I’m thinking of holding a photo contest of the most ass backwards renovations discovered during demolition. I mean really – are all these layers necessary? I started in on the downstairs bathroom demolition so a new wall could go up to house all the upstairs plumbing. In an effort to have at least one bathroom operational, I didn’t do the whole room (thank god). Not asking for walls or a sink, just a shower and toilet.
Behind the wall that held the door, were layers of sheetrock, particle board, and paneling. No studs.
Behind the north facing wall where my toilet is and pipes to the kitchen addition, was a layer of faux beedboard, sheetrock, plastic faux tile in sheet form, sheetrock, white plastic in sheet form, plaster and lathe. I’m guessing I just gained about 3″. No insulation except in one sketchy corner and I think that was a bed for critters.
Beneath the “tile” floor was an insane amount of glue, piece of plywood with brad staples ALL OVER, nother piece of plywood, original floor. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get up 5 sq ft.
So we did manage to get a little wall up, as square as we possibly could, but not only was the floor not level, one of the beams appears to be sagging a good 3″.
Well, let’s see, one of my bathrooms had a long faux marble-topped vanity that took up so much space that the toilet had to be inserted into a hole in the wall (and my cat could climb into that hole). And my other bathroom had a clawfoot tub that was too big for the space so they just forced it between the studs and tiled around it. And that was the same bathroom that had a toilet in the MIDDLE of the room. Plus, there was the part about the tile lined shelves of the kitchen cabinets.
So – to answer your question, yes, my house was renovated by a jackass. He must have been very busy, working across the land.
Amazing, and i really thought i was going to win the contest…Can you post any pictures?
Not my current house but one that my family moved into when I was a teenager had this really weird shape in the wall that I often wondered about. Turns out it was a PAPER PLATE COVERING A HOLE that had just been painted over about 10 times before we moved in. Rather than patching a hole, some jackass stapled a paper plate over it and called it a day. That will always stand out to me as the strangest thing I’d ever seen done in the name of “improvement.”
That is hilarious. Now that you mention it, I’m surprised I haven’t seen a paper plate yet….