Terrible ideas

[helenalex]

They say that you should learn from your mistakes, but it's more fun to learn from other people's...

I'm interested in knowing the most disastrous/silly/seemed like a good idea a the time things which people have done on their houses, or have seen other people do, or have had to deal with the aftermath of.

Ours is a combination of a ridiculous thing the previous owners of our house did, and our own stupidity for not noticing it before we moved in, plus a bit of dealing with it badly.

The previous owners concreted and tiled a courtyard at the back of the house... but didn't put any drainage in. When it rains the water just sits on the tiles until it evaporates. To make things even more ridiculous, they had a spa pool there. God only knows how they emptied it, or even if they did. To deal with the lack of drainage I took up the tiles in the hope that the concrete would be thin enough to jackhammer through. Turns out it's at least a metre thick. Now the water sits on the concrete before seeping into who-knows-where, in the meantime causing the concrete to grow green stuff. We are about to pay some plumbers a few grand to install drainage and hook it up to the stormwater system at the other end of the property.

So they were idiots for building a courtyard with no drainage, and we were idiots for not noticing. Unimpressed with the property inspector, who also missed this. The joys of property ownership, huh?

[Glizzle]

Sounds like these a dead body hidden in your Courtyard.

[helenalex]

Sounds like these a dead body hidden in your Courtyard.

Nothing would completely surprise me.

[Maccachic]

Did you speak to a lawyer about this? There maybe remedies under the Sale and Purchase agreement and / or liability on the building inspectors part. Not sure how long ago you purchased so may not be relevent any more.

[helenalex]

Hey, this wasn't supposed to just be about my ridiculous thing, it was supposed to be about *everyone's* ridiculous things. Looks like no one here has ever screwed up.

In response to Maccachic, the building inspector has a clause saying that he's only liable for the cost of the report (about $500). I think this is the result of some of them being made bankrupt after failing to spot leaky homes. Not sure about other legal remedies, but given the lack of drainage wasn't hidden from us, I'm skeptical that we would get anywhere, and knowing the previous owners I'm pretty sure they would fight it even if we had a really good case. This is only going to cost about $3-4k to fix, and I can easily see lawyers costing at least that much for something which could well fail anyway. I'm inclined to just suck it up and treat it as a learning experience.

[Keys]

Hey, this wasn't supposed to just be about my ridiculous thing, it was supposed to be about *everyone's* ridiculous things. Looks like no one here has ever screwed up.

You come here with fewer than the five posts you have now and do what exactly?

Ask other, more seasoned posters, to bare all. And what possible reason could you have for that?

Your entertainment?

I think you should contribute to this forum extensively and learn from the vast experience here. It would do you more good than a quick laugh at others expense.

If you took the time to read the threads posted in the coffee lounge then you could get your jollies there.

[Maccachic]

Hey, this wasn't supposed to just be about my ridiculous thing, it was supposed to be about *everyone's* ridiculous things. Looks like no one here has ever screwed up.

In response to Maccachic, the building inspector has a clause saying that he's only liable for the cost of the report (about $500). I think this is the result of some of them being made bankrupt after failing to spot leaky homes. Not sure about other legal remedies, but given the lack of drainage wasn't hidden from us, I'm skeptical that we would get anywhere, and knowing the previous owners I'm pretty sure they would fight it even if we had a really good case. This is only going to cost about $3-4k to fix, and I can easily see lawyers costing at least that much for something which could well fail anyway. I'm inclined to just suck it up and treat it as a learning experience.

That clause won't stand up as the Consumer Guarentees Act does not allow for a limit of liability.

[Leftette]

What a curmudgeonly old goat, Keys. Give the girl a break. It's all in fun, ffs.

[Leftette]

Terrible ideas: Shared driveways. Flat roofs. Insulclad. Len Brown.

[Keys]

What a curmudgeonly old goat, Keys. Give the girl a break. It's all in fun, ffs.

Indeed it would be. However, what reason would a newbie have to come here and ask us all to bare all?

Lets see your embarrassing items then. Yes? No?

Me? I prefer to keep them to myself.

[helenalex]

Thanks Leftette.

Keys, I have told you my embarrassing story - it's in the first post, and it's pretty stupid. If you don't want to share your stories, fair enough, no one is going to make you.

Personally, I believe that the best way to deal with stuffing up is to laugh about it and work out what you could do better next time (in my case 'check paved areas and similar have drainage'). Sharing these stories means other people are less likely to make the same mistakes, thereby reducing the number of borked houses in the world. If this goes against the culture of this site, fair enough, like Keys said I'm new here.

[Leftette]

...and I quote "They say that you should learn from your mistakes, but it's more fun to learn from other people's..."

[Leftette]

I agree with you, Helen. It's not against the "culture", whatever that means. But it goes against Keys' delicate sensitivities apparently.

[Leftette]

But as you say, no one's forcing him to reveal his mistakes. Mine: Found 'good' excuses NOT to buy places that I had 1st dibbs on, and now regret that decision. Another was selling a place in NZ while based overseas - big mistake - get taken for a ride by agents.

[helenalex]

...and I quote "They say that you should learn from your mistakes, but it's more fun to learn from other people's..."

Yeah, that could have been phrased better.