Repairing Someone's Previous Repair: What's Your Story?

[Bailey Guns]

Came home yesterday and found the pocket door to a bathroom hanging like this. No idea what happened.





Managed to get the door out and saved all the trim:





Previous owner's "fix" to bad wheel kit:





Yes, that's putty. Hard as a fuckin' rock. Naturally, no one in the area has a replacement kit in stock.

This isn't the worst thing I've ever found. Just the latest.

[Mazin]

Damn an entire track and wheel set at depot is under $20.....freaking lazy people man.

[Wulf202]

I used to work for a property of hundreds of high end town homes and apartments. One of the previous guys was fixing everything possible with a product called GOOP. Basically silicone in a squeeze tube. Disposals, doors, drywall, domestic water supplies, sinks, at least one toilet tank.

The one that stands out in my memory is I worked a flood in a high rise historic building in downtown that started on the 6th floor and ended in the sub basement. They had replaced a kitchen faucet and used hard lines. One side lacked a farrel so they made it out of teflon tape. It held for 7 years before letting loose one evening.

[00tec]

That steel putty crap on a AC condenser on someone's Silverado was great. Didnt really hold the refrigerant in very well.

[Bailey Guns]

So, the screw holes for the plate that mounts to the top of the door are stripped out. The guy tried using the putty to attach the wheel kit to the top of the door. To his credit we've lived here 4 years so it lasted at least that long. Then again, we probably use that door less than once per month. My guess is that was a quick "fix" to make it work long enough to get thru the sale of the home.

[SouthPaw]

I have too many to count. I bought a first gen Tundra earlier this year and knew there was few things I had to fix but this one literally blew me away. For one, it had the wrong battery in it so I replaced it and it ran great. Two months later, no start. Check all the easy stuff and still no start. Well upon further investigation, the jackass PO cut the negative cable, duct taped a piece of wire in there to extend it to make the wrong battery fit when I bought it. LITERALLY duct taped the wires together. I am actually shocked it held together for so long.



This was another one that drove me crazy for quite some time: https://www.ar-15.co/threads/171907-...atisfying-then

[Gman]

I've used wood putty before and it worked really well. You fill the stripped hole, let it cure, then cut new threads with the screw. You don't glop it on like JB Weld.

[eddiememphis]

I have a lot of tales of people working on their own cars, motorcycles, homes etc. that I have had to re-fix. I never talk down to them- I used to know nothing but have great enthusiasm as well.

I worked on watercraft for years. Two or three time a year someone would bring in one of the old Kawasaki 440 or 550 stand up Jet-Skis and say it won't start. One look in the hull would tell the tale. A smoked electrical box. I'd ask if they had hooked up the battery backwards. Um... yeah, but only for a second! Have to explain that electricity moves at THE SPEED OF LIGHT and no way are you going to quick enough to pull that cable off before damage is done.

My best tale about myself was when Dad's dishwasher needed the door slammed several time to operate. I took the front apart, pulled out the largest component, the timer, and figured I'd take a look inside for loose wires. Upon removing the back of the box, every component inside leapt out with and audible "sproing!" and scattered about the garage. Oops. Dad and I went to the appliance store and told the guy I needed a timer. He asked why, since the timer was very expensive and rarely needed to be replaced. I said we have to slam the door to get it to work. He laughed and said we don't need the timer, we need this, and pulled out a two dollar switch. I said, "Bro, we need the timer too." I don't think I ever told Dad about that one.

[DFBrews]

15 liter Cummins diesel under warranty Seized won’t bar over even with a cheater pipe.
check the oil perfectly full and brand new. Check the engine abuse 6 minutes at 0 oil pressure before she locked up.
One of my favorite sayings is if you tighten it up and hear a crack back it off a quarter turn and call over the nearest apprentice

[rondog]

I know I've encountered more than a few steaming turds mickey-moused together in my life, but thankfully I seem to have flushed them from my memory.....perhaps one will surface.....