The Dumb Things DIYers Do...

[POC]

I built my house.
Between our kitchen and living room we have a short wall, we were going to put a bar top against it as a place to sit and eat, while talking to someone in the kitchen. In the mean-time we've put the cabinets in on the kitchen side of the short wall and my dad built a huge, beautiful cedar china cabinet for my wife that takes up the area that was going to be open to the kitchen (a china-wall). I had placed eletrical outlets in the short wall, at normal height on the living room side, and above the backsplash on the kitchen side....none of them have power....:thumbsup: :ashamed:

 

[tallyho8]

The previous owners of my home had completely sealed the attic with no vents "so that hot air couldn't get in".

 

[CompactTractorFan]

We also have: a bathroom vent vented to the attic, and no vent on the washer drain pipe (resulted to sewer smell).

 

[kenstrac]

We also have: a bathroom vent vented to the attic, and no vent on the washer drain pipe (resulted to sewer smell).

You might try adding a trap to the washer drain to stop sewer gasses from entering the house.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

You might try adding a trap to the washer drain to stop sewer gasses from entering the house.

I should have said had. We installed a vent pipe to the roof (it was a pretty simple job).

 

[/pine]

I should have said had. We installed a vent pipe to the roof (it was a pretty simple job).

you can also get what is sometimes called an Auto vent they let in air to assist drainage without venting gas...

 

[Arky217]

How about a 3" cast iron pipe from the toilet to septic tank run from the toilet at one edge of the slab in to the middle of the slab, then 90 degrees out to the adjacent edge of the slab on out to the septic tank with no cleanouts.

Then the second owner builds a cement/rock patio completely over the septic line from the house to two feet beyond the entrance to the septic tank. And in doing so add enough fill dirt first to now make the top of the septic tank over 3 feet deep!

 

[rekees4300]

Then the second owner builds a cement/rock patio completely over the septic line

That's called a let-the-next-guy-deal-with-it project. :mur:

 

[CompactTractorFan]

you can also get what is sometimes called an Auto vent they let in air to assist drainage without venting gas...

Yeah, I think we installed one of them on the sink which had no vent, or maybe that's still on the list...:laughing:

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have an old house that was moved from Holcut a town that was wiped out wen the Tenn Tom water way was dug. Nothing here was flush straight or square. I think they hit every culvert on the way over. SOme other folks had this place before my parnets bought it. All the wood is sawmilled oak and pine. So when doing construction its hit or miss when a nail will go in lol. It was added onto before my parents bought it and later after they had it it burnt. Dad wanted to bulldoze the house but while he was at work for 2 weeks mom cleaned the house out. THen they started back with it.


Over the years since I owned the house I have fixed all the problems dads buddy carpenters or sad stories hes hired over the years to fix things. WHen Mom and dad divorced dad and I worked 70 hours a week and hired a lady to clean house. Her husband had a cabinet shop and did costruction work was what she told him. Dad hired him to fix the old main bathroom. I told dad this guy looked like a Dipsh**t and I didnt trust him. Dad let him finish the job and after a few suspect things my suspiscions came true.

We came home to the tub/shower unit put together wrong. He put it i without using a level to check it for plum and square. I stood in the shower and the side wall was 8 inches closer to me than the lower wall. THe he filled all the gaps with caulk all this on a caulk less tub. The tub was also unlevel on 2 planes when filled. Dad called him and he told pop Well I just butted it against the old wall. He came back and halfway fixed it. Later when I boughtthe house the tub fell over one way. He had shimmed it with thinwall pvc pipes. He also had fixed the sink drain with 4 different pipes.

His wife was a great house keeper and I kept her on for a while till one day when I came home and had a note saying that she needed more money than wat I had left. She flipped a light switch on and it arced and tripped the breaker. She called her husband and he came and fixed it with an hour minimum bill for 60 dollars an hour. Plus 5.50 for a light switch. The kicker was other that i could have fixed it ad had a new matching spare in the utility drawer. He had a spare and it was an old brown light switch like you would see in a shop. I fixed it right later and let the house keeper go to.


After I had married I was in the closet on the addition of the house theres an inspection panel and i was checking it and heard water draining as Amy was draining the tub. I went under the house and the goofy carpenter when replacing the drains and the floor in the bathroom he had stepped on the thinwall drain pipe and broken holes in it. THat wasnt the problem the main problem was he hadnt connected the tube drain to the grey water drain to the septic tank. 3 whole feet gone of pipe hadnt been put in.

 

[zythinl]

HAHA WOW i love this post i gotta add mine.. so my house is over 100 years old and i grew up in it so i "Thought" i knew what i was gettin into. well >...
started remodeling and redoing electrical because i thought it was all knob and tube what i found was knob and tube through the walls then on the runs they put BARE COPPER WIRE through the ceramic tubes.. THAT i could not understand how ther was no fire couldnt get worse then this HA went into the crawlspace with a buddy of mine running new wire and he ran his arm over and all we seen was sparks like crazy.. well it was a 220 line run as bare wire just wraped around the old glass ceramic knobs but smaller then the ones on elecrical poles :O and yes my buddy got burned good but is ok now. so what else did i find well there was a 15 amp breaker i traced to find out it was run outside to the light, and all of garage, and all of TWO other out barns that are like 30X50 or so for farm use. now i know why i could never run anything out ther,.. also this place is made of solid native timber, NONE strait nor 16 on center IF u can find one ull never get a nail in it right, also found out i had 2 small walls that consisted of 2 2x4 that were just toe nailed then dry wall put up between them at 8 ft between them :O so im glad i gots that outa my system only if it is a small bit of what i have found so far

 

[Bird]

zythinl, I wonder how many of our members are too young to even know what you're talking about with such things as ceramic knobs. And I don't even know when they quit using such things. About 30 years ago, I installed some ceiling fans for my parents in a home that was built about 1921-22 and my grandparents bought in 1943 and I found those things in the attic.

 

[turnkey4099]

Redoing plumbing. Original entered dthrough North basement wall, ran to SE corner and Back almost to point of entry to the HW heater then back to bath on South Wall... I took out enough 1/2" galv pipe to replumb two houses.

Wiring. Replaced all wireing with romex and new boxes. Removed one outlet box in Living room (West side of house) - lost the power to an outbuiling NE of house. Found they had run from box centered in the basement to west side to that box, then clear back across the basement to the East side. Still sstuck with a 3-way switch using two wire romex as the legs (black an white wire) connected to the white from a different circuit in the outbuilding.

Harry K

 

[DavidVT]

Bought Dad a garden tractor in the 70's for his summer camp (now my year round home).
At the end of the summer he needed a place to park it for the winter.

A friend cut the sill at the far end of the house so Dad could drive the tractor into the house.

The tractor was still running a few years ago by the guy who Dad gave it to. But the end of my house is at least 8 inches out of square now due to that sill being cut..

Got to love a 170 year old farm house...

As to wiring, except for finding reverse wired GFIs when I rewired it, it is pretty good.
Plumbing and venting continue to be a challenge, ferncos are my friend and I don't like cast and lead sewer pipes much any more....
The curtains stopped blowing in the winter after I replaced all the windows.

Should have Bulldozed it but emotions got in the way... what was I thinking...

 

[von-mil]

Speaking of "Let the next people deal with it", my mother purchased a home where someone installed a water heater, THEN decided to enclose it in a closet. When the time came to replace the water heater, we discovered that the old one could not be removed without tearing apart the door frame first. Her replacement heater now resides in the garage - three feet away from her new broom closet.

 

[dmccarty]

The previous owners of my home had completely sealed the attic with no vents "so that hot air couldn't get in".

This actually is not a bad idea. If it is done correctly. The IF is the hard part.

JLC Online - Article - Roof Ventilation Update

If one has AC ducts in the attic it is a good idea to consider sealing the attic from outside air. Our HVAC ducts are in the attic and I really wanted to seal off the attic. But I knew it would be a battle with the inspectors. It looks like after we built the house the building code changed to make vent free attics a bit easier to do.

If we had a crawl space we would have gone vent free. If the inspectors had fought us over the issue we would have not what they required to get a CO and then fixed it after moving in to the house.

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

If one has AC ducts in the attic it is a good idea to consider sealing the attic from outside air.

I think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone in the building business or HVAC business. I think your link was talking about "northern" homes; not homes in my area. At any rate, I have the AC ducts in the attic, pretty much covered by blown in insulation, we have soffit vents (some of which may have gotten partially blocked by the insulation, and I had two wind turbines installed since we've been here and the attic stays noticeably cooler since the installation of the wind turbines.

 

[Travelover]

I think you'd have a hard time convincing anyone in the building business or HVAC business. I think your link was talking about "northern" homes; not homes in my area. At any rate, I have the AC ducts in the attic, pretty much covered by blown in insulation, we have soffit vents (some of which may have gotten partially blocked by the insulation, and I had two wind turbines installed since we've been here and the attic stays noticeably cooler since the installation of the wind turbines.

Agree. Get one of those indoor / outdoor thermometers with the wireless remote and stick the remote in the attic. You will be amazed at the temperatures up in the summer.

 

[wykubotaguy]

I am a licensed electrician and have seen lots of nightmares in house and shops. Today had customer call that furnace wasn't working. Tested power to furnace found open neutral. Was able to trace back and found junction in light fixture box. The nuetral for the furnace was attached to the ground screw on the fixture bar (wth!). Light that was fed downstream from that had neutral wire capped going to it. Pulled down that fixture and found a neutral wire that was coming from somewhere in ceiling. Later found that wire was bonded to the water pipe and used as a neutral. Crazy, plumber could have cut pipe and been electrocuted.
Another service call, customer called and said contractors had cut line somehow. Contractors were replacing water line in street. Found main neutral feeder had come loose and water pipe bond was beeing used a neutral back to power pole through the ground.
Bird, Knob and Tube wiring is a still acceptable practice per the National Electric Code.

 

[chopped]

Imagine it this one went over into the water?
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