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I've got this small thing (see attached pictures) in my third-floor bedroom wall that previous tenants have simply painted over. It's about 1 inch in diameter, sitting about 5 feet off the floor, and has two smaller bumps on it. It also has two protruding notches on either side, one of which is visible in the upper right in the image. It feels rather hard and solid. Magnets do stick to it.

I'd like to pull it off/out of the wall, but my concern is that it might be something where it would be unsafe for me to do that or would be better left to a professional. In particular, I'm concerned it may be some old relic of the knob and tube which I know exists in my building. It could be a completely random/innocuous object, but I want to play it safe.

I've got two related questions.

  1. Can anyone give a guess as to what this is?
  2. If no one can determine what this is from the pictures, is there a way I can try to investigate this to determine if it's safe for me to pull off/out of the wall?

If it matters, the building is from the 1890's.

wall bump with tape measure showing 1-inch

side angle highlighting the protrusion

EDIT: Thank you everyone for replying. I ended up taking a knife and carefully scraping away at it. After scraping away enough layers of paint, I simply revealed metal. The two bumps on the top were just pieces of what seemed like putty (e.g., plumber's putty). Ultimately I think the responses indicating it is a cap for the end of a pipe were correct as it appears to resemble something like the image below. I was hoping this was something I could remove myself, but more likely I'll have to call a trained professional in to investigate further.

Thanks for all your help!

example image of cap matching object in wall

zephyr
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  • It might help if we knew exactly where this is. How far up from the floor, and in what room is it? Maybe another photo taken much further away would show that. – Mike Waters Sep 08 '19 at 00:57
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    Do you know if this house ever had gas lighting fixtures, before the knob-and-tube was installed? – Mike Waters Sep 08 '19 at 00:58
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    You could start by scraping the paint off and see what you get. – JACK Sep 08 '19 at 01:05
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    @MikeWaters This is on one of the walls in a bedroom. About 5 feet off the floor. This room is a third floor room. I don't know enough about the history of the house to know if they had gas lighting fixtures, but it's not impossible I think. – zephyr Sep 08 '19 at 01:20
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    @JACK I'll try that. I was afraid to scrape, but when I can I'll do that and report back. – zephyr Sep 08 '19 at 01:21
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    If it’s connected to a gas line, could it be dangerous to scrape and make sparks? – Lee Sam Sep 08 '19 at 02:18
  • it looks like a "lucky horseshoe" that has been painted over – jsotola Sep 08 '19 at 07:57
  • The two bumps on the face make me think, voltage transformer. – Alaska Man Sep 08 '19 at 19:17
  • The two lumps could be screw heads, and they're obscured by multiple layers of paint. Given the posted age, there's a good chance the underlying layers have lead paint in them. – Criggie Sep 08 '19 at 19:59
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    Be careful with peeling off that paint. Looks like it might be lead-based. – vol7ron Sep 08 '19 at 21:23
  • @vol7ron I'm unlikely to encounter any these days, but how do you tell? – Baldrickk Sep 09 '19 at 12:39
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    @LeeSam As long as the gas is inside whatever you're peeling at and you're only peeling at the outside, the spark will never reach the gas. So, no. – Mast Sep 09 '19 at 13:59
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    @Baldrickk the best way is to testing. Usual signs are flaking and dust, which is not what I see there. What I see is a coagulation of paint that is often either due to humidity, type, or many layers of paint throughout the years. Based on the inputs given (age & handling) we know it’s old and objects have been painted over, so I’d guess the walls were repainted many times and probably not being stripped and primed. If it were newer drywall, I would think the contractor would have handled whatever that cap is in the process. All the clues suggest to me to approach with caution. – vol7ron Sep 09 '19 at 14:00

2 Answers2

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Given age of building, shape and "magnets stick to it" I'm going with old gas pipe.

Old gas pipe is not generally something you want to mess with, especially if your use of "tenants" implies rental rather than ownership. Hang a picture so it's covered, or something like that, and forget about it.

If you own rather than rent, and can trace and verify that the gas pipe in question is ACTUALLY, for sure, disconnected, you can remove it, but it's a fair amount of work.

Ecnerwal
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    "A fair amount of work" is an understatement. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 08 '19 at 21:30
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    This is contractor level, with multiple teams to do inspection and making sure you do not blow up the house... highly recommend to **NOT** DIY. – Nelson Sep 09 '19 at 03:50
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    @Nelson: If there's not presently any gas service, it wouldn't be any big safety deal, but removing these kind of pipes is just extraordinarily difficult. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 09 '19 at 19:26
  • @R.. The thing with gas pipes is... there's just no easy way to find out. If you screw up, you are going to have to evacuate the house and call the gas company, then they'll have to shut off gas to your house, bill you for the repair, and you'll be back to square one with a giant bill. It's just not worth the risk. – Nelson Sep 10 '19 at 02:27
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    @Nelson: See "if there's not presently any gas service". – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 10 '19 at 03:35
  • *"Hang a picture so it's covered, or something like that, and forget about it."* -- best advice yet. – gnicko Sep 13 '19 at 20:17
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It is a pipe end cap. See the lugs on the side, they are to fit a wrench to install/remove it. Two likely pipe contents are gas or water. Two likely states are pressurised or decommissioned. If you remove the cap, pressurised water would be messy, gas would be dangerous. Call an expert.

Paul
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    Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Thanks for the answer; keep 'em coming. And, you should probably [take our tour](//diy.stackexchange.com/tour) so you'll know how best to contribute here. – Daniel Griscom Sep 08 '19 at 23:00