Your Biggest Home Improvement Goof

[crokett™]

I stole this idea from somewhere else.  Mine is concrete counters in the kitchen in our last house.  My wife wanted concrete counters.  I did some reading and decided I could do it.  I made several mistakes, but the biggest was the first one -  pouring in place because I didn't have a crew to lift poured sections into place. It would have been much smarter to pour them all, get them finished then find some day laborers to help set them.   I ended up with a tiled countertop covering the jacked up concrete.  I hated it because it was a daily reminder of a screwup, my wife hated it because she doesn't like tile.  Another mistake I made on that job was thinking I needed rebar -and- wire mesh.  When it came time to demo to put in granite, the job was much tougher.  I ended up jackhammering a space about 2" wide from front to rear so I could cut the rebar and wire mesh and section the counter into 24" long sections, then we'd carry each section out.

[stav]

My wife wanted concrete counters for a while.  We never did it though.  Ended up with granite instead.  What was your issue with them?


My biggest mistake was gutting the kitchen before I had a good understanding of what I was doing.  Got it all gutted and was putting it back together when I reached a point where I had a really bad feeling about what I was doing.  I stopped right there and my wife had to live with a pieced together kitchen for a while.  Started research and pulling permits, etc.  Once I got to the point where I felt like I knew what I was doing, I restarted (wife was 6 mos pregnant). Got it all done in time but not without hearing about my timing for many years.  It still comes up from time to time.

[crokett™]

My wife wanted concrete counters for a while.  We never did it though.  Ended up with granite instead.  What was your issue with them?

Pouring them in place meant 

a) grinding/polishing smooth was not really possible in a working kitchen because of the mess.  I underestimated my finishing skills
b) mixing enough concrete for a continuous pour didn't happen, which meant the color match between adjoining sections was off
c) despite my best efforts to create a neat seam, that didn't happen either
d) what I did to try and ensure a smooth front edge did not work out
e) relatively minor considering the rest of the problems, but the aggregate I put in to make an interesting textured surface all sank

Pouring them outside would have eliminated a and b as problems as they would be smaller sections.  c I could grind the seam as smooth as I needed to outside.  d would be eliminated through practice if necessary.  e would be eliminated since when you pour in a mold you pour upside down

[joe1086]

Many years ago we moved into a new house...wife was pregnant with our first child. She didn't like the builder's paint color and wanted it redone before the baby arrived. No problem...she'll spend a few days with her parents (she didn't want to be around the paint odor) while I painted the living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, master bedroom and the nursery. She comes back, takes one look and says..."I think it's too dark".

Told her to head back to her parents and re-did the whole thing a couple shades lighter. Probably about 6 total days of effort.

[stav]

oooh, LOML always picks out the paint colors.  I get input but she has final say.  Its an artist thing so I am told. 

[joe1086]

oooh, LOML always picks out the paint colors.  I get input but she has final say.  Its an artist thing so I am told. 

I reread my post.....forgot to mention....SHE picked out the colors....both times!

Heck, I'm pretty much color blind and all three looked fine to me.

[Snipe Hunter]

oooh, LOML always picks out the paint colors.  I get input but she has final say.  Its an artist thing so I am told. 

Same here. She isn't an artist. Paint, tile, flooring. I like neutral colors, particularly because I know we won't stay put forever so resale is in the back of my mind. She likes light blues and greens. We have lots of blue and green accent tile in the bathrooms. It's here for good.

[stav]

Same here. She isn't an artist. Paint, tile, flooring. I like neutral colors, particularly because I know we won't stay put forever so resale is in the back of my mind. She likes light blues and greens. We have lots of blue and green accent tile in the bathrooms. It's here for good.

That isn't so bad, we still have the 1950's pink and mint green in one of our bathrooms. We're hoping to remodel that one soon-ish.

[WoodCzech]

One big goof up was not realizing that I can't refinance a house with a gutted master bathroom.  Lost a great rate because of that.  Still got a decent rate later on though.  The fun part is that the house was about 70% paid for at the time, yet they would not refinance the 30%.

The other was relying on a "storm chaser" company to guide me through the insurance process on hail damaged siding.  They neglected to mention that to get the replacement cost, the project has to be done within 2 years.  For various reasons the project got delayed past the 2 year mark the insurance company only gave me the actual cost.  I had to cover about $8k out of pocket.  Needles to say the storm chasers didn't get to do the work!

[Snipe Hunter]

I've had my fair share of goofs.

Latest: Bought 42" tall upper kitchen cabinets and crown molding. Not realizing that these cabinets don't have enough reveal at the to] to fasten the crown molding and even if they did, I would have to leave a 3" gap between the cabinets and the ceiling to fit the molding. Even if I did lower the cabinets and figure a way to install the molding, I'd only have 15-1/2" between the cabinets and the countertops.

I should have bought 36" cabs. Now I have 50' of painted white crown which I can't send back.