Had a good laugh......

[BassBoy]

...this evening about something in our new place.

We never used the basement much since we moved in because we wanted to paint it, get it cleaned up and put our furniture and computer down there. Well, I sit down tonight after getting the basement looking really good and while I'm browsing the forum and the A/C kicks on. All of the sudden, I feel this rush of cold air coming from overhead. I was like, "What in the world?" "Where is this rush of air coming from?"

I felt around the ceiling to find out where it was comng from, and low and behold, there is a hole in the duct work. The hole is on top, just blowing air into the ceiling joists. A hole.....in the middle of nowhere! I'm thinking to myself, "What in the hell is this all about?" Now mind you, there are two registers down here for heating and cooling, so this hole served no purpose. I had to laugh (okay, maybe not the funniest story in the world) because it appeared that this could have been a mistake when the house was built (has to be because the hole is on top), because right next to the hole is where another duct goes off to other registers for the upstairs. Additionally, the hole is only a few feet from the furnace, thus taking most of the air out of the ducts. So why didn't the hole get covered? A few strips of duct tape would have done the trick. I covered the hole.

For months, I've been questioning why the upstairs bedrooms (on the second floor) do not seem to get enough air flow. I understand and know that it is a long way for air to travel, but the air hardly moved. You could barely feel it coming out of the registers. Well, now that I covered the hole in the basement, there is plenty of flow upstairs and the rooms are not so hot. Believe me, the bedrooms were quite warmer than the rest of the house........too warm if you ask my opinion......maybe 6-8 degrees.

Things like this make me laugh because I can't understand why when someone makes a mistake like this, they don't fix it. How could someone be so dumb as to leave a huge hole in the duct like that. Anyone with half a brain would have the common sense to realize that this could effect the heating and cooling efficiency. DUH!

[SinkingFast]

That's a good one BB!!

Reminds me of our neighbors across the street in MO. They had their house built. She was/is a Master Electrician and he was/is a Plumber so they did a lot of the work themselves.

She did all the wiring. She ordered everything, including the Heat Pump thru her work at cost. Some guys from work that were HVAC trained, came out and installed the Heat Pump.

He did all the plumbing and put in the septic and the laterals field. Same thing. He got all the stuff thru work at cost. Even brought home a backhoe and a front loader from work to dig the septic system with.

They were all over the house, every day. Not only working themselves, but keeping an eye on the Construction crew as well. Wanted to make sure everything got done right the first time.

They move in. Live there a couple of months and she realizes she wants an electrical outlet in a place she didn't plan for in the kitchen. To install it, she had to cut thru some duct work in the wall from the laundry room side.

Much to their surprise, she found a Burger King sack with hamburger wrapper, fries box, and softdrink cup wadded up and stuffed in the duct work.

As hard as they tried to stay on top of the builders during Construction, little things did slip thru.

[Bobby'sGirl]

How about beer bottles in every other...

...concrete block in the house's foundation. Shortly after moving in we realized the floors were not horizontal on the west end of the house, and some cracks in the wall had been patched under the paper. Kids had fun rolling marbles into paper cups because of the definite tilt to their dressers and desks. We decided to improve airflow in the crawl space with vents and knocked out some blocks and found beer bottles in every one. Guess the workers were slightly tilting when they laid the foundation...

[BassBoy]

LOL.......Burger King wrappers and beer bottles? That's freakin' hilarious! I just don't know what in the world goes through these peoples' minds. I mean c'mon, on a construction/home site, there is always a trash bin or a dumpster. LOL!

[JeepMom]

I shouldn't read this the day I am buying my house.........lol!

[Minnymouth]

LOL,
When I bought my house the first time around...... the crews had stuffed boards, paper, cans, etc into the vents to keep from having to throw them away.....

Course me, being an "indepth housecleaner" in my younger days discovered all this then I took the vents apart to clean them and seen all the crap in the duct work.... Had also noticed the airflow was not strong....

Its amazing what people will do - WHEN IT DOESN'T BELONG TO THEM!!!!

[BassBoy]

Heck, I've been amazed at what people do when it does belong to them. When we bought our very first home, I was completely shocked at what the previous owner had done. For example, under the kitchen sink, the "P" trap was leaking. My thought was it could be a loose nut or a bad seal ring. Well, to my surprise, the pipe had a crack in it (on the threaded part) and whoever repaired it did the strangest thing I have ever seen in my life. They gooped it up with clear silicone and put it back together. Not to mention, the must have used a pipe wrench to tighten it because I had to get out the sawz-all and cut it off. These are to be hand tightened only! I couldn't belive it. A $2 or $3 part at the hardware store would have fixed the problem for good.

You wouldn't believe what else this guy put silicone on..........the window screen! The clips were missing, so he silicones the screen to the window frame to hold it in place. The screen clips were $0.20 a piece at the hardware store. I swear this guy went through probably $20 in silicone.

So, there are even people who own it that don't care.