OT - Quirky Features of Your Home

RRP

For years you could buy a fake receptacle looking mini-safe to store some valuables in. Well, my buddy bought one and installed it in the side of his kitchen island. When he sold his home the home inspector wrote him up for that "electrical outlet" that wouldn't work along with some other electrical problems he said had to be fixed!

CornfedMA

@dmchicago Ya. Basically using a can that isn’t yours. Taking a dump at a dinner party for example. Some of my college buddies wouldn’t hesitate to destroy a 1/2 bath that’s only 10 ft from the dinner table...to use Nola’s example. 

StillH2OEgger

That sounds better, @Cornfed. For a second there I thought you were drifting into upper decker territory.

Botch

Canugghead said:

Botch said:

Dumbshit owner installed a fancy range hood without checking the cabinet door clearances.  
Fortunately I  Fortunately he learned that the other door cleared the hood by 3/8".  
 

 
Fun thread!  

Easy fix, cut a slit in the door to accommodate the glass 😂

Gotta admit I thought about that.
Fortunately that last cupboard is just serving-ware for the dining room, to the right.  So it hasn't been a big issue for me.  
It might be an issue for the house re-sale, but I expect to leave this house on a gurney, so it's my sister's problem.    

kl8ton

I like this thread.  I like it alot. 

ColbyLang

StillH2OEgger said:

That sounds better, @Cornfed. For a second there I thought you were drifting into upper decker territory.

Don’t forget to turn the heater on post upper deck

JustBuggin

caliking said:

We’ve lived in this house for 10yrs. 

The first 4 of which were spent trying to figure out what the switch on the left operated. Still no clue. 

I've got one of those switches in the living room. Nothing in that room left to have a switch for but it is there.


Fun thread. We've been in this house for a little over a year and keep finding odd things from the previous owners. 

They took the time and money to install hurricane windows everywhere but on the east side of the house which is odd considering I'm on the east coast of FL.

All the toilets where half size when we moved in. It was like they robbed a preschool for toilets. Had to have them all ripped out before moving in because we couldn't use them.

Put drywall in one 6' section of the garage wall over the existing concrete wall. Probably sits about 1/2" off the concrete. Everywhere else is bare concrete wall except this one section. Then mounted shelving to the concrete behind the drywall. 

Installed a huge drainage system in the backyard then purposely blocked up all inlets so it could not be used causing the yard to flood. Removed the blocks and it worked. It has been like a treasure hunt finding all the inlets.

One neat thing they did when building was give the third bedroom it's own private bathroom within the room. It was like they made a little apartment out of just that room. It is great for my teenage daughter and one of the reasons we bought the house.

GrateEggspectations

Large bedroom window, replaced by the previous owners last year, is fixed and doesn’t open. Luckily, a tiny window in the “ensuite” (see my first post) does open and provided I keep my diet in check, I think I may have a shot at slinking out of it were the need to arise. 

nolaeggheads_squirel

JohnInCarolina said:

frazzdaddy said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Also - bowling alley with only two lanes.  It’s nice but when we have lots of guests over it can get a little awkward!

They have one at the Biltmore just like that.

I don’t believe it.  We were told ours is one of a kind!   Next you’ll tell me our library looks just like the Vanderbilts’!

Please add pictures of the upstairs maid

northGAcock

My quirky house has some lady who constantly tells me my hair is too long, Bob Dylan can’t sing, and the dog needs to go out. 

CornfedMA

Not long after we bought our beach house, I was replacing the entry doors. The existing ones were only 78” tall. Which wasn’t a huge problem, but I’m 6’5” so there was little room for error when it came to my noodle. I decided to suck it up and change the openings to fit 80” doors. Here’s the quirky part- when I got the existing doors out, I was happy to find that the people who built the house actually had 80” openings, but added another header to purposely shorten them to 78”. Saved me a bunch of work and I just chalked it up to the builders getting a deal on 78” doors. 

ColbyLang

Bought a house built in 1931 that was doubled in size in 1981....

we have absolute solid construction. Center match everywhere. Plywood behind drywall on all surfaces. 

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

1voyager

Our walkout basement slider door frame is 48 inches wide. The open slider is only 22 inches wide. We have to turn sideways to enter/exit. 

Botch

ColbyLang said:

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

I will never again even consider any residence that has wallpaper.    

nolaegghead

ColbyLang said:

Bought a house built in 1931 that was doubled in size in 1981....

we have absolute solid construction. Center match everywhere. Plywood behind drywall on all surfaces. 

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

Our house had wallpaper everywhere.  We became experts at removing it.  Trick:  paper tiger the tough stuff, but mix up the remover and use it to keep the paper wet for a long time....until you can tear it off in sheets.

Anyway, the wallpaper, as heinous as it was, didn't disguise anything that surprised us.  Underneath was painted (probably lead based) plaster.  We painted right over it after patching the holes and cracks.  The imperfections of years of repairs and painting adds character.  Plus, the house was cheap in a great location.

Gulfcoastguy

My house was built in 1972. The den and galley kitchen are one room with a wall half dividing it.Both are covered in paneling, since painted in the den. The kitchen had hideous wallpaper with 3 different colored roosters on it. The den has a fairly massive fireplace built against an interior wall that stops at the ceiling. Above the ceiling was a stovepipe running to the roof and on the roof was a fake chimney of metal painted to look like brick. I have since removed the exterior chimney when I reroofed. The interior brick stair stepped above the mantle making it impossible to just glue on sheet rock over the adjacent paneling. I foresee a jackhammer in my future. Or at least in a contractors if I ever save up enough. Then there was the previous owners fascination with pink roses. Planting them was one thing but on the wallpaper in the bathrooms. Cursed be the satanspawn who invented wallpaper and paneling.

SonVolt

Road Games? OP please...

frazzdaddy

SonVolt said:

Road Games? OP please...

I think it means taking your dump in someone else's house or master bathroom.

fishlessman

ColbyLang said:

Bought a house built in 1931 that was doubled in size in 1981....

we have absolute solid construction. Center match everywhere. Plywood behind drywall on all surfaces. 

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

when i bought the house it was all 1/4 inch plywood coated with orange shellac. dry walled over it, you can pretty much hang anything anywhere

Gulfcoastguy

fishlessman said:

ColbyLang said:

Bought a house built in 1931 that was doubled in size in 1981....

we have absolute solid construction. Center match everywhere. Plywood behind drywall on all surfaces. 

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

when i bought the house it was all 1/4 inch plywood coated with orange shellac. dry walled over it, you can pretty much hang anything anywhere

At least that made the house a bit stronger though half inch would have rocked.

fishlessman

Gulfcoastguy said:

fishlessman said:

ColbyLang said:

Bought a house built in 1931 that was doubled in size in 1981....

we have absolute solid construction. Center match everywhere. Plywood behind drywall on all surfaces. 

We spent hours upon hours removing wall paper from every surface of all 4 bathrooms. Door jambs, ceilings, crown mounding (that got tossed), back of doors, sides of cabinetry. 

Previous owner was a wealthy widow with a “designer” nephew from South Beach. I’d love to junk punch him. 11 years later and I still hate the man

when i bought the house it was all 1/4 inch plywood coated with orange shellac. dry walled over it, you can pretty much hang anything anywhere

At least that made the house a bit stronger though half inch would have rocked.

its stronger than it sounds, theres no reason to even look for studs to hang even the biggest of tv sets. back in college we put 3/4 ply up, no more holes smashed thru walls during the parties in the fraternity house