Botched Home Renovations That Prove You Should Leave It To The Professionals
With an influx of online tutorials and vloggers sharing their stories of flipping houses or doing their own renovations, it can seem tempting to save a few bucks by taking on your home improvement projects yourself.
However, not everyone has the knowledge or skills necessary to complete their own renovations. These are some examples of botched DIY home repairs that prove that you should just hire a professional.
"Nah, We Don't Need To Measure"
After so many things have already gone well—the cabinets and the countertop were constructed so smoothly—these homeowners got a little too arrogant.
Of course they ended up overlooking the need to measure before buying a fridge.
Think Before Adding A Wall
Adding a new wall to your home can be a great way to split and maximize the use of a space by creating a whole new room.
However, you should probably make sure you're not building it on a window.
I Would Hate To Look At This Every Time I Shower
Here's the thing: if you mess up a wall or some flooring, you can easily cover it up so that you don't have to think about it, but you'd have to face this shower failure every single day.
I hope they're short so they never have to see it.
Probably Should Have Ripped Out The Carpet First
This person pulled up the old carpet in their house to put down new carpet (which they had already paid $2,300 for, measured, and cut) only to find out there was pristine hardwood underneath.
Big mistake on their part but who in their right mind would cover this up with carpet?
Perfect: Just Never Turn The Fan On!
Forget the chicken, we have a new existential problem; what came first: the pillar or the fan?
Either way, someone clearly did not think this through while they were installing the new fixture.
I'm Mad At Whoever Did This
Listen, I can understand the occasional installation mistake when it comes to self-completed projects, but I refuse to believe that this was an accident.
They did this monstrosity on purpose.
Why, Though?
When you live in a small apartment or house, you really have to work hard to maximize your space.
However, I don't think that putting a loft bed in the bathroom is a solution.
Please, Just Go Buy A New One
I have no doubt in my mind that it would have been much easier and more time-efficient to just go to Home Depot and buy a dual switch plate than to do this butcher job.
Kind of looks like one is stalking the other.
This Is Should Be A Crime
I want to run for political office just so I could propose and pass a law that makes it a criminal offense to put carpet inside a bathroom, punishable with up to 10 years in prison.
Just think of the stains.
Good Luck Getting Electricity
I'm all for people trying to transition to more renewable forms of energy, and solar panels are a good start, but you should probably put them in a spot that actually gets sun.
Seems like a no-brainer.
The View Is Incredible!
This person decided that they could put in their own ventilation shaft rather than bringing a company in to do it.
Were the extra dollars saved worth losing the view?
How Do You Mess Up This Bad?
There's literally a metal plate on the door that lets you know which side is supposed to be on the bottom, and this person still messed up horrendously.
I have a feeling they don't work here anymore.
Do Not Remove Load-Bearing Walls
"We don't need a contractor," they thought. "It's not that hard to renovate your own basement," they thought. "I definitely can just knock out this wall to widen the space," they thought.
Now we have a house in italics.
The Cat Didn't Get The Memo About The Renos
Even if every human in the house is on board and aware of the renovations going on, cats are unafraid to destroy everything if renovations pose a minimal inconvenience for them.
You're just playing with fate having unattended wet cement around a cat.
How Are You Supposed To Stand On This?
There's been a home decor trend toward "rain-like" showers that mimic natural conditions, but some things go too far.
I mean, how can you avoid slipping off? Where do you put the shampoo?
I'm Getting Mixed Signals
Do you trust the top sign or the door sign?
I'm assuming you just have to trust your instincts, walk right in, and hope that your 50/50 guess was right.
No Showerhead? No Problem
Okay, but...can you imagine how hard it is to shower using this tap as a showerhead? The water comes straight down and attacks your head in a pretty strong stream.
It just seems uncomfortable.
If Only There Were A Natural Way To Get Shade
I can't believe that someone saw two trees growing beside this building and thought, "Hey, I should cut down those trees and instead put up an ugly metal awning over them."
And then to not even remove the stumps? Tragic.
I Pity Anyone Who Pees Here
I wonder if, at any point while putting these slats in, the person behind this project realized that they were putting them in wrong and just decided they didn't care enough to fix them.
This would be agony.
A Strong Case For Anchoring Your Cabinets
Sometimes, when completing a DIY project, you think that you could maybe skip a step or two—I mean, was it really that necessary?—and it's only later, once your entire kitchen comes crashing down, that you realize your error.
So that's what that random screw was for.
The Audacity Of This Seller
It's one thing to have this monstrosity of a "headboard" (I barely want to call it that) in your own home, but you really have to be audacious to try to sell it.
Bucket probably isn't included either.
Greetings From The Toilet!
The person who posted this photo explained that her uncle's house has this doorless bathroom, which on its own would normally be awful enough, but you can also see the toilet when entering the house.
Listen if you had bad enough bowels this would be a selling feature.
You Must Be This Short To Climb!
The people in this house had better be prepared to crawl up the stairs, go for a questionable height-shortening surgery in a different country, or simply write off the bottom floor of their house.
Guess they gotta go on all fours up the steps.
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
Rather than reinstalling the toilet somewhere else in the room, this person weighed the amount of work it would take an decided that cutting a hole into the door would be easier.
And yet, there's still going to be a hole in the bathroom door facing the toilet.
That Extension Cord Is Permanently There
Oh, you wanted to use that extension cord again? Too bad: it has already been cemented into the ground underneath the stairs.
I honestly just want to know how no one noticed until too late.
Send Your Friend To Therapy
I have never felt so unhappy while looking at a toilet and I once had to use a porta-potty while at a punk rock music festival in 2008.
This person needs to get their friend help.
That Seems Stable...
Maybe I would have more faith in this impromptu repair job if it was done with duct tape or another material, but cling wrap?
That stuff barely stays secure over a bowl of pasta salad.
Yes, That Will Work
When trying to complete a home improvement project, you might want to cut a corner when you face a problem, but I can assure you, you want to make that extra trip to get a pipe joiner.
Even I know that.
Now That's A Real Catch-22
The entire computer and security system in this building relies on that single plug, so the maintenance team can't unplug it to attach the new outlet cover.
It's been sitting like this for weeks.
This Hurts My Eyes
Some people will try to convince you that you won't be able to tell the difference between a professional's work and your own DIY, and I'm here to tell you that they are liars.
I would trust this person to pipe a buttercream border on a cake.
They Want To See The World Burn
I can't decide if this is merely the result of poor planning or if the person behind this wood pattern that hides the fact that there are stairs just wanted to see people break their legs.
This has got to be a fire hazard.
Looks Like A Lawsuit In The Making
I've always been kind of wary of carnival rides and now I finally have proof to back up my intuition.
There is no way that this is safe or legal.
This Is The Worst Kitchen I've Ever Seen
You've heard of people creating island countertops in their kitchens, but have you ever seen it done with a fridge?
The fact that they built a wall-casing for the appliance appalls me.
Make Eye Contact The Whole Time!
You know what people definitely love to do while trying to drop a deuce in a public washroom?
Make agonizing eye contact with someone else—or at least, that's what this designer thought.
Was A Regular Stove Fan Not Good Enough?
I understand that people should be allowed to decorate their homes however they please, but there has to be something wrong with a person for them to turn a piano into a stove range.
Especially putting the part where people's shoes go right above the food.
Yes, Very Secure
Where is the best place to put a security camera?
Some people would say entryways or others might think hallways are the way to go, but this person clearly had other ideas.
Lamp Shades Are Not That Expensive
I can understand the appeal of DIY-ing a home project because you can often save a lot of money on the job, but this disaster of a lampshade is not worth the probably $15 it saved.
Once a Walmart lamp, always a Walmart lamp.
Don't Try This At Home Kids
You know what's mildly annoying from time to time? Having the cord of your phone charger hang down messily. You know what's probably much worse?
Getting electrocuted by using a metal hook over the plug prongs.
The Person Who Did This Should Serve Time
While this job is technically done correctly—I mean, the denim is neatly secured onto the staircase—there is something deeply wrong with someone who would choose to upholster their home with old jeans.
I just have so many questions.
If It Ain't Broken...
Listen: I can respect that this person didn't want to go buy a new mailbox when a broken down microwave can do the job just as well.
I just want to know why it's plugged in.
