Most of us have done it. We have taken on a home improvement that resulted in a disaster. While there were good intentions, the project was destined to fail due to any number of reasons. I call this misfortune "Home Improvement Gone Wrong".
Home improvement project failure can be blamed on various reasons which include lack of planning, inadequate patience and poor skills. It must also be noted that sometimes special tools are required and there is a quite a difference between a utility knife and a reciprocating saw.
There are mainly two different types of home improvements; cosmetic and functional. An example of cosmetic is when an interior room is painted. Fine, the homeowner may be no Rembrandt. However, we all can see that no surface preparation was performed. Paints drips are on the walls and the old color is bleeding through. That carpeting with the blobs of paint needed to be replaced anyway. That is cosmetic - no harm.
An example of functional is when electrical work is performed or maybe the homeowner replaces that natural gas water heater. This is where it will get scary. If the improvement is incorrectly executed in any number of ways it can result in a malfunction. Occasionally fire, personal injury and death may result.
Frequently, an individual will complete the functional home improvement without realizing the debacle that was created. As a home inspector I am continually amazed at what I observe. Just when you believe you have seen it all, another property will show the worst results from a well intentioned homeowner.
Now and again I have to laugh (in private of course). But then I quickly realize the circumstances. Appropriately, I must exercise extreme caution in my occupation as I may be the next victim of "Home Improvement Gone Wrong".
Glen Fisher southjerseynpi@aol.com
"The South Jersey Home Inspector"
Pictured below is a typical example of "Home Improvement Gone Wrong". As you can see, nails are protruding through a recently replaced roof covering. Apparently, the homeowner installed a ceiling cladding at the third floor attic so it could be used as a living area. I guess he never thought about what he was nailing into and where the nails would end up. There were many more nails than pictured and this disaster likely produced at least one-hundred small roof leaks warranting replacement of the roof covering.
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