Wow! We also had a costly bathroom project. Toilet was leaking so DH bought new inside parts. Now, hubby’s a very handy guy and he knows how to do home improvements. But in this case, he over-tightened something and it cracked the tank, which he learned when he did a test flush.

I wasn’t home at the time, but when I arrived a while later, the toilet was in the driveway and he was putting on a new tank. Somehow this process ended up cracking the bowl, so off we went to buy a new toilet. Then at least two more trips to Lowe’s for parts. I suggested as long as the toilet was out we should paint the bathroom (it really needed it).

During the painting we opened the window for ventillation, then the latch broke when we closed it (another trip). While we were installing the new toilet (a very long process for us inexperienced people) hubby dropped a socket wrench down the hole.

Finally, about three weekends later, the project was finished. I don’t remember the cost but it was definitely about 10 times the cost of the original replacement parts!

Donna

I’d learned that I could get free mulch delivered if I would accept any amount so i arranged it. Two mornings later an enormous truck backed into the driveway. While the mulch was being dumped, hubby heard the racket, rushed to the living room window, looked out, gasped, ”Sheesh! What on earth is this? You know something about this!”

Yes, yes I did. I explained about it being free mulch. ”Can you make him stop?” Well, no, I can’t. “I’m 78 years old, Sheesh! How am I going to move all that? What were you thinking?” I was thinking FREE MULCH,

It took us weeks to haul it all to where I wanted it. The neighbors cheered us on with comments like, ”You’re getting there!” And “The pile looks a little lighter now.” Many times hubby mumbled, ”I feel like I’m living in an episode of ’I Love Lucy.’”

I admit that it was a little excessive.

Oh, no. I have to do a sink and vanity replacement, and don't look forward to it. I've been pricing things and had no idea how expensive these things were.

Sheesh, I scooped up some wood chips from the street in front of a home who'd gotten one of those free deliveries. Their garden was all of 8 ft by 20 feet, but they received a huge load. Neighbors were not happy in this old part of the city with narrow streets and tight parking.... A couple months later, they called me to see if I wanted to come get more wood chips because the truck had come back and dumped another load which they had not requested.

@matthias_lang, if you are replacing both the sink and vanity, you will have a wider range of price choices. I was constrained by having to use the same sink model as was already installed AND the darn thing was an undermount that was the size of the whole cabinet, so really difficult to access.

Our entire house falls into that category.

Oh boy. What stories. Fun2B, it sounds like you didn’t have to do muh to cause that dmmage, I’m sorry to hear that. Years ago a friend tyried to unclog a drain and our very hot water down into a porcelain pedestal sink. The thermal shock fractured it. She said it was a ”should have known” moment.

I’m familiar with that oops form of regret, so I bet I have done some big goof like that, although I cannot put my finger on just what.

Msmeow, I have heard or read warnings about over tightening nuts. Your DH must have been so miffed.

sheesh, great free mulch story!

Oh yeah, going through this now. ABS light came on in the Mustang. Well, the part is no longer available—the module and pump, so need to find NOS or used. Got one NOS part off eBay; no, it was just the pump and need the module too. Meanwhile Mustang is in the shop 2 weeks. Gosh knows what this will cost me but dealing with a 30 year old car with new parts no longer available is frustrating. So, something that seems fairly straightforward is not. But if I’m not getting rid of it, then it needs to be fixed.

Sue, I remember— you were downsizing and ended up in a bigger house!

I feel you. During this most recent project where we tore apart our laundry area from 2012 that seemed like a good idea, and paid as much for our 76" x 34" counter as we did for all of our counters in the rest of the kitchen.....I decided to add additional custom moulding to our order to replace the mouldings from that job to match the rest of the house. The lumber yard would not give us the blade and there wasn't that much additional cost just to get it done.

Now we have a pile of the molding in the garage

Which means we cannot park two cars in the garage

And we do not have a driveway because the garage is on an alley

so

we have to find someone to

remove the existing molding

install the new moulding

paint the new molding

in three rooms

including my office

which I did not work out of for eight months until about three weeks ago

which means moving everything out, including

one armoire, three rolling racks, a dresser, a desk & chair, a gallery art wall, a small chaise lounge

and put somewhere else in the 1,500 sq. ft. house

that has an extra cabinet and rolling rack in the living room right now

And a new laundry area that is not done

because

we are waiting for an order of two cabinets, one spacer and one crown molding that all had to be remade

because all the people are dummies

apparently including me!

@1929Spanish-GW, your situation is much worse than mine from a timing standpoint, especially since I think I remember that you just went back to work away from home. I'm guessing it's much harder to schedule the trades you need for your projects. On the theme of molding, I had a similar situation, although not as extensive, and the molding that was stored carefully flat in the garage still warped from temperature changes. I was so annoyed.

Ha! No I still work from home. In the room that needs most of the work. Just need to find a finish carpenter, or start looking for one…

It amazes me the stress people live with. DH would have swapped that in and out in an afternoon. IDK seems like more and more this site is an advertising on why we need to teach kids more FACS and Tech Ed than higher math.

Always lovely hearing from you @arcy_gw. You bring such joy and kindness.

We ended up with a fuzzy toilet tank cover because my dad cracked the tank. It was a green toilet and we managed to find another green tank from a salvage yard, but it wasn't quite the same colour. My mum bought a toilet cover set to hide the difference.

It amazes me arcy that your education didn't include more FACS (although how that would help installing storage racks is beyond me) and Tech Ed and that you are still reliant on your DH to perform simple home improvements.

OH YES!

I got a FREE piece of granite, exactly what I wanted for the mud room to upgrade the unfinished laminate counter top we were living with. Planned on reusing the extra-deep Kohler sink and cool faucet. DH cut the hole too big in the granite, for the sink...by 2" I had to buy a NEW, bigger sink. $600. Then DH says, ya know the granite on the laundry room counter....it should match the mud room countertop. Another $1200 for that.

Thank you arcy. My husband has physical limitations that limit his mobility. Kind of like how limitations limit one’s ability to not comment.

Many, many years ago a storm came through that knocked down some of the electric poles in our neighborhood, and in doing so tore a piece of siding (and the electric meter!) off the back of our house. At first we were just going to repair the siding. Instead, we wound up putting on a whole addition and renovating the outdated kitchen.

And no, we did none of the work ourselves. Some people are handy with tools, some are not. We have other skills, and back then our time was worth more than the money the addition cost.

I asked my husband to fix the brakes on my Jimmy. So he did. I still did not trust going down a couple of particular hills here and feeling confident my vehicle would actually stop. He said they were fine. So I took it in to my son's shop where he works. The mechanic said while the brake pads were new, the ENTIRE brake system had to be replaced because........... well........... simply put: I had NO brakes! And to think we drove through the mountains with that vehicle not long before I took it in for a look see. The calipers were toast! And because I was family of the employee, my vehicle was put at the bottom of the list of important things to do. Luckily for me, my husband owns a 1/2 ton truck so he drove me to work and back until I got my Jimmy back. A couple months went by, and we took the Jimmy from my sons shop to his friends shop where he finished it in 48 hours. The total cost for the "brake repair" (which included fixing all my tail lights as I kept asking my husband to change them but he never did....... ) was over $3500! For a 2004 GMC Jimmy that is only worth $2500.............. But I <3 my vehicle and now have a few more years left in it. I hope.......

Oh, and now I need new summer tires. There goes another grand.

My 1993 Miata!!

In the days after the tornado, we were having to make numerous detours to get through town. I was in traffic, and my car started doing this strange speed up/ slow down on the tachometer. Ran fine, though, once I let the clutch out.

It took a few days for me to mention the problem to the 2 mechanics in the house, and they consulted YouTube, and the FB groups, and then drove to several towns in other parts of the state to pick up used parts to test.

They would then swap them to DS's car a 1992 model) to make sure the parts were good.

About 4 weeks in, they went out to the garage, and my car had leaked antifreeze all over the floor, from the split radiator. (We still have not figured out the other problem at this point). So UPS brings a radiator.

They got the radiator off, and decided (while they were in there, of course) to do the timing belt. Took 2 weeks to decide which was the best value....I think at this point, we are in about April. I am not sure we have actually fixed the original problem!

Now that it has warmed up some, they decide to replace the convertable top, since the car is in the garage, and I goot the new top for Christmas a couple of years ago....but the new top is missing some wire thingies, and mine are corroded or something. While the top was off, they also replaced the fender. We had had that better one for several years.

About September, DH needed new tires on his Jeep, and the Firestone guy gave him a great deal on some he had, so we swapped those out.

Now, with a BRAND NEW a/c compressor, the a/c does not work, and they cannot figure out why. I did drive it about 3 times in January!!

Sinks, such fun! I've posted this a while back but we replaced our kitchen sink with an old country farm type stainless steel sink that VgQn found on craigslist (she talked the seller down to $100, it was used and needed some repair). The fixes were relatively easy (parts from Lowes @ $50) but the installation was a bit more complex. I had to cut out a portion of the counter top and we lost the use of the top draw on the left, but it has worked fine over the past 7-8 years. Below are before & after pics...

Youtubes on DIY plumbing helped a lot. VgQn loves it and esp the larger tubs and built-in back splash. The left tub missed the dishwasher by about 1/2 inch, whew!

The previous owner of our house put a metal roof over an old tar/gravel one. I guess that's considered legit if done correctly, but it was not. However, the flaws were hidden so it wasn't something a home inspector was going to catch during a routine inspection.

Their cheap shortcut resulted in moisture buildup, rot, and carpenter ants. We had to have the entire roof torn down to the studs and replaced, costing us over $40K. When we bought the house, we were told that the metal roof was fairly new and should last us ~40 more years. And yet...

nellibean, your cracked toilet reminds me of my husband (then boyfriend's) toilet situation. He was working 80 hour weeks when he had his apartment renovated and didn't supervise anything. The plumbers did a messy job and left a hairline crack in the toilet bowl. He didn't have time to deal with it. Years later, he was in the bathroom and I heard a crash and a lot of yelling. He'd been using the toilet when a big chunk of it broke off. He didn't appreciate my flatulence jokes.

I can't recall any huge mistakes, but I once bought some very, very expensive yardage of diaphanous Japanese material with the intent of making a sexy kimono for an upcoming romantic vacation. I was intent on cutting and sewing and getting it done in time, and didn't realize until it was finished that it was extremely scratchy against my skin. I couldn't even bear to keep the scraps. It went straight from the sewing machine into the garbage.

@vgkg Z-7 Va, that's an amazing sink!

SeattleMCM I CANNOT like that post! That is horrible!

Seattlemcm, just yikes! That was a really horrible thing to read. I am hoping the previous owners were sold a 'bill of goods' by a roofer and didn't try to do wrong.

Very nice sink addition vgkg!

Sheesh, I was ROFL-seriously-reading about your mulch. I almost signed up for that (sounds like the same thing, anyway). Can't believe your neighbors did not ask for some of it. Really, funny story, though!

What are "FACS?"

DD asked for horseback riding lessons 32 years ago, when she was 6. The summer DD was 11, after purchase of a sweet 6 year old show pony from Florida, I went running to DH clutching a $25 or something prize check for DD's first place finish. "She made money!" I exulted.

27 years later, DD is in NY. The sweet 33 year old pony is in our barn. On the way home from a Drs appt this AM, DH and I stopped at a Farm and Fleet to pick up a truckload of shavings and a new feed trough for Pony. Into the new trough goes the hay DH chops in the new heavy duty chipper shredder he bought a couple weeks back because Pony can't eat stemmy hay now.

Vgkg, thanks to your post I have an idea what your moniker means! I like it!

Beautiful sink, vgkg!

The plumbing stories reminded me of the first time I replaced a faucet and flexed the metal hot & cold lines to get them to meet up with the service lines. I didn't realize they'd split until I turned on the water...🙄

"Wouldn't it be nice to have a dishwasher at the cottage?" asks dh.

We ended up completely gutting the kitchen. But we got our dishwasher.

Testing paint colors.

I looked at swatches, I ordered Samplize, they turned out out to be a little shiny so they do not read that well with the sun coming it.

I am testing four greens, three of which most people would call identical on four different walls in one room.

I am in $200 for paint and rollers and disposable trays already. I buy actual quarts of paint in the finish I want if I get this deep into it.

Then the walls will have to be sanded and primed again by the painter so the samples don't telegraph through.

My other alternative is Decorators White. So easy.

When we bought our house, we said, Well, there's work to do inside, but for the exterior, just paint. And, well, we probably should replace those ugly yews in front. Well, and it seems like the porch might need shoring up a bit. That summer, we lived in our new house while all the windows were boarded up (while we waited for all new windows), the entire front porch was rebuilt, the house was completely re-sided (pre-finished shingles), trim painted, and then we completely re-landscaped, including a new stone driveway. Oh sorry, and a new roof and gutters because, you know, might as well.

What stories and some tales of woe.

Seattlemcm — I could cry for you and your husband. That’s just horrible.

carolb — all that work and you get treated w a shower a a wet floor.

Vgkg, that looks exactly like our sink, but I like it better in your sharp looking kitchen. You did a great job — both you and vgqn. Is your sink an ELKAY? It’s very heavy guage SS.

In a larger sense, I think my over education after high school--four schools, four degrees, was probably a simple idea that cost way too much money and has probably not worked out all that well in a cost-benefit analysis.

@Palimpsest, you made me grin...great answer.

When we bought our camp there was a shed we weren't going to use for anything so we thought we would paint it and make it a playhouse for the grands. Well as most projects, it snowballed. A simple paint job turned into a new floor, new roof structure, walls and ceiling covered, and a little front porch. The only thing original was the outside walls, window, and door. It did turn out cute. Hubby did a great job.

That's adorable!

Petalique and others, thanks! But no as far as we can tell it's not an ELKAY, VgQn looked that brand up and pics show it having a reddish color ID label which ours lacks. Best we can figure is that it dates back to the1940's/50's era. We bought it from a contractor who was tearing down an old farm house and he wanted $250 for it. I thought it was a bargain at that price but when we flipped it over the bottom had plant roots growing through its wooden backing.

The measurements that I brought with me were extremely close for this sink to even being able to "fit" the counter top (without hitting the dishwasher). So I looked at the guy with a smile and asked how low would he go and $100 was the bingo price. I took a chance that it would fit and with some carpentry and plumbing repairs it ended up as a very good chance to take.

Three kids.

Life's lessons can be harsh.

Choose your own home inspector. Never give the seller an opportunity to talk to the inspector prior to the inspection. Never trust a seller who has already lied to you in negotiations.

We bought a small ranch house primarily for the location, planning to remodel it. Each contractor we brought in after the closing instantly spotted that an addition (bedroom and bath) had sunk almost two inches, just from viewing the exterior. The seller had packed the room with heavy office equipment or we would have known none of the windows would open, due to the settling.

The cost of ripping off the addition was huge, and we'd planned extensive remodeling. We ended up doing a teardown.

Did you know that all you'll get back from a dishonest inspector is the FEE? ($300 in this case.)