I didn't know anyone still did wallpaper after...oh...Lyndon Johnson.
The elbows that leak are flesh and bone, not copper or black iron!
Mine is in reverse order. I absolutely hate taping drywall and would rather paint, but I really hate to paint.
Water penetration around/under the door?
I can certainly relate to this. Last year I replaced all the bathroom faucets as they were beat up looking and used gate values. Getting them out was probably the most difficult part. The wrench not budging added to the pain of the cabinet base digging into my lower back. I made a small platform from some scrap 2x4s and cardboard to support my backside while my upper body was contorted inside the cabinet.Plumbing can be a pain in the gluteus maximus! It usually starts off with a simple replace and/or repair job but then gets more complicated as more things end up needing replacing and/or repairing.
I once had to change my reverse osmosis water purifier under my kitchen sink. In the process, I snapped off the handle to a valve on the water purifier. Next, the cold water shut off valve, which supplied water to the water purifier, snapped off when I went to turn off the water. I had to shut off the water to my house at the main line before going on a hunt for the right replacement valve for the water purifier.
Unfortunately, after a search of my local hardware stores, I couldn't find the right valve as I needed one that had different sized ends. Instead, I had to connect two different sized valves to jerry rig a workable valve for my water purifier.
Additionally, I had to remove the broken cold water shutoff valve. Fortunately, one of my local hardware stores had the right sized valve, though it took me a couple trips to find the right one. However, removing the broken valve turned out to be more of a problem. The plumber used some sort of dope that hardened into a form of cement. It took me a good amount of effort to weaken the bonds and break the cement before I could remove the broken valve.
Keep in mind that all of the work was under the kitchen sink. So I had to contort my fat middle-aged body under the kitchen sink, with my back halfway hanging out of the under sink cupboard, trying not to break the cupboard doors off their hinges, and doing most of the work by feel as I still couldn't see much even with my headlamp turned on. When I wasn't praying that I didn't accidentally destroy the 50 year old pipes by turning my wrenches too hard, I was swearing at them.
A couple years later, I had to replace the under sink garbage disposal and the faucet. It dredged up bad memories. Unfortunately, I found myself once again contorting my fat middle-ages body under the kitchen sink, with my back halfway hanging out of the under sink cupboard, trying not to break the cupboard doors off their hinges, and doing most of the work by feel as I still couldn't see much even with my headlamp turned on. Fortunately, none of the valves broke this time. However, I unexpectedly had to replace some of the PVC pipes under the sink in order to account for the size difference between the old and new garbage disposals.
Of course, after making all the repairs, there's always the risk of leaks. So both times I made repairs, before putting everything back under the sink, I placed some pans to catch any leaks overnight. Luckily for me, I think I managed to make good repairs as I didn't find any leaks the following mornings.
Yep. And no membrane around the front of the door. The previous owners hired a jack of all trades contractor. His favorite trick was the bracing. He would take 3-2/4s vertically screw them together and mount them to a 2/6, then wedge them under a joist.
A line water line failure is also my biggest fear. My neighbor came from a long vacation to discover water coming out the door because of a leaking washing machine hose. They had to replace all the flooring and part of the walls. I have noticed a few other homes that I drive past with water damage restoration company trucks parked outside. And a big pipe of ductwork, as if there was a major water leak while away from home.
Yeah. I use a braided steel re-enforced washer, sink and toilet supply lines, dishwasher hoses, etc.. They aren’t a guarantee, but they do reduce the risk.
This is almost like a curse. I am guessing there is a strong correlation between the person who takes the time and effort to learn what to do and then being more acutely aware of any defect whether major or minor. I notice this all the time when I am repainting.
What about scraping caulk that is over the popcorn ceiling? My home has popcorn ceilings which I have been slowly (over some years) removing. Looks like the ceilings were sprayed, then crown moulding installed, and lastly the seam caulked between the ceiling and crown. At the beginning I was trying to remove all that caulk as sometimes it was bumpy from the popcorn and I wanted to get rid of every last kernel, but I did quickly saw the diminishing returns in doing that.
Yeah, this can be a nightmare. My master bathroom was wallpapered and parts of it were "relatively" easy to remove. When removing I realized that the previous owner had glued down many of the seams that had been coming loose in an effort to make it look mostly okay. Not sure what kind of glue was used on the seams, but it was not easy to remove and caused a lot of damage. But it was my main motivation to buy a set of drywall knives and learn (still learning) to refinish drywall.
Did not have to deal with that in my case but that did not sound fun. I just hate how the popcorn goes everywhere when your scrape it and you look like I don't know what when you are done. In top of it out is seriously exhausting working over your head like that. Then I sponge the whole ceiling to get rid of all the remaining popcorn dust otherwise the mud does not stick to the dry wall. It is just a mess.
