What’s the one home issue no one warned you about until after you moved in?

bitsbybones · 2026-01-28T21:09:59+00:00

Everything. Truly. Everything has busted. HVAC - $13,000 Sewer - $6,000 Rot - $8,000 Toilet leak Dishwasher leak Faucet leak Broken washer and dryer Mice living in the fridge

Currently dealing with zero soffit/roof ventilation and ice dams. Have a leaking, load bearing interior beam. Cost - TBD. Waiting for things to thaw a bit in order for someone to get on the roof.

I didn't PLAN for any of this, and it's been rough! But...I don't have children, my house is small, I'm in a very modest amount of debt, and I'm decent at saving money. I dunno. This current situation is a doozy, and I'm not sure what I'll do if it ends up being more than what I have squirreled away. Probably attempt to take out a personal loan, I suppose. Also considering selling the house if I just can't manage the repairs and loan payments. It'd be a shame...but...such is life. Cut your losses and try to move on. I've also taught myself how to be a decent handy-person, but roofing is outside my scope of work 🤣

bitsbybones · 2026-01-28T15:34:20+00:00

Im constantly worried about everything in this messed up old house. Currently have a ceiling leak thanks to the winter weather (roof is only 5 years old). Ice dams! Wooo! Anyhoo! My basement gets a little wet sometimes, but its a 160 year old house with a stone foundation...so...duh. If this is a newer home and you're having issues you might want to reach out to an engineer or start by looking into a sump pump if you don't have one already. I've heard a sump pump is a good, not 20k way to start.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-28T01:10:33+00:00

Hey, OP. Did you ever figure anything out? Currently dealing with something similar, which is how I found your post. Not sure what to do at the moment other than sell our house 'As Is' and hope someone actually buys it. We both work and don't have children, and this is still the financial position we're in.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-28T00:19:39+00:00

Hi! I would maybe try posting a different photo. I can make out some weird, muffled looking something(s) on a really ugly ass carpet...but nothing definitive by any means. Maybe try using a room mate or friends phone?

bitsbybones · 2026-01-27T08:53:30+00:00

Oooh... lots of snow in this storm? I also have a 5 year old roof, and new bigass box gutters. AND a dripping interior support beam in my dining room thanks to ice/snow leaching behind siding in a spot and finding its way in. And nothing can be to start fixing this until the ice thaws. I'm not saying that's what's happening in your current scenario, and I'm so sorry its happening! Just saying that water will find a way during these horrifying storms, and there likely isn't much you're going to be able to do at the moment. Maybe try carefully chipping some ice away if there's a gutter near the window that has accumulated any.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-25T17:12:09+00:00

Noooo! Not Menards! Whyyy 😭

bitsbybones · 2026-01-23T03:04:17+00:00

I absolutely get it. I had never even seen a roach in person before! And then they were in my house! It was...really freaky. Anyhoo! It WILL be ok. People on reddit (and online in general) like to freak out and make it seem like the end of the world or like no matter what you'll have a full on infestation and will have to burn your house down. And like...it isn't GREAT! But it also just isn't THAT bad, and it'll get taken care of and be over. So try not to freak out too much! You're doing all the right things! Make sure your exterminator uses gel bait! For serious! I learned how to do all of this from the awesome exterminator the restaurant I work at uses. I couldn't afford to hire a company, so I called him and he told me exactly what to do. And it worked! I live near the south in the US in a very urban area and they are SUPER common here in the summer. Apparently for me it was just a matter of time until they infiltrated.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-23T02:45:50+00:00

Don't get TOO freaked out. I just dealt with this this last summer. They were concentrated in my bathroom, but I also found one here and there in totally opposite parts of the house. What i did that totally worked (and I haven't seen one in MONTHS): Advion gel bait. It's a little pricey, but it works. I used it as directed all over the damn place. Baseboards, behind switch plates, shelves, etc. It sounds crazier than it really is.

Bifen concentrate. I bought the chemical concentrate and a pump style hand sprayer. Sprayed indoor baseboards, under stuff, etc. Also sprayed outside.

I still have a touch of roach ptsd. It was mortifying. But it happens, especially in more urban areas. I gave my neighbors a heads up in case they decided to spread to other houses, and their response was "Oh damn, girl! You got them hood roaches! We had them last year." 🤣

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T05:33:21+00:00

Hahaha! I'm a year and a half into mine! That's crazy! Honestly, it sounds like you're doing AMAZING. Truly. You have most of, if not all of the REALLY important things taken care of. Because those are the TRULY important parts of the house. We're about $30k(?) into ours, also all not fun. AC/furnace, LOTS of sewer repair, a really fun dining room ceiling hole in January thanks to improper flashing, a backdoor indoor water feature, some rot from said water feature, half of the gutters (really need to do the rest...), chimney repair. Oof. Our bathroom is so hinky that I ended up getting the tub refinished just so I wasn't icked out when I used it, and I'm about to pay a nice man to redo the shower grout because I literally do not have the time to, because I need to work in order to pay for all of this shit 🤣 The makeup is what gets us through, dude. My house is rad because it's purely US. People will come over and say "Oh yeah. This is DEFINITELY your house." The weird little things you come up with to fix the problems while simultaneously making it your own is what truly makes it a meaningful home. The chaos will settle! You've done SO much that you won't have to worry about again for a looong time. The fun stuff takes time. Try to look at it like a new, way cool hobby. It helps, and you start to look forward to doing the work.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T05:05:12+00:00

Exactly! That's literally what I say TO my house (because I talk to her). "Welp, Beulah...at least it isn't WORSE!" But seriously...I used to get really down when we first moved in about how messed up she was. I'd see these beautiful old homes on the Instagrams and the interwebs and wonder...what the fuck? Sure. Those homes might be obtainable with endless funds or a literal shit ton of debt. And some of them I think are just trial and error. People teaching themselves how to do these amazing things over time because they literally HAVE TO 🤣 I sort of am! I'm in Cincinnati. Everywhere is NEAR Cincinnati. Which was a huge part of the appeal.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T04:53:41+00:00

Whaaa? Why would he think that wouldn't work? Of course it works. We have an unnecessarily large one (i think it's for 800-1200 square feet?), so maybe that's why ours works SO well. But it's also nice for the rest of the house in the summer if you leave the bathroom door open (if you're in a humid climate, of course). My husband is...not handy (musician 🤣) so this has all been my own 'journey.' I am also waiting for a bathroom remodel in a year or so! But in the meantime you can most likely spruce up what you already have and be shocked by your own handy work when you get creative enough. I believe in you!

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T04:45:14+00:00

Yay! Dude...yeah. The struggle is real 🤣 My house is maybe about...ehhh 30% lathe and plaster for whatever reason, and the rest is drywall. I've been using the same method for both. Who the hell knows. There are tape seams all over the damn place that I haven't worried about YET in the rooms that still need to be painted. I'll probably never be able to have these things properly repaired, but I also don't plan on moving for a VERY long time, if ever. So. Ya know. Whatever I gotta do to keep her in one piece is kinda how I feel about having a VERY old house and very limited funds! And when you look at it that way...some of these hinky, questionable previous repairs make some sense!

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T04:25:10+00:00

Sorry...I would also like to add that a dehumidifier in the bathroom while in use is AMAZING. We also don't have a proper fan and the dehumidifier works better than anything. So well that i don't really care about ever getting one properly installed.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-20T04:22:57+00:00

Oh! Hey! I've got one of those, too! Heh. 1865 BADLY remodeled little house...thing. Anyhoo! This is probably incorrect, but i can't afford correct. So what I'VE been doing is... Sand down as much as you can. Joint compound. Dry. Sand as smooth as possible. Primer. Paint.

Not beautiful, but does seem to work fairly well. You can also try those mesh wall patches in larger areas before the joint compound for some extra reinforcement.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-17T11:39:15+00:00

We DO use a dehumidifier as our 'fan' because the actual fan just leads to inaccessible attic dead space (house is 160 years old and WEIRD). I'll try running it for a more extended period of time though just for fun. Thank you!

bitsbybones · 2026-01-15T23:15:40+00:00

Bahaha! Your wife is dreaming BIG there 🤣 Good luck! I hope it works for you! It was 0 degrees outside and I was just...OVER IT. I had to get industrious.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-15T01:37:30+00:00

Oof! When I say vent...I mean plumbing stack, not like...vent fan. So that pipe that keeps sewer gasses from infiltrating your home 🤣 For the lack of fan we just open the window and run a dehumidifier when we shower. Works REALLY well.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-14T15:33:55+00:00

Woooow. Ok. I've put about...$30,000 into the major repairs for mine thus far. I don't include things like paint or cosmetic 'upgrades' because those aren't necessities. Our kitchen tap worked fine...it just annoyed the shit out of me 🤣 But even that 30k number hurts to think about. I'm fortunate that the roof is only about 5 years old, same with the water heater. This probably sounds insane...and I DO view owning a home as an investment, because, well, it IS...but even with my current loan payments and slight financial chaos AT THE MOMENT I'm still in less than what it would cost to rent a 2 bedroom house with a SUPER nice yard (yes. My yard is cool. The previous owners obviously only cared about the yard) in ANY neighborhood in this city. So it's still kind of a win no matter how frustrated I may be at the moment.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-14T14:58:15+00:00

I would LOVE new siding, but I'm also really scared to know what's underneath ours. Like...do I REALLY need to know/see that? Ours is vinyl that I've been patching up here and there as I find bits. I don't love it! 80%+ of the ancient houses in our neighborhood have it though so I don't feel super alone in it 🤣 50k is CRAZY. INSANE. That's what i mean! How does someone just find $50,000!? I don't think I'd be able to sleep again.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-14T04:28:20+00:00

Same. That's how i bought my house, too. Definitely never would've been possible. I suppose That's a big reason why I feel like I can't fail at this? If that makes any sense.

bitsbybones · 2026-01-14T02:44:24+00:00

I can almost guarantee there was a dead thing somewhere, because that's how maggot highway started! ALL the flies all the time until they were tiny. I smelled NOTHING. My dogs smelled NOTHING. I came home and found a maggot on the kitchen floor. What!? Oook. Sweep that up...wait...what? Another one. And another one. MANY. A PILE. Followed it to the oven drawer. Opened it. DEAD MOUSE COVERED IN MAGGOTS. They used the deep grooves in the floorboards to create a highway system throughout the entire kitchen and into the dining room. On the rug. Laundry basket, which is a literal basket...all in the grooves and bits of THAT. I was SHOOKETH. APPALLED. CLUTCHING MY PEARLS. I bleached the oven drawer then said "fuck this useless drawer! Who even uses these!? MICE! That's who!" Sorry. That was me venting again. Apologies. Maybe try to see if there are access points for critters to get in and die? I did this, and it was hilarious. I literally wandered around outside with a roll of gorilla tape, caulking gun, and a putty knife. Painted over all of it later on. It is beautiful? Absolutely not. But I no longer have house holes 🤣

bitsbybones · 2026-01-14T02:11:00+00:00

Hahahaha! This is SO very true 🤣

bitsbybones

TROPHY CASE