Home Inspection Nightmares

Clearly NOT Ericson related, or even boating related - but I found this series of photos on a Lowes/This Old House website of Home Inspection Nightmares and had to share it with someone. Since most of us have seen the occasional do-it-yourself-fix to our boats that caused us to wonder "What were they thinking?", (gate valves, garden hose fittings, romex cable, extension cords) I thought many of us could relate to the creative stupidity of many of these examples.

For example, how about keeping rain out of a skylight? (Just think of it as a hatch.) Rather than use caulk (something every boater has running through his veins...) this homeowner used a sheet of plastic held down by a tire!

Highly recommended.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20158517,00.html

Man, what a distraction! I spent 20 min going through a couple of sets of those, laughing my head off! :nerd:

You should see the wiring in our house - from some couple who owned the place in the 1980s - no junction boxes - no cable supports - nothing. It took the better part of the summer to bring it all up to code...

//sse

Sean Engle said:

Man, what a distraction! I spent 20 min going through a couple of sets of those, laughing my head off!

Click to expand...

Perhaps I should have included a warning to set aside a good number of minutes to get through all 100 or so photos - I did find it addictive.

Yes Indeedy!

Some Hilarious!:lol3: Some downright Scary

Good choice for the "Cover Photo"! Goes to show how much "work" some DIY'ers will do, to avoid a little "work", nice "guy" system! And what happens when he wants to use the "trailer"(spare tire)? :0305_alarCaution, he may be a boat owner!

Thanks for sharing, I live in a house "so afflicted"(DIY built)!
Some contributions of my own, including BUT not limited to,
my "suspended-overhead" FAX line!:nerd:. Had to get-r-done one night w/ 50' of "plug & play" extensions. Turns out the TEL junction box is right below the Fax machine, in the bsmt.(If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)
That's Maggie---"The-monster-dog"

DIY'er

Steve,
Classic. The binding clip and the wrap around the ceiling fixture was a good DIY'er improvisation. Any duct tape along the route? Ha, ha.
KJ

sleather said:

Some Hilarious!:lol3: Some downright Scary

Good choice for the "Cover Photo"! Goes to show how much "work" some DIY'ers will do, to avoid a little "work", nice "guy" system! And what happens when he wants to use the "trailer"(spare tire)? :0305_alarCaution, he may be a boat owner!

Thanks for sharing, I live in a house "so afflicted"(DIY built)!
Some contributions of my own, including BUT not limited to,
my "suspended-overhead" FAX line!:nerd:. Had to get-r-done one night w/ 50' of "plug & play" extensions. Turns out the TEL junction box is right below the Fax machine, in the bsmt.(If it ain't broke, don't fix it!)
That's Maggie---"The-monster-dog"

Click to expand...

If those were 110 V extension cords rather than FAX cords I would be tempted to warn all of your neighbors to expect a fire any day now.

But I've seen quite a number of cases of CAT V computer cable and cable TV coax cable snaking across houses. I really miss living in my good old ranch house where all I had to do to run a cable was drill through the floor and run it along the basement ceiling till it reached where I needed it.

Rube Goldberg!

u079721 said:

If those were 110 V extension cords rather than FAX cords I would be tempted to warn all of your neighbors to expect a fire any day now.

Click to expand...

You haven't seen MY basement! 40's wiring gave way to MANY grounded HD ext. chords, All plugged into 15A breaker boxes though. It does limit powertool usage to "one @ a time"(only got 2 hands) In my house "powerstrips" RULE(within reason)!

KJ, The "binder clip" is right up-there w/ Velcro, highly "under-rated"! Oh, there's a few brass cup hooks too! Pretty much given-up on Duct Tape(crud)!The "new" tape of choice is Storm King vinyl weatherstripping tape, sticks like crazy, clear, strong and UV resistant!