The Worst Home Renovations Revealed

We’ve done a ton of renovations. Big, small and everything in-between. For the most part nothing surprises us anymore. But every once in a while we just have to step back and ask “What the heck were these people thinking”. Home renovations can be exciting and positively impact your home. However, certain things that should be left to the professionals. Even if you think it’s an easy fix, having the know-how to complete the project correctly is important. We’ve seen a ton of renovation disasters and in no way is this a complete list of what we’ve seen. Take a look at some of the the worst home renovations we’ve encountered over the years. For renovations, inspections, and general home improvements hire a professional if you’re at all unsure. It could literally save you thousands!

Boulders in-between joists:

We started on a project where the home owners wanted to remove a fireplace and open up the living space. The project was not that big however getting into the removal of the fireplace, the person(s) that built it, god knows why, probably wanted to save on concrete and filled the voids with boulders. Now we’re not talking about large rocks, these were boulders that weighed in the neighbourhood of 75lbs each. Deconstruction of this mess was a nightmare. We ended up pulling out an obscene amount of stone and fill from this home. This was back in 2007 and I remember the back-breaking work chipping them out. The size of them was overwhelming and we removed at least a dozen boulders that took 2 big guys to pull out.

Ice damning hell:

Ice damning is a nightmare. This one was bad! It was a home with a low pitch roof. The damning that you see in the picture was probably 40ft long and went up over 6ft. In 2009, the home owners knew nothing about it, but once the hardwood flooring started cupping and the carpet wet, they got concerned. After we opened everything it was bad and clear this had been happening for several years. There were studs compromised with rot, soft floor sheathing, and the insulation throughout was a complete mess. They had water through to the the basement. We had to pull a massive amount of materials out of this home starting from shingles/sheathing, insulation, drywall and interior finishings. The costs of repairs were over $95,000.

Bad base board effort and kitchen in the bathroom trend:

Not every home we look at renovating, actually gets renovated. This was a home that we actually didn’t end up working on. We decided to demo and rebuilt from ground up. It was simply hilarious seeing what was going on in this home. It was very weird to say the least and the first, open concept kitchen/bathroom we’d seen. This was a new one for us. The work completed throughout this home was terrible, and beyond repair. Another surprise in this house was an old cast iron hand rail which was mounted to the ceiling. You can see part of it in this photo. This confused us greatly, and probably better off not knowing it’s purpose. Of the photos in these stories, this was the only home that we didn’t end up renovating.

Rotten chimney:

This was part of a whole home renovation several years ago. The home was actually a well-built home for the most part, but it had this chimney which was a real concern. Over time the chimney was destroyed as a result of a poorly installed piece of flashing. It was actually a bit scary that this thing was still standing. As a result, deconstruction was easy work. The repairs included rebuilt roof trusses, a new roof membrane and all new shingles. Through the renovation we did not replace the chimney due to the costs. . Demolition costs, waste and reconstruction was over $40,000. Consider this a wake up call – it better be done right the first time or it may cost you big in the long run.

Hair in drain:

I seriously almost gag remembering this job we did back in May of 2008. It was a small space and the customers were having water issues and a bad smell they could not get rid of. The bathroom was dated and a renovation was needed. Completing the demolition, we found the water issue was caused by a combination of hair buildup and bad plumbing. The ABS at the drain had about 1/2″ silicon around it and the drain was not connected with the right drain assembly. The smell was absolutely horrendous and came from the “Hair-rat” we pulled out of the drain. I have seen hair in drains, but this was a whole different ball-game. It was well over 20″ long, over an 1-1/2″ thick, and covered with gooey white and fluorescent green scum. This was one for the books with a Yuck factor of 100%.

Shower clean-out:

Sometimes I think back through our completed jobs and really wonder why we agreed to do them. Take this shower for example. It was a basement episode where the shower base was constructed out of concrete and formed around the main stack of the home. They were having problems with the drain and had several back-ups, when someone would be using the shower and the toilet upstairs was flushed. Tree roots were part of the problem but we’ll leave it up to you to figure out what the staining is from. To say the least this was a real crappy attempt at constructing a shower base.

Black mould? No wait that’s rotting food behind those walls:

Early 2000’s we went into this home because the home owners we complaining of a bad smell and wet carpet in a basement bedroom. Turns out the abs drain pipe from the kitchen sink cracked due to no expansion sleeve. Consequently connected to the dishwasher, waste water, food chunks, and debris slowly seeped out of the drain system, into the wall cavity below. Fortunately, the damage was centralized to the basement bedroom. This wasn’t so much part of the worst home renovations, but did include cheap workmanship. New carpet, wall/ceiling drywall, insulation and plumbing re-construction (with an expansion sleeve) made this good. It’s by no way the worst we’ve seen, but did ended up costing a big repair bill for what a $30 expansion sleeve could have prevented.

Home inspection disaster!

We often get calls to complete 3rd party inspection for legal professionals. Although we’d like to think that all builders will provide high quality work to well paying clients, this is not always the case. For example in this inspection we found one of the worst home renovations. Literally countless issues from open holes in duct work, doors not hung correctly, unlevel or straight walls and a multitude of code violations. I think the stair railing was a first for me. Seeing the slope go from 24″ to 38″. The spindles were not even attached. I know many people that are not so handy, but most could have done a better job than this clown. The job resulted in a complete gut and rebuild. Cost to complete – over $175,000.

Other absolutely bonkers finds:

Duct for miles

Don’t do this – corrugated dryer duct, taped into a bathroom vent. There is no acceptable reason why we had to remove over 75ft of this stuff.

That did actually happen!

Improper insulation and vapour barrier over a cantilever: Yeah not good when it gets gooey and your foot goes through the floor. But hey we found centipedes and all kinds of bugs eating living in the rotten wood.

Deck party flop!

Collapsed deck – yeah that hurt. This builder didn’t use the correct … well everything on this deck was wrong.

And a find that was really very cool:

This cow is a large cow!

While doing a kitchen renovation to a home built in 1911, our carpenter Martin discovered a letter inside an envelope. He found it tucked in the wood-chip wall insulation. Carefully removing the letter, we framed and presented it to the thrilled home owners. Without question this is the oldest item we’ve ever found in a reno and very cool find at that.

The May 19,1920 letter, with a 3 cent King George V stamp, was from a farmer to the original homeowner: “In reply to yours of 19th about fresh cow this cow is a large cow well Bred Dairy short horn eight years old has been dry since last Oct fresh four days has just taken calf of her to-day so hard to say about milk I might say fourteen quarts a day it all depends on how far she is fed she can be made given a lot of milk for she has made 15 lbs of Butter in one week price $125. I live eleven miles north west of… Yours truly, Jas. Fletcher”

Delonix Homes is a home builder in Chilliwack BC and elite home renovation specialist. As a Mike Holmes Approved builder, we can help with your home renovation.

Renovations can be very rewarding and positively impact your home. Make sure you contact the right professionals that have the experience to properly complete the work you want done.

We’d love to hear about the worst home renovations you have come across. Let us know about them in the comments and we’ll be sure to share them.