Bodges you’ve seen.
Discussion
The house we are living in at the moment was built by local co back in 2003. We bought it in 2007 from the family who had it built but never moved into. You would hope that a reasonable level of fit and finish was applied. Don't know what made me decide to remove the bath panel on the day that we moved in, but glad that I did. Found that the bath drain was not connected to the u-trap; any water would have just flooded under the bath and through the ceiling. Toilet cistern not screwed to wall only fixed via outlet to bowl! Bent architrave, most not attached properly, skirting left loose. 3 ceiling lights in lounge wired up in the most odd way, 3 way light switch used. To switch on number 2 you had to switch on number 1, likewise 3 you had to switch on 1 and 2, instead of being able to switch on individual lamps! Worse problem was the smell that pervaded in the downstairs loo and shower room, We had drain experts in with cameras poking down looking under floor and through the pipes, couldn't find anything amiss. After 3 years I decided to revamp the room with nicer units and walk in shower. After ripping up the existing shower tray and re-jigging the drainage to suit the new tray meant that I would need to lift some of the flooring to gain access to the pipework. What I found was a complete cock-up; drains from shower, hand basin and one from the washing machine in the utility room next door going into a 4 inch main. Imaging you are standing above the open main drain with the 3 smaller pipes with elbows pointing down into the main, well there you will have a gap between the pipes which is going to let all pongs straight up. Absolutely no sealing whatever! Height of incompetence to say the least. Anyway, I did rehash it all and we have never had an issue with it. It just amazes me that some people are so stupid.
Zarco said:
PositronicRay said:
Tiling around a bread bin.
Hang on, what?Is this a fitted bread bin that could not be moved? Never realised there was such a thing.
A friend I grew up with lived in a bungalow with his Mum, she was always moaning at him to clean his room, she could smell his skanky clothes from the hallway.
A few years later I was under the floor fixing a bust heating pipe to the towel rail, and the bath drain wasn't plumbed to anywhere - just dumping the water onto the ground below. no bodged attempt to connect it to anything, just a little stub of pipe dropping through the floor.
I told her about it, but didn't fix it... I was already fixing the heating pipe for free and certainly wasn't about to go "knee wading" through the swamp below. Turns out that water dropping out of a bath for a few years makes a nice underfloor pond for itself!
A few years later I was under the floor fixing a bust heating pipe to the towel rail, and the bath drain wasn't plumbed to anywhere - just dumping the water onto the ground below. no bodged attempt to connect it to anything, just a little stub of pipe dropping through the floor.
I told her about it, but didn't fix it... I was already fixing the heating pipe for free and certainly wasn't about to go "knee wading" through the swamp below. Turns out that water dropping out of a bath for a few years makes a nice underfloor pond for itself!
guindilias said:
A friend I grew up with lived in a bungalow with his Mum, she was always moaning at him to clean his room, she could smell his skanky clothes from the hallway.
A few years later I was under the floor fixing a bust heating pipe to the towel rail, and the bath drain wasn't plumbed to anywhere - just dumping the water onto the ground below. no bodged attempt to connect it to anything, just a little stub of pipe dropping through the floor.
I told her about it, but didn't fix it... I was already fixing the heating pipe for free and certainly wasn't about to go "knee wading" through the swamp below. Turns out that water dropping out of a bath for a few years makes a nice underfloor pond for itself!
A niece purchased a 12 yr old house. The downstairs toilet had never been connected, she found out a few days after the housewarming. A few years later I was under the floor fixing a bust heating pipe to the towel rail, and the bath drain wasn't plumbed to anywhere - just dumping the water onto the ground below. no bodged attempt to connect it to anything, just a little stub of pipe dropping through the floor.
I told her about it, but didn't fix it... I was already fixing the heating pipe for free and certainly wasn't about to go "knee wading" through the swamp below. Turns out that water dropping out of a bath for a few years makes a nice underfloor pond for itself!
Joyrider1 said:
Another one I found..sold the old range oven that was here when we bought the house - the night before I thought I’d disconnect it but couldn’t find where it was wired into....through a bit of trial and error I cut out the back of the kitchen cupboard next to it and found this:
We had something similar in our current abode. En suite with really thick tiles cut around a high level fused switch for a towel rail.You'd never get the unit apart for tile and grout. They had grouted, we suspect, using the all in one adhesive/grout, failed to clean it off properly leaving a surface like coarse sandpaper.
Add that to the regular smell from the shower. Turns out they expert plumber had fitted a new shower in a different part of the room, then connected the waste to the old using a flexible pipe under the joists but with sags and a backfall. Nice,
PositronicRay said:
A niece purchased a 12 yr old house. The downstairs toilet had never been connected, she found out a few days after the housewarming.
The first question she asked my when I told her was "Oh God, what about the toilet? Is there sh
it all over the place?"I told her yes, and she went white - I had no idea she was prone to panic attacks. Then I was able to reassure her that the sh
it all over the place was bits of wood, asbestos board, and about 5 or 6 freestanding lamps that had been sawn off at the top leaving just enough of a grip to hold them and navigate through the numerous holes knocked in the walls under the boards - all wired in with choc blocks to the nearest leccy cable. Don't really know how it came about - the last owner was her dad, who although a homicidal maniac (former South African Police, so a job requirement), was also 95 and unable to do much except shuffle around on a Zimmer.
But all the lamp stubs I brought back up were from family stuff he had told her he sold to a guy who called at the door asking if he had any antiques he would like to sell...
That's a pretty common scam round here, but the house was still full of the valuable antiques!
Bought a house last year, mid terrace with shared access drive separating a little bit of garden from the main garden and the garage. Power and light in the garage, which was good; but regular 13A cable through to the drive, visible in places, disappearing under the drive (at unknown depth) before reappearing to go through the garage wall and into conduit. This was "protected" by fitting an in line 3A fuse. We had asked the electrician who replaced the consumer unit to check out the rest of the property. He wouldn't sign anything off until the garage connections were put right with some proper armoured cable buried to the correct depth...
Joyrider1 said:
MOBB said:
Joyrider1 said:
This was one of my particular favourite 'discoveries' in my house:
(condensed house renovation thread here for further bodges found: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Could you tell me what paint you used in the lounge, the dark grey colour. Wife wants to know :-)(condensed house renovation thread here for further bodges found: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
miroku1 said:
Darkslider said:
Think that used to be quite common was it when people didn’t have fitted carpets but a rug of some kind ?
vaud said:
Turn7 said:
im no Sparks, what are we looking for here ?
The water pipe running straight over the box? We had similar in a rented house in the 1980s. Also means you can earth (or live if you are out by one wire) onto your cold water supply so when the wife tries to put a knife in the toaster to get burnt toast out whilst holding the tap filling the kettle for a cuppa you get ta "little" shock. Helps train your heart my sparky mate says. Mind you he also says Fcku a lot.
My washing machine was making clunking noises. I checked online and everywhere suggested bearings, but the thing span without issue.
I found a YouTube video suggesting shocks, so took a look underneath. One of the shocks was indeed loose, but had done so by ripping a hole in the base. Problem identified - I need a replacement piece of metal to act as a long slim washer. Hmm.. I don’t have any scrap metal and I’m sure as hell not buying something for this bodge!
Fortunately my magpie wife regularly comes home with cutlery from the work canteen. (Unfortunately she also leaves our good stuff there
) - problem solved!
I actually have a spare washing machine in the garage, but couldn’t be bothered to move all the stuff in its way and drag it down to the house - gotta be worth a couple of extra bodge points?!
I found a YouTube video suggesting shocks, so took a look underneath. One of the shocks was indeed loose, but had done so by ripping a hole in the base. Problem identified - I need a replacement piece of metal to act as a long slim washer. Hmm.. I don’t have any scrap metal and I’m sure as hell not buying something for this bodge!
Fortunately my magpie wife regularly comes home with cutlery from the work canteen. (Unfortunately she also leaves our good stuff there
) - problem solved! I actually have a spare washing machine in the garage, but couldn’t be bothered to move all the stuff in its way and drag it down to the house - gotta be worth a couple of extra bodge points?!
Seen this a while back on Facebook, it was posted by the company doing the work to advertise their services. I’ve seen plenty of waste pipe notched into joists but never a soil pipe. Its hard to see the exact dimensions of the joists but it looks like they have cut out 80% ish of the joist, even worse is that it’s carrying the other joists too.
Little Lofty said:
Seen this a while back on Facebook, it was posted by the company doing the work to advertise their services. I’ve seen plenty of waste pipe notched into joists but never a soil pipe. Its hard to see the exact dimensions of the joists but it looks like they have cut out 80% ish of the joist, even worse is that it’s carrying the other joists too.
Just finished putting new joists in one.Most of the old sistered like so with 3” wire nails
And if you don’t want to rewire, just slot the joist
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