Bodges you’ve seen.
Discussion
I recall looking around a potential house purchase around 30 years ago and in the lounge there was a large (for those days) 27" TV set into the wall, of which the seller was very proud. When we got to the (small) kitchen however, the back of the TV cabinet was projecting into the kitchen with all the power & aerial connections just hanging loose. Those of us old enough to remember the days before flat screens will know how bulky TV sets were. Needless to say we didn't buy as that spoke volumes about what else may lie unseen.
In our first house the previous owners had built a garage and remodelled the garden at some point. The garage had 3 strip lights, 6 double plugs, and an outside plug. They also had 4 garden lights, and a 1600W outdoor patio heater on the wall. All of this, was spurred off a double socket in the kitchen, which also powered the washing machine and fridge freezer.
The best part? He was a sparky.
The best part? He was a sparky.
Alan535 said:
blingybongy said:
Do you recall what the people were saying ?looks like the woman is angry?
In my first house in the early 80s (wish had pics) there was an odd box in corner of dodgy extension. Too big for pipes etc
When I took it down, they had plaster boarded over an old built in floor to ceiling shelving unit.
Even had some glasses on the shelf
Was a great house, repossession, previous owners heavy drug addicts...
Father in law helped strip it out.
In the spare bedroom there was a carpet, too big for the room. Had dried dog poo under it! They had 5+ dogs
Happy days. Took a couple of years to hone my DIY skills on!
When I took it down, they had plaster boarded over an old built in floor to ceiling shelving unit.
Even had some glasses on the shelf
Was a great house, repossession, previous owners heavy drug addicts...
Father in law helped strip it out.
In the spare bedroom there was a carpet, too big for the room. Had dried dog poo under it! They had 5+ dogs
Happy days. Took a couple of years to hone my DIY skills on!
Triumph Man said:
Similar to that, 5 years ago I had my house pretty much re-plumbed (conventional boiler, gravity fed heating system with immersion tank replaced with big ass combi boiler and pressurised system) and pretty much rewired. In the airing cupboard where the hot water tank used to live there is still a switched spur for the immersion with tell tale light. I pressed it the other day (don't know why) and it lit up...
I've got the same thing and have re-tasked it to provide power for the networking equipment that I've placed in my loft. Labelled accordingly of course.Proved very handy!
PrinceRupert said:
We are finding endless bodges in our new house.
Favourite might be the extension with no electrics - the wall lights are wired by a cable plastered into the wall and plugged into an extension cable. Another extension cable was daisy chained through this hole in the wall.
Built in wardrobes he was proud of having built himself. We didnt open them when viewing. We had expected white shelves not a crumbling old hearth thirty year old wallpaper and roughly cut plywood.
|https://thumbsnap.com/Tnyu4saw[/url]
The flooring in all rooms looks like it was cut and fitted by someone with no thumbs. No rooms have thresholds fitted. Some rooms have wooden edges fitted...half are upside down, some are not attached.
Some of the kitchen units aren't attached to the walls.
The bathroom tap is so close to the edge of the sink you cannot get your hands under it without rubbing them against the ceramic.
I have yet to work out what this is (removable piece of wood under back door).
The kitchen has a wood ceiling fitted...badly. Falling off in places and has random chunks cut out of it. Who knows what horrors it is hiding.
This.
[url]
Kitchen draws that appear to be put together by expanding foam.
|https://thumbsnap.com/3JW6yDDj[/url]
And the list goes on and on ...
It’s drawers, not draws. Favourite might be the extension with no electrics - the wall lights are wired by a cable plastered into the wall and plugged into an extension cable. Another extension cable was daisy chained through this hole in the wall.
Built in wardrobes he was proud of having built himself. We didnt open them when viewing. We had expected white shelves not a crumbling old hearth thirty year old wallpaper and roughly cut plywood.
|https://thumbsnap.com/Tnyu4saw[/url]The flooring in all rooms looks like it was cut and fitted by someone with no thumbs. No rooms have thresholds fitted. Some rooms have wooden edges fitted...half are upside down, some are not attached.
Some of the kitchen units aren't attached to the walls.
The bathroom tap is so close to the edge of the sink you cannot get your hands under it without rubbing them against the ceramic.
I have yet to work out what this is (removable piece of wood under back door).
The kitchen has a wood ceiling fitted...badly. Falling off in places and has random chunks cut out of it. Who knows what horrors it is hiding.
This.
[url]Kitchen draws that appear to be put together by expanding foam.
|https://thumbsnap.com/3JW6yDDj[/url]And the list goes on and on ...
K50 DEL said:
Triumph Man said:
Similar to that, 5 years ago I had my house pretty much re-plumbed (conventional boiler, gravity fed heating system with immersion tank replaced with big ass combi boiler and pressurised system) and pretty much rewired. In the airing cupboard where the hot water tank used to live there is still a switched spur for the immersion with tell tale light. I pressed it the other day (don't know why) and it lit up...
I've got the same thing and have re-tasked it to provide power for the networking equipment that I've placed in my loft. Labelled accordingly of course.Proved very handy!
4 years ago we were house hunting and the following nearly made us stay put considering we had viewed a lot of houses and were getting a bit tired of it all.....
Turns up at an appointment that had been made 5 days earlier. The owners were not surprised to see us and invited us in.
It was clear that they were in the middle of a programme of “improvements” all diy and lasting a period of years rather than weeks or months because they had been doing the work themselves with little regard for building regs or how things would look to people coming to view.
Goes to what looked like the dining room and there’s a circular type saw on the floor in the room with cut marks and grooves in the wall that were shaped like a doorway. The female commented that she had started to cut a door way into the wall to get her husband a head start on doing up the kitchen which was the other side of the wall.
Husband and wife were having a right laugh about it, making jokes about how she does most of the diy. I walked around to the kitchen to find a range cooker and full complement of kitchen units on the opposite side of the wall she had been cutting a doorway in to.
I wish I had kept the pics of the property.
Turns up at an appointment that had been made 5 days earlier. The owners were not surprised to see us and invited us in.
It was clear that they were in the middle of a programme of “improvements” all diy and lasting a period of years rather than weeks or months because they had been doing the work themselves with little regard for building regs or how things would look to people coming to view.
Goes to what looked like the dining room and there’s a circular type saw on the floor in the room with cut marks and grooves in the wall that were shaped like a doorway. The female commented that she had started to cut a door way into the wall to get her husband a head start on doing up the kitchen which was the other side of the wall.
Husband and wife were having a right laugh about it, making jokes about how she does most of the diy. I walked around to the kitchen to find a range cooker and full complement of kitchen units on the opposite side of the wall she had been cutting a doorway in to.
I wish I had kept the pics of the property.
I could write a book,
things like dig out 3m through fill for foundations,
decide they had not costed for extra concrete or wall, so filled the trench back in, and smear concrete on top,
wonder why the extension settled?
or new houses in a quarry, supposed to remove fill and backfill with layers of stone, then raft over,
done over a weekend, all stoned up.
after a year you could roll a ball from the rear to the front, it rolled back on its own,
or someone swapping insulated panels for the wrong ones on a block of flats.........
things like dig out 3m through fill for foundations,
decide they had not costed for extra concrete or wall, so filled the trench back in, and smear concrete on top,
wonder why the extension settled?
or new houses in a quarry, supposed to remove fill and backfill with layers of stone, then raft over,
done over a weekend, all stoned up.
after a year you could roll a ball from the rear to the front, it rolled back on its own,
or someone swapping insulated panels for the wrong ones on a block of flats.........
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 ?
Getragdogleg said:
A friend discovered a hidden room, well, there was a stud wall that when removed gave them an extra 6ft or so of an existing room. It had a fireplace and alcoves either side and it was a total mystery as to why it had been hidden and so much room just walled off.
Has he had a look under the floor? Just a thought. Minor ones. Last owner had a front porch and downstairs loo extension added. There's a light in the porch, but you couldn't turn it on until you'd got to the hall. There is a light switch in the porch, but only for the outside light. The supply for an extra socket in the dining room ran over the side path from the garage. Well of course.
I encountered one recently which sadly I don't have a photo of.
I was overboarding my fascias and there was an approx. 7ft section which had been planed back into a mini arch. The section was in line with a window frame and I discovered the reason a little later when trying to fully open the windows.
I was overboarding my fascias and there was an approx. 7ft section which had been planed back into a mini arch. The section was in line with a window frame and I discovered the reason a little later when trying to fully open the windows.
Triumph Man said:
K50 DEL said:
Triumph Man said:
Similar to that, 5 years ago I had my house pretty much re-plumbed (conventional boiler, gravity fed heating system with immersion tank replaced with big ass combi boiler and pressurised system) and pretty much rewired. In the airing cupboard where the hot water tank used to live there is still a switched spur for the immersion with tell tale light. I pressed it the other day (don't know why) and it lit up...
I've got the same thing and have re-tasked it to provide power for the networking equipment that I've placed in my loft. Labelled accordingly of course.Proved very handy!
505diff said:
Very common in 1930’s houses, just a rug in the middle of the room with the outer area stained
If you put it into context then I suppose it might have meant a little half pint tin of varnish would have stretched to doing the whole house, rather than all being used up on one room. Perhaps a sobering insight into what it really meant to be cash strapped circa 100 years ago rather than an amusing 'not my job' incident.thebraketester said:
Alan535 said:
blingybongy said:
Do you recall what the people were saying ?looks like the woman is angry?Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff