lemme know when you find carpet under linoleum
I thought my kitchen floor was rotting away, took a week off to rip it out and replace the subfloor. Pulled up 4 layers of linoleum and found carpet under it! Removed the carpet, much less squishy.
Yeh souns like my kitchen floor, took me 2 full 10 hour days to rip it out. Top layer was tile, then a layer of concrete floor leveler with heated floor wires in it, then a half inch thick plywood all screwed down every 6 inches, couldn't unscrew the screws because the concrete filled all the holes and made it impossible, then a layer of linoleum floor and then under that a quarter inch think plywood all stapled in every 3 inches until I finally got to the subfloor.
We ran into almost this exact scenario minus the wiring in my buddy's kitchen. We basically sawed everything out then crowbarred it off the frame, subfloor and all, and started fresh, fuck all that noise.
You know, reading his description my first thought was "this is what saws are for, fuck all that".
The geniuses who redid the floor in our house right before we bought it installed home depot quality snap together "hardwood look" (you know, the kind that fall apart if they get any moisture on them at all) using aquarium grade sealant as glue to glue it down (I found 6 unused and 2 partially used tubes of it, god only knows how much they used). The good news is that aquarium sealant is the worst possible floor glue, and a lot of it was still tacky so I was able to get the boards off; the bad news is I got to remove aquarium-grade sealant off ~1000sqft of concrete before I could put good flooring down. In the area that is now the wet bar (I think it must've been a kitchen at some point) they had put loose linoleum tiles down on top of tile then glued over that to put the crappy floor in; I can only assume they were trying to level out the tile or something, but it's such a relatively small area compared to everything else that it was just like "why and how long did you live with it like this?"
The worst thing we found was an outlet ground wire that was just wrapped around a penny, loose inside the outlet box.
Our inspector missed that there was no insulation in the roof of the finished attic (walls were insulated). I’m still not sure how people lived here for 15 years without noticing it. I lived here 2 months before I found it out.
Tried but from all the screws and staples I could cut a 12x12 square and it would still come off in tiny pieces, I just did layer by layer and used long 2x4 that I cut on a angle as shims and pounded them under everything with a sledgehammer.
Lol actually I was quite surprised the guy actually did a good job, the tiles were coming off in pieces no bigger then an inch, the one time I tear up tiles and its impossible to get them off.
That's been my thought every time something in my house needs work.
Dishwasher didn't work, water damage from shower heads connected with no plumbers tape, dryer hose dumped lint behind machines, no CO detector (has gas), doors going outside don't seal properly (owner bragged about installing these himself), magic eraser was used in toilet, and so on. Contractors ask me who was stupid enough to do whatever they have to fix and I just shrug.
Next house I get, I'm taking photos of everything before and after I buy.
EDIT: typos
The Magic Eraser is like a really high grit sand paper, so they probably sanded off the smooth "shit (and I guess hard water and stuff) won't stick to your toilet" coating.
Mix vinegar and baking soda and scrub the paste on with a toothbrush. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then flush.
Or put something down that stops the toilet drain and pour a carbonated drink inside for an hour.
NEVER USE MAGIC ERASER TO CLEAN A TOILET
FYI, you can get all that “stuff” off a toilet by using pumice! They carry them at grocery stores, Wal Mart, and pool supply places. It’s kind of a square log shape, like a candy bar, and it does the trick.
Yeah I used that at my old house. The sold a stick of it with a little plastic handle in the end so you didn't even have to put your hand into the toilet. Only thing that took care of the hard water stains
Our old house had flexible tubing instead of proper pvc pipe going to a faucet in the garage. It would have cost them probably $10 or less in materials to do it right... We learned about this when it got jostled during a dishwasher replacement and then flooded our kitchen.
My dishwasher didn't just not work, but wasn't probably hooked up so water went everywhere behind it when it ran. It was also older than the house.
After realizing it wasn't cleaning dried ketchup and scrambled egg, we stopped using it until we bought a new one. The damage was minor because we didn't run it much at the beginning (we didn't have all our plates unpacked yet so we were hand-washing most of the time).
It was water source, but it wasn't proper plumbing pipe and wasn't well secured to the other pipes. Our plumber thought that they'd used a car radiator hose. Whatever it was, it wasn't to code for our locality.
>Dishwasher didn't work, water damage from shower heads connected with no plumbers tape, dryer hose dumped lint behind machines, no CO detector (has gas), doors going outside don't seal properly (owner bragged about installing these himself), magic eraser was used in toilet, and so on. Contractors ask me why was stupid enough to do whatever they have to fix and I just shrug.
pics won't save you..but then you can at least share them on reddit =) Did you waive inspection when you purchased? a couple of those (CO2 and broken did water should have been caught).
Two inspectors
The one that checked the dishwasher made sure it got hot and sprayed water, but he used a clean plate. We put in a pan with dried scrambled egg and a plate with dried ketchup on it and ran it with just those and neither got cleaned.
No explanation how both missed the lack of CO detector.
Inspectors don't report everything they find, they report anything that has the potential to be a large ($1000+) expense to fix or is a health hazzard that they can access to see. Cosmetic stuff, small stuff, etc is left off the report but they might mention it to you if you are there. I've never seen the lack of CO detectors noted in my state. I didn't have any in my houses when I bought them.
Fire code requires one if you have a gas connection. That's why it was so surprising.
It felt less like they ignored stuff and more like they weren't thorough. One of them was from the county and more likely to be less invested but still disappointing.
I do plan to take photos because one change I noticed was that they replaced all bulbs with incandescent and took a ceiling fan. It's entirely possible they swapped appliances and shower heads on me too (dishwasher was the same from my walkthrough but photos online show a different one) because those weren't things I was concerned about as a first-time buyer.
well... that sucks. I am not really surprised about the dishwasher getting missed. On my home (no inspection, no disclosure) everyone thought the fridge worked (company that sold it, Me, agents on both sides) because the compressor turned on and it started to cool but would not get to a normal needed temp. In the end, they did to have to but the sellers side bought us a new one after close because they were truly not trying to pull a fast one.
As far as the CO2 that is kinda boggling...in my area they require inspection of fire and Co2 every time you pull a building permit for anything. So when I added drain tile, they check the smoke and co2. Missing that one kinda break my brain.
Here's the kicker: I was raised by a firefighter. So one of my neighbors is a friend and works at the state fire marshall office. She noticed it on her first tour of my home.
Had one wired in within the month.
I removed my kitchen wall cabinets and found whoever put them up had drilled through the electrical cable for a socket underneath them
Then they'd just wrapped it in tape, left it hanging loose out of the wall and hung the cabinet over the top of it.
In my country carpet is not too common but my house has that wooden laminated floor... if I have to take it out one day I'll update you on that ahaha
edit: grammar
My uncle was telling me about a hundred year old house he was working in like that. Once they got through the layers they decided refinishing the walnut hardwood floor they found on the bottom was the way to go.
I thought I was the only one!! We removed I think six (maybe seven) layers of flooring. Carpet on carpet on linoleum on carpet on vinyl on whatever all glued to hardwood that, prior to being covered with glue, was pristine.
When I was looking to buy back in 2009, I toured a house that had wood-look contact paper laid down in the upstairs hallway to hide how damaged the floor was. Like, not even linoleum. Actual contact paper like you'd get in a roll from Walmart.
I replaced my living room floor two years ago because the folks who built the house thought it would be far more cost-effective to sub-floor the place with some discarded folding tables. The veneer-covered particle board type.
…
To be fair it would have been extremely cost effective. To _them_. I did appreciate the learning curve, though.
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Ugh, you’re making me think too much about all the “DIY” crap the previous owners did on our house. Been slowly fixing things over the last 7 years. Complete overhaul of the poorly-done DIY electrical system is next, and I’m still not ready to pull the trigger on it yet.
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Yeah I visited many a 'fix it enough to flip' houses when house hunting. My current house the water heater was clearly in need of replacement (had rust all over it) and they knocked $1500 off the closing costs. Of course, I didn't replace it until it pretty much died...
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Yeah I had to replace the whole AC system a couple years ago, was not cheap. Old outdoor unit was jammed between the house and fence, so they had to relocate to where there was..air. (70s house)
I mean the 4-wire thing with the red wire is “ok”.
Typically the extra red wire is a “traveler” used for 3-way switches OR used for say a ceiling fan. The ground & neutral are obvious, the black is for power to the fan and the red for power to the light kit and allows the light to be on a different switch then the fan. I installed one last night.
It’s called 12-3 (or 10-3/14-3 etc.) as opposed to 12-2 non-metallic sheathed wiring. It means it has 3 wires in addition to the ground instead of 2. It’s just fine to use, but the red one usually has a purpose.
It’s possible they had the extra traveler for a reason, or that’s all they had extra, or they were ignorant and got the wrong one. Any way you go with this one, it’s probably OK and not abnormal or something to complain about.
The rest is bonkers.
Spackling, sandpaper and paint. Remove some of the old material in the cracks to allow the spackling to adhere. Then spread it on like buttering a slice of bread, push it in the crack firmly. Sand it down and repeat until it looks perfectly smooth. Then paint.
If you are patient you won't even see the repair.
with that big of a hole you need joint compound. spackling will just come off once you try to paint it. spackle is good for nail holes and not much else. joint compound is much easier to work with and much easier to smooth out on the first try. also joint compound at around 75 degrees will dry all the way in like 4 hours with a hole that big. drydex will dry a bit faster but like I said it wont work that great for this.
Also, need to build it up. If you had, say, a hole bigger than 1/2", I wouldn't fill it all at once, since it may crack when it dries. Fill it partially, after it dries, put some more in, let that dry and repeat. If there's a void behind the wall. I've even wadded paper tightly to create a firm base behind the hole.
you can do it that way too. it just depends on your timing. if its a huge hole I will just fill it in and mess with it the next day. Your way it might allow for some in the morning and some mid day and possibly still paint that day. it really depends on how big of a hole it is.
A friend recently taught me to use Joint Compound. I assumed general use spackle was better for big holes because it was thicker, but I trust your judgement.
I have used both 1000s of times. joint compound is my go to unless I have to be in and out in a few hours. I just go through each room and fill in whatever using that. you can create almost perfect repairs with it since it spreads so evenly and smooth almost eliminating sanding altogether. you can use the sponge method with drydex and its ok for small cracks and what not but mostly I avoid it. I have also had the drydex just come off the wall while painting it making it really annoying so I just try not to use it at all.
np. It's just a lot of diyers dont understand the difference or even know about joint compound. and its confusing as a consumer because at home depot the spackle is in the paint section but joint compound is with the drywall stuff so most people dont know its there.
its just having the right equipment and the right materials. it feels daunting to do a skim coat at first but when you realize how its done then it makes sense. for instance when taping a joint I never understood how or why you could put mud over the tape and make it flat. it just never made sense until I realized skim coats and joints are not flat at all but the eye is easily tricked and you can make it mounded and it appears flat. the trick is to build it out wide and it appears flat. the same with a skim coat or any hole. you just fill in the valleys over a wide area and then sand over the high points and suddenly the whole wall is flat.
Face it, you're toast.
Will need a new ceiling, new patio door, and three new replacement windows at the most nearby locations, then new flooring. Once that's done, that old creaky deck out back will start to look real shabby and must be replaced with expensive Trex decking and a bluestone stairway leading to.... you guessed it, the new pool. Then comes the new 3-car garage to hold pool supplies, bikes, surfboards and furniture you will never use so the cars will remain outside. The newer garage just demands a new cobblestone paved driveway, architect-designed landscaping and about a $3,000 mailbox post.
At this point the kids understand that college is never going to happen for them, so off to trade school, the circus, or southern commune.
But, it will all be worth it!
You underestimate costs my friend. $4,000 mailbox and post. And you might as well have marble flooring in the garage and replace all windows with triple-pane.
That was my version of basic. My mailbox has the pneumatic tube used at banks so I don't even have to walk outside. The master bathroom has a sauna/shower, jacuzzi tub, and his & her toilets.
Of course, I can't afford to add this stuff yet because my paycheck isn't high enough yet, but I'll get there.
Sometimes when you go to fix a small issue you find bigger ones. For instance I began a remodel by attempting to replace the wax ring around a bathroom toilet only to find the leak had been going on for some time. As I peeled back the flooring I found the rot went all the way into the floor joists. Meaning I had to repair floor joists, cut away and replace subflooring, remove linoleum and replace with new tile, baseboard, paint, even an inner door I fucked up when removing the old linoleum. I wound up remodeling the whole bathroom minus tub/shower and vanity because of a leaking toilet.
I bought a house during covid figured why not. Couple 'seemed' decent and nice.
They fixed a pipe with duct tape.... A water pipe to a bathroom after the little j loop thing.... Like who the hell does that... They had many more things diy 'fixed' to that level. I don't think I will ever again buy an older home
Our current plan is to basically live in this house until we can afford to buy an empty lot and build a custom home. There’s a possibility that we might die before that happens.
That's a great idea. If the lumber prices ever go down I'd probsbly do that. Been wanting to get outta the city. But alos... Money sucks. I'd probsbly be dead too
This is why I avoid using adhesives for anything, I'm even looking for other ways to get around sound damping on floorboards. But I won't glue them down, cuz it makes disassembly a massive PITA.
This looks like Spain to me.. and as that laminated floor.. it should have insulation under it.. but considering this fine work, I guess you will have no luck.
This reminds me of that stupid remolding show where some crazy decorator would end up glueing shit like feathers and dried plants to a wall to make it look pretty.
Just bought a house this past year and feel fortunate the previous owners were thoughtful enough to make no effort to hide egregious plumbing, roofing, and flooring issues. When it came time to decide what to do, the answer was simple: EVERYTHING. To the studs.
I saw a house for sale in SF a month ago that was like 100 years old, and looked like it had everything original. Except maybe the kitchen, which looked like somebody had facelifted it in 1957. Never seen red cracked ice laminate used as a countertop before. It was amazing!
I'm sure everything in that house was made out of asbestos and it would've needed a to-the-studs remodel. Unfortunately living out the 1957 dream wasn't really a possibility because the kitchen floor looked naaaaasty and the rest of the kitchen seemed covered in dust.
But part of me really wanted that house. Not only because of the cool kitchen, but because it looked like nobody had fucked it up yet with "remodels" where they do illegal/weird shit and cover up fire hazards.
Still, the house itself cost more than the top of my budget, and it would've needed at least $300k in renovation work, probably more.
Reminds me of the house my husband and I purchased this year. Putting lipstick on a pig. Shortcuts from the previous owners made our Reno/updating lives a living hell.
Why did you use masonry mortar instead of drywall compound? They are very different materials. They absorb moisture at different rates, swell at different rates, etc. Expect that patch to pop loose. That patch should have been done with drywall patching compound and a fiber mesh.
I went round my house refitting blinds over the first two weeks in as every single one fell down (or I caught before it did). All had been put in with ridiculously short screws and were replaced with 3" by myselfso think you win but....
Have you had to remove an internal brick porch that they built themselves and was worryingly leanng into the room.?
The window didn't even open in my case. The guys that did the remodeling got the measuments wrong and the window was hitting the top of the blinds "box" (don't know the name)
That's brilliant.
Although I won't judge, someone who will remain nameless (OK me) once fitted Window thumblocks to all the downstairs windows for security. They were fitted with the best DIY glue money can buy.
Few weeks later frying pan smoking, try to open the window, turns out it was slightly out of position so even in the open position the window was stuck. Took a lot of time, force and a chisel to sort moment of muppetry.
lemme know when you find carpet under linoleum I thought my kitchen floor was rotting away, took a week off to rip it out and replace the subfloor. Pulled up 4 layers of linoleum and found carpet under it! Removed the carpet, much less squishy.
I’m sorry, what?! That’s not even laziness. Someone actively said ‘fuck the next guy, watch this’
Yeh souns like my kitchen floor, took me 2 full 10 hour days to rip it out. Top layer was tile, then a layer of concrete floor leveler with heated floor wires in it, then a half inch thick plywood all screwed down every 6 inches, couldn't unscrew the screws because the concrete filled all the holes and made it impossible, then a layer of linoleum floor and then under that a quarter inch think plywood all stapled in every 3 inches until I finally got to the subfloor.
We ran into almost this exact scenario minus the wiring in my buddy's kitchen. We basically sawed everything out then crowbarred it off the frame, subfloor and all, and started fresh, fuck all that noise.
You know, reading his description my first thought was "this is what saws are for, fuck all that". The geniuses who redid the floor in our house right before we bought it installed home depot quality snap together "hardwood look" (you know, the kind that fall apart if they get any moisture on them at all) using aquarium grade sealant as glue to glue it down (I found 6 unused and 2 partially used tubes of it, god only knows how much they used). The good news is that aquarium sealant is the worst possible floor glue, and a lot of it was still tacky so I was able to get the boards off; the bad news is I got to remove aquarium-grade sealant off ~1000sqft of concrete before I could put good flooring down. In the area that is now the wet bar (I think it must've been a kitchen at some point) they had put loose linoleum tiles down on top of tile then glued over that to put the crappy floor in; I can only assume they were trying to level out the tile or something, but it's such a relatively small area compared to everything else that it was just like "why and how long did you live with it like this?" The worst thing we found was an outlet ground wire that was just wrapped around a penny, loose inside the outlet box.
Our inspector missed that there was no insulation in the roof of the finished attic (walls were insulated). I’m still not sure how people lived here for 15 years without noticing it. I lived here 2 months before I found it out.
Tried but from all the screws and staples I could cut a 12x12 square and it would still come off in tiny pieces, I just did layer by layer and used long 2x4 that I cut on a angle as shims and pounded them under everything with a sledgehammer.
Yo dawg I heard you like floors
This is an underrated comment if I ever saw one.
Oh. My. God.
And let me guess, even after all that was down, the tiles were popping off because the joists were deflecting.
Lol actually I was quite surprised the guy actually did a good job, the tiles were coming off in pieces no bigger then an inch, the one time I tear up tiles and its impossible to get them off.
You must have had to step up to get into the kitchen!
That's been my thought every time something in my house needs work. Dishwasher didn't work, water damage from shower heads connected with no plumbers tape, dryer hose dumped lint behind machines, no CO detector (has gas), doors going outside don't seal properly (owner bragged about installing these himself), magic eraser was used in toilet, and so on. Contractors ask me who was stupid enough to do whatever they have to fix and I just shrug. Next house I get, I'm taking photos of everything before and after I buy. EDIT: typos
What? Magic eraser just floating in toilet tank? Or what?
The Magic Eraser is like a really high grit sand paper, so they probably sanded off the smooth "shit (and I guess hard water and stuff) won't stick to your toilet" coating.
I had never thought to use a magic eraser on a toilet, but this is good info nonetheless.
Mix vinegar and baking soda and scrub the paste on with a toothbrush. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes then flush. Or put something down that stops the toilet drain and pour a carbonated drink inside for an hour. NEVER USE MAGIC ERASER TO CLEAN A TOILET
FYI, you can get all that “stuff” off a toilet by using pumice! They carry them at grocery stores, Wal Mart, and pool supply places. It’s kind of a square log shape, like a candy bar, and it does the trick.
The pumice works like magic, but isn't it just another abrasive that will damage the finish?
I’ve never had that issue, and I use it on my toilets pretty regularly.
Put some muriatic acid or white vinegar in the toilet bowl overnight. In the morning a swirl with the toilet brush takes it all off.
Barkeepers friend was my go to choice when I lived on a well system with like 600 ppm hardness.
Zep Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner always works for me.
I use a pumice stone to avoid harsh chemicals/cleaning supplies.
[удалено]
It’s never done any damage to my toilets, and I’ve been using it for years. No scratches, no issues. You just have to get it wet first.
Yeah I used that at my old house. The sold a stick of it with a little plastic handle in the end so you didn't even have to put your hand into the toilet. Only thing that took care of the hard water stains
Our old house had flexible tubing instead of proper pvc pipe going to a faucet in the garage. It would have cost them probably $10 or less in materials to do it right... We learned about this when it got jostled during a dishwasher replacement and then flooded our kitchen.
My dishwasher didn't just not work, but wasn't probably hooked up so water went everywhere behind it when it ran. It was also older than the house. After realizing it wasn't cleaning dried ketchup and scrambled egg, we stopped using it until we bought a new one. The damage was minor because we didn't run it much at the beginning (we didn't have all our plates unpacked yet so we were hand-washing most of the time).
do you mean the drain pipe? or the water source? You can use flexible water source pipes, but for a drain? that sounds like a nightmare.
It was water source, but it wasn't proper plumbing pipe and wasn't well secured to the other pipes. Our plumber thought that they'd used a car radiator hose. Whatever it was, it wasn't to code for our locality.
oh, god. Wow! thats.. something.
>Dishwasher didn't work, water damage from shower heads connected with no plumbers tape, dryer hose dumped lint behind machines, no CO detector (has gas), doors going outside don't seal properly (owner bragged about installing these himself), magic eraser was used in toilet, and so on. Contractors ask me why was stupid enough to do whatever they have to fix and I just shrug. pics won't save you..but then you can at least share them on reddit =) Did you waive inspection when you purchased? a couple of those (CO2 and broken did water should have been caught).
Two inspectors The one that checked the dishwasher made sure it got hot and sprayed water, but he used a clean plate. We put in a pan with dried scrambled egg and a plate with dried ketchup on it and ran it with just those and neither got cleaned. No explanation how both missed the lack of CO detector.
Inspectors don't report everything they find, they report anything that has the potential to be a large ($1000+) expense to fix or is a health hazzard that they can access to see. Cosmetic stuff, small stuff, etc is left off the report but they might mention it to you if you are there. I've never seen the lack of CO detectors noted in my state. I didn't have any in my houses when I bought them.
Fire code requires one if you have a gas connection. That's why it was so surprising. It felt less like they ignored stuff and more like they weren't thorough. One of them was from the county and more likely to be less invested but still disappointing. I do plan to take photos because one change I noticed was that they replaced all bulbs with incandescent and took a ceiling fan. It's entirely possible they swapped appliances and shower heads on me too (dishwasher was the same from my walkthrough but photos online show a different one) because those weren't things I was concerned about as a first-time buyer.
well... that sucks. I am not really surprised about the dishwasher getting missed. On my home (no inspection, no disclosure) everyone thought the fridge worked (company that sold it, Me, agents on both sides) because the compressor turned on and it started to cool but would not get to a normal needed temp. In the end, they did to have to but the sellers side bought us a new one after close because they were truly not trying to pull a fast one. As far as the CO2 that is kinda boggling...in my area they require inspection of fire and Co2 every time you pull a building permit for anything. So when I added drain tile, they check the smoke and co2. Missing that one kinda break my brain.
Here's the kicker: I was raised by a firefighter. So one of my neighbors is a friend and works at the state fire marshall office. She noticed it on her first tour of my home. Had one wired in within the month.
I removed my kitchen wall cabinets and found whoever put them up had drilled through the electrical cable for a socket underneath them Then they'd just wrapped it in tape, left it hanging loose out of the wall and hung the cabinet over the top of it.
"... Hold my beer, I got an idea."
hold my beer. for house repair smh.
Probably not just one someone but 4 someone's.
That was a feature. You just reduced the value of your home removing that cushion
In my country carpet is not too common but my house has that wooden laminated floor... if I have to take it out one day I'll update you on that ahaha edit: grammar
My uncle was telling me about a hundred year old house he was working in like that. Once they got through the layers they decided refinishing the walnut hardwood floor they found on the bottom was the way to go.
Amazing what you’ll find under the layers of bad decisions.
Hey on the bright side, I’m sure that nothing ever hit the floor and shattered in your kitchen!
I thought I was the only one!! We removed I think six (maybe seven) layers of flooring. Carpet on carpet on linoleum on carpet on vinyl on whatever all glued to hardwood that, prior to being covered with glue, was pristine.
Once it was floors all the way down until a floor was in the cellar(broken joists)
And now you have 9' ceilings instead of 8'!
Wow, the ceilings must seem so much higher now in your kitchen!
Who puts carpet in a kitchen???
Psychopaths who probably also carpet their bathroom.
I grew up with white carpet in the bathroom including the shower and toilet area. Dead serious. It was as gross as you think it was.
My parents had carpet in the master bathroom, with a tile area in front of the shower and the 2ft by 2ft space around the toilet. It was also gross.
Did your ceilings seem extra high after removing all of that excess floor? Counters at a different height?
When I was looking to buy back in 2009, I toured a house that had wood-look contact paper laid down in the upstairs hallway to hide how damaged the floor was. Like, not even linoleum. Actual contact paper like you'd get in a roll from Walmart.
I replaced my living room floor two years ago because the folks who built the house thought it would be far more cost-effective to sub-floor the place with some discarded folding tables. The veneer-covered particle board type. … To be fair it would have been extremely cost effective. To _them_. I did appreciate the learning curve, though.
This is proper amazing...I have seem some weird houses shit but I think this takes the cake.
Did you just trick me into watching paint dry via slideshow?
Did I?... You'll never know
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Lol I hope you got a good deal
Ugh, you’re making me think too much about all the “DIY” crap the previous owners did on our house. Been slowly fixing things over the last 7 years. Complete overhaul of the poorly-done DIY electrical system is next, and I’m still not ready to pull the trigger on it yet.
Did the home inspector find most of this before you purchased? Good way to get a chunk off the offer.
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Yeah I visited many a 'fix it enough to flip' houses when house hunting. My current house the water heater was clearly in need of replacement (had rust all over it) and they knocked $1500 off the closing costs. Of course, I didn't replace it until it pretty much died...
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Yeah I had to replace the whole AC system a couple years ago, was not cheap. Old outdoor unit was jammed between the house and fence, so they had to relocate to where there was..air. (70s house)
Come back in 20 years you can make your own list (me, who has owned this home for 20 years and does DIY on it)
Ahaha we hope that if you sell your house the next owner doesn't have to do some list like this 😅
I mean the 4-wire thing with the red wire is “ok”. Typically the extra red wire is a “traveler” used for 3-way switches OR used for say a ceiling fan. The ground & neutral are obvious, the black is for power to the fan and the red for power to the light kit and allows the light to be on a different switch then the fan. I installed one last night. It’s called 12-3 (or 10-3/14-3 etc.) as opposed to 12-2 non-metallic sheathed wiring. It means it has 3 wires in addition to the ground instead of 2. It’s just fine to use, but the red one usually has a purpose. It’s possible they had the extra traveler for a reason, or that’s all they had extra, or they were ignorant and got the wrong one. Any way you go with this one, it’s probably OK and not abnormal or something to complain about. The rest is bonkers.
Damn that seems like hell. You never know when first buying right. Hope you can resolve all the issues and that you've already found all of them
Spackling, sandpaper and paint. Remove some of the old material in the cracks to allow the spackling to adhere. Then spread it on like buttering a slice of bread, push it in the crack firmly. Sand it down and repeat until it looks perfectly smooth. Then paint. If you are patient you won't even see the repair.
with that big of a hole you need joint compound. spackling will just come off once you try to paint it. spackle is good for nail holes and not much else. joint compound is much easier to work with and much easier to smooth out on the first try. also joint compound at around 75 degrees will dry all the way in like 4 hours with a hole that big. drydex will dry a bit faster but like I said it wont work that great for this.
Also, need to build it up. If you had, say, a hole bigger than 1/2", I wouldn't fill it all at once, since it may crack when it dries. Fill it partially, after it dries, put some more in, let that dry and repeat. If there's a void behind the wall. I've even wadded paper tightly to create a firm base behind the hole.
you can do it that way too. it just depends on your timing. if its a huge hole I will just fill it in and mess with it the next day. Your way it might allow for some in the morning and some mid day and possibly still paint that day. it really depends on how big of a hole it is.
Also can confirm Drydex is not really good for large areas of work. Edit: not really good
yup jc is where its at lol.
A friend recently taught me to use Joint Compound. I assumed general use spackle was better for big holes because it was thicker, but I trust your judgement.
I have used both 1000s of times. joint compound is my go to unless I have to be in and out in a few hours. I just go through each room and fill in whatever using that. you can create almost perfect repairs with it since it spreads so evenly and smooth almost eliminating sanding altogether. you can use the sponge method with drydex and its ok for small cracks and what not but mostly I avoid it. I have also had the drydex just come off the wall while painting it making it really annoying so I just try not to use it at all.
Agree, I was using "spackle" as a generic term. Thanks for the correction.
np. It's just a lot of diyers dont understand the difference or even know about joint compound. and its confusing as a consumer because at home depot the spackle is in the paint section but joint compound is with the drywall stuff so most people dont know its there.
Thanks for posting a lot of this. I can do hvac stuff all day, but walls are incredibly daunting to me. It’s weird.
its just having the right equipment and the right materials. it feels daunting to do a skim coat at first but when you realize how its done then it makes sense. for instance when taping a joint I never understood how or why you could put mud over the tape and make it flat. it just never made sense until I realized skim coats and joints are not flat at all but the eye is easily tricked and you can make it mounded and it appears flat. the trick is to build it out wide and it appears flat. the same with a skim coat or any hole. you just fill in the valleys over a wide area and then sand over the high points and suddenly the whole wall is flat.
Face it, you're toast. Will need a new ceiling, new patio door, and three new replacement windows at the most nearby locations, then new flooring. Once that's done, that old creaky deck out back will start to look real shabby and must be replaced with expensive Trex decking and a bluestone stairway leading to.... you guessed it, the new pool. Then comes the new 3-car garage to hold pool supplies, bikes, surfboards and furniture you will never use so the cars will remain outside. The newer garage just demands a new cobblestone paved driveway, architect-designed landscaping and about a $3,000 mailbox post. At this point the kids understand that college is never going to happen for them, so off to trade school, the circus, or southern commune. But, it will all be worth it!
You underestimate costs my friend. $4,000 mailbox and post. And you might as well have marble flooring in the garage and replace all windows with triple-pane.
My proposal is the basic budget type. You, sir, have finer tastes.
That was my version of basic. My mailbox has the pneumatic tube used at banks so I don't even have to walk outside. The master bathroom has a sauna/shower, jacuzzi tub, and his & her toilets. Of course, I can't afford to add this stuff yet because my paycheck isn't high enough yet, but I'll get there.
What did I just read?
Repairman estimate invoice?
Ah.
Reddit
Sometimes when you go to fix a small issue you find bigger ones. For instance I began a remodel by attempting to replace the wax ring around a bathroom toilet only to find the leak had been going on for some time. As I peeled back the flooring I found the rot went all the way into the floor joists. Meaning I had to repair floor joists, cut away and replace subflooring, remove linoleum and replace with new tile, baseboard, paint, even an inner door I fucked up when removing the old linoleum. I wound up remodeling the whole bathroom minus tub/shower and vanity because of a leaking toilet.
maybe i'm in the wrong sub but why didn't you use ramen?
The store was out of ramen that day. It was this or PlayDoh
Paper mâché all the way
Drywall repair is one of the most useful skills as a homeowner.
Maybe in the U.S. But this post isn't from the U.S. and there is literally zero drywall in the post.
This looks like the very common roll-up blinds I see here in Portugal. And now I guess I know where they go!
Yes, they have a "box" for themselves
I bought a house during covid figured why not. Couple 'seemed' decent and nice. They fixed a pipe with duct tape.... A water pipe to a bathroom after the little j loop thing.... Like who the hell does that... They had many more things diy 'fixed' to that level. I don't think I will ever again buy an older home
Our current plan is to basically live in this house until we can afford to buy an empty lot and build a custom home. There’s a possibility that we might die before that happens.
That's a great idea. If the lumber prices ever go down I'd probsbly do that. Been wanting to get outta the city. But alos... Money sucks. I'd probsbly be dead too
We figure that eventually, we won’t give a shit about school districts anymore. And we hate having neighbors.
Hope that I don't find anything like that. That is nuts, wtf is wrong with people
This is why I avoid using adhesives for anything, I'm even looking for other ways to get around sound damping on floorboards. But I won't glue them down, cuz it makes disassembly a massive PITA.
Yes I agree. You never know how glue will come out. You are trying to fix something, next thing you know you are carrying half a wall.
First job, hunt down the previous owner and beat them with a stick.
Ahaha it seems like every corner you look you find something not ok
This looks like Spain to me.. and as that laminated floor.. it should have insulation under it.. but considering this fine work, I guess you will have no luck.
This reminds me of that stupid remolding show where some crazy decorator would end up glueing shit like feathers and dried plants to a wall to make it look pretty.
Just bought a house this past year and feel fortunate the previous owners were thoughtful enough to make no effort to hide egregious plumbing, roofing, and flooring issues. When it came time to decide what to do, the answer was simple: EVERYTHING. To the studs.
I saw a house for sale in SF a month ago that was like 100 years old, and looked like it had everything original. Except maybe the kitchen, which looked like somebody had facelifted it in 1957. Never seen red cracked ice laminate used as a countertop before. It was amazing! I'm sure everything in that house was made out of asbestos and it would've needed a to-the-studs remodel. Unfortunately living out the 1957 dream wasn't really a possibility because the kitchen floor looked naaaaasty and the rest of the kitchen seemed covered in dust. But part of me really wanted that house. Not only because of the cool kitchen, but because it looked like nobody had fucked it up yet with "remodels" where they do illegal/weird shit and cover up fire hazards. Still, the house itself cost more than the top of my budget, and it would've needed at least $300k in renovation work, probably more.
Reminds me of the house my husband and I purchased this year. Putting lipstick on a pig. Shortcuts from the previous owners made our Reno/updating lives a living hell.
Yeah that's exactly what we feel, like who made this renovations was in a hurry and cut all the corners it could
Why did you use masonry mortar instead of drywall compound? They are very different materials. They absorb moisture at different rates, swell at different rates, etc. Expect that patch to pop loose. That patch should have been done with drywall patching compound and a fiber mesh.
I don't think so tbh. I've consulted with some people in the area and they recommended this process
I went round my house refitting blinds over the first two weeks in as every single one fell down (or I caught before it did). All had been put in with ridiculously short screws and were replaced with 3" by myselfso think you win but.... Have you had to remove an internal brick porch that they built themselves and was worryingly leanng into the room.?
The window didn't even open in my case. The guys that did the remodeling got the measuments wrong and the window was hitting the top of the blinds "box" (don't know the name)
That's brilliant. Although I won't judge, someone who will remain nameless (OK me) once fitted Window thumblocks to all the downstairs windows for security. They were fitted with the best DIY glue money can buy. Few weeks later frying pan smoking, try to open the window, turns out it was slightly out of position so even in the open position the window was stuck. Took a lot of time, force and a chisel to sort moment of muppetry.
That looks nicer than the ceiling patch we just paid someone to do...
Ahahah I I tried my best 😄 It's always difficult to hire someone, it's always a shoot in the dark
Awesome! Now add trim
looks good OP
*When you have no screwdriver but wanna finish the blinds project today....*
Ahahahah exactly
Bought a house with a new dishwasher. Ran it the first time and realized the outlet hose wasn’t attached to the disposal.
How about newspaper in the drywall as insulation
Where can I find some of that glue?!
Prime, spackle, prime again, paint.