All The Problems A Home Can Have-Your Personal SAGA! (floor, dishwasher, furnace)

[pitt_transplant]

I read on here and giggle at past memories of "problem house" moments I have had in person....I think of that movie the money pit from the 80's....

And now I ask you all to play the post a problem game. Not really asking for solutions in your post. Just stories of overcoming house fixing drama that may have resulted in your doing this----->

POST Em!

[Coldjensens]

I could write 300 pages. Which one do you want?

The most annoying right now is the insulation contractor who was supposed to put blown in insulation in the walls of the older part of our house. I was away when they did the work. I cam back to the house to find insulation everywhere. I cleaned up five garbage bags of insulation from inside the house and just as much or more was laying around the house outside.

We ahve the house scanned with an infra red camera (by the smae conpany) and everythign appeared to be good.

When winter came, we noticed that one wall was really cold. We also got attacked by woodpeckers who made holes in th siding. I could see no insulation in the holes. I removed a piece of siding in the cold wall and discovered empty space. We removed some baseboard molding in a different room and discovered more empty spaces in the walls.

I called the company and got a machine. I left many messages, but never got a response.

Finally I rented a machine and blew insulation into the cold wall. We just stuffed fiberlass into the empty spaces revealed by removing the baseboard molding. We have no idea what other parts of the house are missing insulation, but we do know that the bottom of our bedroom wall is always very cold and the floor is freezing. Probably nees insulation there too, but that will have to be doen while stnading on a ladder.

The house is all finished inside with rather costly paint and wallpaper. We do not want to cut holes all over to see where they failed ot instal insulation. That means that we need to go in through the outside. We will have to cut holes in the cedar siding and find some way to patch them.

We cannot pay someone to do this, because we ran out of money due to all of the problems on our house. We were ripped off by about five other contractors who will not come back nad fix their work. Now we have to do everything ourselves.

The insulation is nto the worst of the problems, just the most annoying at this time.

[desertsun41]

Coldjensen ain't kiddin. I can give another 300 and then some more but I do this every day.

The most memorable is when I hired this guy as a cabinet installer. He came with good references and he had an impressive resume. I even knew his old manager who gave me all good word on the guy. Big tall red head with blue eyes and a military haircut and real friendly.

The delivery got there and I sent him the next morning. It was a 26 box count so it was a one day job. I got a call the end of the day from the homeowner who just got home from work. She was hysterical and crying and saying something like her new kitchen was all different colors. Huh?

So I rushed over there and sure enough. All the cabinets came the correct color which was a medium dark maple with a brown blush in the creases. But the whole trim package which includes the crown, toe kick, scribe fillers and under cabinet molding were all a oak oatmeal better known as whitewash or pickeled oak.

I called Danny up saying "whataya nuts'???? He thought I was nuts. Turns out he is color blind. It was the manufacturers fault. The label on the trim package was correct but some dumb idiot at the plant put all the wrong color trim in the box. My installer was completely color blind seeing mostly shades of greys he says. He never felt the need to tell me that he was color blind because if I gave him the total kitchen package in the same color there would not have been any problem and he would never have had to reveal his secret.

Danny stayed with me for about 6 years until he ventured out on his own.

[Uconn97]

Well, we have been in ours for 6 years now so most of the surprises were in the beginning. We had the shower wall where the grout was failing and leaked water to the downstairs (within the first month of moving in). We had the waste water pipe for the washer back up and spew that water everywhere (within the first week of moving in). The surprise dishwasher noise where it would wash just fine, but during the dry cycle would release a god awful screeching sound (found that out the first time we used it). The stove with only 2 burners working (we knew about that before we bought the house though). the hot water heater that was suppose to be only 5 years old, but was actually 12 and the furnace that was 10 years old, but was really 20 years old. The yearly dealings with carpenter bees has always been a treat and we still deal with that yearly. Oh the joys of owning a home.....

[akck]

How about problems with our heating system in the middle of winter on a Saturday night. I believe we've had about three of these over the couple of years. For background, we have an oil furnace with hot water baseboard heating that also heats our domestic hot water (DHW). The furnace is about 12 years old and we've had things fixed on it over the years.

The first problem in this saga, was the heat exchanger between the furnace and our DHW storage tank leaked so water was going into the furnace from the hot water supply side. We were able to get maybe 2 showers before the water would get cold compared to our previously continuous supply of DHW. Took about a week to get a new one while the amount of DHW became less and less. The job also required rerouting the plumbing as the new exchanger required a different flow.

About a month later, the circulating pump between the heat exchanger and the DHW tank died. This required getting a new cartridge for the pump, and easy fix, but the dreaded Saturday night came into play.

The following year, the main circulating pump died and a new cartridge for it. About 2 months later, it died again, so now a new pump. Of course, it went out on a Saturday again, so no heat or DHW until Monday. This past winter, the DHW pump went out again, so it too got a new pump the following Monday.

I figure with all the maintenance and repairs we've done over the past 5 years, we almost have a new furnace. We do have one more known problem with the circuit board that controls the furnace. It doesn't restart when you turn it on after working on it. Once the furnace cools, it does work again. My furnace maintenance guy says since we know a work-a-round, to just go with it for now.

[scuba steve]

I found a couple of things that escaped the past 3 owners of the 16-year old house I'm in. Most notably, there were big gaps in the blown-in insulation. My guess is whoever installed it didn't pull the tube it shoots out from far enough into the attic and spread the stuff around like they should've. Against some of the rafters there were deep spots on one side and uncovered sheet rock on the other. It was a simple fix for me to go up there with a broom and level it all out, but it blows my mind that it took 16 years for anyone to notice. Maybe I'm the first owner that owned an IR temperature sensor.


The second problem is with a closet door in the main bathroom that wasn't installed right. Rather than shim the door someone was putting in or fix whatever minor problem there was with the framing, someone decided to take the door frame apart at a corner and install the two pieces separately. To fill the gap they caulked the corner. Apparently nobody took a look at the door casing and noticed that it was way off (those corners were caulked too). I knew something was funny there, but didn't figure out what until I went in, closed the door and noticed the gap between the door and frame. Should be an easy fix at least.

Funny thing is, I found the scrap of molding the finish carpenter was using to write his to-do list on and it included his workaround for the bathroom door. The culprit left a sample of his handwriting behind!

[desertsun41]

My brother owns a pest control company back east. He is contracted by Realtors often if a house was sold subject to termites. If termites are found and the seller pays the cost then the deal goes through.

Well one time he was called to a house that needed some extensive drywall removal to get at the Powder Post Beetles, treat it and leave it exposed for the Carpenters to make repairs. No one was around, he had the whole house to himself. The house was vacant for years and the owner could care less about it but was so happy to sell it.

So he is pulling the drywall from the laundry room. And what does he find? Hiding in the wall was an 1860 Civil War Enfield Musket Rifle. He took it to a dealer who told him it was priceless. The dealer could not put a price on it because there is not another of it's kind. It never has been fired and was in absolute pristine condition.

He says he will sell it some day and retire young.

[momof11]

we bought a "4" year old house in August. Had it inspected no problems.... right. Within two weeks the septic lift pump died in the basement. Called the Home warranty people not covered for 30 days after close of escrow. It cost 500 dollars to replace. We have discovered in this self build that many of the appliances are much older than the house. The oven/stove didn't work when we got there, not covered because it didn't work when we got there. 200 dollars. Now I am having issues with the heater, it keeps shutting off when the temp gets too low. Go figure. I guess I should only use it when it get warm. Grrrrr. Woke up yesterday morning to a freezing house and a toilet that won't flush because the pipe to it froze. My Hot water pipe to the kitchen also froze. Not the cold the hot. So I'm getting hot water from the bathroom to wash the dishes a pitcher of water to flush the toilet and resetting the heater every hour or so. Oh and not house related but the little guy threw up this morning!