guys whole stole a cobblestone street in New Jersey back in the '70's.
This happened to the South Bronx during the worst years. Homes and apartments were abandoned, and drug addicts would go in and tear out the copper pipes to sell as scrap. They often didn't bother to turn off the water when they did so.
An awful lot of housing stock was lost due to the political mismanagement that led to this sorry state of affairs.
I'm guessing meth.
This is nothing. The other night I heard a call on the scanner. The cops were called to a house where people were stealing the siding and gutters while the owner was inside.
Not the smartest crackheads on the block...
I believe you're right, I went back and found that the picture could be enlarged; the "brick" has vertical seams in sections.
STRING OF LIGHT-POLE THEFTS AROUND THE CITY LEAVES OFFICIALS IN THE DARK --The Baltimore Sun
It is no simple matter -- not like swiping metal trash cans or lawn furniture -- to cut down and haul away a 30-foot-high aluminum light pole. It is conspicuous and dangerous. But about 130 of them have disappeared from Baltimore thoroughfares without a trace in recent weeks.
"I've been here 23 years, and I've seen just about everything," said Mike Decker, owner of Decker's Salvage Co. in Baltimore. "People will steal anything here." Decker and other local scrap-metal recyclers say they haven't come across any of the poles reported stolen over the past six weeks
You might be a Redneck if your security system is your dog chained to the item to be protected.
Some judicious use of lead might halt the theft of the copper and aluminum.
Anyone want to steal my gutters? LOL....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.