A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single skin
"lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my house had
installed.

They had used cloth potato sacks all around the bottom of the kitchen
wall behind the dry lining ... neat, I wish I'd taken a picture.

Other choice work was the woodwork treatment ... pasted newspaper to old
oak beams ... or maybe they just liked the effect ... it seemed to keep
the buggers in though.

And also a small section of medium density blockwork (say 1 m2) repair
(above a window) to a 18" rubble filled wall supported on a small timber
lintel nailed to another small one nailed to the nearest rotten floor
joist. The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly it all
fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

TIA,

Alex.

AlexW wrote:

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

I saw a house where all the lintels were completely rotten, they were
all wood, and all were shorter (!) than the width they were pretending
to span. So lots of not particularly well supported brickwork there.


Then there was the pubilc restaurant with bell wire dangling over the
table supplying the lights on the wall.


NT

On 6 Apr 2005 11:00:57 -0700, wrote:

Then there was the pubilc restaurant with bell wire dangling over the
table supplying the lights on the wall.

Is that a curry house in Basingstoke ?

They also had this on the menu
http://codesmiths.com/dingbat/lj/20040913/menu.jpg

"AlexW" wrote in message
...
A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single skin
"lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my house had
installed.

The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly it all
fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Obviously your previous owner owned my place as well :-) We had five like
this.

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

On my house, the guy who renovated it from being a plumber's workshop sold
it to his daughter.

Daughter complains about damp running along a wall that's partially below
ground.

He comes in, sees that it's a huge problem (cost me £2k to put right later
on), and then builds a plasterboard partition against the wall. Damp gone!
(Well, hidden).

That's a bodge, but the real bodge was that he build the plasterboard
partition on top of the carpet. He couldn't even be arsed taking the carpet
up to do the work... in HIS OWN DAUGHTER'S HOUSE.

I'm sure there would have been other bodges in the house but, and this is a
message for all of us, I later learned the building regulations guy from the
council kept a very close eye on him. Because of this, he was forced to do a
good job on the important stuff. So remember - the building regs might sound
like a pain in the bum sometimes but they can be quite useful in certain
circumstances.

AlexW wrote:
A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single skin
"lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my house had
installed.

They had used cloth potato sacks all around the bottom of the kitchen
wall behind the dry lining ... neat, I wish I'd taken a picture.

Other choice work was the woodwork treatment ... pasted newspaper to old
oak beams ... or maybe they just liked the effect ... it seemed to keep
the buggers in though.

And also a small section of medium density blockwork (say 1 m2) repair
(above a window) to a 18" rubble filled wall supported on a small timber
lintel nailed to another small one nailed to the nearest rotten floor
joist. The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly it all
fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

TIA,

Alex.

I am ashamed to admit that I actually perpetrated this bodge but it was
many years ago and I was in a big hurry at the time...

My parents house had a separate toilet and bathroom next to one another
upstairs - it wasted an enormous amount of space so we decided to knock
them together. We (my father and I) took the joining stud wall down and
refitted the bathroom, tiled etc etc. The job was going really well.
Then his job moved and it was suddenly a rush to sell up and move. We
sold the place quickly and, of course, finishing the bathroom was a
clause. I was tasked with turning the spare door that used to go to the
toilet into a section of wall. How hard can it be I thought. Just rip
the door trim off, nail the door shut, nail some battens off to the
recessed side and then nail plaster board over the top. Once skimmed no
one will know )

Well I ripped off the door trim and nailed the door shut fine. I was
feeling really proud of myself )

I nailed some battens round the edge of the recessed side of the door. I
wanted to make sure my battens wouldn't move so I chose the biggest
(bent, 8 times used, rusty) nails we had and started hammering away.
After a particularly large swing of the hammer I heard a crash and
tinkle from somewhere and assumed someone had dropped something. I later
found out that I had managed to knock a wall ornament off a wall down
stairs. Parentage was not amused |

Anyway that was only a minor set back so I continued. I grabbed the
plaster board and nailed it to the flat side of the door and ended up
with something that looked like a wall ). I then went round to the
recessed side and nailed some plaster board to that (up to about chest
height). It looked good but I was a little concerned about the gap
between the plasterboard and the door (about 4 inches). I pushed gently
on the board - it flexed. Oh dear. I knew I should have fixed battens
across as well as probably a vertical up the middle. Well, it was late,
and I had no more plasterboard so taking it down to fit battens wasn't
an option. I decided to perform the biggest bodge I have ever done. I
went and got some news papers. I took a page at a time, screwed it up
and stuffed it down the gap. Page after page after page went down that
gap. As it filled up I stuffed them down. Eventually after about 20
newspapers worth I tested the board again. It was rock solid. I could
lean on it and it didn't flex (well I don't think it did). I then fitted
cross battens to the top half of the door and finished the job properly.

The only problem came when I had to nail the skirting to it. I ended up
glueing it. We sold the house like that. I wonder sometimes if it has
ever broken and been done properly. I vowed then never to bodge another job.

My daughter lives in a rented house which has laminated flooring
throughout - fitted over the carpets.......

Dave

In article .com,
Magician wrote:
My daughter lives in a rented house which has laminated flooring
throughout - fitted over the carpets.......

Probably no bad idea. Keeps the noise down to those below.

--
*If we weren't meant to eat animals, why are they made of meat?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

doozer wrote:

and stuffed it down the gap. Page after page after page went down
that
gap. As it filled up I stuffed them down. Eventually after about 20
newspapers worth I tested the board again. It was rock solid. I could

lean on it and it didn't flex (well I don't think it did). I then
fitted
cross battens to the top half of the door and finished the job
properly.

The only problem came when I had to nail the skirting to it. I ended
up
glueing it. We sold the house like that. I wonder sometimes if it has

ever broken and been done properly. I vowed then never to bodge
another job.

funny stories From what Ive seen, cars tend to be bodged worse. Not
many building jobs are a danger to life.


NT

In message , Andy Dingley
writes
On 6 Apr 2005 11:00:57 -0700, wrote:

Then there was the pubilc restaurant with bell wire dangling over the
table supplying the lights on the wall.

Is that a curry house in Basingstoke ?

They also had this on the menu
http://codesmiths.com/dingbat/lj/20040913/menu.jpg

That just HAS to be posted to a few other NGs

--
geoff

In message , AlexW
writes

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

How about my brother's house ?

the cooker was connected to the gas pipe with a length of garden hose

--
geoff

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 6 Apr 2005 11:00:57 -0700, wrote:

Then there was the pubilc restaurant with bell wire dangling over
the
table supplying the lights on the wall.

Is that a curry house in Basingstoke ?

I reckon the same electrician has been working on lots of places.


They also had this on the menu
http://codesmiths.com/dingbat/lj/20040913/menu.jpg

Its what turns up in the food that worries me.


NT

On Wed, 6 Apr 2005 22:30:14 UTC, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article .com,
wrote:
funny stories From what Ive seen, cars tend to be bodged worse.

And as likely by main dealers at 100 quid + an hour.

Not many building jobs are a danger to life.

You jest? My favourite one was cowboys removing some walls in the cellar
underneath a restaurant in the Shepherds Bush Road. To extend the number
of covers. The entire terrace fell down.

Wasn't there a story (not exactly bodging) where everyone in a terrace
knocked walls down for through lounges, and the terrace fell sideways?
Or something?

--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!

AlexW wrote:

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

Yup, a friend of mine was tasked to fit a new bathroom for one of his
customers. The owner also wanted to know why the existing shower area
was always damp.

So after demolishing the existing shower (tiled dry lining), it revealed
rather damp walls behind. This was technically speaking in a basement
but, on a section at the front of the house that was fully exposed
rather than underground. So it was not penetrating dampness.

The first good one was where whoever had built it had simply rendered
over a lead pipe with a gate valve on the end. It turns out the valve
valve was dripping slowly and hence soaking the wall. (I helped him
trace the pipe and found it hidden in a ceiling connected to the
incoming water main!).

The other nice one was the previous builder had fitted an extrator fan
in the shower. It was mounted on the dry lining, and ducted through the
inner course of brickwork. But there was no matching hole in the outer
course - so it was simply filling the wall cavity with wet air!

(If you want an example of dodgy electrics, find the thread above about
Dr. Drivels garrage CU ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

bathroom

New build bungalow in Northern Ireland.

Toilet cistern mounted on an inside wall. One day I wondered where
the overfolow pipe went, so I took a look - straight into the wall
cavity and stopped there.

In message , John
Rumm writes
AlexW wrote:

Any one else care to share some bodges found?


(If you want an example of dodgy electrics, find the thread above about
Dr. Drivels garrage CU ;-)

Or, in fact, any of his posts where his reply is other than "snip
drivel"

--
geoff

In message , John
Rumm writes
AlexW wrote:
The other nice one was the previous builder had fitted an extrator fan
in the shower. It was mounted on the dry lining, and ducted through the
inner course of brickwork. But there was no matching hole in the outer
course - so it was simply filling the wall cavity with wet air!

As I may have said here before I think one of my favourites was done by
my present homes previous owner. The over flow from the bathroom toilet
exited the cistern into the outside wall but did not come out on the
other side so if the ball cock had ever failed it would have overflowed
into the cavity. Not to mention the 2.5mm power feed to the electric
shower.
--
Bill

In message , Andy Dingley
writes
bathroom

New build bungalow in Northern Ireland.

Toilet cistern mounted on an inside wall. One day I wondered where
the overfolow pipe went, so I took a look - straight into the wall
cavity and stopped there.
Just read this after posting my last contribution.
The builder didn't originate in Bedford by any chance??


--
Bill

"AlexW" wrote in message
...
...
Any one else care to share some bodges found?

In France: the distribution bus bar from a 40A master breaker that was so
lightweight that it melted when I put a 26A combined load on three
subsidiary circuits. I first became suspicious of the electrics when I had
to fix a couple of sockets so that they did not come out of the wall with
the plug and also found that one had an earth pin, but no earth wire.
However, the consumer unit busbar cross-section was one thing I did not
think to check.

Colin Bignell

AlexW wrote:

A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single skin
"lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my house had
installed.

They had used cloth potato sacks all around the bottom of the kitchen
wall behind the dry lining ... neat, I wish I'd taken a picture.

Other choice work was the woodwork treatment ... pasted newspaper to old
oak beams ... or maybe they just liked the effect ... it seemed to keep
the buggers in though.

And also a small section of medium density blockwork (say 1 m2) repair
(above a window) to a 18" rubble filled wall supported on a small timber
lintel nailed to another small one nailed to the nearest rotten floor
joist. The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly it all
fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

Best one I heard of from a long ex G/F was teh place she bought that
featured shelving put up by driving small cold chsels into the 9" brick
walls.

My old house featured supermarket shopping bags inder teh carpets to
stop the sopping wet floorboards from staining te carpet. Workled well
for 6 years till I demolished it.

Oh, and the removeable carpet tiles that allowed access to the manhole
cover that teh extension had been built over...

...the bit of old leylanddi used to replace a rotten rafter...

TIA,

Alex.

Magician wrote:

My daughter lives in a rented house which has laminated flooring
throughout - fitted over the carpets.......

Dave

Nice - gives that spongy feel.

doozer wrote:
AlexW wrote:

A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single
skin "lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my
house had installed.

They had used cloth potato sacks all around the bottom of the kitchen
wall behind the dry lining ... neat, I wish I'd taken a picture.

Other choice work was the woodwork treatment ... pasted newspaper to
old oak beams ... or maybe they just liked the effect ... it seemed to
keep the buggers in though.

And also a small section of medium density blockwork (say 1 m2) repair
(above a window) to a 18" rubble filled wall supported on a small
timber lintel nailed to another small one nailed to the nearest rotten
floor joist. The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly
it all fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

TIA,

Alex.


I am ashamed to admit that I actually perpetrated this bodge but it was
many years ago and I was in a big hurry at the time...

My parents house had a separate toilet and bathroom next to one another
upstairs - it wasted an enormous amount of space so we decided to knock
them together. We (my father and I) took the joining stud wall down and
refitted the bathroom, tiled etc etc. The job was going really well.
Then his job moved and it was suddenly a rush to sell up and move. We
sold the place quickly and, of course, finishing the bathroom was a
clause. I was tasked with turning the spare door that used to go to the
toilet into a section of wall. How hard can it be I thought. Just rip
the door trim off, nail the door shut, nail some battens off to the
recessed side and then nail plaster board over the top. Once skimmed no
one will know )

Well I ripped off the door trim and nailed the door shut fine. I was
feeling really proud of myself )

I nailed some battens round the edge of the recessed side of the door. I
wanted to make sure my battens wouldn't move so I chose the biggest
(bent, 8 times used, rusty) nails we had and started hammering away.
After a particularly large swing of the hammer I heard a crash and
tinkle from somewhere and assumed someone had dropped something. I later
found out that I had managed to knock a wall ornament off a wall down
stairs. Parentage was not amused |

Anyway that was only a minor set back so I continued. I grabbed the
plaster board and nailed it to the flat side of the door and ended up
with something that looked like a wall ). I then went round to the
recessed side and nailed some plaster board to that (up to about chest
height). It looked good but I was a little concerned about the gap
between the plasterboard and the door (about 4 inches). I pushed gently
on the board - it flexed. Oh dear. I knew I should have fixed battens
across as well as probably a vertical up the middle. Well, it was late,
and I had no more plasterboard so taking it down to fit battens wasn't
an option. I decided to perform the biggest bodge I have ever done. I
went and got some news papers. I took a page at a time, screwed it up
and stuffed it down the gap. Page after page after page went down that
gap. As it filled up I stuffed them down. Eventually after about 20
newspapers worth I tested the board again. It was rock solid. I could
lean on it and it didn't flex (well I don't think it did). I then fitted
cross battens to the top half of the door and finished the job properly.

The only problem came when I had to nail the skirting to it. I ended up
glueing it. We sold the house like that. I wonder sometimes if it has
ever broken and been done properly. I vowed then never to bodge another
job.

Respect for fessin up!

My sister is renovating a place that used to be a nightclub and had
already been hacked about by uber-bodger and found newspaper in the
studwork.

They also found cluedo, full gripfill tubes, small toys and a set of
russian dolls... The nutter had previosly owned the place cleary thought
the studwork would last 1000 years or something.

On 6 Apr 2005 15:08:27 -0700, wrote:


funny stories From what Ive seen, cars tend to be bodged worse. Not
many building jobs are a danger to life.

LOL!

I remember a friend's Fiat Panda...he repaired a 3" rust hole in the
sill with a piece of cornflake packet stuck in place with masking
tape. He then used pollyfilla to level the surface and completeted it
with a couple of coats of black hammerite!

It passed the MOT!

s

AlexW wrote:
A recent thread damp reminded me of some tanking to the single skin
"lean to kitchen" (now demolished) that a previous owner of my house had
installed.

They had used cloth potato sacks all around the bottom of the kitchen
wall behind the dry lining ... neat, I wish I'd taken a picture.

Other choice work was the woodwork treatment ... pasted newspaper to old
oak beams ... or maybe they just liked the effect ... it seemed to keep
the buggers in though.

And also a small section of medium density blockwork (say 1 m2) repair
(above a window) to a 18" rubble filled wall supported on a small timber
lintel nailed to another small one nailed to the nearest rotten floor
joist. The lintels had no support at either end. Unsurprisingly it all
fell down with a a little "coaxing".

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

TIA,

Alex.

Almost forgot ...

Doorway in wall that divides house, (4) joists meet (2) from either side
above. Lintel was a /little/ thin, as it was actually the door frame
itself, two courses of bricks above ... they had become a little loose
over the years and were easy to remove by just pushing through the other
side with my finger! Leaving the floorboards to support 4 joists from
above.

OK I bottled it and used an acro before doing the pushing.

Alex.

In article , AlexW
wrote:
Any one else care to share some bodges found?

I was helping a older lady who had just moved by putting in an
extra socket but then found a trailing red wire that I couldn't
account for. Fortunately the previous owner turned up at that
moment to collect his post and when asked remembered that he'd run
out of yellow/green and it was actually an earth bond.

And I had a little battle with a 'professional' builder who seemed
unaware of the fact that swept waste tees should go with the flow
and wastes work better when they go downhill, not up.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk
Free SEDBUK boiler database browser
http://www.sda.co.uk/qsedbuk.htm
[Latest version QSEDBUK 1.10 released 4 April 2005]

In article ,
says...
Any one else care to share some bodges found?


When I was younger, the house my parents bought, needed substantial work
for the mortgage to be approved, so my parents got grants, and hired
builders to do the work, with us all assisting as labourers to keep
costs down.

In one room, we found all the wiring to the sockets was actually
constructed from a mixture of bell wire and telephone wire.

Ironically, the previous owner of the house was an electrician.
--
"Sorry Sir, the meatballs are Orf"
The poster formerly known as Skodapilot.
http://www.bouncing-czechs.com

AlexW wrote:

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

Here's a classic described by someone here a few weeks ago and is worth
flagging for anyone who missed it (remember the over-the-stairs cupboard
held up by string?):
http://tinyurl.com/5wvet

David

My parents house had the overflow from the cold tank emptying into a
small plastic container halfway across the loft.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 18:09:58 +0100, AlexW
wrote:

Any one else care to share some bodges found?

TIA,

Alex.

Almost too many to mention in our 1930's ex-council place. Seems the
previous owners made lots of "improvements":

1. Wall removed between living room and kitchen. Solution to all those
missing half-bricks in one wall (the wall holding up the new lintel?)
Just fill 'em with plaster....

2. Car audio connectors - the blue ones with a bit of metal sticking
out - used to connect 240v lighting (for example, flourescent tubes in
a wardrobe, just where one might grope about blindly....)

3. There must be something wrong - the 4 way fusebox keeps blowing
fuses! Can't be anything to do with the fact that the kitchen ring and
shower and some other bits all share the same fuseway. Solution -
replace the pesky fuses with 4mm earth wire.

Many more were found and fixed.

Mind you, a friend has just bought a place down the road which has
been "done up" for sale. Laminate fitted with no expansion gaps,
kitchen sink moved with associated amusing drainage solutions, gas
cooker fitted with no tap...

C

On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 08:04:44 +0100, nightjar wrote:


"AlexW" wrote in message
... ..
Any one else care to share some bodges found?

In France: the distribution bus bar from a 40A master breaker that was so
lightweight that it melted when I put a 26A combined load on three
subsidiary circuits. I first became suspicious of the electrics when I had
to fix a couple of sockets so that they did not come out of the wall with
the plug and also found that one had an earth pin, but no earth wire.
However, the consumer unit busbar cross-section was one thing I did not
think to check.

Colin Bignell

Whats french for Part P......

Dave

--
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it
again
in the future!!

Moved into two year old house which required completely redecorating.
Retired to bath for a long soak on day one and was disturbed by screams
from down stairs that water was coming down the lighting flex in the
study below. Hurriedly vacated bath and found that overflow connection
was not sealed to bath, the previous owners solution to this problem had
been to strategically place a soup bowl under the bath trap to collect
the water. When bowl filled, water ran across plasterboard and down
lighting flex. Interestingly enough, bulb did not blow, or fuse or rcd
clear! Took sensible action, emptied bowl, went back to finish bath!

Regards
Capitol

"Capitol" wrote in message
...

The big lead overflow pipe on our bath had been hammered together so that no
water could flow through it.

It was no problem until someone left a bath tap running and water went over
the wall side of the bath, down the wall and down the kitchen wall too.

Still, the kitchen walls needed cleaning and painting ...

Mary

In message , Dave Stanton
writes
On Thu, 07 Apr 2005 08:04:44 +0100, nightjar wrote:


"AlexW" wrote in message
... ..
Any one else care to share some bodges found?

In France: the distribution bus bar from a 40A master breaker that was so
lightweight that it melted when I put a 26A combined load on three
subsidiary circuits. I first became suspicious of the electrics when I had
to fix a couple of sockets so that they did not come out of the wall with
the plug and also found that one had an earth pin, but no earth wire.
However, the consumer unit busbar cross-section was one thing I did not
think to check.

Colin Bignell

Whats french for Part P......

Un peu de **** ?

--
geoff

Whats french for Part P......

Un peu de **** ?

LOL
Dave

--
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it
again
in the future!!

Here a few bodges I found after moving in to my current house.

Iron flex in the loft to extend the lighting circuit.

Extra power point spurred off the lighting circuit (with no earth).

Neutral and Earth mixed up on immersion heater.

Overflow from loft tank went up.

Bathroom washbasin fixed at an angle.

Lighting cable to extractor fan.

No lintel above downstairs lounge window so the brickwork above
sagged.

Soakaway dug in back garden next to storm drain!

Brick missing from inside wall of small extension.

Garage narrower at the back than the front.

Garage door painted with emulsion paint.

Fence posts placed with too much concrete (about 1m^3) per post!

Main stopcock seized half open so someone had fitted another in
series.

Ceilings painted with long blobs of Artex hanging down.

Waste pipe from Bath went upwards.

....and many more I have forgotten about!

Mark

"AlexW" wrote in message
...


Any one else care to share some bodges found?

I think some of these could have gone into a parallel thread: Nightmares.

Mary

Not sure whats wrong with putting another stopcock in line with the seized
one. Once had to do it due to alkathene main being flush with ground in
corner of cupboard and very hard to get at. This one was seized fully
open - well tons of pressure anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Dave Stanton" wrote in message
news


Whats french for Part P......

Un peu de **** ?

LOL
Dave

--
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it
again
in the future!!

Had this on a lead gas pipe in my house... Fortunately it's now been
removed!

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
. net...

"Capitol" wrote in message
...

The big lead overflow pipe on our bath had been hammered together so that
no water could flow through it.

It was no problem until someone left a bath tap running and water went
over the wall side of the bath, down the wall and down the kitchen wall
too.

Still, the kitchen walls needed cleaning and painting ...

Mary

Mary Fisher wrote:
"AlexW" wrote in message
...


Any one else care to share some bodges found?


I think some of these could have gone into a parallel thread: Nightmares.

Mary



Yes. I am inclined to agree.

.... I have remembered a couple more, but I am saving them for future use
... just in case!

Alex.

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 19:21:04 UTC, "wounded horse"
wrote:

Not sure whats wrong with putting another stopcock in line with the seized
one.

In principle, nothing. But this one was seized half open...
--
Bob Eager
begin a new life...dump Windows!