Reno Hall of Shame
- Thread starter johnnyb
- Start date
OK,
After those photos I realise I'm being WAY too hard on myself when I do my own work. I get all upset if there's a mill or two gap on a mitre joint, the stuff in the photos is just ludicrous!
You won't be able to remove the bathroom fittings or the electric switch gang now! They've been "glued" in place by the grout. I love the paint edging on the glass door too, that's a job for the razor blade and some patience now... When I mask edging I get there with my finger nail and meticulously pick off every bit of paint that snuck under the edge of the tape.
So, I'm a bit on the meticulous side. When I had my blackbutt floor sanded and sealed, the tradies said the laying job that I did was better than professional. I figured thats no big deal given the professionals often cut corners, but the stuff in those pictures is not even approximating what a professional tradie would do.
Some jobs (like tiling IMHO) should be left to the pros.
Thanks for the photos!
Cheers,
Michael.
After those photos I realise I'm being WAY too hard on myself when I do my own work. I get all upset if there's a mill or two gap on a mitre joint, the stuff in the photos is just ludicrous!
You won't be able to remove the bathroom fittings or the electric switch gang now! They've been "glued" in place by the grout. I love the paint edging on the glass door too, that's a job for the razor blade and some patience now... When I mask edging I get there with my finger nail and meticulously pick off every bit of paint that snuck under the edge of the tape.
So, I'm a bit on the meticulous side. When I had my blackbutt floor sanded and sealed, the tradies said the laying job that I did was better than professional. I figured thats no big deal given the professionals often cut corners, but the stuff in those pictures is not even approximating what a professional tradie would do.
Some jobs (like tiling IMHO) should be left to the pros.
Thanks for the photos!
Cheers,
Michael.
agent 86 said:
Same here.
These pictures are from the bathroom, so why is a light switch:
- Grouted into the wall?
- In the bathroom in the first place? Aren't bathroom light switches normally outside the bathroom door? (They were in the houses I've lived in).
To me, that house is un-rentable.
You know, everyone is bagging the botched reno job on this house, but it is really good in comparison to our first PPOR. I had totally forgotten how bad it was until hubby reminded me last night.
It was an old weatherboard house that the owner had wrapped with chicken wire & then cement rendered. The weatherboards underneath started to rot away. Inside they put gyprock on top of the fibro, which isn't so bad if you replace the cornice, but my wall just sloped up into the ceiling.
There were multilpe holes in the walls which were covered by wallpaper. This was discovered one day when I lent my arm on the wall, only to go through to the fibro on the other side.
There was a sliding door from the lounge to the hallway that was always kept open. One day on closing it, we discovered another smaller door behind it. There must have been a cupboard that was removed because there was no sign of it in the loungeroom, but we could open that second door up into the cavity. It was really strange.
I could go on, but won't, suffice to say the whole house was very BODGEY.
It was an old weatherboard house that the owner had wrapped with chicken wire & then cement rendered. The weatherboards underneath started to rot away. Inside they put gyprock on top of the fibro, which isn't so bad if you replace the cornice, but my wall just sloped up into the ceiling.
There were multilpe holes in the walls which were covered by wallpaper. This was discovered one day when I lent my arm on the wall, only to go through to the fibro on the other side.
There was a sliding door from the lounge to the hallway that was always kept open. One day on closing it, we discovered another smaller door behind it. There must have been a cupboard that was removed because there was no sign of it in the loungeroom, but we could open that second door up into the cavity. It was really strange.
I could go on, but won't, suffice to say the whole house was very BODGEY.
Medine said:Hi Johnnyb,
So did your friend move in to this place without noticing the bad workmanship? Or did they get a big discount off market price
Cheers, Medine
Not sure about the details (I'm too polite to ask!) but I believe it was a combination of the rent being below average for the area and they were desperate for a place to move into. It is in a good location though.
Simon and Jamie,Simon said:
Way to go!
I'm pretty handy, having pretty much completed my PPOR from lockup myself. But tiling always scared me a bit. Might have to give it a go in my next doer-upper IP. Could save some real dosh if I learn the skills to do it properly.
Skater, OK now I'm really impressed. Your first place should have been condemned! I take it this is where you and hubby learnt all those DIY skills that you now put to such good use...
Cheers,
Michael.
Not really. That house was sold & demolished many years ago now. Although it did serve a purpose and it was used as practice for a great deal of DIY projects. Most of which were started & never finished.MichaelWhyte said:Skater, OK now I'm really impressed. Your first place should have been condemned! I take it this is where you and hubby learnt all those DIY skills that you now put to such good use...
Cheers,
Michael.
Hubby is an electrician by trade & he has learnt a lot through his younger years on the job. The rest is just trial & error and the fact that he likes to do a good job.
Ech..
The germans have a word "Schaudenfraude" which means taking pleasure in someone else's discomfort.
I don't laugh at the tenant, but it does make me feel much better about my own work.
It isn't perfect, but it's really quite good in comparison.
Cheers
ac
The germans have a word "Schaudenfraude" which means taking pleasure in someone else's discomfort.
I don't laugh at the tenant, but it does make me feel much better about my own work.
It isn't perfect, but it's really quite good in comparison.
Cheers
ac
Jamie said:Can't argue there. 18 months on, and still a showroom finish!
Jamie
PS: There was a book?
Jamie was right. It wasn't a book but a handout from the Bunnings class I attended the previous week.
I was quoted $500 for 2 hours work by the tiler as long as I supplied the tiles, adhesive, spacers and grouted it myself afterwards. I suspect he didn't want the job.
It was all very straightforward except for the cutting - I just couldn't get it right and was running out of spare tiles. So I pencilled in the lines and took them to a tile place where they cut them for me at about $1 per cut I think it was.
Was fun and I learnt a new skill under Jamie's patient tutelage. He was well worth his fee in beer.
