Shoddiest DIY job

Ubbquittious · 20-03-2018 12:55PM #1

Back in the day I was in a house and found this yoke (attached) being used to give someone a few extra sockets in their room. I hope noone ever had the misfortune of unplugging the "wrong" end first

Still have the thing in my archives somewhere. What is the shoddiest you have seen?

kylith · 20-03-2018 01:14PM

Kind of the opposite of shoddy, but taking down a temporary wall in my house a couple of years ago we discovered that whoever put it up had driven 6 inch nails in about every inch. No way was it going to fall down, but it was totally amature and overkill. It took forever to remove.

Sleepy · 20-03-2018 01:23PM

Our house was full of them when we bought it. Don't have any photos but a few of the choice ones:

Interior door handles had come loose on a couple of doors. So, rather than add dowels to provide new screwing points (or even stiffen existing screwholes with matches), they drilled through the brass and used 3 inch bolts to secure them in place. Result: scraped knuckles every time you forgot about the bolt sticking through the door.

The entire kitchen (cabinets, tile splashback, dishwasher and friidge) were painted (badly) in a matt green emulsion.

The power lead for the oven came up through the worktop and was plugged into a socket on the wall.

pappyodaniel · 20-03-2018 01:26PM

kylith wrote: »

Kind of the opposite of shoddy, but taking down a temporary walk in my house a couple of years ago we discovered that whoever put it up had driven 6 inch nails in about every inch. No way was it going to fall down, but it was totally amature and overkill. It took forever to remove.

What's a temporary walk?

McGrath5 · 20-03-2018 01:36PM

When my parents moved into their old house, the previous owners had "fixed" the central heating timer by simply unscrewing the fuse out from the fuse board, and screw it back when they wanted to turn on the heating.

dan1895 · 20-03-2018 01:40PM

Electrician told me to rewire our new house when he noticed that a light switch was wired by todays standards but the light it controlled by 60's standards. When doing the rewiring he found most of the 'new' switches were connected to the old lighst with bits of tape.

kylith · 20-03-2018 01:44PM

pappyodaniel wrote: »

What's a temporary walk?

Sorry, that should have said wall.

everlast75 · 20-03-2018 01:52PM

Our hallway was uneven, so the carpenter that put down our laminate flooring hammered nails into the floor to attach them to the concrete.

We had an electrician fit recess lighting in our kitchen, but unnecessarily cut holes in areas where he did not need to. They could have been fitted where the holes had been left by the original plasterer.

We had a builder quote us for running electricity along the side of our driveway, but instead of lifting the cobble and putting it under, he threw the cabling behind the dividing fence with our neighbour.

Not the best of luck with our tradespeople to be fair

seamus · 20-03-2018 02:10PM

Luckily not had much misfortune myself. Current house was lived by the previous owner since it was built and although she didn't do a lot to it, the bits she did seem to have been done by qualified tradespeople.
Though she clearly had someone paint the house before she sold it who just did a quick job. There's still bloody paint all over the light switches and sockets.

My brother bought a house in 2004/2005 that was in rag order though.

The guy undertook an attic conversion off his own bat which involved taking a saw to lots of the struts in the attic and then sticking up some plasterboard around the sides and on the roof to make a room out of it.
As if that wasn't bad enough, he also put a permanent stairs up to his conversion, which dropped into the middle of the landing, meaning that anyone who wanted to get to the bedrooms on the landing had to squeeze past the stairs.
And then for some reason, he removed the bannisters. Literally took a saw to them, sanded down the stumps and painted it. So you had an open stairs with no handrails. Those stairs were bloody lethal when you were drunk.

Ultimately after getting someone to look at it, they were advised to add back in a couple of supporting struts in the attic, and obviously remove the attic stairs and get some bannisters.

He had for some reason also wanted a "rustic" look in the kitchen. So he nailed some weathered pieces of wood across the ceiling and painted them green.

suicide_circus · 20-03-2018 02:20PM

It's next to impossible to get any tradesmen for any small to medium jobs these days. Im gonna end up doing jobs with the laptop beside me watching instructional videos on YouTube

Graces7 · 20-03-2018 02:27PM

A minor one in comparison .... the big field gate across the entrance to the property has no hinges , just the ubiquitous baler twine in a few key places which is now disintegrating .

Maybe though, reading posts. schools should run a compulsory course in basic house maintenance and safety.

Sleepy · 20-03-2018 02:31PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

It's next to impossible to get any tradesmen for any small to medium jobs these days. Im gonna end up doing jobs with the laptop beside me watching instructional videos on YouTube

That's how I've learnt almost all my DIY skills tbh. Has saved me a fortune so far!

sbsquarepants · 20-03-2018 02:31PM

kylith wrote: »

Kind of the opposite of shoddy....... It took forever to remove.

Moved house recently, they had their dishwasher in the utility room. Screw that says the missus, I want it beside the sink (seems the obvious place in fairness) So I set to taking out a press from under a counter to put the dishwasher in it's place, sounds handy enough.
There must have been about 100 screws holding the damn thing in, it was screwed to the counter top, bracketed to the top, bracketed down to the floor, screwed, glued and bolted to the presses either side. It was a fúcking nightmare. What should have taken a half an hour took me most of the day - that was just to remove the damn press!:mad::mad:

Kitty6277 · 20-03-2018 02:31PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

It's next to impossible to get any tradesmen for any small to medium jobs these days. Im gonna end up doing jobs with the laptop beside me watching instructional videos on YouTube

That is actually a very valid point. "Handymen" don't really seem to be a thing anymore

sligojoek · 20-03-2018 02:33PM

I worked on a site in Bundoran in the early 2000s. The brickies used to stuff empty cement bags into the wall cavities.

Sleepy · 20-03-2018 02:44PM

Kitty6277 wrote: »

That is actually a very valid point. "Handymen" don't really seem to be a thing anymore

Lots of them advertising in our area, signs in local shops, Facebook groups littered with them...

Though, to be fair, there's lots of jobs they're probably not allowed to do anymore from a legal perspective. Particularly anything electrical.

corner of hells · 20-03-2018 02:48PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

It's next to impossible to get any tradesmen for any small to medium jobs these days. Im gonna end up doing jobs with the laptop beside me watching instructional videos on YouTube

Be brave , start with the most difficult , like moving the gas boiler followed by moving the fuse board

Ubbquittious · 20-03-2018 02:52PM

Kitty6277 wrote: »

That is actually a very valid point. "Handymen" don't really seem to be a thing anymore

It is still a thing. You can even get insurance to become one. Everyone needs insurance now. Where would we be if you didn't spend a few weeks every year working to keep some nothing-doers and Facebook lookers-at in a glass office building in Dublin in their jobs.

I would be tempted myself but I wonder is it worth the trouble as the pay is fairly shocking and you have the usual hassle with people not paying, people thinking you charge too much and trying to blame you for other problems that cropped up around the time you did your job for them.

Kitty6277 · 20-03-2018 04:11PM

Sleepy wrote: »

Lots of them advertising in our area, signs in local shops, Facebook groups littered with them...

Though, to be fair, there's lots of jobs they're probably not allowed to do anymore from a legal perspective. Particularly anything electrical.

Ubbquittious wrote: »

It is still a thing. You can even get insurance to become one. Everyone needs insurance now. Where would we be if you didn't spend a few weeks every year working to keep some nothing-doers and Facebook lookers-at in a glass office building in Dublin in their jobs.

Must just be that there isn't many around my area then, although I totally see the point about insurance/not legally being allowed to do certain work without being registered etc..

Ubbquittious · 20-03-2018 04:15PM

Kitty6277 wrote: »

Must just be that there isn't many around my area then, although I totally see the point about insurance/not legally being allowed to do certain work without being registered etc..

Put a request on tradesmen.ie you have a good chance of finding one

TheBoyConor · 20-03-2018 04:20PM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Back in the day I was in a house and found this yoke (attached) being used to give someone a few extra sockets in their room. I hope noone ever had the misfortune of unplugging the "wrong" end first

Still have the thing in my archives somewhere. What is the shoddiest you have seen?

In the electrician industry, I believe a 2 plugged flex like that is known as a Widowmaker for obvious reasons.

dan1895 · 20-03-2018 07:20PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

It's next to impossible to get any tradesmen for any small to medium jobs these days. Im gonna end up doing jobs with the laptop beside me watching instructional videos on YouTube

I've been trying to get someone to hang a fecking rad since January!!

BowSideChamp · 20-03-2018 10:36PM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Back in the day I was in a house and found this yoke (attached) being used to give someone a few extra sockets in their room. I hope noone ever had the misfortune of unplugging the "wrong" end first

Still have the thing in my archives somewhere. What is the shoddiest you have seen?

I don't get it. How does that cable get you extra sockets?

Alun · 20-03-2018 10:42PM

BowSideChamp wrote: »

I don't get it. How does that cable get you extra sockets?

Me neither, it's been puzzling me all day!

_Dara_ · 20-03-2018 11:08PM

seamus wrote: »

And then for some reason, he removed the bannisters. Literally took a saw to them, sanded down the stumps and painted it. So you had an open stairs with no handrails. Those stairs were bloody lethal when you were drunk.

Ultimately after getting someone to look at it, they were advised to add back in a couple of supporting struts in the attic, and obviously remove the attic stairs and get some bannisters.

Fairly regularly on Grand Designs, they'll not have banisters on the new stairs. Cleaner-looking or something. Seems so dangerous and style-over-substance.

On Room To Improve, Katherine Zappone and wife were on it a few years ago getting their house madeover. Their new bedroom was a sort of mezzanine. WITH NO RAIL. So if you tripped at the edge, you'd fall to the ground floor below. I could not believe it. My dad, who is a tradesman, could not believe it. I still can't believe it.

suicide_circus · 20-03-2018 11:11PM

BowSideChamp wrote: »

I don't get it. How does that cable get you extra sockets?

It's unreal. And when you do get someone they're a cowboy.

Ubbquittious · 20-03-2018 11:31PM

Alun wrote: »

Me neither, it's been puzzling me all day!

One end to an existing socket that has mains power, another to a box with 3-4 unconnected sockets. I do believe there was yet another selection of sockets connected with a proper wire to another part of the room from this as well.

21-03-2018 12:00AM

Back in the 1980s 7 of my older siblings had the pleasure of leaving Ireland because, as a corrupt FF kleptocrat put it at the time, 'We can't all live on a small island'.

Most of them ended up in New York on the building sites where they passed themselves off as all sorts of experts and held down 4 or 5 jobs at the one time.

Fast forward to 2018 and I'm almost finished my own rebuild and the exact same thing is happening in Ireland with all sorts of chancers from a range of poorer eastern European countries passing themselves off as "tilers", "plasterers" and the like. And the really piss-me-off aspect is that while the main guy - the guy who has been recommended to you - can tile or plaster, he's not doing your job but is instead just "helping out" the just-off-the-boat guys by sending them to your house to work and they do really crap, incompetent jobs because, well, they have zero qualifications in that trade.

There is a huge shortage of skilled tilers, plasterers, stonemasons and the like in Ireland, and for as long as we keep up this bullshít pushing university as the only thing to do after the LC, Ireland will have jobs for these unqualified, incompetent chancers to pass themselves off as tradesmen here.

We need a serious "university" for trades, crafts and skills, and for all trades in Ireland to be as regulated as electricians/RECI are. And I'd rather pay the extra for better quality than endure these botch artist "tradespeople".

21-03-2018 12:09AM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Put a request on tradesmen.ie you have a good chance of finding one

The downside of that has been revealed to me in the past year, having used it for years. If somebody from that website does a job for you in your home, and that job is, eh, less that professional, are you going to go on a website and risk the safety of your young family by rating that person negatively? Think about this, and you realise why they have all these good reviews on that website and nobody is writing about negative experiences.

...

21-03-2018 12:11AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Back in the 1980s 7 of my older siblings had the pleasure of leaving Ireland because, as a corrupt FF kleptocrat put it at the time, 'We can't all live on a small island'.

Most of them ended up in New York on the building sites where they passed themselves off as all sorts of experts and held down 4 or 5 jobs at the one time.

Fast forward to 2018 and I'm almost finished my own rebuild and the exact same thing is happening in Ireland with all sorts of chancers from a range of poorer eastern European countries passing themselves off as "tilers", "plasterers" and the like. And the really piss-me-off aspect is that while the main guy - the guy who has been recommended to you - can tile or plaster, he's not doing your job but is instead just "helping out" the just-off-the-boat guys by sending them to your house to work and they do really crap, incompetent jobs because, well, they have zero qualifications in that trade.

There is a huge shortage of skilled tilers, plasterers, stonemasons and the like in Ireland, and for as long as we keep up this bullshpushing university as the only thing to do after the LC, Ireland will have jobs for these unqualified, incompetent chancers to pass themselves off as tradesmen here.

We need all trades in Ireland to be as regulated as electricians/RECI are. And I'd rather pay the extra for better quality than endure these botch artist "tradespeople".

Bull**** tbh.

A 4th year apprentice, so could be someone only 20 gets €604.11 per week. That's the equivalent of over €31k per year for someone not qualified. I look forward to getting paid that much.
And as I've mentioned all across boards, the cost to build a house in Ireland is huge despite the **** build quality almost everywhere. This despite the workers claiming they get peanuts.

Your Face · 21-03-2018 12:29AM

Eyre Square, Galway.

Shoddiest DIY job

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