Share your "wtf" homeowner stories (Page 2 of 3)
| When I had my siding done a few years ago, the crew discovered that who ever built the extension to my house in the early 2000's ran out of plywood for sheathing at one point, and used the top of a Formica table instead. |
"Life is too serious to be taken seriously" - Ray Bradbury
KoW callsign 'Ribs'
KoW callsign 'Ribs'
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Originally Posted By 56xdx_Z: A long time ago when I was renting, we rented a town house that had a laundry room and included the washer and dryer. The dryer output had no tube connected, the accordion tube was pushed back into the wall, and the dryer was just venting into the hole the wall. That could have been a disaster if someone rented it and never paid attention lol I rented a town house where they piped the dryer output directly into the insulated attic space with no tube or pipe to the outside. The HVAC ducts ran through the attic, and the dryer lint always made it back inside. They had a fire there a year or so after I moved out, and I'm pretty sure it was related to that. |
"Life is too serious to be taken seriously" - Ray Bradbury
KoW callsign 'Ribs'
KoW callsign 'Ribs'
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I find it helpful to remind myself that this house was built by a collection of the lowest bidders! Just couple of the many items I've repaired, house built in 1975. The original ductwork was all hard pipe and held together with only duct tape. The only screws were at the adapters attaching the new units to the old duct. I replaced all the ductwork for the first floor package unit myself so it no longer conditions the crawlspace. Second floor unit will be a future project. Landlocked powder room had a fan vented into the floor joists above, no ductwork at all. Dryer vent dumped into the crawlspace. I believe the previous owners renovated the kitchen after hurricane Hugo. They had a floor to ceiling cabinet built to hold a wall oven with a microwave in an opening above it but no receptacle for the microwave. Their solution was to tap the 30 amp 240V circuit serving the wall oven. Idiot took a piece of 12/2 and bugged one leg onto one of the 240V legs and then used the ground conductor as a neutral for the 120V microwave rec. |
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Originally Posted By Chatnoir: Newly weds our first house. 1951 brick 2 bedroom one bath fixer upper in a nice neighborhood. No basement built on a slab. We've been there awhile. There's a pile of leftover scrap wood in front of the right hand garage stall. It was a pretty big pile. Used some pieces here and there. Decided I should clean it up. Almost fell in when I discovered a staircase going down... Rotten wood and 2 feet of water at the bottom! This was surely a bomb shelter at some point. It extended our under the backyard. Broke the concrete roof and filled it in with dirt. Yes that was not in the disclosure. I hope the gimp got out of there before you filled it in |
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Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: I've been doing tons of updates/upgrades to my new house. Nearly every single thing I dig into results in "what the actual fuck is this fucking shit?" Today I went to replace a toilet wax ring. I preemptively bought two since it's a tile floor on the concrete slab. Yank off the shitter to find two horned rings stacked. The flange studs also pulled straight out since they were way too small for the flange. Did I mention the stud covers were filled with caulk and then put on? This was my grandparents' house - despite being an amazing wood worker my grandfather shouldn't have touched anything else  At my old house it was very late and I was dead asleep. My daughter woke me up saying she hears water dripping in the basement. I get out of bed dazed and confused to find half my carpet soaked. The master bathroom shitter tank cracked open. It had not been manipulated or worked on in any way, it just spontaneously cracked in an area near no hardware. The worst part? My wife had a ton of storage containers in the basement with the lids removed. The water wicked along every joist and pipe to rain down everywhere. Years ago, one of our toilets spontaneously cracked |
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In my first house there was a blank plate on the wall in the kitchen. I got curious and found two 10 gauge wires behind it, uncapped, about an half inch apart. They were two hot legs of a 240v circuit and both were currently hot. I’d lived there for a couple years at that point. |
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My neighbor called the sheriff about my trees that barely hang over into her yard after I just had them trimmed a few months ago. Meanwhile she removed all her foliage and mulched her entire front and backyard. It looks like a barren wasteland. I told the sheriff that the next time she calls him he should tell her I’m not home because I’m not answering the door. He laughed and said that was fine. The neighbor is old and batshit crazy. |
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Originally Posted By dclark77: About 15 years ago I looked at a Foreclosure in the OKC area. Garage door opener was missing, motor, chain everything. Walked into the Master bathroom, smelled like a skunk. Realtor tried to convince me it was outside. I didn't put a bid on it. Found out a few weeks later, one of the managers at work lived 2-3 houses down. Said new owners moved in, whole house stunk, guess the previous owner hid a dead skunk under the tub in the master bath. Originally Posted By dclark77: Originally Posted By LoBrau: When we moved into our first house, we discovered that the previous owners took the toilet paper holders, linen closet shelves, and the mailbox+post when they left. Foreclosure, so we couldn't do anything about it, but it seemed petty. Beyond that, pretty sure I'm the one the current owner is now saying wtf about. Found out a few weeks later, one of the managers at work lived 2-3 houses down. Said new owners moved in, whole house stunk, guess the previous owner hid a dead skunk under the tub in the master bath. Oh yeah, the garage door opener was gone too. Probably some other stuff I can't remember. Wish we'd never moved out, I touched nearly every inch of that house making it a better place to live over the 16 years it was ours. I especially miss the mortgage I had on it. 
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Originally Posted By YourAlterEgo: 😂 As a traffic guy, I hear complaints about too much traffic behind their house, well its an arterial roadway, freeway noise, school traffic… Well these things all existed prior to you buying your home.. did you ever think to take a peak outside the home before buying, or did you think you found the deal of the day everyone else was to dumb to catch 😂 Funny story, my ex-GF was house shopping and found this really great place, priced well below market, and of course the agent was pushing for as fast a close as possible. On a hunch she just started walking down the street, knocking on doors, and introduced herself and asked everyone if they had any reason to not live there. Turns out there was a very, very active railway siding that wasn't visible but less than 1/4 mile away that had train horns blaring regularly in the wee hours of the morning, and no one wanted to live there. |
| Good friend of mine was doing some work in his basement, pulled an outlet cover off the wall, only to find out there were two receptacle stacked over top of one another, with wiring daisy chain to off the original receptacle to the new receptacle. Not that it probably mattered all that much at that point, but it was not grounded either. |
Always blame autocorrect.
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My son in law inspected a house that had a commode on the landing at the top of the stairs in a two story house, and no surrounding walls. He had another with significant fire damage in the attic that was far beyond a scorch. |
Keep your powder dry, and watch your back trail.
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Originally Posted By Frank_B: I've been in this house for over 40 years and there's a switch in the garage I still haven't figured out what it controls. There are wires going to it, but neither are hot. Had same in my back sun porch for 10 + yrs. When I remodeled it a few years ago, I fixed that issue but found one of the ceiling fans had its wires twisted to an old two prong lamp wire and that wire ran to an outlet buried in the ceiling rafters. No wire nuts or tape on the twist connection.
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Originally Posted By safes2small: Came home one day to find a new neighbors fence 12’ into my 1/4 acre lot. When doing some work on my mom’s 40 year old house she’s been in since new. We discovered the exterior walls that had exterior brick didn’t have insulation. Our brick house from the ‘50s had newspaper in the walls. |
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Originally Posted By neshomamench: We had the former homeowner keep showing up and asking for things. (Absurd little stuff like wall hooks) It happened 3-4 times in the months after we moved in. It was random and she really wanted in the house. Do you think that she remembered she had something hidden and wanted to get it? |
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Three layers of drywall with paint and wallpaper in the master bathroom. One stud larger than all the rest to cause the wall to swim outward. Laundry chute and window drywalled over. Clothes dryer vented across the basement ceiling with flex pipe and no fan. That was a fire hazard. |
I've lived in my house about 14 years. I bought it from the original owners wife after he passed away. They had purchased the house when it was structurally complete but completely unfinished inside. The husband was a do it yourselfer that did everything himself and never used one nail when 12 were available. Every improvement we've done since has turned into an adventure, I couldn't list all the nonsensical half assed work I've found over the years but I did save one of them because it's both working and amusing. He did the duct work himself and must have been short one metal patch to seal an unused opening in the basement duct work so he simply riveted a Maxwell coffee can over the hole, sealed it and called it good. It's probably been there 50 years. The guys name was Dick so my wife and I refer to this stuff as a Dick Move. Attached File |
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Originally Posted By Ex_GI: Years ago, one of our toilets spontaneously cracked Originally Posted By Ex_GI: Originally Posted By Into_the_Void: I've been doing tons of updates/upgrades to my new house. Nearly every single thing I dig into results in "what the actual fuck is this fucking shit?" Today I went to replace a toilet wax ring. I preemptively bought two since it's a tile floor on the concrete slab. Yank off the shitter to find two horned rings stacked. The flange studs also pulled straight out since they were way too small for the flange. Did I mention the stud covers were filled with caulk and then put on? This was my grandparents' house - despite being an amazing wood worker my grandfather shouldn't have touched anything else At my old house it was very late and I was dead asleep. My daughter woke me up saying she hears water dripping in the basement. I get out of bed dazed and confused to find half my carpet soaked. The master bathroom shitter tank cracked open. It had not been manipulated or worked on in any way, it just spontaneously cracked in an area near no hardware. The worst part? My wife had a ton of storage containers in the basement with the lids removed. The water wicked along every joist and pipe to rain down everywhere. Years ago, one of our toilets spontaneously cracked My MIL had the feed line to a toilet snap off. Had a plastic fitting. It was on the second floor. What a mess. Luckily she was home at the time. I made sure that all of our water feed lines were braded metal with metal connector nuts after that. |
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Originally Posted By Bud: The house where we currently live has an electric hood vent over the stove that went directly into the cabinet above. No vent pipe through the roof. We had that taken care of. Also a similar issue but with a twist. Theres a 1/2 bath on other side of the kitchen wall with stove and hood vent. I was taking a wicked steamer in there one day while the wife was browning up some burger. When I was done, she said, " I think this burger is bad as it smelled like shit while I was cooking it. " THATS when I discovered the fart fan was connected to the stove hood vent. It has since been resolved.
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Originally Posted By LoBrau: When we moved into our first house, we discovered that the previous owners took the toilet paper holders, linen closet shelves, and the mailbox+post when they left. Foreclosure, so we couldn't do anything about it, but it seemed petty. Beyond that, pretty sure I'm the one the current owner is now saying wtf about. |
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My current house has the master shower on an exterior wall. First 10* night we had a pipe freeze and start leaking. The bathroom has another bedroom behind it but when we bought the place I didn’t notice that that bedroom doesn’t bump out past the first floor like the master bedroom and bath do. Originally I planned on attacking the leak by going through the drywall in the spare bedroom vs busting up tile and cement board in the shower. Realized the bump out issue about a minute before knocking a hole in the drywall because the room didn’t seem as large. When I bit the bullet and knocked a hole in my shower I found that there wasn’t any insulation in the exterior wall with the water lines run in them. Bathroom had been remodeled right before we bought the place. |
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My house is from 1961 and has a forced air oil furnace. The ducting is original. I always noticed if we did laundry I could smell the detergent or bleech all through the house almost instantly. My dad and i were working in the basement and where the furnace is its unfinished. I was running a wire nearby the furnace through the floor joists and on the ducting going perpendicular to the floor joist direction I felt a lot of air moving while working there. I get a stool and look at the upper side of return air trunk and it's completely uncovered between a whole joist width. There is no way to get that metal piece out of there and it wasn't cut. It was NEVER there! For 60 years I don't think the return air system ever worked right. |
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I don't think this is quite the 'WTF' you're looking for, but it's still some WTF. Apparently using tar paper covered with newspaper as carpet underlayment was a thing in the 70s in rural Wisconsin. When I pulled the carpet in the MBR during some remodeling there was my high school shop teacher's photo in his wedding announcement in the paper, looking pretty fresh back from Vietnam. My house is about 100 miles from where I went to high school. And another layer of WTF, I ran into him 15 years out of high school and bought an old 50s Delta drill press from him at a city-wide rummage sale while visiting my parents. I told him about the paper; he's from the area I currently live in.
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Not nearly as bad as alot of these stories. My old house had a flat roof back porch. The ceiling fan quit working. I get a new fan, and start to take the old one down. There's no junction box recessed into the flat roof, just romex going through the foam insulation and coming out of a hole in the corrugated metal. The mounting bracket was attached with high strength epoxy I knew I was going to sell it soon, so I wasn't taking the time to cut a junction box into it. I went and got gorilla epoxy and put it right back the way it was with a brand new fan. I actually hung from the mounting bracket once it dried and it held my entire body weight without moving.
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Originally Posted By bullsi191145: When I remodeled my first house, I left some “WTF” stuff sheet rocked into the walls. Creepy baby dolls, an army men battle scene on the top of a doorframe…. Fun stuff for future people to find I was doing drywall in my house and found a black and white porno mag from the early 80's. I hid it under my 12 year old son's bed and pretended to "find" it. He's 26 now and still mad about that. |
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Originally Posted By daemon734: I was doing drywall in my house and found a black and white porno mag from the early 80's. I hid it under my 12 year old son's bed and pretended to "find" it. He's 26 now and still mad about that. Originally Posted By daemon734: Originally Posted By bullsi191145: When I remodeled my first house, I left some “WTF” stuff sheet rocked into the walls. Creepy baby dolls, an army men battle scene on the top of a doorframe…. Fun stuff for future people to find I was doing drywall in my house and found a black and white porno mag from the early 80's. I hid it under my 12 year old son's bed and pretended to "find" it. He's 26 now and still mad about that. 
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When the going gets tough, the tough go cyclic.
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In my own house, I give you a junction box buried in a wall. With live wiring. Filled with drywall mud... Attached File |
Ain't gonna bump no more with no big fat woman...
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My family was the 2nd owners of the house I grew up in. It was built in 1951. In the basement bathroom there is an access panel to the cleanout at the main downpipe to the city sewer connection. How did I find out what it was? Out of total curiosity one time as a kid I removed the panel. Written on the base of the cast iron pipe in white grease pencil was "THIS IS HOME" I could never figure that out, but I know that the first family that owned it had it built themselves. I always wondered if that was their moment of celebration - the first or last part of the initial foundation and city utilities There was also an old glass Pepsi bottle that was placed upside down and pushed down into the concrete of the front porch steps. It wasn't visible until one day I noticed a chip in the concrete and started picking at it. Then I noticed thee was glass. I ended up picking all of it away and broke the exposed bottom of the bottle. Therr was some kind of message or paper inside but unfortunately whatever was written on it was long gone.. Inside the wall of our current home when I had drywall panel pulled I found an empty Dannon drinkable yogurt bottle between two studs 
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Originally Posted By Clicker58: I find it helpful to remind myself that this house was built by a collection of the lowest bidders! Just couple of the many items I've repaired, house built in 1975. The original ductwork was all hard pipe and held together with only duct tape. The only screws were at the adapters attaching the new units to the old duct. I replaced all the ductwork for the first floor package unit myself so it no longer conditions the crawlspace. Second floor unit will be a future project. Landlocked powder room had a fan vented into the floor joists above, no ductwork at all. Dryer vent dumped into the crawlspace. I believe the previous owners renovated the kitchen after hurricane Hugo. They had a floor to ceiling cabinet built to hold a wall oven with a microwave in an opening above it but no receptacle for the microwave. Their solution was to tap the 30 amp 240V circuit serving the wall oven. Idiot took a piece of 12/2 and bugged one leg onto one of the 240V legs and then used the ground conductor as a neutral for the 120V microwave rec. that sounds like the house I am in. bathroom fan vents into the attic, hood fan over the oven just has a filter in it and does not vent anywhere, dryer vent just emptied out into the basement until my brother came by and helped me cut a hole in some brickwork to run the vent outside. It's the house I grew up in which I bought from the estate after my parents passed, and growing up the bay windows at the front living room and rear dining room did not open and there was no A/C. Growing up here in the summers here in eastern PA was horrendous. Sometime around 1996 it was so awful my mother almost died from heat stroke...she had the wherewithal about her to call my Dad at work and he rushed home and took her to the hospital, central A/C was installed within a month after that. When I bought the place one of the first things I did was get the circuit breaker box updated and had some outlets put into the basement and garage because the house was built with no outlets in either of those spaces  It's on almost 5 acres, the back part of which is mostly wooded but is now unusable because of all the dead ash that render that area a hazard. I used to setup a 10x10 cabin tent back there in a campsite I had carved out but it's simply too dangerous now. The front part of the lot, basically from 15-20 feet from the foundation to the roadway is basically a swamp. It is all clay with an intermittent spring there (ive seen water percolating up from the ground during winter time ), and quite simply does not drain. You can dig out a lump of that stuff and it will be bone dry on the bottom. All the water sits on top and only disappears through evaporation for the most part. That means it is un-mowable, the grass in that area will get waist high until it gets dry enough to mow. Most people don't understand why the grass gets like that and Im the guy in the neighborhood who people wonder " why doesn't he mow his lawn " . Since I've dealt with those questions since the 1970s it is something Im pretty tired of answering so I don't . The property line is interesting also. The guy to the right of me had his plot surveyed and we found out that my property line on his side is far from straight. It keeps moving towards the right so that the bottom half of the property ends up being 20-30 feet wider than it is at the top half. |
It takes hatred to compulsively denigrate something.
That’s gayer than Elton John and George Michael dueting on their hit song Don’t Let Your Son Go Down On Me.
That’s gayer than Elton John and George Michael dueting on their hit song Don’t Let Your Son Go Down On Me.
| Was in a war with the city inspector over the proposed location of my new garage. The inspector said the old one was too close to the property line and I couldn't build the new one in the existing footprint. Putting it where the city wanted would've added significant cost. So in desperation I rented a metal detector wand to locate the property stakes. Turns out the old metal steam pipe fence line, probably installed in the 1940's, was way onto my property. About 12 feet or so. Not only that the incorrect fence line went down 10 properties. I checked. Apparently my back yard and all the others were extended out in the 1940s when a ravine was filled in and it looked like someone along the line didn't check when they built their fence. Subsequently everyone else just followed that line when installing theirs. The city inspector about shit his pants, a map was produced and some quick measurements were done. A hasty approval was acquired with the promise to keep my mouth shut about it. |
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Originally Posted By LoBrau: When we moved into our first house, we discovered that the previous owners took the toilet paper holders, linen closet shelves, and the mailbox+post when they left. 
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Extorris, because he's a heartless cunt. The purity of his apathy is laboratory grade, and I sleep well knowing that he's out there somewhere,
not giving a shit about anyone or anything.
not giving a shit about anyone or anything.
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Originally Posted By Bud: The house where we currently live has an electric hood vent over the stove that went directly into the cabinet above. No vent pipe through the roof. Originally Posted By Bud: The house where we currently live has an electric hood vent over the stove that went directly into the cabinet above. No vent pipe through the roof. I'm always amazed at the house listings I see for nice houses with gas stoves that don't even have a vent. Originally Posted By flippflopped: I love the home inspection videos on youtube Especially the new construction ones. |
Extorris, because he's a heartless cunt. The purity of his apathy is laboratory grade, and I sleep well knowing that he's out there somewhere,
not giving a shit about anyone or anything.
not giving a shit about anyone or anything.
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1920 built lake cottage turned into a house. 7 different additions. Including the second story. 5 different sections of basement / foundation. I have a wire that runs through the front of my house and into a concrete slab. Literally from attic / roof, to foundation. No idea what it’s for. 17 years here. At some point, a basement “water proofing” company, came in and did their thing. Whatever that is. And proceeded to remove all the floor drains that went out to the lake. They succeeded in making a swimming pool that requires two sump pumps to keep dry. |
Direction, not intention, determines destination.
Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
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Originally Posted By NwG: People get made we can’t move their water well pretty regularly. @NwG can you move my water well? It’s in my basement. Under my kitchen. It would be nice if it was outside. |
Direction, not intention, determines destination.
Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
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We have a drop ceiling in our finished basement and one day I noticed a tile sagging and a water spot under where our shower is. I used a broom handle to try and slide the tile out and a 5 gallon bucket full of water came crashing through the ceiling. Nasty moldy soapy water. I can only assume the previous owner put it up there but the leak got worse over the years. |
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Originally Posted By mbg0001: I rented a town house where they piped the dryer output directly into the insulated attic space with no tube or pipe to the outside. The HVAC ducts ran through the attic, and the dryer lint always made it back inside. They had a fire there a year or so after I moved out, and I'm pretty sure it was related to that. Originally Posted By mbg0001: Originally Posted By 56xdx_Z: A long time ago when I was renting, we rented a town house that had a laundry room and included the washer and dryer. The dryer output had no tube connected, the accordion tube was pushed back into the wall, and the dryer was just venting into the hole the wall. That could have been a disaster if someone rented it and never paid attention lol I rented a town house where they piped the dryer output directly into the insulated attic space with no tube or pipe to the outside. The HVAC ducts ran through the attic, and the dryer lint always made it back inside. They had a fire there a year or so after I moved out, and I'm pretty sure it was related to that. Thats pretty bad. Maybe the fire accidentally started after they looked up there and saw how much mold remediation was going to cost lol |
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Originally Posted By LoBrau: When we moved into our first house, we discovered that the previous owners took the toilet paper holders, linen closet shelves, and the mailbox+post when they left. Foreclosure, so we couldn't do anything about it, but it seemed petty. What about the ice cube trays? |
Originally Posted By triburst1:
I just assumed it was an FBI or ATF surveillance op. Now I'm worried that it might be site staff.
I just assumed it was an FBI or ATF surveillance op. Now I'm worried that it might be site staff.
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Originally Posted By xerxes2695: We have a drop ceiling in our finished basement and one day I noticed a tile sagging and a water spot under where our shower is. I used a broom handle to try and slide the tile out and a 5 gallon bucket full of water came crashing through the ceiling. Nasty moldy soapy water. I can only assume the previous owner put it up there but the leak got worse over the years. Ok, you win the wtf award here. |
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Originally Posted By Frank_B: I've been in this house for over 40 years and there's a switch in the garage I still haven't figured out what it controls. There are wires going to it, but neither are hot. |
"The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics." -- Thomas Sowell
كافر
كافر
| A lot of builders used to leave a switch near the front door for a future lamp post so that can explain a mystery switch there. We have an extra switch next to our rear slider, when we built this house custom the electrician fessed up. We call it the fugazi. |
"I would live this war one day at a time, and I promised myself that if I survived, I would find a small farm somewhere in the Pennsylvania countryside and spend the remainder of my life in quiet and peace.” - Richard Winters
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Originally Posted By Crazyascanbe: I found another room in the house that was drywalled. No one knew it was there except for the builders because it wasn't on any records. House was built in 1955. I was measuring and noticed I was missing 8X10 foor of space. Found it the first month I was here. I think I saw that horror movie...
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"I would live this war one day at a time, and I promised myself that if I survived, I would find a small farm somewhere in the Pennsylvania countryside and spend the remainder of my life in quiet and peace.” - Richard Winters
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Originally Posted By LoBrau: When we moved into our first house, we discovered that the previous owners took the toilet paper holders, linen closet shelves, and the mailbox+post when they left. Foreclosure, so we couldn't do anything about it, but it seemed petty. Beyond that, pretty sure I'm the one the current owner is now saying wtf about. Had a neighbor that filed bankruptcy and house was in foreclosure, she went in removed all light fixtures.ceiling fans, some faucets, etc.. Kids that were friends of her kids had parties there. It was a mess. |
Strength Determination Merciless Forever
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Originally Posted By pj1016: In my own house, I give you a junction box buried in a wall. With live wiring. Filled with drywall mud... https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/383706/Image049small_jpg-3832903.JPG 
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