What did you discover about your house after moving in?

[Woodstocks]

I recently moved into a new house and as it was still the height of the market, there wasn’t much time to decide and investigate. What crazy things have you discovered in your house after buying it that wasn’t obvious when you first viewed it?

That the gas supply was illegal. We tried to sign up and no one could register the meter. We had an emergency national grid visit and they shut down the street!

That we don't know where the boiler valve is! The boiler broke and we had 3 different people look at it. No one could find the valve.

Some newspapers in the loft from the 1960s which were fun to read. Also, some newer magazines from the 1980s in the cupboard under the stairs. The TV guide was very nostalgic (3 channels only).

Nothing good.

The roof leaking when it rained, some water ingress/damp that was obviously painted over and hidden with furniture for the viewing (and they fixed a bookcase to the wall concerned) when the surveyor did their piece.

We knew it was in need of updating and frankly it was all we could afford at the time anyway so it's all a bit moot but I'd say each time we've pulled something out/down/off we've discovered some new bodge job or thing that needs fixing or updating. I know that's the situation for a lot of people so not a moan as such but it is quite wearing and I dread when we start to redecorate a new room. Pulled a carpet up in the spare room the other day to find a whacking great hole in the floor that had been covered up with a bit of giant cardboard and the carpet just put over the top of that, as well as concrete so uneven that the carpet actually raises up at points. I think the room used to be a bathroom and they literally just ripped out the suite/pipework and shoved a carpet straight on what they were left with.

At the point now with the mortgage rate increase that there's no money to save really to put towards those things so they will have to stay as they are.

There was a shed in the back garden which turned out to be made from (we think) bits of the old Anderson shelter which was discovered a few years later. One "wall" included an old metal advert for whisky from a long ago shop on the other side of Cardiff.

Less happily, various tell tale signs that cowboy builders had ripped off the elderly couple that lived here before me.

A well under the front door mat (inside). Apparently many wells in the garden too.

A view of the Giza Pyramids! It was obscured by date palms when we moved in.

They've since been thinned out by our neighbour because he wanted to sell some land, so our pyramid view is 👌🐪.

My parents found a well under the stairs.
They thought they had found a cellar as the cobwebs were so thick it looked like a floor. My father was about to jump down into it when a piece of rubble he had dislodged fell down and splashed into the water.
That was a narrow escape.

That the previous owner had buried his dead dogs in bin bags in the garden. 🤮

Just how many bars were in residence! We have at least four maternity roosts - probably 500+ bats.

A horse, not exactly discovered, but he came with the house! Big, black and white and a lovely friendly soul. Unfortunately, he just wouldn't load to go to his new home. Many tried, all failed until one day he actually laid himself down on the ramp - a sign of massive stress.
So, he stayed. He joined our little herd when they moved in and is ridden regularly. Lucky us :-)

Japanese Knotweed

My house is lovely. It is detached and away from main roads. We have a mahoosive garden perfect for children and pets. It is light and airy and I love living here.
I wish I had looked a bit more closely when I viewed the place. If I had I would have found
Windows that would not open
A boiler that only allowed the water to get hot if all the radiators were on
Newly decorated bedrooms concealing the leaking roof which had rotted the wood and caused damp
Single plug sockets in the bedrooms. One only in each room and not much better downstairs. We had to rewire.
Gas supply capped off in the fireplace because it was unsafe.
A garage full of old furniture and old electrical appliances
Broken dishwasher in situ. Assure it was in good working order
Kitchen had thick grease around the cooker and had been painted over to conceal it.
It's lovely now !

Previous house, we were in 12 years before we realised we had no idea where the main stop cock was, after a leak. Turned out it had been concreted into the back yard.

This house, though not all of it a surprise as the vendors were shifty and we adjusted our offer in line with their reticence:

Heating controller was knackered (we moved in in a very cold December.)

Garage door didn't lock.

Back doors didn't unlock.

A load of cheap booze in the kitchen cupboards. Some of it opened. That all got tipped out.

Mice! Nicer surprise that the back garden is visited by lots of wildlife as we're near a nature reserve.

It's haunted (by reputed in the village & mentioned in some academic 'haunted' papers). All the wiring in the basement was 'live'. It's a money pit. I don't like it.

"Newly decorated bedrooms concealing the leaking roof which had rotted the wood and caused damp"

Sewing the bodge job done by the developers the house next door, this doesn't surprise me. That had a caved in ceiling due to water ingress and they haven't touched the roof - there is still a. Load of flashing miss g from the chimney.

I discovered that the downstairs of my house was covered in inches of chip fat & nicotine, the kitchen was lethal & could have either caused a fire or killed someone with an electric shock. The man who I bought off had supervised his wife to plumb in the bathroom & she had used off cuts of copper pipe & compression fittings, when the bath emptied the shower cubicle filled with water. He had also "helpfully" painted the entire upstairs, walls, ceilings & woodwork dark purple & every door in the house had lumps out of them from where he had attacked his wife with a hammer. He had been a booze runner crossing the Channel regularly to buy alcohol & cigarettes to sell, apparently the living room & Hall had been stacked floor to ceiling with crates of booze until he was caught by customs, that was why he had to sell the house, we had debt collectors & bailiffs knocking at the door for years.

That they had decorated round all the furniture in every room.

My nice not needing a thing doing to it, then needed completely redecorating from top to bottom.

A long history of undisclosed structural problems eventually came to light. Thanks for that, Vendors!

1. the leaking roof was a low point
2. as was the fleas
3. not to mention the fraud the former owner was under investigation for
4. and the nasty, piss-encrusted toilet
5. and the nasty, filthy kitchen.

Otherwise nothing

Our new house is old (1850s) and has a cellar. But there's a shower built on top of the entrance to the cellar. When we can afford to redo downstairs I can't wait to rip it out and see what's down there 😬

That I can’t fully open my bedroom door as it hits the bottom of my bed

🫣

That the cat was staying - we actually met the cat the first time we tried to view the house, the vendor had gone to hospital unexpectedly so we just stood outside petting the cat and wondering what was going on and why we weren't being let in. The vendor wasn't moving anywhere suitable for an elderly cat and I think the cat had a much happier last couple of years with us than if he'd been forced to move.

The fridge freezer collection left in the garden, complete with rotting food inside.

The wiring jumble in the kitchen ceiling, took the electrician an entire day to sort out when we had the kitchen sorted. Also we had several water leaks which came through that ceiling and could have been dangerous.

That the neighbours had built their extension on part of our garden, we only found out when they sold up many years later. We'd always got on well, but they put the planning application through between our searches and completion, so completely set out to lie and steal from us before we'd even met. Has damaged my faith in human nature a lot.

@TooManyChoicesNotEnoughDecisions how did that get resolved?