Renovation horror storeis

I HATE renovations .... every one we have done has been riddled with those 'reality show' freak shows you always assume are 'exaggerated' for the audience!

My kitchen last year was one thing after another ... this year for my 'vacation' we are renovating my daycare space with new floors and ceilings and fixing dry wall and new paint and so forth.

Well 1st day into the job ~ dudes rip up the flooring to discover that underneath it reveals that some previous owner removed a load bearing post to make the room more open concept and well as a result our 'upstairs' is not being properly supported and the 'floor / basement ceiling' is con-caving as a result :no:

So they remove the ceiling in that area to see them damage and on closure inspecting the 'floor joints' for my main floor are showing fault cracks from the lack of support.... so my main floor could have fallen through on us at any time it is just LUCK that it has not :unsure:

So while thankful they found this and can repair it ~ means a LONGER repair time and more than we had budgeted for and well now have to 'rethink' the layout of our basement!

Plus my entire vacation is now basically being spent tied to the house to supervise strangers working in it and I was hoping they would be done by the end of this week so next week would be all mine :(

So anyone else got renovations horror stories to commiserate with me????

Oh no! Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your renovation, but thankfully you found out before something terrible happened!! Hopefully everything goes smoothly for you from here on out.

We bought an older house last year with 'good bones' & lots of space! Everyone calls it the 'Brady Bunch house', both for it's architectural details and for the horrible 70's decor of the place that we have almost reno'd/painted out! Even before we closed on the new house I bought (& stored) a jetted corner tub (advertised as new); got a great deal but...after totally reconfiguring the ensuite layout for it (we took out the walk in closet to double the bathroom size), purchasing new toilet, sink, new paint, new ceramic tile surround...the darned tub did not work!!! Fortunately my contractor friend had some connections and a $300 motor later...perfect!

Uggg got a new one for this morning ~ we are removing our cheesy 70's cardboard ceiling squares from the basement and so this morning I go down to get some more done .... pulled down the ones over my playroom space and I found two LIVE electrical lighting mounts with the wires just dangling not capped or tied back even and a LIVE plug wrapped in 'duct tape' ... not electrical tape but duct tape with the fiber threads running through it .... it is amazing that we have not had an electrical fire in that ceiling :(

I am grateful that we found it and can address it for sure ~ but it wigs me out that for the past 5 years my playroom I thought was a safe and secure place for myself and the kids could have either caved in on us or erupted in fire in one of the many storms we have taken cover from down there :(

I want to find the dude who finished that basement initially and ask him 'did you not love your family? Cause that is the only reason I can think you would take such cheap and thoughtless short cuts in your renovation ~ you were hoping to do them in and claim 'opps'?

Oh wow; that IS scarey!!!

OMG Reggio that sounds really bad ! So sorry for you. I just finished my kitchen ... I have a very very old farm house. Way over 100 years old but what can I say I fell in love with it. CRAZY I know but it's what I like and the amazing back yard we have and total privacy was worth more than the price I paid ... to me ofcourse. Needless to say ... we had a lot of renos to do and we are NOT the very reno savy type. But I certainly understand you right now. Back then, they did not have regulations. While doing our kitchen we noticed that we had 0 insultation and I mean 0. Only old barn wood then old plaster or more barn wood and at some places very old news papers... yup news papers to insulate. When we did the flooring I mean we had to basically redo the beams in the basment. I mean they were actual three trunks ;0) Some I've kept because it's part of the history of the house but some had to be completely replaced. Took out all our budget and them some. We still have lots to do but I still love my house. Gonna take more than that to get me out of here but I DO FEEL FOR YOU !!

I hope you are not going to relay all of your current reno surprises to your clients. Some things are better left unsaid! My husband and I used our 2 week vacation time replacing all of our basement flooring last year. Gone was the carpet. My husband laid 500 square feet of tile and almost died doing it. Laying tile requires you to spend most of your time on your knees. He had sustained a very small cut on his knee prior to starting this project. Well over the days, this little cut became infected because the grout is caustic and the wound could not breath because he was wearing long pants (in the July heat poor guy) Soon this little scratch was a gaping hole. We went to the walk in and the doctor subscribed antibiotics and said if there is no improvement in a few hours, he would have to be in hospital on iv antibiotics. Fortunately that did not happen. He had to continue the work (no floor no daycare) with a heavily bandage knee which we had to change the dressing every two hours - day and night. We finished the night before reopening. He is my hero!

Sorry, I also meant to say good luck with the remainder of your reno. It is a shock to find this structural nightmare, but at least you found out this way and not with the ceiling coming down on you and your kids. Some one was watching over you for sure.:)

This may not be great news for you, but you should be VERY careful about the ceiling tiles in your basement as they can contain ASBESTOS!!! I would definitely not be removing them myself! Even into the 80's they were still using asbestos in those things. I found this out recently and I am now very careful about disturbing those things. You may want to get it checked before removing any more. I believe you can buy a testing kit and do it yourself for your piece of mind.

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Originally Posted by Inspired by Reggio

Uggg got a new one for this morning ~ we are removing our cheesy 70's cardboard ceiling squares from the basement and so this morning I go down to get some more done .... pulled down the ones over my playroom space and I found two LIVE electrical lighting mounts with the wires just dangling not capped or tied back even and a LIVE plug wrapped in 'duct tape' ... not electrical tape but duct tape with the fiber threads running through it .... it is amazing that we have not had an electrical fire in that ceiling :(

I am grateful that we found it and can address it for sure ~ but it wigs me out that for the past 5 years my playroom I thought was a safe and secure place for myself and the kids could have either caved in on us or erupted in fire in one of the many storms we have taken cover from down there :(

I want to find the dude who finished that basement initially and ask him 'did you not love your family? Cause that is the only reason I can think you would take such cheap and thoughtless short cuts in your renovation ~ you were hoping to do them in and claim 'opps'?

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Originally Posted by mimi

I hope you are not going to relay all of your current reno surprises to your clients. Some things are better left unsaid!

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They are aware that renovations are occurring ~ and I will have to tell them 'something' to explain that there has been a delay in the plans cause by the looks of it is not going to be finished before I reopen in August but yes I will play down the fact that my basement has been a death trap these past through years ;)

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Originally Posted by kangaroomama

This may not be great news for you, but you should be VERY careful about the ceiling tiles in your basement as they can contain ASBESTOS!!! .

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Thanks yes between this risk and the 'insulation' being exposed as well we got the proper gear for doing it ~ we have a construction worker respirator and gloves for working with and take a shower and change our clothes when we are done doing work ~ another reason why I wanted to be closed while the majority of the 'demo' work was being done.

If there is asbestos in there, you probably should call a professional asbestos removal company because your measures may not be enough to stop the asbestos from getting into the air and into your lungs and into the rest of your house (through ducts etc).
Also, I don't know how long ago you bought your house, but have you considered suing your inspector for not noticing that a load bearing wall had been removed...this should have been obvious to him/her. Don't feel bad suing him/her because the company probably has very good insurance that can save you a lot of grief!

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Originally Posted by Inspired by Reggio

They are aware that renovations are occurring ~ and I will have to tell them 'something' to explain that there has been a delay in the plans cause by the looks of it is not going to be finished before I reopen in August but yes I will play down the fact that my basement has been a death trap these past through years ;)



Thanks yes between this risk and the 'insulation' being exposed as well we got the proper gear for doing it ~ we have a construction worker respirator and gloves for working with and take a shower and change our clothes when we are done doing work ~ another reason why I wanted to be closed while the majority of the 'demo' work was being done.

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