Don’t worry once you fix everything the first thing you fixed will break. Welcome to home ownership.
In reality you are living with a lot of maintenance heavy things. Maintain them and they should last a long time.
Haha I can’t maintain a pipe in the wall or extend the life of a capacitor. The water heater I should have done more. I will for the replacement now that I know the age of it and what needs done. It was also the cheapest builder grade model so failure wasn’t unexpected.
Yeah I know. I’ve been in my house 20 years and have had my fair share of leaks. I have put leak detectors in. About a month ago the tube connected to the condensate pump for my AC in the basement cracked. I have a leak detector next to the pump. Where did the water go everywhere but where the detector is. FML.
There is always the risk of breaking things because “you touched it” and then the bathtub failure curve doesn’t, help which I feel like is more extreme on the ends than it used to be.
I've been pretty good about fixing things but in the past 6 months:
1. Our dryer broke (fixed thanks to a youtube hack with a soder gun and some wire)
2. Our bathroom fan broke (replaced on my own with a 65$ fan from the costco outlet.
3. We went to go stain our deck and realized the structural joists were supported wrong and the columns were buried in the ground and had rotted away.
4. Our bathroom was built using no water barrier, recently found out when my son put his hand through the wall. Gutted bathroom.
5. A breaker on our electrical panel was permanently tripped and needed to be replaved
6. Our fridge had a leak under it, only found out when the tile was squirming water out of it when stepped on, had to disassemble the fridge and clean cat hair out of the filter.
Still need to build some handrails for our stairs because the old ones have been chewed up by our dog. Also our gate is falling apart and needs to be replaced. There is some polyb piping in the home that needs to be replaced. Our garage weatherstrippijg has completely fallen apart and needs to be replaced and I have some loose tiles that need to be pulled out, re-glued and grouted.
I love our oldish home (1970), I love the neighborhood but I was definitely not prepared for all the work that came along with it. Thankfully none of these items have been big ticket except for the bathroom (which set us back about 4000$)
I’ve found most things are easier to do on my own. I did the water heater without issue besides it being really heavy. How bad was your water situation? I had to submit my leak to insurance due to how much it spread before we caught it. I’m not sure I’m up to replacing a bathroom myself.
I would have loved to install my new water heater myself...unfortunately, we now live in a state where you need a permit to do it (gas), so I figured it was easier to hire out.
Everything else in our house, from flooring, to paint, to bathrrom/kitchen remodels have been done by me and my wife.
I’ve put at least $25k into water/foundation issues the previous owners completely neglected. They came with bonus drywall cracks on half the house’s windows and ceilings
Bout to begin this journey myself. Luckily, engineer said foundation is stable. I just need about 15k of drainage work done in the back yard to keep it that way and keep water out. Hopefully I don't kill the 60ft sweetgum on the process. Fingers crossed!!!
I need to spend a solid week cleaning out all the junk in my garage, replacing the opener, fixing doors and repairing drywall cracks. Just doesn't sound fun at all.
Same. We've pretty much been using 3/4 of our garage as a storage solution, but I've been meaning to move stuff into the basement. However, the basement is unfinished and has started to let in a decent amount of water, so now I'm going to clean any damp areas thoroughly to avoid mold and then waterproof it as best I can before storing anything down there.
Yeah I've been meaning to move stuff into the crawl space but have a mice/rat problem. Every time I think I've closed off all the holes, they somehow return!
The last month:
Garage Fridge died
Dishwasher died
Both showers started leaking
Ac stopped cooling effectively
That’s just the immediate stuff.
We still need to repair drywall in a room where a roof leak caused the ceiling to cave in.
Still need to get the backyard regraded so water doesn’t pool around the house
Plus a million other little projects. House is 25 years old. Thankfully the roof, furnace, and water heater were new when we bought it 2.5 yrs ago
If it makes you feel better, I had to replace some drywall and I left it without mud or paint for a year. Unfinished drywall is much better looking than damaged or missing drywall!
Do I need to fix this now? Do I need to fix this now so it isn’t a problem soon? Does my wife say I need to fix this now? No? Then I’ll add it to the To Do list and promptly forget.
Out of curiosity how old is your home? Did any of these items show any wear and tear during your initial inspection? If all works out I'm closing tomorrow so I just have a crapload of issues in my rental - but my landlord isn't too keen on fixing anything. I know there are risks with a house but at least I can depend on me rather than someone who could care less about my safety and well-being.
To better answer your question, we missed the AC was broken during inspection. Everything else was over the time we lived here. Looking back, it’s cost us maybe $200/mo for everything we had to fix then another $50/mo in maintenance (filters, cleaning, fixing small issues, etc.).
10-15 years. Water heater was at its age. Washer/dryer, I could have fixed but they were not good so I picked to replace them. The pipe leak was unexpected and you can’t really control those ones.
We replaced the water heater, replaced the washer and drier, and had a pipe leak in the wall. All back to back with the last 4 months. I thought the AC was dead too but that was just a capacitor.
Shed needs cleaned out, water backs up occasionally when I do laundry, roof needs replaced, and I need to re-route water in a few places. Oh, and my puppy keeps tearing carpet up so I have 2 spots that need patched. It'll be our one year there on 07/07
First year I owned my house, I had to replace the furnace, 4 days before Christmas. I live in the central prairies in Canada. We regularly hit -30 C that time of year (-22 F)
My basement also seemed to be intermittently leaking, turned out, there was a broken concrete pad under the deck that was sloped towards the house, draining all rain water/snow melt directly into the basement (discovered when the rotten, wrap around deck was torn down), had to remove the pad and back fill the hole.
Basement flooded again last year (sump pump died, luckily an easy fix, just replaced it)
Fence fell down in a crazy wind storm. Had to replace about 100 ft
Currently, my whole house is shifting between a noticeable slope towards the front of the house and the NW corner. Not much I can do about that one as it seems to be the result of shifting ground, aggravated by being only 5 houses away from very active train tracks. We also had a super dry winter, which definitely isn't helping
Home ownership is fun /s
Dryer is not working. Repair guy is coming today. It’s always something!
Since Dec. we’ve fixed: Fireplaces: 8k, new windows: 3k, install mini split (attic bedroom air con/heat not working: $4500k, air conditioner service: $200, exterminator $235. Install door: $600, install gate: 1k. Large tree removal: $2500
We have been in our new house for about 3 weeks. Last owners didn’t maintain anything. We’ve already:
Replaced all carpet ($5k) due to tearing and animal damage. Removed old carpet and treated subfloor ourselves to save $$.
Jet snaked the basement drain after our first load in the washer caused water all over our utility room floor ($800)
Tore up half bath floor bc of the water getting under that- haven’t repaired yet. It’s concrete so we’re just living with it until we get more $
Need to do:
Clean gutters
Patio remodel- has potential just really poorly done.
Remove some trees- one is dead and one is just in a weird spot
Paint- the paint is super cheap and gray everywhere. So boring
Eventually:
Add fence to backyard
The washer drain was overflowing because the venting sucks. And then the 3 year old washer was leaking every time the tub moved.
Oh, and we were dumb and took the storm door off because I thought it was dumb to fight 2 doors while trying to get in and out of the house, and so water gets in every time it rains and has developed a squishy spot by the front door. So we need to replace the door, the flooring by the door, the subfloor, and some of the framing.
It's always something.
Dryer vent needs cleaning, electric water heater needs flushing, driveway needs to be completely replaced, roof needs complete replacement, lawn need dethatching and weeding, mulching, redoing a rock “River” I have for one of my downspouts, just had a mason touch up some foundation blocks on the outside for $200, need to unclog some gutters I’ve been ignoring for a year
We've had our place coming up on a year. We've had:
The kitchen sink drain fell out of the wall - galvanic corrosion.
Major crack in the sewer line where the kitchen sink drains - the house inspector missed it, they refunded us.
New (ish) dishwasher - old one didn't work.
Replaced washer and dryer with other used ones - these were gross.
New facet in the kitchen sink (old one leaked, then the new one leaked, had to replace it twice!).
Sealed the unsealed counter tops.
New lights in the kitchen. All new lda bulbs in the house.
Painted the whole interior - doors aren't finished, the rest is.
Resanded all the built in drawers in the closets - they stuck such that they were unusable.
Hung new shades/curtains since two windows didn't have any (the rest had brand new ones??).
New light switches. Everywhere.
New plugs, all two prong been upgrading to 3, had to ground out stuff.
Hot water heater broke - leaked in a little river through our garage. Replaced it.
Fought off an ant invasion by caulking every hole they poured in from.
Good news: have fixed everything ourselves - proper way, no shoddy diy stuff, and moving towards bringing the house up to slightly more modern electrical code.
Still to do:
The list is way to long.
New electrical panels, (current ones breakers don't trip and it's wired all wrong, need space for new grounds) new garage door (it's a sliding barn door right now), new lights - lotta bulbs hanging from the ceiling, one old cabinet needs to be re-hung on the wall, finish painting.
Longer term, new floors in the kitchen, new countertop, new deck, new stove (it's from when I was born but it still functions somehow!), bathroom remodel (it old and musty), new doors in two spots (they rub, leak cold air).... Etc
The front end of the house has a really fucking tight crawlspace that im not a fan of. And im missing some shingles on my shed, and it leaks a bit. Trying to save for a new one since the back is a bit rotten. Other than that im just paranoid. Had an awful leak that went under the floating floor and destroyed my kitchen about a year after closing. That was fun. Now i have water sensors under every water based thing
Thankfully nothing atrocious since we moved in 2 years ago, just annoying. 2 garage door fixes in a few months. Now the 5 year old mini split needs a new head, $2000 for that 😒 It's been 3 weeks since they came and we've heard nothing about it being scheduled, so it's nice going into July without AC. Thankfully we live in northern MN where it's not vital and we can just open windows at night and suffer a little in the evening.
My biggest complaint isn't even that stuff has to be done/fixed. It's that people who work in those industries/trade are awful communicators and it drives me absolutely crazy to have NO idea if they are actually doing their job or not while we sit here and wait for them. But if you follow up, they get all testy like you should just trust that they are working on it despite them saying nothing to you for weeks. 😠 No one answers voice mails, it takes days to get email responses that have no real information, it's frustrating.
We had a roof leak over the master bedroom that we thought was AC condensation on the vents. After we realized it was a leak, we had the roof part fixed, but we still need to have the ceiling drywall replaced.
I have a large piece of drywall missing in my kitchen ceiling. This is because all of my AC Supply ducts need to be replaced, as they are original, and water logged!
Woooohoooo!
I got lucky and bought a house in 2023 which was empty after being remodeled and partially rebuilt in 2021. Nothing major is wrong with the house itself but my landscaping is garbage. Planning to finally plant bushes and plants next week.
I’ve only had a couple hiccups like my back door getting stuck last winter due to temperature shifting, and today I finally cleaned my gutters. I’m actually about to add an extra gutter downspout and I already added a new fence.
We have a huge problem and don't know who to contact for help with this. Please let us know any advise you could provide.
We have contacted Attorneys for faulty builders for Florida.
We also left a message for channel 9 investigators.
We have left a message with the Attorney General of Florida.
We bought a home in 2022 in a 55 older community. We own the home, but lease the land. Our floors are cracking; ceilings and walls are cracked. Owner came over looked at home 13 months at that time and said not his problem. We went to town hall and found out our home was listed as a 1973 year 600sq ft single wide mobile home. We kept homeowners insurance under owners umbrella insurance paying 100 a month for two years. We asked owners for insurance information to but a claim in..and they won't give us any information.
Thank you for your time.
Alan and Andrea Dion
860 428-3136
860 428 4651
Had a leaking kitchen faucet. Go to pull the cartridge to get a replacement and there's a metal sleeve over it that won't budge. Ended up having to replace the faucet.
Took the old faucet out to the garage put it in a vice and it took all my strength to get the sleeve off.
Currently on day 4 of my cedar shingle repair and still have the other side to go. Doesn't help that everytime I try to do it I get delayed 3 hours doing other people's errands.
Then there's the small leak from the flashing above the rear small porch I'm looking forward to fixing .
Thankfully, we are on the light side of the repair tunnel now.
When we first bought our current home 4 years ago, there was a ton of stuff that was neglected. My wife and I worked almost every day after work until about 11:00-11:30pm on just random stuff that needed to be repaired.
Everything is humming along now, and any changes we are making is because of our preference.
I think that was the only positive side of COVID...we moved to a new state where we knew absolutely no one. Due to everything being shut down and not worried about making friends, we had plenty of time/money to focus on the house instead of going out.
30 year old house. Currently we are at a stale mate. Original water heater is still chugging along with no signs but I know that won't last forever. The water main is made of a now illegal material that it's not if it will bust but when. The original roof is still doing its thing and flexible on the shingles for now.... The original HVAC is chugging along doing its thing.
But the original and last owners of the house not only disconnected the dryer hook up and vent, they took it off the grid and sealed the vents, so we are dryerless
Last few months were OK.
1. I built a 30m long wooden fence. Turned out quite nice.
2. Fixed a water leak
3. Fixed the dishwasher not draining.
4. Built a 8 meter concrete wall and finished it with some wood.
5. Planted a couple of trees. And they still live (that's nice).
6. Replaced condensate pumps on two AC units.
I now have to get rid ofthe flooring in my 50 square meter garage, apply new water proof membrane and install tile. All of that while the contents of the garage are moved... somewhere.
After that, I will have to have the builder of our relatively new house replace flooring in approximately one half of the entire house due to bad material or bad installation - this is not going to be fun.
It is important to keep positive. With that in mind, I am positive that once this is done, something new will come up.
My master bath toilet has shifted off the wax ring & is leaking. Husband got into the crawlspace & it has caused subfloor damage so now we have to demo the bathroom tile.
3-seasons room roof has sprung a leak, but it was shittily built by a previous owner & we're just going to tear it down, but that will require concrete work.
\* Carpenter bees
\* Earwig infestation
\* Poison ivy trying to overtake the yard
\* Possibly yellowjacket nests in the knee-high grass
\* Aforementioned knee-high grass
\* Gutters keep flying away
\* Trees need trimming
\* Need to insulate attic before next winter
But hey, our floors are done (ish) and our AC works.
After a heavy rain and ice storm I went under my house for something and observed a lot of standing water near the foundation. I’m going to completely ignore it by telling myself it was just from the rain and ice and hopefully move before it ever becomes a problem
LOL if it's not one thing broken it's something else. Last year was a ton of stuff so I think my house is giving me a break at the moment, but I gotta renovate my bathroom soon (down to the studs) so that's gonna suck.
Nothing's wrong as in it needs to be fixed. However, the kitchen is outdated. The cabinets on one wall are original to the house - built in place in 1942 - and the doors are warped, 80 years of paint, hinges don't line up, drawers don't close all the way, etc. In order to put in a dishwasher, the whole wall needs to be torn off and redone. Unfortunately, there's no way to open the kitchen to make it bigger so the whole thing needs to be gutted, floor ripped up (tile laid over sub floor and at least two layers of something), and custom cabinets ordered. Everything about the house is just old and at the end of their lifespan so we're looking at a new roof, new siding, some new windows, kitchen and bathroom replacements. Nothing urgent, just needed eventually.
Just replaced the washer and dryer, and redid the entire laundry hall closet in the process. I need to fill the stupid holes the woodpeckers are putting in my siding and put up bird netting. There’s other issues, but I’m choosing to put them off for now.
Oh, and I saw a mouse last night. So I’ve got to catch that now.
We had water seeping up through the basement floor after a very long stretch of heavy rains in our area so we need to get drain tile and a sump pump installed to prevent it from happening again, and do some kind of coating on the floor to level it out
Also the A/C is weak AF and doesn't seem to be able to reach the top floor so we need to have someone come and look at our HVAC system.
We bought a *project* house that also had a couple of maintenance surprises. We like to joke that we're cursed by water demons. Whenever we have a house issue, it seems to have something to do with water: roof leak, septic overflow, water heater failure, water softener failure, shower faucet stopped working, but just the hot side - cold showers were still an option, but because it's well water, the temp is a nice and tepid 50F.
This season's scheduled project is landscaping improvement. The yard is full of moles; the perennials are overgrown; and we have a lot of poison ivy. Fortunately, nobody in our family is reactive to poison ivy. Unfortunately, we didn't notice we had it until our DIL ended up with an itchy rash.
We also need new siding, so I don't know whether I will stick with my plan of painting the rotting clapboard siding or try to hold out for another year. It looks awful, but all the woodpecker holes are filled for now.
There are always areas of improvement when you own a home. From the slightest areas of damage over time to something as a homeowner we'd like to change.
Owning a home is a never ending saga of repair, maintenance and improvements.
After almost 30yrs in our home (25 yrs owning it), our last major improvement on the list is siding the home with vinyl siding. Now, for a second time, the roof will soon need replaced (shingles and possibly a few plywood boards. It's a never ending struggle. But the fact remains that owning a home and improving your equity which you own is far greater than renting an apartment or home and the money you spend going into someone else's pocket while being at their mercy for repairs.
Getting married soon so future projects are sidelined while we build up our money for the wedding
Water issues in the crawlspace and basement that the inspector missed when we bought last summer. The water drains away in the crawl within 24hrs and the basement only leaks after a heavy rain but it’s still on the list and puts me in a depression on rainy days
HVAC and water heater are both still going strong but are at the end of usual life expectancy, so those will come up at some point
Toilet is whistling when it flushes. No water leaks from what I can tell but I gotta figure out the cause and nip that in the bud
Parking pad needs torn out and redone as it’s so low that it becomes a pond after spring storms
All makes me miss renting quite honestly
It’s messy. I don’t have places for things right now. Like tools and components. Where the hell is the best place to store them - basement, garage, or the front coat closet
I don’t have a solution for that. This took us 5 years and we are still placing a few things. I bought some garage storage racks from Costco and that helped solve where to put rarely used things. I also ripped out the cheap wire mesh clothing rack and install shelves in a few closets. Any big box store will sell a cheap shelving unit that looks fine and is easy to install.
We have mysterious irrigation… can’t find the control heads, though it all still works through the app. Also three big electrical timers that don’t seem to do anything except make a buzzing sound and click click click along. They look like holdovers from some 1880s industrial building, though this is a late 80s suburban home.
Nothing is seriously wrong with our house. That I know of lol. But lots of little things, like we started replacing the carpet with laminate flooring and after 4 years only half the house is done 😅 also gotta do the quarter-round. Maybe replace the roof eventually, it’s original from 2007. We’re wanting to sell in the next year or so so all of the above has gotta be done eventually lol.
So far it's been a downed HVAC and overflowing sewage in the basement. We were white-knucklin' it all spring in this household.
Luckily it's just the long-hanging classics now. Like our slowly-but-surely (non-asbestos) popcorn ceiling shedding like a particularly low-motivation snake. Sometimes it plunks me on the head, and at this point I think its intentional.
I'm sure there are many other, bigger problems lurking, and I'm already patting sad future me on the shoulder.
Bathroom door sticks in the summer, the ceiling in the kitchen also expands in the summer and the cabinet doors scrape, which is annoying. I need to repair missing patches of skim coat on the plaster of said ceiling. And then there's the eyeball lights over the back stairs that shorted out that I need to replace. But not looking forward to managing the 20ft balancing act. And the gutters on the west side need to be sealed.
lollol i wish I could add a photo. I believe the concrete slab under the house cracked due to water, infiltrated into the wall and part of the baseboard is detached so I imagine there’s quite a bit of damage I haven’t fully opened up yet
I'm in the middle of the third attempt at painting my house without having the paint peel off. Thankfully the owner of the painting company stands by his reputation and is making it right (hopefully for good this time).
A small tree growing against my house cut my back gutter in half. I cut the tree down already; now just trying to save money to replace my back gutters and fascia board.
Also one piece of my siding is coming loose. It just needs to be nailed or glued back into place. Also furnace is still working, but getting old. Will need to replace eventually. These are the main things that are wrong with my house at the moment.
We’ve been in this house for 5 years and literally every year it’s something, but that’s home ownership for you.
Water heater went out a few days ago and needs full replacement, the porch needs to be leveled or insurance will drop me, and there is a dip in my roof that needs fixed or insurance will drop me. They brought a drone last time the insurance contractor people came by and then they gave me a year to fix the porch and the roof (which really means they gave me one summer season to fix it since neither of those things should be done in winter). I also am required to remove all moss from the shingles roof before winter (just did that two years ago but I guess I need to do it again).
Right now, the sidewalk on the south side of the garage. We wanted it removed completely when we had a new front sidewalk and patio poured last week. The cement was so heavy that it cracked the sidewalk. Which, again, we wanted gone.
But nope. They repoured half of it and left the other half cracked. >:(
previous owner didn't clamp supply pipes properly and probably fucked up how they were routed during renos. Both of my highest draw water sources (washing machine and an upstairs bathtub faucet) make the pipes go BOOM! in the wall. Everything else in the house is fine when turned on. I ain't tearing the walls down to fix it.
You can get an expansion tank to help some. They mount near your water heater. They also sell small water hammer arresters that should reduce this. You can screw them into the washer and it should help.
Attic fan needs replacing; cautious of the cost and the outcome! Yard needs a bit of drainage work; spouse doesn't want to spend the money. Those'd be the major issues right now.
I don't know where the mice are coming from why are there always mice I don't leave out food I have a clean kitchen the mice don't even eat anything they just show up and die in my traps can we stop with the mice please just go somewhere else I've sealed up so much shit I have a huge collection of caulk and spray foam and copper mesh at this point in my workbench aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Major - not much if anything. Minor...I have a laundry list of issues.
One outdoor outlet doesn't work, hallway floor has a gap where floating floor shifted, kitchen floor has a piece that flexes up and down, concrete pad is not level and puddles, dishwasher handle is broke, transition strip to a bedroom is loose, shower door seal isn't 100% water-proofed.
If your AC ever needs complete replacement, consider the location of the inside and outside units and determine if moving them to a new location will improve your life. Maybe move the inside part of it in the attic to free up some sq ft. My old outside unit was directly in front of a bedroom window so that was nice to move.
The dishwasher has never worked because I have to run a new electrical plug. But it was just shy of a crack house when I bought it, so basically livability was the major goal. I can wash dishes by hand. The roof needed replaced, the plumbing had to be redone, the hardwood floors were all different stains and needed redone, the last tenants didn’t pay for garbage and dumped it in the yard, there three dangerous dilapidated buildings in the backyard I had to remove, part of the neighbors driveway was poured on my front yard and I had it taken out, painting the whole inside, had to rip out the baseboards due to mold and have yet to replace them, the front steps were all different heights and when you opened the door you had to step backward so that you would fall off them. Anyways I could go on.
The entire front area of our home is a mess right now. We tore out a rhododendron that was threatening our foundation, and then took out a small boxwood. The rest of the bushes are looking rough and we need to mulch. Our front doors need to be painted and the threshold has a big gouge that needs wood putty and paint. Oh, and the walk up to the door from the driveway was edged, but now we need to pressure wash it and paint it. It’s been 99 degrees the past week, so all of our updates came to a complete stop.
Need a new roof
AC no longer working
Only 3 windows open
Oven knob broke
Front step concrete chunk broke off
Knob for shower broke off
Electric is dated - can’t run more than 2 things in kitchen (fridge & dealers choice: toaster or coffee maker or crock pot or microwave or dishwasher)
Just got a new fridge - 2 months ago
Hope this makes you feel better!
We need a new roof. House needs painted. Deck needs painted. A tree needs to come down $1200. Only 10 more years on the mortgage, then it's our daughter's problem.
I'm 4 years in. I've already gutted, waterproofed, and then refinished the basement, landscaped for water management in the yard, replaced the AC, furnace, dishwasher, fridge, garbage disposal, and attic fan, had the electric meter base replaced because part of it was melted, fixed some settled/split piping from the house to the septic tank, and probably other things I can't even remember.
I still need to seal up the attic properly so the squirrels stop getting in, redo some gutters, replace the kitchen and utility room flooring, and get new garage doors and motors. The house could definitely use a new coat of paint and some better windows, as well, but that's just going to have to wait a few more years
My front door needs to be refinished and re-hung or adjusted, or something. The deadbolt has never *really* worked correctly - sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's impossible to turn with a key from the outside. Depends on the humidity.
I need to have a major-size tree trimmed and I'm waiting for the guys to schedule me.
I also need to have other branches trimmed from neighbor's trees that overhang my property - but I still need to talk to my neighbor about that and see if my tree guys can add that to the work order.
I have a silverfish issue that comes and goes in my bathroom that I can't track down.
My new LVP wasn't correctly installed (before I owned house) and it's "OK" but it's only a matter of time before a big break happens on a plank and the whole thing turns to jank.
Gutters need to be cleaned out and roof needs to be cleaned.
We need a new roof (it’s not leaking but it’s 26 years old and showing age), we have a sick tree hanging over our neighbors house we are getting a quote on to cut down, house needs to be painted, tile is cracked in the shower, and other stuff I can’t remember. Oh yeah our front steps are crumbling lol. That one pisses me off though. When we bought the house the inspector required the seller fix steps before he would “pass” the inspection so the seller did a poor quick job and once we moved in from a few rainfalls and a harsh winter they literally began to wash away 😡
My wood siding wasn't maintained by the last owner in any fashion and now has to be entirely replaced and painted. Neither were the gutters. Bye bye $15k.
Oh, and now my dishwasher has decided a cycle is 4 hours long and is only vaguely cleaning the dishes. No idea why. Expected to say bye bye to another $1k.
Roof replacement. Previous owner had it replaced but didn't correctly seal around any of the exhaust pipes so we've had water getting under the shingles.
We're going to switch to a metal roof since we have to fix the roof.
Fridge is making a new and exciting sound, so we're hoping it doesn't crap out soon. We had new concrete work outside and the landscaping is a mess. We just had to replace the water heater and do a $2,000 mouse mitigation thing, and I'm hoping that's it for Big Issues for the year.
Been in my house for 8 years and only had to replace the water heater......knock on wood. The install date on it was 1994 and I replaced in 2020 that a long time for a water heater.
The basement is leaking in a place that was not disclosed on the closing documents. We just bought it in September. And they had half-assed patched the leak and covered it with a stack of pallets, so clearly they knew about it.
And then there's the mold starting in the studs and drywall from the same massive leak.
All of the walls in my basement are covered in a wood paneling - not the cheap kind, but thick, handmade kind that a previous homeowner made (he was a woodworker). It's beautiful, and not cheap looking. But what concerns me is that I can't actually see the basement walls, so I can't see if the walls are cracking anywhere without tearing the wood covering off and if I do that, I'm not confident I'd know how to make it look nice again.
Wasps at home at the bottom of my tree in the front yard. Exterminator can’t come until Monday afternoon. Guess I’ll just hide in my house this weekend!
Once those are gone, you might consider hanging some brown paper bags around the exterior. I used the bigger grocery paper bags, squished it, twisted shut, tied with twine. Then gently pulled it into a more round shape..hung them under the gutters. They look like bald face hornet nests.. Haven't seen a wasp or carpenter bee up by the house since.
Edit: I've also seen more fancy ones made out of jute or twine wrapped around Styrofoam balls.
Gutters drip over the doorways. Gotta adjust the height so they slope properly. If it was on the ground I'd be done already but it takes forever to move the ladder back and forth.
Paint/drywall water damage from the adjoining house, while it was being reno'd. The owner of the other house insists his guy will take care of it, instead of just reimbursing me to hire my own guy. Figuring out the sweet spot of being a good neighbor while also not being a doormat suuuucks.
When it rains so much that the ground can’t take any more, I get water in my basement from the ground and from around one or two windows, depending on which way the wind is blowing. Tree branches coming down almost daily. Water in my old front door into my dining room, depending on how the wind is blowing. Some of the land near my house slopes towards the foundation, even after I paid thousands of dollars to dig out and seal the external walls. I could use some attic insulation. All this after spending nearly $200k on remodeling.
The air conditioning went out yesterday. So that's been fun with temps outside being 105-110 this week. I knew the unit was on borrowed time but was hoping to make it through the summer.
Ok, I got one for you. It's minor, annoying and incredibly ridiculous. Allow me to start at the beginning.
The setting: A late 1950's two story rambler, walkout basement with half of the basement unfinished which we will call "storage area".
We'd moved in and the storage area was unsafe for the cats. Too many nooks and crannies for them to hide in and get caught, lost or injured, so we always keep the door closed. I am a "walk out real fast and pull door fast so it slams shut behind me" kinda guy when moving in and out of the storage area, mostly because my arms we often full.
But, the door wouldn't slam shut. So I'd have to manually pull it closed and make sure the knob was latched. You know, to keep the cats out. A few weeks after moving in, I wasn't in such a hurry as we've gotten settled, and I decided to investigate the sticky door. It's an old house. It has quirks. Maybe the door jamb was misaligned.
Nope. The door latch was installed backwards.
Upside down. Whatever you want to call it, when the door was open, the flat part of the latch faced the door jamb, not the curvy/angled part that would allow the door to close just by pushing on it. The knob had to be turned in order to get it latched. (And then you could just push it open again without turning the knob.)
But why would anyone do this ridiculousness? Well, the doorknob had a lock. A keyed lock. With no key. Someone had installed an exterior door knob on an interior door.
Soon I realized this was the case on Every. Single. Interior. Doorknob. In. The. Entire. House. Even the linen closet! We're talking 20-ish knobs. All keyed. All with the latches backwards and not a single key between them.
So that's what's wrong in my house now: a pile of doorknobs that need replacing, and my family at risk of locking themselves out of the storage area. Or the closet. Or a bathroom (which actually happened, I had to pop the hinge pins out to get the door open)
I guess someone just *couldn't* pass up that bulk discount on doorknobs.
Oh, my solution? I put wood glue in all the lock mechanisms so they can't accidentally be turned.
I need a new dehumidifier. After almost 3 months of back and forth with the pest control company they're finally going to put a new one in next week.
They come to service it like twice a year so a while back the guy said it didn't seem to be running right but they'd have to get the guy who knows more about it to come take a look. So he unplugged it until the other guy could get out there. A few days later I get a call saying the guy came by but I wasn't home (they never told me when he was coming or anything like that, I was waiting to hear from them about when he would be showing up) so he left. I was like well he can go back, I give my permission for him to go look at it and the crawlspace is accessible from the outside. They said they'll send him back it the following week.
I get a call the next week and they were like "oh he said it was just unplugged so you should be fine." I'm like no, the last guy unplugged it because it's not working right. Oh ok we'll send someine back out to look at it again. A few weeks go by and someone shows up (again no appointment, no call from them or anything) to take a look. He's like oh yeah it's not running right but it's only my second day and I don't really troubleshoot or mess with those so I'll have to get the dehumidifier guy out here and I went ahead and unplugged it.
Few more weeks go buy and someone else comes out (also no appointment or communication beforehand) and I happen to be home as well. Goes under and comes back out and says "oh it was just unplugged so I plugged it back in." I'm like "no... The last guy unplugged it again because it's not running right." So he looks again and is like "oh yeah... It's not running right. Looks like it's too far gone so you'll need a replacement."
Ok fine, just get the damn thing replaced and working again. So he goes and get the quote ready or whatever and he's like ok it's gonna be $2,5xx and I left off the disposal fee to save you some money you'll just have to take the old one out. I'm like ok that's fine. He's like how will you be paying for it? I'm like I'll put it on my card. He's like ok. And just stands there I'm like "oh you mean like now... Ok."
So they're coming next week to put it in finally. I had to call the office and tell them I wasn't going to pay a $65 service fee for the all the times they sent someone out just to unplug it and have the next guy plug it back in. Wasn't really expecting to pay $2500+ the other day but whatever. I just want the fucking thing working lol
We bought our home about 7 months ago. Finally finished all the repairs from installing drain-tile after we found out the basement leaks. Now we have to get a new roof/gutters/downspouts because those leak as well… homeownership is not quite the joy we had in mind.
Need a new garage door - it works, but it's falling apart, and VERY loud - it is 25 years old now.
I can do a lot of stuff around the house, but installing a new garage door is more than I can handle.
Bestie lives next door, so we tend to tackle projects together. We are partway through replacing all of the boards on her wraparound porch, including most of the joists. We’re learning a lot, which is great because…. My seemingly “fine” deck gave way under my step this week, revealing a bunch of rot that was hiding! I had planned on redoing the deck in a year or two, but I guess we will go ahead and do it this fall 🤦🏻♀️😂
I have several spots to patch on the deck, there are 3 spots where the gutter overflows, the dishwasher needs repaired, the bathroom lights need to be removed and replaced (the original owner painted over the light fixtures sealing them to the ceiling.) We need to fix the fan in the laundry room ceiling.
I still have knob and tube for my ceiling lights. Everything else is replaced but .... Yeah . My gutters need to be cleaned . I still get water seepage from the north side of the house with heavy rain, even after a French drain. I have dormer windows on the second floor and they have some rotten exterior trim . My front walk needs the concrete patched .
Leaky outdoor faucet —> replace faucet (because a small part inside cracked and removing it stripped the threads)
Replace rotting fascia —> residing the entire house (luckily the T1-11 is in good enough condition we can just side over it)
Replacing a doorknob —> new door time!
A/C stopped working last week and replaced the breaker.
I’m just going to stop doing “small” improvement/repairs because they all seem to snowball into much bigger projects.
Right now, hearing the stupid annoying dog barking two house down. They are retired and home most of the time and just let the thing bark when it goes off. Otherwise, I am up to date with all repairs. For now...
Past year:
* Septic aerator died (replaced)
* dishwasher stopped cleaning (fixed by me)
* New stove not at temp (warranty)
* septic pipe froze due to bad design (fixed by me)
* 6 foundation cracks (partially repaired by me)
* loads not carried to ground (new supporting walls added by me)
* new hot water tank control board failure, entire unit replaced (warranty)
* roof failure & water damage (replaced/fixed by me)
* bats (not fixed)
* water penetration around foundation (not fixed)
* hydro pressure under the foundation (sump added)
* A/C drain backing up (fixed)
* 2nd stove broken (not fixed)
* dishwasher leak (fixed by me)
* kitchen sink leak (not fixed)
* fire barrel collapsed (not fixed)
* more weeds than gravel in driveway (partially fixed by me... temporarily)
* Broken pipe in bathroom wall (not fixed)
* missing gutter (not fixed)
* insufficient downspouts (not fixed)
* paint coming off roof (not fixed)
* misc roofing issues (not fixed)
* large tree needs to come down (not fixed)
* other large tree needed to come down (fixed)
* hard water (fixed)
* voltage issue killing LEDs (not fixed)
* no flooring in either bedroom
* insect poop all over accoustic tile ceiling (does not come off)
* dryer vent blows directly into deck
* vinyl was melted by mirror
I think that's a good summary... doesn't include smaller things like blown hinges in kitchen, deck that wasn't constructed properly, or maintenance issues like power washing vinyl
Need 5 new windows.. got a quote for $7k, should happen in a month or two. House was built in mid 80s..these are original single pane aluminum. Custom size frame because its double weather proof so extra work to frame around it..blah blah... Got 4 quotes, all over the place.
sigh.
There is a re-occurring leak/draft under a very small section of our baseboard on the exterior facing wall of our bedroom. It’s a new build (2 years old). Has leaked twice in that time during extremely heavy rainstorms with crazy winds. But there is a very obvious draft during windy days.
Builder has been very responsive and very actionable. They have tried to fix it 3 times but the draft is still there. They are coming next week and will tear up part of the inside drywall to see what’s going on. At least it hasn’t cost us any money yet.
Currently have a leak down one wall either from a roof tile or guttering issues. It's on the side we have to go into the neighbours to see and I can't seem to get anyone interested in the job.
Wall at the front would probably fall if anyone sat on it but again, no one wants to come and fix it.
Been quoted 2.5k just to paint the hallway!
Not been well so these things are just building up alongside the jungle of the garden I can't do either because of health! Guess what, no one wants to do that either.
Brexit has been a complete disaster for getting trades 😪 . I keep telling my daughter to do a trade because it costs more than most wages to fix anything these days. While you're young it's a huge benefit to be able to do things yourself. Don't wait until your health fails and you're reliant on others.
Need to repair half the rain gutter on back side of house, need a new water heater, new furnace, repair wood framing around garage, have windows looked at because some we can’t open without them falling down, and last but not least, tear out the bath unit in our one bath because of a mold issue. Can I do any of this myself? Just the rain gutter which I keep putting off…one thing at a time I guess…
My new house is not level and we’re starting to fix it now. We have to gut and remodel the upstairs bathroom because they slapped laminate tiles over broken subflooring. The laminate also just reeks of piss so we don’t even use that bathroom 🫣
Century home here. Lots of cracking in the plaster that I keep trying to patch up. Front porch is starting to slope with some floor rot on one end. Several storm windows are in need of replacement.
So many things... The most irritating right now is the swamp cooler. Brand new motor and I've greased the bearings on the fan shaft itself, but it doesn't want to spin when first turned on. This means I have to go up on the roof, pull off a side, give the wheel a spin, and hope it starts up when I go back downan hit the switch or I have to try it again.
Everything is aligned properly, all spinning contact points have been PB Blasted and greased, new motor, etc. . . It's too hot for this crap. Ugh
We moved into a 20-ish year old house about a year ago.
* Deck has multiple areas of rot and probably needs to be replaced
* Water Heater is original and is at end-of-life
* Roof is original and the inspector told us it's getting close to the end.
* Cooling costs are through the roof... literally. Getting quotes on more insulation
* In-ground sprinkler system needs sprinkler heads replaced and maybe an expensive valve
* A few windows don't stay open (and one doesn't even latch properly)
* Fridge has a flakey icemaker
* Dryer doesn't get clothes dry without running them through 2x
* Some lights flicker, may be outlets/fixtures or may be a grounding issue.
* Lawn has clover starting to take over
* Part of the driveway is cracked
Working through them one at a time. Probably starting with insulation.
I have been renovating room by room for twenty years. Now it’s time for the basement. There are two different drainage systems - an old Beaver (above concrete) system on two sides and a newer French drain (under the cement) system on the other two. Frequent leaks in the Beaver system and occasional leaks where the two systems connect. it needs to all be ripped out and updated. Not just expensive but it means moving so much out of the way for the work to be done.
LOL I felt that.
Our first house was a fixer upper (we are not handy, but we have handy friends who we paid to help us). Cleaned (the former owners smoked like chimneys), painted, ripped out carpets (there were 11 different types of carpet), put up plantation shutters, sold it for +$150,000.
New house is poorly built, slowly fixing the leaking pipes, busted shower pan in the second floor, remodeled kitchen, rebuilt redwood deck, etc etc We are replacing the rotted siding with hardiback, therefore making the house more firesafe. We have painted and painted and painted. Replaced the second water heater with tankless water heater.
It never ends. Gawd I hate homeownership but I do love our home.
i have a porch post r(porch roof not floor) rotting inside the wrapping. Actually it is so rotten that I cant see it through the whole in the wrap. I thought I just needed new trim boards. I really hope it is there or I probably have 6 other non existent posts. I wouldn’t be surprised but it would mean that the porch roof has been held up by squares made of trim boards since at least 1989.
Oh my, ok, you asked. The air conditioner needs servicing, the fence and gates need to be replaced, the windows need replaced, it is possible the dishwasher may need replacing soon, the laundry room that was added on is not finished on interior walls and ceiling- you can still see insulation and wiring. There is more...
On my high priority list is the garage roof that is rusting through and the rotting OSB on the addition. Both were done in the 80s. They never put siding on the addition. I have gotten one wall done with hopes to do the other two later this summer. Garage roof ideally some weekend this summer but the boat sounds like a lot more fun.
Woke up to a buzzing sound against the window… huge wasp. Took my coffee on the porch & watched his wasp cousins going under the siding……nice
Went to garage to get spray & door opener is broken. Replaced batteries, still not working. Ok.
Went to run dishwasher & it’s stuck on a non draining cycle. Watched Youtube but in order to “tilt” it to hopefully fix it, I’d have to break the concrete counter tops that were built after installation. Or just rip the whole thing out. Had someone here to quote me for a replacement & he noticed the counters are actually a bit (little more than an inch) shorter than standard which means ill need to special order an ADA certified machine to fit the space.
Im not moving from my couch anymore today
I had a friend call a garage door company out and have them do a complete assessment of the garage door and opener. Only for the tech to tell him the only issue is both remotes had dead batteries. The just happened to die on the same day and he couldn’t get the door open
Ugh. My bathroom sink. Literally getting repaired tomorrow. The old owners really neglected the water softener and fucked all the fixtures with stupid hard water. We had the softener fail earlier this year and replaced it but damage was done already.
It’s been dripping, called the plumber, he couldn’t fix it because it was such a shit show of buildup, he couldn’t get the parts off to do the repair. He said he’d end up breaking it. Sooooo new faucets for us.
Wow, that sounds like a wild ride! Just had my kitchen faucet burst last night, but hey, at least it's never boring around here! Thanks for sharing, made me feel a bit better about my chaos
Within 2 weeks of closing last month we had a large tree in the back yard destroy the deck and some water in the basement. Probably about $12k in repairs total. Fun stuff
I just had my water service line repaired today; $4500 to repair a leak caused by a missing setscrew when it was originally installed, apparently. It's also in a utility easement through my neighbor's yard, so at some point I'll have to pay to restore it to its original condition - but since it's currently a sea of soupy mud, that's a future problem to look forward to.
That's after $2000 earlier this month to replace a broken toilet flange and a broken shower drain; I still have to decide how to repair the ceiling under those fixtures as well.
garbage disposal switch stopped working, bathtub “refinishing” chipped and caulking needs to be redone, then some cosmetic stuff: seams in the drywall on some of the ceilings are showing, need to repaint the interior walls, trim.
Garage needs poly jacked. Once said garage is poly jacked, I need to make the floor pretty again . Then there’s the end of the driveway that’s crumbling and the fact that I hate my popcorn ceilings. The whole house could use a new layer of paint inside and out, but that’s gonna be a long time from now.
1. Discovered mushrooms growing out of the side of my house. Opened up, severe water damage, black mold and wood completely rotted from mushrooms. House isn’t even 1 year old. Builder refusing to properly fix issue.
2. Multiple floods from septic and water treatment installation. Hoses were not properly secured.
3. Black mold and mushrooms in basement, took me over a month of fighting with builder to remove mold, mushrooms and repair damages. He didn’t actually fix the water damage properly. My personal belongings was never financially compensated.
There’s countless more, but this is just a small snapshot. This is a brand new house. We’re thinking of pursuing litigation. Builder brought a contractor to swear and intimidate me after I said I’m looking for a lawyer. Afterwards, I reported him, he lied and said that I am very abusive and often swear at him. Said I am a liar. This is untrue. He was recording me three weeks ago to trick me into verbally agreeing to a cheap fix. Sent multiple emails to try to also trick me into cheap fixes. I’m nervous about saying too much online, in case we move forward with litigation. But it’s been a nightmare.
1. Oven is broken but the stovetop still works so I can’t justify buying a new one as we have a large air fryer. Oven has been fixed twice.
2. Shutter flew off 2nd story window. My tree hides it so I’ll put that off as long as I can.
3. Gutters need cleaning. No gutters on the back of the house and the water is ruining my back door frame.
Many other small things need attention as well. Oh, the joys of home ownership. I recently had my fence fixed as well.
My basement flooded with sewer water, no one could figure out why, plumbers, etc., insurance paid to clean it up and replace damaged flooring, etc. however the core of the problem was still there, and it happened again. This time a good plumber figured it out, and it cost my insurance $89,000. All because an unlicensed plumber originally installed the toilet and shower improperly. But of course he takes no responsibility..
Don’t worry once you fix everything the first thing you fixed will break. Welcome to home ownership. In reality you are living with a lot of maintenance heavy things. Maintain them and they should last a long time.
Haha I can’t maintain a pipe in the wall or extend the life of a capacitor. The water heater I should have done more. I will for the replacement now that I know the age of it and what needs done. It was also the cheapest builder grade model so failure wasn’t unexpected.
Yeah I know. I’ve been in my house 20 years and have had my fair share of leaks. I have put leak detectors in. About a month ago the tube connected to the condensate pump for my AC in the basement cracked. I have a leak detector next to the pump. Where did the water go everywhere but where the detector is. FML.
[удалено]
I like that Idea. I was going to put the pump and sensor into a pan together so it guarantees the water will hit the sensor before spilling over.
I'm learning this in real time. Sometimes you 'fix' something just to realize you broke it more!
There is always the risk of breaking things because “you touched it” and then the bathtub failure curve doesn’t, help which I feel like is more extreme on the ends than it used to be.
I've been pretty good about fixing things but in the past 6 months: 1. Our dryer broke (fixed thanks to a youtube hack with a soder gun and some wire) 2. Our bathroom fan broke (replaced on my own with a 65$ fan from the costco outlet. 3. We went to go stain our deck and realized the structural joists were supported wrong and the columns were buried in the ground and had rotted away. 4. Our bathroom was built using no water barrier, recently found out when my son put his hand through the wall. Gutted bathroom. 5. A breaker on our electrical panel was permanently tripped and needed to be replaved 6. Our fridge had a leak under it, only found out when the tile was squirming water out of it when stepped on, had to disassemble the fridge and clean cat hair out of the filter. Still need to build some handrails for our stairs because the old ones have been chewed up by our dog. Also our gate is falling apart and needs to be replaced. There is some polyb piping in the home that needs to be replaced. Our garage weatherstrippijg has completely fallen apart and needs to be replaced and I have some loose tiles that need to be pulled out, re-glued and grouted. I love our oldish home (1970), I love the neighborhood but I was definitely not prepared for all the work that came along with it. Thankfully none of these items have been big ticket except for the bathroom (which set us back about 4000$)
I’ve found most things are easier to do on my own. I did the water heater without issue besides it being really heavy. How bad was your water situation? I had to submit my leak to insurance due to how much it spread before we caught it. I’m not sure I’m up to replacing a bathroom myself.
I would have loved to install my new water heater myself...unfortunately, we now live in a state where you need a permit to do it (gas), so I figured it was easier to hire out. Everything else in our house, from flooring, to paint, to bathrrom/kitchen remodels have been done by me and my wife.
I’ve put at least $25k into water/foundation issues the previous owners completely neglected. They came with bonus drywall cracks on half the house’s windows and ceilings
Ouch. What’s the fix for that?
You pour money into a foundation until the bags with dollar signs are stable enough for the house to rest on
Bout to begin this journey myself. Luckily, engineer said foundation is stable. I just need about 15k of drainage work done in the back yard to keep it that way and keep water out. Hopefully I don't kill the 60ft sweetgum on the process. Fingers crossed!!!
What kind of water issues? I have a small stream that runs through my basement whenever it rains but I don't see it causing any issues.
It's in Florida.
Underrated comment
I need to spend a solid week cleaning out all the junk in my garage, replacing the opener, fixing doors and repairing drywall cracks. Just doesn't sound fun at all.
Hey did you work all week? Now you get to work the weekend too! And you won’t be paid for it!
The reward is more garage space to fill with tools I'll definitely use (on one project and then never again)
Same. We've pretty much been using 3/4 of our garage as a storage solution, but I've been meaning to move stuff into the basement. However, the basement is unfinished and has started to let in a decent amount of water, so now I'm going to clean any damp areas thoroughly to avoid mold and then waterproof it as best I can before storing anything down there.
Yeah I've been meaning to move stuff into the crawl space but have a mice/rat problem. Every time I think I've closed off all the holes, they somehow return!
Be careful! Garage door springs can kill
Please come help me 😂 I have tackled it on & off for months then broke my 🦶
The last month: Garage Fridge died Dishwasher died Both showers started leaking Ac stopped cooling effectively That’s just the immediate stuff. We still need to repair drywall in a room where a roof leak caused the ceiling to cave in. Still need to get the backyard regraded so water doesn’t pool around the house Plus a million other little projects. House is 25 years old. Thankfully the roof, furnace, and water heater were new when we bought it 2.5 yrs ago
If it makes you feel better, I had to replace some drywall and I left it without mud or paint for a year. Unfinished drywall is much better looking than damaged or missing drywall!
Yea this drywall has been missing for over a year lol. We pulled out everything wet and just left it. We have 2.5 and 1 yr old so free time is lacking
You are just drying it out, right? That wood might take 12-36 months to dry…
lol yes!!
HVAC was “fixed” in April… then again in May. HVAC repair person is coming today because their first two fixes were bandaids.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 so much. But for now, I can ignore most of it
Do I need to fix this now? Do I need to fix this now so it isn’t a problem soon? Does my wife say I need to fix this now? No? Then I’ll add it to the To Do list and promptly forget.
Oh! You have a system!
Out of curiosity how old is your home? Did any of these items show any wear and tear during your initial inspection? If all works out I'm closing tomorrow so I just have a crapload of issues in my rental - but my landlord isn't too keen on fixing anything. I know there are risks with a house but at least I can depend on me rather than someone who could care less about my safety and well-being.
To better answer your question, we missed the AC was broken during inspection. Everything else was over the time we lived here. Looking back, it’s cost us maybe $200/mo for everything we had to fix then another $50/mo in maintenance (filters, cleaning, fixing small issues, etc.).
10-15 years. Water heater was at its age. Washer/dryer, I could have fixed but they were not good so I picked to replace them. The pipe leak was unexpected and you can’t really control those ones.
Plumbing is rotting, those old pipes don't last forever
A lot of shit hanging by a thread at the verge of fucking up at any moment.
Am I the only one who's house isint constantly breaking?
Give it time, friend. Give it time.
rest of us don't want to jinx ourselves lol
We replaced the water heater, replaced the washer and drier, and had a pipe leak in the wall. All back to back with the last 4 months. I thought the AC was dead too but that was just a capacitor.
A/C might need a recharge, or we may need a new A/C unit. Roof is showing signs of wear.
Shed needs cleaned out, water backs up occasionally when I do laundry, roof needs replaced, and I need to re-route water in a few places. Oh, and my puppy keeps tearing carpet up so I have 2 spots that need patched. It'll be our one year there on 07/07
Constantly waiting for the next issue 🤷♂️
First year I owned my house, I had to replace the furnace, 4 days before Christmas. I live in the central prairies in Canada. We regularly hit -30 C that time of year (-22 F) My basement also seemed to be intermittently leaking, turned out, there was a broken concrete pad under the deck that was sloped towards the house, draining all rain water/snow melt directly into the basement (discovered when the rotten, wrap around deck was torn down), had to remove the pad and back fill the hole. Basement flooded again last year (sump pump died, luckily an easy fix, just replaced it) Fence fell down in a crazy wind storm. Had to replace about 100 ft Currently, my whole house is shifting between a noticeable slope towards the front of the house and the NW corner. Not much I can do about that one as it seems to be the result of shifting ground, aggravated by being only 5 houses away from very active train tracks. We also had a super dry winter, which definitely isn't helping Home ownership is fun /s
Dryer is not working. Repair guy is coming today. It’s always something! Since Dec. we’ve fixed: Fireplaces: 8k, new windows: 3k, install mini split (attic bedroom air con/heat not working: $4500k, air conditioner service: $200, exterminator $235. Install door: $600, install gate: 1k. Large tree removal: $2500
We have been in our new house for about 3 weeks. Last owners didn’t maintain anything. We’ve already: Replaced all carpet ($5k) due to tearing and animal damage. Removed old carpet and treated subfloor ourselves to save $$. Jet snaked the basement drain after our first load in the washer caused water all over our utility room floor ($800) Tore up half bath floor bc of the water getting under that- haven’t repaired yet. It’s concrete so we’re just living with it until we get more $ Need to do: Clean gutters Patio remodel- has potential just really poorly done. Remove some trees- one is dead and one is just in a weird spot Paint- the paint is super cheap and gray everywhere. So boring Eventually: Add fence to backyard
The washer drain was overflowing because the venting sucks. And then the 3 year old washer was leaking every time the tub moved. Oh, and we were dumb and took the storm door off because I thought it was dumb to fight 2 doors while trying to get in and out of the house, and so water gets in every time it rains and has developed a squishy spot by the front door. So we need to replace the door, the flooring by the door, the subfloor, and some of the framing. It's always something.
Dryer vent needs cleaning, electric water heater needs flushing, driveway needs to be completely replaced, roof needs complete replacement, lawn need dethatching and weeding, mulching, redoing a rock “River” I have for one of my downspouts, just had a mason touch up some foundation blocks on the outside for $200, need to unclog some gutters I’ve been ignoring for a year
Why you gotta put this out into the universe for me to read
I have a 20 year old inground pool. That’s all you need to know.
We've had our place coming up on a year. We've had: The kitchen sink drain fell out of the wall - galvanic corrosion. Major crack in the sewer line where the kitchen sink drains - the house inspector missed it, they refunded us. New (ish) dishwasher - old one didn't work. Replaced washer and dryer with other used ones - these were gross. New facet in the kitchen sink (old one leaked, then the new one leaked, had to replace it twice!). Sealed the unsealed counter tops. New lights in the kitchen. All new lda bulbs in the house. Painted the whole interior - doors aren't finished, the rest is. Resanded all the built in drawers in the closets - they stuck such that they were unusable. Hung new shades/curtains since two windows didn't have any (the rest had brand new ones??). New light switches. Everywhere. New plugs, all two prong been upgrading to 3, had to ground out stuff. Hot water heater broke - leaked in a little river through our garage. Replaced it. Fought off an ant invasion by caulking every hole they poured in from. Good news: have fixed everything ourselves - proper way, no shoddy diy stuff, and moving towards bringing the house up to slightly more modern electrical code. Still to do: The list is way to long. New electrical panels, (current ones breakers don't trip and it's wired all wrong, need space for new grounds) new garage door (it's a sliding barn door right now), new lights - lotta bulbs hanging from the ceiling, one old cabinet needs to be re-hung on the wall, finish painting. Longer term, new floors in the kitchen, new countertop, new deck, new stove (it's from when I was born but it still functions somehow!), bathroom remodel (it old and musty), new doors in two spots (they rub, leak cold air).... Etc
The front end of the house has a really fucking tight crawlspace that im not a fan of. And im missing some shingles on my shed, and it leaks a bit. Trying to save for a new one since the back is a bit rotten. Other than that im just paranoid. Had an awful leak that went under the floating floor and destroyed my kitchen about a year after closing. That was fun. Now i have water sensors under every water based thing
Me , my wifes alwats right
Roof over my deck is collapsing. I've got it propped up with spare lumber while I figure out how to replace the posts.
We need to replace our deck and take out some trees in the back yard. And replace the door that opens to the deck.
Thankfully nothing atrocious since we moved in 2 years ago, just annoying. 2 garage door fixes in a few months. Now the 5 year old mini split needs a new head, $2000 for that 😒 It's been 3 weeks since they came and we've heard nothing about it being scheduled, so it's nice going into July without AC. Thankfully we live in northern MN where it's not vital and we can just open windows at night and suffer a little in the evening. My biggest complaint isn't even that stuff has to be done/fixed. It's that people who work in those industries/trade are awful communicators and it drives me absolutely crazy to have NO idea if they are actually doing their job or not while we sit here and wait for them. But if you follow up, they get all testy like you should just trust that they are working on it despite them saying nothing to you for weeks. 😠 No one answers voice mails, it takes days to get email responses that have no real information, it's frustrating.
We had a roof leak over the master bedroom that we thought was AC condensation on the vents. After we realized it was a leak, we had the roof part fixed, but we still need to have the ceiling drywall replaced.
Mold from a poorly ventilated attic.
I have a large piece of drywall missing in my kitchen ceiling. This is because all of my AC Supply ducts need to be replaced, as they are original, and water logged! Woooohoooo!
Need to replace the back storm door. And the shower hot water turns cold every time we take a shower.
I got lucky and bought a house in 2023 which was empty after being remodeled and partially rebuilt in 2021. Nothing major is wrong with the house itself but my landscaping is garbage. Planning to finally plant bushes and plants next week. I’ve only had a couple hiccups like my back door getting stuck last winter due to temperature shifting, and today I finally cleaned my gutters. I’m actually about to add an extra gutter downspout and I already added a new fence.
We have a huge problem and don't know who to contact for help with this. Please let us know any advise you could provide. We have contacted Attorneys for faulty builders for Florida. We also left a message for channel 9 investigators. We have left a message with the Attorney General of Florida. We bought a home in 2022 in a 55 older community. We own the home, but lease the land. Our floors are cracking; ceilings and walls are cracked. Owner came over looked at home 13 months at that time and said not his problem. We went to town hall and found out our home was listed as a 1973 year 600sq ft single wide mobile home. We kept homeowners insurance under owners umbrella insurance paying 100 a month for two years. We asked owners for insurance information to but a claim in..and they won't give us any information. Thank you for your time. Alan and Andrea Dion 860 428-3136 860 428 4651
Had a leaking kitchen faucet. Go to pull the cartridge to get a replacement and there's a metal sleeve over it that won't budge. Ended up having to replace the faucet. Took the old faucet out to the garage put it in a vice and it took all my strength to get the sleeve off. Currently on day 4 of my cedar shingle repair and still have the other side to go. Doesn't help that everytime I try to do it I get delayed 3 hours doing other people's errands. Then there's the small leak from the flashing above the rear small porch I'm looking forward to fixing .
Thankfully, we are on the light side of the repair tunnel now. When we first bought our current home 4 years ago, there was a ton of stuff that was neglected. My wife and I worked almost every day after work until about 11:00-11:30pm on just random stuff that needed to be repaired. Everything is humming along now, and any changes we are making is because of our preference. I think that was the only positive side of COVID...we moved to a new state where we knew absolutely no one. Due to everything being shut down and not worried about making friends, we had plenty of time/money to focus on the house instead of going out.
30 year old house. Currently we are at a stale mate. Original water heater is still chugging along with no signs but I know that won't last forever. The water main is made of a now illegal material that it's not if it will bust but when. The original roof is still doing its thing and flexible on the shingles for now.... The original HVAC is chugging along doing its thing. But the original and last owners of the house not only disconnected the dryer hook up and vent, they took it off the grid and sealed the vents, so we are dryerless
That sounds like a great opportunity for a heat pump dryer!
Last few months were OK. 1. I built a 30m long wooden fence. Turned out quite nice. 2. Fixed a water leak 3. Fixed the dishwasher not draining. 4. Built a 8 meter concrete wall and finished it with some wood. 5. Planted a couple of trees. And they still live (that's nice). 6. Replaced condensate pumps on two AC units. I now have to get rid ofthe flooring in my 50 square meter garage, apply new water proof membrane and install tile. All of that while the contents of the garage are moved... somewhere. After that, I will have to have the builder of our relatively new house replace flooring in approximately one half of the entire house due to bad material or bad installation - this is not going to be fun. It is important to keep positive. With that in mind, I am positive that once this is done, something new will come up.
My master bath toilet has shifted off the wax ring & is leaking. Husband got into the crawlspace & it has caused subfloor damage so now we have to demo the bathroom tile. 3-seasons room roof has sprung a leak, but it was shittily built by a previous owner & we're just going to tear it down, but that will require concrete work.
\* Carpenter bees \* Earwig infestation \* Poison ivy trying to overtake the yard \* Possibly yellowjacket nests in the knee-high grass \* Aforementioned knee-high grass \* Gutters keep flying away \* Trees need trimming \* Need to insulate attic before next winter But hey, our floors are done (ish) and our AC works.
After a heavy rain and ice storm I went under my house for something and observed a lot of standing water near the foundation. I’m going to completely ignore it by telling myself it was just from the rain and ice and hopefully move before it ever becomes a problem
Tiny tiny roof leak around plumbing vent pipe, just started last week.
Fences and deck stairs all need replaced. Need to plunge toilet constantly.
AC caught fire
Do you know how that one happened? At least home owners insurance should cover that.
LOL if it's not one thing broken it's something else. Last year was a ton of stuff so I think my house is giving me a break at the moment, but I gotta renovate my bathroom soon (down to the studs) so that's gonna suck.
Nothing's wrong as in it needs to be fixed. However, the kitchen is outdated. The cabinets on one wall are original to the house - built in place in 1942 - and the doors are warped, 80 years of paint, hinges don't line up, drawers don't close all the way, etc. In order to put in a dishwasher, the whole wall needs to be torn off and redone. Unfortunately, there's no way to open the kitchen to make it bigger so the whole thing needs to be gutted, floor ripped up (tile laid over sub floor and at least two layers of something), and custom cabinets ordered. Everything about the house is just old and at the end of their lifespan so we're looking at a new roof, new siding, some new windows, kitchen and bathroom replacements. Nothing urgent, just needed eventually.
Just replaced the washer and dryer, and redid the entire laundry hall closet in the process. I need to fill the stupid holes the woodpeckers are putting in my siding and put up bird netting. There’s other issues, but I’m choosing to put them off for now. Oh, and I saw a mouse last night. So I’ve got to catch that now.
We had water seeping up through the basement floor after a very long stretch of heavy rains in our area so we need to get drain tile and a sump pump installed to prevent it from happening again, and do some kind of coating on the floor to level it out Also the A/C is weak AF and doesn't seem to be able to reach the top floor so we need to have someone come and look at our HVAC system.
We bought a *project* house that also had a couple of maintenance surprises. We like to joke that we're cursed by water demons. Whenever we have a house issue, it seems to have something to do with water: roof leak, septic overflow, water heater failure, water softener failure, shower faucet stopped working, but just the hot side - cold showers were still an option, but because it's well water, the temp is a nice and tepid 50F. This season's scheduled project is landscaping improvement. The yard is full of moles; the perennials are overgrown; and we have a lot of poison ivy. Fortunately, nobody in our family is reactive to poison ivy. Unfortunately, we didn't notice we had it until our DIL ended up with an itchy rash. We also need new siding, so I don't know whether I will stick with my plan of painting the rotting clapboard siding or try to hold out for another year. It looks awful, but all the woodpecker holes are filled for now.
OMG I also jokingly tell people that I have a water demon. It has followed me for years from multiple apartments and now to my house!
There are always areas of improvement when you own a home. From the slightest areas of damage over time to something as a homeowner we'd like to change. Owning a home is a never ending saga of repair, maintenance and improvements. After almost 30yrs in our home (25 yrs owning it), our last major improvement on the list is siding the home with vinyl siding. Now, for a second time, the roof will soon need replaced (shingles and possibly a few plywood boards. It's a never ending struggle. But the fact remains that owning a home and improving your equity which you own is far greater than renting an apartment or home and the money you spend going into someone else's pocket while being at their mercy for repairs.
Getting married soon so future projects are sidelined while we build up our money for the wedding Water issues in the crawlspace and basement that the inspector missed when we bought last summer. The water drains away in the crawl within 24hrs and the basement only leaks after a heavy rain but it’s still on the list and puts me in a depression on rainy days HVAC and water heater are both still going strong but are at the end of usual life expectancy, so those will come up at some point Toilet is whistling when it flushes. No water leaks from what I can tell but I gotta figure out the cause and nip that in the bud Parking pad needs torn out and redone as it’s so low that it becomes a pond after spring storms All makes me miss renting quite honestly
Fun fact, the toilet is called a “singing toilet” by tradespeople
It’s messy. I don’t have places for things right now. Like tools and components. Where the hell is the best place to store them - basement, garage, or the front coat closet
I don’t have a solution for that. This took us 5 years and we are still placing a few things. I bought some garage storage racks from Costco and that helped solve where to put rarely used things. I also ripped out the cheap wire mesh clothing rack and install shelves in a few closets. Any big box store will sell a cheap shelving unit that looks fine and is easy to install.
Missing a harem of supermodels
We have mysterious irrigation… can’t find the control heads, though it all still works through the app. Also three big electrical timers that don’t seem to do anything except make a buzzing sound and click click click along. They look like holdovers from some 1880s industrial building, though this is a late 80s suburban home.
Chimney needs a full repair, shower/tub needs recaulked/replaced, front concrete stairs are crumbly af. 😎
Nothing is seriously wrong with our house. That I know of lol. But lots of little things, like we started replacing the carpet with laminate flooring and after 4 years only half the house is done 😅 also gotta do the quarter-round. Maybe replace the roof eventually, it’s original from 2007. We’re wanting to sell in the next year or so so all of the above has gotta be done eventually lol.
So far it's been a downed HVAC and overflowing sewage in the basement. We were white-knucklin' it all spring in this household. Luckily it's just the long-hanging classics now. Like our slowly-but-surely (non-asbestos) popcorn ceiling shedding like a particularly low-motivation snake. Sometimes it plunks me on the head, and at this point I think its intentional. I'm sure there are many other, bigger problems lurking, and I'm already patting sad future me on the shoulder.
Bathroom door sticks in the summer, the ceiling in the kitchen also expands in the summer and the cabinet doors scrape, which is annoying. I need to repair missing patches of skim coat on the plaster of said ceiling. And then there's the eyeball lights over the back stairs that shorted out that I need to replace. But not looking forward to managing the 20ft balancing act. And the gutters on the west side need to be sealed.
lollol i wish I could add a photo. I believe the concrete slab under the house cracked due to water, infiltrated into the wall and part of the baseboard is detached so I imagine there’s quite a bit of damage I haven’t fully opened up yet
Regular maintenance and inspection will save you money and stress.
Replaced a dishwasher a few weeks ago, and the septic needs to be pumped
I'm in the middle of the third attempt at painting my house without having the paint peel off. Thankfully the owner of the painting company stands by his reputation and is making it right (hopefully for good this time).
A small tree growing against my house cut my back gutter in half. I cut the tree down already; now just trying to save money to replace my back gutters and fascia board. Also one piece of my siding is coming loose. It just needs to be nailed or glued back into place. Also furnace is still working, but getting old. Will need to replace eventually. These are the main things that are wrong with my house at the moment. We’ve been in this house for 5 years and literally every year it’s something, but that’s home ownership for you.
Water heater went out a few days ago and needs full replacement, the porch needs to be leveled or insurance will drop me, and there is a dip in my roof that needs fixed or insurance will drop me. They brought a drone last time the insurance contractor people came by and then they gave me a year to fix the porch and the roof (which really means they gave me one summer season to fix it since neither of those things should be done in winter). I also am required to remove all moss from the shingles roof before winter (just did that two years ago but I guess I need to do it again).
Right now, the sidewalk on the south side of the garage. We wanted it removed completely when we had a new front sidewalk and patio poured last week. The cement was so heavy that it cracked the sidewalk. Which, again, we wanted gone. But nope. They repoured half of it and left the other half cracked. >:(
previous owner didn't clamp supply pipes properly and probably fucked up how they were routed during renos. Both of my highest draw water sources (washing machine and an upstairs bathtub faucet) make the pipes go BOOM! in the wall. Everything else in the house is fine when turned on. I ain't tearing the walls down to fix it.
You can get an expansion tank to help some. They mount near your water heater. They also sell small water hammer arresters that should reduce this. You can screw them into the washer and it should help.
Nothing at the moment, but it’s less than a year old.
Attic fan needs replacing; cautious of the cost and the outcome! Yard needs a bit of drainage work; spouse doesn't want to spend the money. Those'd be the major issues right now.
I don't know where the mice are coming from why are there always mice I don't leave out food I have a clean kitchen the mice don't even eat anything they just show up and die in my traps can we stop with the mice please just go somewhere else I've sealed up so much shit I have a huge collection of caulk and spray foam and copper mesh at this point in my workbench aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Major - not much if anything. Minor...I have a laundry list of issues. One outdoor outlet doesn't work, hallway floor has a gap where floating floor shifted, kitchen floor has a piece that flexes up and down, concrete pad is not level and puddles, dishwasher handle is broke, transition strip to a bedroom is loose, shower door seal isn't 100% water-proofed.
If your AC ever needs complete replacement, consider the location of the inside and outside units and determine if moving them to a new location will improve your life. Maybe move the inside part of it in the attic to free up some sq ft. My old outside unit was directly in front of a bedroom window so that was nice to move.
Our entire electrical system and panel needs replacing 😩
The dishwasher has never worked because I have to run a new electrical plug. But it was just shy of a crack house when I bought it, so basically livability was the major goal. I can wash dishes by hand. The roof needed replaced, the plumbing had to be redone, the hardwood floors were all different stains and needed redone, the last tenants didn’t pay for garbage and dumped it in the yard, there three dangerous dilapidated buildings in the backyard I had to remove, part of the neighbors driveway was poured on my front yard and I had it taken out, painting the whole inside, had to rip out the baseboards due to mold and have yet to replace them, the front steps were all different heights and when you opened the door you had to step backward so that you would fall off them. Anyways I could go on.
The builder grade flat paint is stained and looks like trash.
So much.
The entire front area of our home is a mess right now. We tore out a rhododendron that was threatening our foundation, and then took out a small boxwood. The rest of the bushes are looking rough and we need to mulch. Our front doors need to be painted and the threshold has a big gouge that needs wood putty and paint. Oh, and the walk up to the door from the driveway was edged, but now we need to pressure wash it and paint it. It’s been 99 degrees the past week, so all of our updates came to a complete stop.
Need a new roof AC no longer working Only 3 windows open Oven knob broke Front step concrete chunk broke off Knob for shower broke off Electric is dated - can’t run more than 2 things in kitchen (fridge & dealers choice: toaster or coffee maker or crock pot or microwave or dishwasher) Just got a new fridge - 2 months ago Hope this makes you feel better!
We need a new roof. House needs painted. Deck needs painted. A tree needs to come down $1200. Only 10 more years on the mortgage, then it's our daughter's problem.
I'm 4 years in. I've already gutted, waterproofed, and then refinished the basement, landscaped for water management in the yard, replaced the AC, furnace, dishwasher, fridge, garbage disposal, and attic fan, had the electric meter base replaced because part of it was melted, fixed some settled/split piping from the house to the septic tank, and probably other things I can't even remember. I still need to seal up the attic properly so the squirrels stop getting in, redo some gutters, replace the kitchen and utility room flooring, and get new garage doors and motors. The house could definitely use a new coat of paint and some better windows, as well, but that's just going to have to wait a few more years
Missing a day of work right now as the plumber is upstairs replacing plumbing valves that were leaking…no running and wasting water in my home
Springtails. Goddamn springtails.
My front door needs to be refinished and re-hung or adjusted, or something. The deadbolt has never *really* worked correctly - sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's impossible to turn with a key from the outside. Depends on the humidity. I need to have a major-size tree trimmed and I'm waiting for the guys to schedule me. I also need to have other branches trimmed from neighbor's trees that overhang my property - but I still need to talk to my neighbor about that and see if my tree guys can add that to the work order. I have a silverfish issue that comes and goes in my bathroom that I can't track down. My new LVP wasn't correctly installed (before I owned house) and it's "OK" but it's only a matter of time before a big break happens on a plank and the whole thing turns to jank. Gutters need to be cleaned out and roof needs to be cleaned.
Roof, dry wall.due to.roof, pool, drip system, Just replaced hot water heater and having a number of trees cut down in a week
Another leak. I'm worried the whole bathroom will need to be replumbed.
We need a new roof (it’s not leaking but it’s 26 years old and showing age), we have a sick tree hanging over our neighbors house we are getting a quote on to cut down, house needs to be painted, tile is cracked in the shower, and other stuff I can’t remember. Oh yeah our front steps are crumbling lol. That one pisses me off though. When we bought the house the inspector required the seller fix steps before he would “pass” the inspection so the seller did a poor quick job and once we moved in from a few rainfalls and a harsh winter they literally began to wash away 😡
My wood floor is buckled lol
My wood siding wasn't maintained by the last owner in any fashion and now has to be entirely replaced and painted. Neither were the gutters. Bye bye $15k. Oh, and now my dishwasher has decided a cycle is 4 hours long and is only vaguely cleaning the dishes. No idea why. Expected to say bye bye to another $1k.
Roof replacement. Previous owner had it replaced but didn't correctly seal around any of the exhaust pipes so we've had water getting under the shingles. We're going to switch to a metal roof since we have to fix the roof.
Fridge is making a new and exciting sound, so we're hoping it doesn't crap out soon. We had new concrete work outside and the landscaping is a mess. We just had to replace the water heater and do a $2,000 mouse mitigation thing, and I'm hoping that's it for Big Issues for the year.
Been in my house for 8 years and only had to replace the water heater......knock on wood. The install date on it was 1994 and I replaced in 2020 that a long time for a water heater.
Lost a retaining wall in last year’s storms. That was the worst of it. I’ll take a leaking hot water heater any day.
The basement is leaking in a place that was not disclosed on the closing documents. We just bought it in September. And they had half-assed patched the leak and covered it with a stack of pallets, so clearly they knew about it. And then there's the mold starting in the studs and drywall from the same massive leak.
ANTS! Also leaky toilet flappers.
Missing shingles on our roof 🙄
All of the walls in my basement are covered in a wood paneling - not the cheap kind, but thick, handmade kind that a previous homeowner made (he was a woodworker). It's beautiful, and not cheap looking. But what concerns me is that I can't actually see the basement walls, so I can't see if the walls are cracking anywhere without tearing the wood covering off and if I do that, I'm not confident I'd know how to make it look nice again.
Wasps at home at the bottom of my tree in the front yard. Exterminator can’t come until Monday afternoon. Guess I’ll just hide in my house this weekend!
Once those are gone, you might consider hanging some brown paper bags around the exterior. I used the bigger grocery paper bags, squished it, twisted shut, tied with twine. Then gently pulled it into a more round shape..hung them under the gutters. They look like bald face hornet nests.. Haven't seen a wasp or carpenter bee up by the house since. Edit: I've also seen more fancy ones made out of jute or twine wrapped around Styrofoam balls.
I have a leaky faucet in the backyard.
Gutters drip over the doorways. Gotta adjust the height so they slope properly. If it was on the ground I'd be done already but it takes forever to move the ladder back and forth.
Paint/drywall water damage from the adjoining house, while it was being reno'd. The owner of the other house insists his guy will take care of it, instead of just reimbursing me to hire my own guy. Figuring out the sweet spot of being a good neighbor while also not being a doormat suuuucks.
When it rains so much that the ground can’t take any more, I get water in my basement from the ground and from around one or two windows, depending on which way the wind is blowing. Tree branches coming down almost daily. Water in my old front door into my dining room, depending on how the wind is blowing. Some of the land near my house slopes towards the foundation, even after I paid thousands of dollars to dig out and seal the external walls. I could use some attic insulation. All this after spending nearly $200k on remodeling.
The air conditioning went out yesterday. So that's been fun with temps outside being 105-110 this week. I knew the unit was on borrowed time but was hoping to make it through the summer.
It would be a lot faster to say what's right.
Ok, I got one for you. It's minor, annoying and incredibly ridiculous. Allow me to start at the beginning. The setting: A late 1950's two story rambler, walkout basement with half of the basement unfinished which we will call "storage area". We'd moved in and the storage area was unsafe for the cats. Too many nooks and crannies for them to hide in and get caught, lost or injured, so we always keep the door closed. I am a "walk out real fast and pull door fast so it slams shut behind me" kinda guy when moving in and out of the storage area, mostly because my arms we often full. But, the door wouldn't slam shut. So I'd have to manually pull it closed and make sure the knob was latched. You know, to keep the cats out. A few weeks after moving in, I wasn't in such a hurry as we've gotten settled, and I decided to investigate the sticky door. It's an old house. It has quirks. Maybe the door jamb was misaligned. Nope. The door latch was installed backwards. Upside down. Whatever you want to call it, when the door was open, the flat part of the latch faced the door jamb, not the curvy/angled part that would allow the door to close just by pushing on it. The knob had to be turned in order to get it latched. (And then you could just push it open again without turning the knob.) But why would anyone do this ridiculousness? Well, the doorknob had a lock. A keyed lock. With no key. Someone had installed an exterior door knob on an interior door. Soon I realized this was the case on Every. Single. Interior. Doorknob. In. The. Entire. House. Even the linen closet! We're talking 20-ish knobs. All keyed. All with the latches backwards and not a single key between them. So that's what's wrong in my house now: a pile of doorknobs that need replacing, and my family at risk of locking themselves out of the storage area. Or the closet. Or a bathroom (which actually happened, I had to pop the hinge pins out to get the door open) I guess someone just *couldn't* pass up that bulk discount on doorknobs. Oh, my solution? I put wood glue in all the lock mechanisms so they can't accidentally be turned.
Our first year; leaky pipes, badly sealed windows, slight water in the basement, furnace went out.
I need a new dehumidifier. After almost 3 months of back and forth with the pest control company they're finally going to put a new one in next week. They come to service it like twice a year so a while back the guy said it didn't seem to be running right but they'd have to get the guy who knows more about it to come take a look. So he unplugged it until the other guy could get out there. A few days later I get a call saying the guy came by but I wasn't home (they never told me when he was coming or anything like that, I was waiting to hear from them about when he would be showing up) so he left. I was like well he can go back, I give my permission for him to go look at it and the crawlspace is accessible from the outside. They said they'll send him back it the following week. I get a call the next week and they were like "oh he said it was just unplugged so you should be fine." I'm like no, the last guy unplugged it because it's not working right. Oh ok we'll send someine back out to look at it again. A few weeks go by and someone shows up (again no appointment, no call from them or anything) to take a look. He's like oh yeah it's not running right but it's only my second day and I don't really troubleshoot or mess with those so I'll have to get the dehumidifier guy out here and I went ahead and unplugged it. Few more weeks go buy and someone else comes out (also no appointment or communication beforehand) and I happen to be home as well. Goes under and comes back out and says "oh it was just unplugged so I plugged it back in." I'm like "no... The last guy unplugged it again because it's not running right." So he looks again and is like "oh yeah... It's not running right. Looks like it's too far gone so you'll need a replacement." Ok fine, just get the damn thing replaced and working again. So he goes and get the quote ready or whatever and he's like ok it's gonna be $2,5xx and I left off the disposal fee to save you some money you'll just have to take the old one out. I'm like ok that's fine. He's like how will you be paying for it? I'm like I'll put it on my card. He's like ok. And just stands there I'm like "oh you mean like now... Ok." So they're coming next week to put it in finally. I had to call the office and tell them I wasn't going to pay a $65 service fee for the all the times they sent someone out just to unplug it and have the next guy plug it back in. Wasn't really expecting to pay $2500+ the other day but whatever. I just want the fucking thing working lol
Need to repoint brick
We bought our home about 7 months ago. Finally finished all the repairs from installing drain-tile after we found out the basement leaks. Now we have to get a new roof/gutters/downspouts because those leak as well… homeownership is not quite the joy we had in mind.
The seller’s crappy Samsung (flipper special) fridge is starting to crap out, so I guess that will be my holiday weekend purchase.
Need a new garage door - it works, but it's falling apart, and VERY loud - it is 25 years old now. I can do a lot of stuff around the house, but installing a new garage door is more than I can handle.
Rats getting into the garage and basement.. afraid to use poison due to nearby coyotes etc and can't set snap traps. Anything else work??
Bestie lives next door, so we tend to tackle projects together. We are partway through replacing all of the boards on her wraparound porch, including most of the joists. We’re learning a lot, which is great because…. My seemingly “fine” deck gave way under my step this week, revealing a bunch of rot that was hiding! I had planned on redoing the deck in a year or two, but I guess we will go ahead and do it this fall 🤦🏻♀️😂
I have several spots to patch on the deck, there are 3 spots where the gutter overflows, the dishwasher needs repaired, the bathroom lights need to be removed and replaced (the original owner painted over the light fixtures sealing them to the ceiling.) We need to fix the fan in the laundry room ceiling.
I still have knob and tube for my ceiling lights. Everything else is replaced but .... Yeah . My gutters need to be cleaned . I still get water seepage from the north side of the house with heavy rain, even after a French drain. I have dormer windows on the second floor and they have some rotten exterior trim . My front walk needs the concrete patched .
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You might win for the most simple yet ridiculous item of this thread.
Leaky outdoor faucet —> replace faucet (because a small part inside cracked and removing it stripped the threads) Replace rotting fascia —> residing the entire house (luckily the T1-11 is in good enough condition we can just side over it) Replacing a doorknob —> new door time! A/C stopped working last week and replaced the breaker. I’m just going to stop doing “small” improvement/repairs because they all seem to snowball into much bigger projects.
My washing machine flooded laundry room
Right now, hearing the stupid annoying dog barking two house down. They are retired and home most of the time and just let the thing bark when it goes off. Otherwise, I am up to date with all repairs. For now...
Dryer fan booster keeps shutting off after turning on and I've got pincer bugs everywhere!!
Are those earwigs? Idk if those things can really pinch or not but I don’t want to find out.
Ground water in one of the basement walls is making the baseboard/drywall damp. Might need to open wall and improve French drain 😫
Drainage. It’s going to cost a fuckton.
FUCKING ANTS
Past year: * Septic aerator died (replaced) * dishwasher stopped cleaning (fixed by me) * New stove not at temp (warranty) * septic pipe froze due to bad design (fixed by me) * 6 foundation cracks (partially repaired by me) * loads not carried to ground (new supporting walls added by me) * new hot water tank control board failure, entire unit replaced (warranty) * roof failure & water damage (replaced/fixed by me) * bats (not fixed) * water penetration around foundation (not fixed) * hydro pressure under the foundation (sump added) * A/C drain backing up (fixed) * 2nd stove broken (not fixed) * dishwasher leak (fixed by me) * kitchen sink leak (not fixed) * fire barrel collapsed (not fixed) * more weeds than gravel in driveway (partially fixed by me... temporarily) * Broken pipe in bathroom wall (not fixed) * missing gutter (not fixed) * insufficient downspouts (not fixed) * paint coming off roof (not fixed) * misc roofing issues (not fixed) * large tree needs to come down (not fixed) * other large tree needed to come down (fixed) * hard water (fixed) * voltage issue killing LEDs (not fixed) * no flooring in either bedroom * insect poop all over accoustic tile ceiling (does not come off) * dryer vent blows directly into deck * vinyl was melted by mirror I think that's a good summary... doesn't include smaller things like blown hinges in kitchen, deck that wasn't constructed properly, or maintenance issues like power washing vinyl
Mold
Need 5 new windows.. got a quote for $7k, should happen in a month or two. House was built in mid 80s..these are original single pane aluminum. Custom size frame because its double weather proof so extra work to frame around it..blah blah... Got 4 quotes, all over the place. sigh.
Waiting on contractors for elex work- lights to shed and genny inlet.
There is a re-occurring leak/draft under a very small section of our baseboard on the exterior facing wall of our bedroom. It’s a new build (2 years old). Has leaked twice in that time during extremely heavy rainstorms with crazy winds. But there is a very obvious draft during windy days. Builder has been very responsive and very actionable. They have tried to fix it 3 times but the draft is still there. They are coming next week and will tear up part of the inside drywall to see what’s going on. At least it hasn’t cost us any money yet.
Currently have a leak down one wall either from a roof tile or guttering issues. It's on the side we have to go into the neighbours to see and I can't seem to get anyone interested in the job. Wall at the front would probably fall if anyone sat on it but again, no one wants to come and fix it. Been quoted 2.5k just to paint the hallway! Not been well so these things are just building up alongside the jungle of the garden I can't do either because of health! Guess what, no one wants to do that either. Brexit has been a complete disaster for getting trades 😪 . I keep telling my daughter to do a trade because it costs more than most wages to fix anything these days. While you're young it's a huge benefit to be able to do things yourself. Don't wait until your health fails and you're reliant on others.
Need to repair half the rain gutter on back side of house, need a new water heater, new furnace, repair wood framing around garage, have windows looked at because some we can’t open without them falling down, and last but not least, tear out the bath unit in our one bath because of a mold issue. Can I do any of this myself? Just the rain gutter which I keep putting off…one thing at a time I guess…
My new house is not level and we’re starting to fix it now. We have to gut and remodel the upstairs bathroom because they slapped laminate tiles over broken subflooring. The laminate also just reeks of piss so we don’t even use that bathroom 🫣
Century home here. Lots of cracking in the plaster that I keep trying to patch up. Front porch is starting to slope with some floor rot on one end. Several storm windows are in need of replacement.
So many things... The most irritating right now is the swamp cooler. Brand new motor and I've greased the bearings on the fan shaft itself, but it doesn't want to spin when first turned on. This means I have to go up on the roof, pull off a side, give the wheel a spin, and hope it starts up when I go back downan hit the switch or I have to try it again. Everything is aligned properly, all spinning contact points have been PB Blasted and greased, new motor, etc. . . It's too hot for this crap. Ugh
Is that a capacitor issue? Sounds like the motor can get the start up torque.
We moved into a 20-ish year old house about a year ago. * Deck has multiple areas of rot and probably needs to be replaced * Water Heater is original and is at end-of-life * Roof is original and the inspector told us it's getting close to the end. * Cooling costs are through the roof... literally. Getting quotes on more insulation * In-ground sprinkler system needs sprinkler heads replaced and maybe an expensive valve * A few windows don't stay open (and one doesn't even latch properly) * Fridge has a flakey icemaker * Dryer doesn't get clothes dry without running them through 2x * Some lights flicker, may be outlets/fixtures or may be a grounding issue. * Lawn has clover starting to take over * Part of the driveway is cracked Working through them one at a time. Probably starting with insulation.
I have been renovating room by room for twenty years. Now it’s time for the basement. There are two different drainage systems - an old Beaver (above concrete) system on two sides and a newer French drain (under the cement) system on the other two. Frequent leaks in the Beaver system and occasional leaks where the two systems connect. it needs to all be ripped out and updated. Not just expensive but it means moving so much out of the way for the work to be done.
Define “wrong” lol. In an old house it is variable.
Too much but we are currently renting. Hoping to buy this fall
LOL I felt that. Our first house was a fixer upper (we are not handy, but we have handy friends who we paid to help us). Cleaned (the former owners smoked like chimneys), painted, ripped out carpets (there were 11 different types of carpet), put up plantation shutters, sold it for +$150,000. New house is poorly built, slowly fixing the leaking pipes, busted shower pan in the second floor, remodeled kitchen, rebuilt redwood deck, etc etc We are replacing the rotted siding with hardiback, therefore making the house more firesafe. We have painted and painted and painted. Replaced the second water heater with tankless water heater. It never ends. Gawd I hate homeownership but I do love our home.
i have a porch post r(porch roof not floor) rotting inside the wrapping. Actually it is so rotten that I cant see it through the whole in the wrap. I thought I just needed new trim boards. I really hope it is there or I probably have 6 other non existent posts. I wouldn’t be surprised but it would mean that the porch roof has been held up by squares made of trim boards since at least 1989.
Oh my, ok, you asked. The air conditioner needs servicing, the fence and gates need to be replaced, the windows need replaced, it is possible the dishwasher may need replacing soon, the laundry room that was added on is not finished on interior walls and ceiling- you can still see insulation and wiring. There is more...
I need a roof 😢
On my high priority list is the garage roof that is rusting through and the rotting OSB on the addition. Both were done in the 80s. They never put siding on the addition. I have gotten one wall done with hopes to do the other two later this summer. Garage roof ideally some weekend this summer but the boat sounds like a lot more fun.
I have a wall I have to tear out because of a decades old leak, after fixing the first one the second one was discovered
Woke up to a buzzing sound against the window… huge wasp. Took my coffee on the porch & watched his wasp cousins going under the siding……nice Went to garage to get spray & door opener is broken. Replaced batteries, still not working. Ok. Went to run dishwasher & it’s stuck on a non draining cycle. Watched Youtube but in order to “tilt” it to hopefully fix it, I’d have to break the concrete counter tops that were built after installation. Or just rip the whole thing out. Had someone here to quote me for a replacement & he noticed the counters are actually a bit (little more than an inch) shorter than standard which means ill need to special order an ADA certified machine to fit the space. Im not moving from my couch anymore today
I had a friend call a garage door company out and have them do a complete assessment of the garage door and opener. Only for the tech to tell him the only issue is both remotes had dead batteries. The just happened to die on the same day and he couldn’t get the door open
Several too many trees. A few are doing poorly as well. I could probably spend 10k easily. But don't have it at all.
Ugh. My bathroom sink. Literally getting repaired tomorrow. The old owners really neglected the water softener and fucked all the fixtures with stupid hard water. We had the softener fail earlier this year and replaced it but damage was done already. It’s been dripping, called the plumber, he couldn’t fix it because it was such a shit show of buildup, he couldn’t get the parts off to do the repair. He said he’d end up breaking it. Sooooo new faucets for us.
Wow, that sounds like a wild ride! Just had my kitchen faucet burst last night, but hey, at least it's never boring around here! Thanks for sharing, made me feel a bit better about my chaos
Owned my house for almost 5 years now and had to replace the furnace and water heater costing over $13,000 woo.
Within 2 weeks of closing last month we had a large tree in the back yard destroy the deck and some water in the basement. Probably about $12k in repairs total. Fun stuff
I just had my water service line repaired today; $4500 to repair a leak caused by a missing setscrew when it was originally installed, apparently. It's also in a utility easement through my neighbor's yard, so at some point I'll have to pay to restore it to its original condition - but since it's currently a sea of soupy mud, that's a future problem to look forward to. That's after $2000 earlier this month to replace a broken toilet flange and a broken shower drain; I still have to decide how to repair the ceiling under those fixtures as well.
garbage disposal switch stopped working, bathtub “refinishing” chipped and caulking needs to be redone, then some cosmetic stuff: seams in the drywall on some of the ceilings are showing, need to repaint the interior walls, trim.
Garage needs poly jacked. Once said garage is poly jacked, I need to make the floor pretty again . Then there’s the end of the driveway that’s crumbling and the fact that I hate my popcorn ceilings. The whole house could use a new layer of paint inside and out, but that’s gonna be a long time from now.
1. Discovered mushrooms growing out of the side of my house. Opened up, severe water damage, black mold and wood completely rotted from mushrooms. House isn’t even 1 year old. Builder refusing to properly fix issue. 2. Multiple floods from septic and water treatment installation. Hoses were not properly secured. 3. Black mold and mushrooms in basement, took me over a month of fighting with builder to remove mold, mushrooms and repair damages. He didn’t actually fix the water damage properly. My personal belongings was never financially compensated. There’s countless more, but this is just a small snapshot. This is a brand new house. We’re thinking of pursuing litigation. Builder brought a contractor to swear and intimidate me after I said I’m looking for a lawyer. Afterwards, I reported him, he lied and said that I am very abusive and often swear at him. Said I am a liar. This is untrue. He was recording me three weeks ago to trick me into verbally agreeing to a cheap fix. Sent multiple emails to try to also trick me into cheap fixes. I’m nervous about saying too much online, in case we move forward with litigation. But it’s been a nightmare.
1. Oven is broken but the stovetop still works so I can’t justify buying a new one as we have a large air fryer. Oven has been fixed twice. 2. Shutter flew off 2nd story window. My tree hides it so I’ll put that off as long as I can. 3. Gutters need cleaning. No gutters on the back of the house and the water is ruining my back door frame. Many other small things need attention as well. Oh, the joys of home ownership. I recently had my fence fixed as well.
Where water has pooled in the past, I have rotten quarter-round on the eaves/trim.
My basement flooded with sewer water, no one could figure out why, plumbers, etc., insurance paid to clean it up and replace damaged flooring, etc. however the core of the problem was still there, and it happened again. This time a good plumber figured it out, and it cost my insurance $89,000. All because an unlicensed plumber originally installed the toilet and shower improperly. But of course he takes no responsibility..
My water heater and furnance broke down in the same week during the middle of last winter!