Wednesday Worsts...Home Repair Nightmare

[CDGator]

Judging by some comments in the chat box a few days ago, we all have a memory of a home repair nightmare.
Whether it's our own as an adult or memories from a childhood disaster and holding the flashlight for dad to fix it.

This year alone we've had two bathtubs leak through the ceiling. One was from 20 year old plumbing and one was only a year old. They weren't minor leaks either. We will laugh about them one day but I think it might take more time for @Seedy, who had to fix them both. Thankful for not only his plumbing skills but also drywall repair.

 

[cover2]

About the worst experience I’ve had (and most infuriated) was when the wife and I moved into her grandmother’s house next door to the in-laws. Had to do quite a bit of renovations, particularly the bathroom. We sold our house in town to be near the wife’s mother who’s health was failing (wife wound up taking care of her for the remainder of her life). Her father couldn’t rest until he was in the middle of the renovation projects and let me just say that his carpentry skills were on the line of making finish cuts with a chain saw.

I had stripped the old plaster from the bathroom walls and the plan was to sheetrock it, Wainscot the bottom, then wallpaper the top. I came home to find my FIL had put up cement board with not a tight joint anywhere. I had to bite my lip and make the best of it and it was HELL getting everything mudded, taped, and sanded smooth. But the wife and I got the wallpaper up and I installed the Wainscot and molding, got it painted, and it looked better than I was afraid it would.

Then I came home a few weeks later to find my FIL with the help of my BIL had decided to do some leveling on the floor from underneath. He’d come across some jacks, cut a bunch of shims, “eyeballed” it, and in turn separated the top corners in the den, the front bedroom, and the bathroom. Ruined the wallpapering and the mud joints beneath. I was ready to commit capital murder, but the wife and a lot of beer talked me off the ledge.

FIL passed away from Covid and we’ve started some of the redos. I’ve gotten the front steps done with nobody coming behind to “F” it up. I might actually live long enough now to both finish and enjoy the remodeling.

 

[CDGator]

About the worst experience I’ve had (and most infuriated) was when the wife and I moved into her grandmother’s house next door to the in-laws. Had to do quite a bit of renovations, particularly the bathroom. We sold our house in town to be near the wife’s mother who’s health was failing (wife wound up taking care of her for the remainder of her life). Her father couldn’t rest until he was in the middle of the renovation projects and let me just say that his carpentry skills were on the line of making finish cuts with a chain saw.

I had stripped the old plaster from the bathroom walls and the plan was to sheetrock it, Wainscot the bottom, then wallpaper the top. I came home to find my FIL had put up cement board with not a tight joint anywhere. I had to bite my lip and make the best of it and it was HELL getting everything mudded, taped, and sanded smooth. But the wife and I got the wallpaper up and I installed the Wainscot and molding, got it painted, and it looked better than I was afraid it would.

Then I came home a few weeks later to find my FIL with the help of my BIL had decided to do some leveling on the floor from underneath. He’d come across some jacks, cut a bunch of shims, “eyeballed” it, and in turn separated the top corners in the den, the front bedroom, and the bathroom. Ruined the wallpapering and the mud joints beneath. I was ready to commit capital murder, but the wife and a lot of beer talked me off the ledge.

FIL passed away from Covid and we’ve started some of the redos. I’ve gotten the front steps done with nobody coming behind to “F” it up. I might actually live long enough now to both finish and enjoy the remodeling.

One day you will laugh about it all and look back on it as the good ol days! I’m able to laugh about it right now.

 

[soflagator]

 

[TLB]

Nothing major. Closest was having to replace a 20yo toilet (seems I always get the sht jobs).
Managed to dismantle the original, remove it, clean up the floor bolts…nope, rusted, replaced them. Got a new commode from home depot and set the wax ring, the base, tightened it down. Set the tank, turned on the water to fill it, and installed the slow-fall seat and lid. Went to put the lid on the tank, but it had gotten water on it. Slipped out of my hand and cut a 6”x3” gash in the drywall above, then fell and shattered the tank. Water flooded the room.

Back to home depot for round 2.

 

[cover2]

Closest was having to replace a 20yo toilet (seems I always get the sht jobs).

 

[soflagator]

Nothing major. Closest was having to replace a 20yo toilet (seems I always get the sht jobs).
Managed to dismantle the original, remove it, clean up the floor bolts…nope, rusted, replaced them. Got a new commode from home depot and set the wax ring, the base, tightened it down. Set the tank, turned on the water to fill it, and installed the slow-fall seat and lid. Went to put the lid on the tank, but it had gotten water on it. Slipped out of my hand and cut a 6”x3” gash in the drywall above, then fell and shattered the tank. Water flooded the room.

Back to home depot for round 2.

I realize it was brand new, and hadn’t been used yet. But to be clear, this was toilet water flooding the room.

 

[CDGator]

When we were building the house I'd hired a framer (who is top notch and has helped with other projects) and he had just purchased a brand new phone. He was on a ladder in a section where the basement section of the house meets the garage. The rock had been laid and the concrete pad was already poured for the garage. We had a French drain with the tube sticking up that would eventually drain out into the yard. The framer got a phone call while he was on the ladder and bobbled his phone knocking it perfectly down the tube. He tried desperately to get it out but couldn't reach it. Eventually his only solution was to dig with the backhoe, cut the tube and get it out. This caused the rock that was under the poured concrete pad to come pouring out.

Flash forward 15 years and that corner of the garage was sinking making the brick mortar separate. We had to hire a company to raise and stabilize the corner of the garage.

The repair was done well but the mortar bugs me.

 

[wrpgator]

Completed remodel of kitchen and new entertainment center in LR. Then Hurricane Ian came along and flood ruined it. I know that's not the type of thing the thread was created for but it ripped my guts out as wife & I had done (with the exception of the granite tops) most of the work.

During...

After...

 

[AugustaGator]

I had a toilet tank crack in the middle of the night about 5 months ago. Still need to fix the ceiling. When it happened thought it was the hose. Water was everywhere.

 

[CDGator]

Completed remodel of kitchen and new entertainment center in LR. Then Hurricane Ian came along and flood ruined it. I know that's not the type of thing the thread was created for but it ripped my guts out as wife & I had done (with the exception of the granite tops) most of the work.

During...
View attachment 68477
After...
View attachment 68481

Painful - definitely the stuff of nightmares.
Sorry WRP.

 

[AlexDaGator]

The 4 hurricane summer back in '04. Three of them (Charley, Frances, and Jean) hit my Mom's house which was yards from the beach.

I was living in Orlando at the time and got hit by the same 3 storms (and didn't have any power myself).

I drove out to Mom's to see if she was OK and assess the situation. I didn't bring any special tools or supplies with me. The house was pretty solid.

She was fine, no power, no phone, but fine.

The house had an old roof, but it held together until that last storm finally did it in. It ripped off large swathes of shingles and tar paper down to the plywood.

Of course everything was closed and even if something was open, you weren't able to get any roofing supplies because it was all sold out (this was after the last storm).

The storm had just passed and it was still windy and rainy.

I had to try to secure the roof before leaving to head back to Orlando. My Father had passed away years earlier and it's not like there were tools and supplies organized in the garage. It was a giant mess. There was no asking neighbors for help either. The beachside was under mandatory evacuation and the area was deserted.

I collected all the shingles I could find around the house (some of which were ours, others weren't). I found a hammer and a bunch of finishing nails. Then my cousin showed up and offered to help. There wasn't a second hammer to be found and he didn't load his car with special tools or supplies either. I found a giant monkey wrench. I gave my cousin the hammer and resolved to use the monkey wrench as a hammer. Basically, we tried to nail the random shingles over the exposed areas of roof decking.

I want you to imagine trying to hammer a finishing nail (which has no head to speak of) using one of these. Needless to say, I was destroying the fingers of my right hand as the fcuking thing would slide off the nail and smash my hand...over and over and over and over again. I'd get the nail about 3/4 of the way in, then bend the rest over to hold it down.

We soon ran out of shingles. I scrounged around for anything that seemed waterproof. I found random pieces of aluminum siding in the yard. Nailed those to the roof. My mom had some old shower curtains that had been used as drop cloths for painting. Nailed those to the roof. Finally, there was no usable debris left in the yard. I scoured the house and found a box of large, heavy-weight garbage bags. Nailed those to the roof. I was bruised, battered and beaten, but finally, all the exposed wood was covered.

I knew it was going to probably be a while before we could get real roofers to fix it.

I went back to Orlando and tried to find roofing supplies. I was able to find 2 rolls of felt and a 5 gallon bucket of that black latex roofing patch stuff that looks like tar. Oh, and a big box of real roofing nails with large diameter nail heads!

I took the stuff back to my Mom's a couple of days later and rolled roof felt over the BS repairs I had made that first day. I securely nailed it down and then and sealed all around the perimeter of the rolled areas with the black latex goop.

It was almost a year before my Mom got the roof professionally replaced. That patch job worked perfectly. Zero leaks all that time. I was finally able to laugh about it when I spoke to the roofers and they talked about all the insane things they discovered in demo-ing the old roof and patch job

My hand still hurts thinking about being up on that roof in the gusty wind and mist and smashing my hand over and over and over and over...



Alex.

 

[CDGator]

We had an old farmhouse that we eventually tore down bc of the snakes falling from the attic through the light fixture. But that’s a different nightmare story.

@Seedy and his dad were in the basement fixing the fuel oil heater which terrified me. They sent me upstairs to turn it on to test it out.

I hear Seedy yell, “WOOHOO!!!!”

seconds later: “TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF TURN IT OFF! “

We say this to each from time to time just for laughs.

 

[gatorev12]

Bought my first house off a foreclosure during the bottom of the housing slump right around 2013--it had sat vacant for about 2 years prior to that, so there was significant remodeling work needed and the bank had a few prior buyers walk away in those two years, so I got it for a steal, but knew there were things I'd need to repair. Over the years, gradually went from one remodeling project to the next (my ex was an interior designer and loved doing that kind of thing), renovated the bathrooms, kitchen, bar, fireplace, outside patio, etc.

Have since turned it into a rental property...and the renters themselves have been there for awhile without much issues. This year, one of the bathroom toilets would run and overflow, flooding the carpet on the back bedrooms area of the house. Called one plumber, who snaked the sewer line and pulled out a ton of disposable wipes (which aren't nearly as disposable as they claim to be). Told the guys to tell whichever girls they've been inviting over: don't flush wipes.

Two weeks later, toilet backs up again. Called the same plumber, he snakes it again, couldn't figure out what was wrong. Recommended I call another plumber...who came out and said I had a septic tank buried in the front yard that I had no idea I had. Told him "when I bought the place, it said I had sewer access and the prior plumber was able to snake the line out to the main sewer." He acknowledged that, but said sewer was likely added later on and showed me where he thought the septic was and said he'd need to dig up part of my yard to look at the pipes and essentially drain the septic/seal it off. Annoying, but ok.

Sure enough, the guy was right...and it turned into a much bigger problem when he saw that the septic tank had been punctured by the oak trees in the front lawn and said if we didn't remove the tank itself, all the refuse would start leaking into the lawn and/or continuing to cause backflows into the house

Got it all done and had to resod a large portion of the front lawn. Between the plumbers and the sod replacement, it's cost a significant amount.

I'm mulling over whether I want to go after the bank for fraud since I double-checked the mortgage docs and sure enough, it says "sewer access" without mentioning the septic whatsoever.

 

[soflagator]

The 4 hurricane summer back in '04. Three of them (Charley, Frances, and Jean) hit my Mom's house which was yards from the beach.

I was living in Orlando at the time and got hit by the same 3 storms (and didn't have any power myself).

I drove out to Mom's to see if she was OK and assess the situation. I didn't bring any special tools or supplies with me. The house was pretty solid.

She was fine, no power, no phone, but fine.

The house had an old roof, but it held together until that last storm finally did it in. It ripped off large swathes of shingles and tar paper down to the plywood.

Of course everything was closed and even if something was open, you weren't able to get any roofing supplies because it was all sold out (this was after the last storm).

The storm had just passed and it was still windy and rainy.

I had to try to secure the roof before leaving to head back to Orlando. My Father had passed away years earlier and it's not like there were tools and supplies organized in the garage. It was a giant mess. There was no asking neighbors for help either. The beachside was under mandatory evacuation and the area was deserted.

I collected all the shingles I could find around the house (some of which were ours, others weren't). I found a hammer and a bunch of finishing nails. Then my cousin showed up and offered to help. There wasn't a second hammer to be found and he didn't load his car with special tools or supplies either. I found a giant monkey wrench. I gave my cousin the hammer and resolved to use the monkey wrench as a hammer. Basically, we tried to nail the random shingles over the exposed areas of roof decking.

I want you to imagine trying to hammer a finishing nail (which has no head to speak of) using one of these. Needless to say, I was destroying the fingers of my right hand as the fcuking thing would slide off the nail and smash my hand...over and over and over and over again. I'd get the nail about 3/4 of the way in, then bend the rest over to hold it down.

We soon ran out of shingles. I scrounged around for anything that seemed waterproof. I found random pieces of aluminum siding in the yard. Nailed those to the roof. My mom had some old shower curtains that had been used as drop cloths for painting. Nailed those to the roof. Finally, there was no usable debris left in the yard. I scoured the house and found a box of large, heavy-weight garbage bags. Nailed those to the roof. I was bruised, battered and beaten, but finally, all the exposed wood was covered.

I knew it was going to probably be a while before we could get real roofers to fix it.

I went back to Orlando and tried to find roofing supplies. I was able to find 2 rolls of felt and a 5 gallon bucket of that black latex roofing patch stuff that looks like tar. Oh, and a big box of real roofing nails with large diameter nail heads!

I took the stuff back to my Mom's a couple of days later and rolled roof felt over the BS repairs I had made that first day. I securely nailed it down and then and sealed all around the perimeter of the rolled areas with the black latex goop.

It was almost a year before my Mom got the roof professionally replaced. That patch job worked perfectly. Zero leaks all that time. I was finally able to laugh about it when I spoke to the roofers and they talked about all the insane things they discovered in demo-ing the old roof and patch job

My hand still hurts thinking about being up on that roof in the gusty wind and mist and smashing my hand over and over and over and over...



Alex.

Pretty sure I’ve heard this story several times before. Or maybe it was just the part about Francis, Jean, Charley and an unnamed 4th hitting your mom one summer.

 

[CDGator]

Bought my first house off a foreclosure during the bottom of the housing slump right around 2013--it had sat vacant for about 2 years prior to that, so there was significant remodeling work needed and the bank had a few prior buyers walk away in those two years, so I got it for a steal, but knew there were things I'd need to repair. Over the years, gradually went from one remodeling project to the next (my ex was an interior designer and loved doing that kind of thing), renovated the bathrooms, kitchen, bar, fireplace, outside patio, etc.

Have since turned it into a rental property...and the renters themselves have been there for awhile without much issues. This year, one of the bathroom toilets would run and overflow, flooding the carpet on the back bedrooms area of the house. Called one plumber, who snaked the sewer line and pulled out a ton of disposable wipes (which aren't nearly as disposable as they claim to be). Told the guys to tell whichever girls they've been inviting over: don't flush wipes.

Two weeks later, toilet backs up again. Called the same plumber, he snakes it again, couldn't figure out what was wrong. Recommended I call another plumber...who came out and said I had a septic tank buried in the front yard that I had no idea I had. Told him "when I bought the place, it said I had sewer access and the prior plumber was able to snake the line out to the main sewer." He acknowledged that, but said sewer was likely added later on and showed me where he thought the septic was and said he'd need to dig up part of my yard to look at the pipes and essentially drain the septic/seal it off. Annoying, but ok.

Sure enough, the guy was right...and it turned into a much bigger problem when he saw that the septic tank had been punctured by the oak trees in the front lawn and said if we didn't remove the tank itself, all the refuse would start leaking into the lawn and/or continuing to cause backflows into the house

Got it all done and had to resod a large portion of the front lawn. Between the plumbers and the sod replacement, it's cost a significant amount.

I'm mulling over whether I want to go after the bank for fraud since I double-checked the mortgage docs and sure enough, it says "sewer access" without mentioning the septic whatsoever.

Ouch ouch ouch - painful money to spend

We had to replace our septic a few years ago. It was original to our house but the health department let us keep it when we rebuilt. It was about 60 years old when it it was finally done. It didn’t help that I ran over the leach field repeatedly with the tractor carrying heavy logs. We always assumed the leach field ran a different direction. Oops

 

[bradgator2]

We have several pocket doors. I love them and have zero complaints about them. However, the leveling bolt on my daughter's door ever so slightly moves every time she opens and closes it. So much so that the door bottomed out and she cant open it.

Ok, no problem. It's just a simply turn of a screw to adjust the height. But there is no access. You either have to take off the trim or cut a small hole in the wall. I am pretty good with drywall repair so I decided to go the hole in the wall.

So I cut the hole. I had to use a class wrench to adjust the bolt. And I get it 99% perfect and level. I decide I want to make one more quarter turn. I get back up the hole, the wrench slips out of my hand, bounces off my knuckles, and falls between the door and the drywall. It sounds like plinko as it is making it's way downward.

I basically had to remove half the wall to retrieve it. Man was I pissed. My classic mistake is knowing when to stop fuching with it.

 

[bradgator2]

Same bathroom. My daughter's porcelain sink is mounted under a granite countertop. It clogs up. No biggie... I dismantle all the piping, clean out the absolutely disgusting wad of hair (looks like a dead squirrel), clean everything thoroughly, and get it all back together. (side topic... women are absolutely disgusting with their drains)

Not knowing when to stop... for some unexplained reason, I decided to pour some boiling water down the sink to give it on last good rinse. The sink shattered into a bazillion pieces. Sounded like a gun went off.

Replacing a bottom mount sink onto an existing granite countertop was a giant pain the ass.

 

[bradgator2]

In our old house in Jacksonville, it had standard ceramic tile for half of the flooring. I read or saw something about slapping a high gloss coating on it. So I did. It looked awesome when we were finished. Matched the shine of the abutting hardwoods in the house.

Then after about a year, I started noticing some flaking. Them some more flaking. Long story short.... In the end, I had to strip off all the coating. Basically poured a paint remover on a section, dissolved it all, the wiped it all up. About 1000 sq ft worth.

 

[Detroitgator]

We have several pocket doors. I love them and have zero complaints about them. However, the leveling bolt on my daughter's door ever so slightly moves every time she opens and closes it. So much so that the door bottomed out and she cant open it.

Ok, no problem. It's just a simply turn of a screw to adjust the height. But there is no access. You either have to take off the trim or cut a small hole in the wall. I am pretty good with drywall repair so I decided to go the hole in the wall.

So I cut the hole. I had to use a class wrench to adjust the bolt. And I get it 99% perfect and level. I decide I want to make one more quarter turn. I get back up the hole, the wrench slips out of my hand, bounces off my knuckles, and falls between the door and the drywall. It sounds like plinko as it is making it's way downward.

I basically had to remove half the wall to retrieve it. Man was I pissed. My classic mistake is knowing when to stop fuching with it.

I was waiting for this one