Heard a contractor at the hardware store tell his helper 'just paint over that old drywall patch, it'll be fine'... and it made me think about all the shortcuts I've seen.

3 comments

3 Comments

Actually saw a house where they skipped putting down any vapor barrier before pouring a concrete slab floor. The owner wanted to save a few hundred bucks. Ground moisture came right up through the concrete, ruined the flooring they put on top, and the whole place smelled like a basement forever. That kind of shortcut costs ten times more to fix later. Makes you wonder if people just don't know or if they're hoping no one will notice?

charles_price16d ago

Man that makes me cringe! I saw a guy skip taping the seams on a new wall once, just slathered joint compound right over the gap. What's the worst shortcut you've actually seen go wrong later? Like, paint peeling off in sheets or a tile floor cracking after a month.

davidwright16d ago

Oh man, skipping the tape is wild, @charles_price. The worst I ever saw was a deck someone built without any proper flashing against the house. Just nailed the ledger board right to the siding. A year later the whole back wall was rotten and full of water damage. They had to tear the whole deck off and replace a huge section of sheathing. Total nightmare, all to save like an hour of work.