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Original poster

What item in your house is broken ?

102 replies

Hyacinthandrichard · 13/10/2024 08:35

A while back I had a thread on what is broken or needed in your house that everyone just thinks is normal now. I wondered if anyone fixed anything yet.
I thought of this because our tumble drier handle is broken and we have been opening it with a butter knife for about 9 months now. It's just become normal. Our toilet only flushes once every 10 minutes but we just all put up with it.
The tumble drier would be relatively low cost to fix but we just don't get round to it
I think my original thing I posted about was a broken Pyrex jug ( where the lip is chipped and it doesn't pour cleanly ) Still got it but I do have a new smaller one that's too small so I keep the broken one still!
Anyway. Before anyone suggests i am a journalist , I'm really not. Just wondering at my life and why I haven't fixed the easy ish things yet! Sunday musings I guess.

OP posts:
Oneblindmouse · 13/10/2024 09:34

Nothing. If something is broken it gets thrown out if not fixable or fixed as soon as possible. My house is too small to keep broken stuff.

CharlotteStreetW1 · 13/10/2024 09:56

If only you'd asked this time last week, I could have given you the following list for our comedy bathroom which had been the case for about a year:

  • no handle on door
  • spout on basin comes off
  • both taps on bath come off
  • shower converter comes off
  • bath plug detached from chain
  • loo seat half detached
  • leak from bath waste trap
  • damaged flooring from said leak

Also the radiator in the spare room hasn't worked for years.

Amazingly all replaced this week by a star plumber together with all the radiators in the house. Just waiting for delivery of new bathroom flooring.

😊

jackstini · 13/10/2024 10:00

1 of the 3 under floor heating mats

Impossible to fix unless we take up the floor tiles - which cover the whole kitchen/living/diner extension; which would then damage the other heating mats linked up

Would be thousands - so we just stand on the 2 parts which are heated or wear slippers!

PandoraSox · 13/10/2024 10:04

CharlotteStreetW1 · 13/10/2024 09:56

If only you'd asked this time last week, I could have given you the following list for our comedy bathroom which had been the case for about a year:

  • no handle on door
  • spout on basin comes off
  • both taps on bath come off
  • shower converter comes off
  • bath plug detached from chain
  • loo seat half detached
  • leak from bath waste trap
  • damaged flooring from said leak

Also the radiator in the spare room hasn't worked for years.

Amazingly all replaced this week by a star plumber together with all the radiators in the house. Just waiting for delivery of new bathroom flooring.

😊

Star plumbers/heating engineers are worth their weight in gold and should be cherished. I found one recently. He is quite young, so will be my go to person for the rest of my life I hope!

Mumistiredzzzz · 13/10/2024 10:12

mnahmnah · 13/10/2024 08:42

DS’ door catches strangely when you close it, so it does with a bit of a bang when you have to shove it. It’s annoying, but not big enough to warrant trying to find someone to come and sort it!

Look on YouTube for how to adjust the catch, it's really easy with a srewdriver or even just the end of a knife (how I did it lol)

Anicecumberlandsausage · 13/10/2024 10:13

I've actually done a lot of repairs and replacements recently. But I need a new door to thd kitchen, which is tiny, and I took the last one off because it banged against the fridge freezer. I have an idea to get a bi-fold one and I've got a chippy in mind, but it's getting the money to do it. (Actually, all the internal doors need replacing).

RabbitsRock · 13/10/2024 10:16

The door of one of the kitchen cupboards has been off for months & unfortunately it’s at floor level so gets grotty. DH keeps saying he will fix it. My big chest of drawers in the bedroom is broken - we’ll probably buy another one as DH tried to replace the runners but it didn’t work.

SweetLittlePixie · 13/10/2024 10:28

Our bathroom mirror had a huge crack all the way through since we moved in 9 years ago. We fixed it 2 weeks ago. Its no different to me, nothings changed. Seems like a waste of money. But DH claims it used to bother him every day looking at it and he finally has peace now 😄

Manchesterbythesea · 13/10/2024 10:34

The loo seat in the en-suite. Over a year now.

TheGriffle · 13/10/2024 10:38

We currently (and have been for months) open our fridge with a block of wood DH screwed to the door after the plastic handle broke.

We have built in drawers in our bedroom from when we moved in, they are years old. At least 2 of the bottoms have fallen out so when you forget and open it, it is just the drawer frame and you can see into the drawer underneath.

HildaHosmede · 13/10/2024 10:38

The kitchen tap (cold). The whole handle bit has snapped so you have to twiddle the actual bolt to turn the water on.

It's too fiddly for ds3 to manage so whenever he wants a drink he has to call either me, dh or dc1 or 2 to do it for him.

It's been about a year now and we've all just accepted it and moved on 😂

SirChenjins · 13/10/2024 10:41

Our tumble dryer. The door opens mid cycle and so the thing stops - we now prop it shut with the dehumidifier. A quick phone call to the repair man would solve tge problem but we haven’t got round to it.

unsync · 13/10/2024 10:44

I have a light bulb that needs changing in a wall sconce. It's paired and the other bulb is fine. It means getting the step ladder out and I just CBA. It's only been two years.

KohlaParasaurus · 13/10/2024 11:03

I think my husband's best bike might be broken, because he never seems to ride it now but he spends a great deal of time tinkering with it in the garage.

The fan oven of our range cooker hasn't worked for years. I didn't get it fixed when it broke because it's an old and very basic model and I was going to replace it. I didn't replace it because I wasn't going to get a new cooker while I had teenagers in residence and young adult DC boomeranging, and now the DC all seem to have launched and it's just DH and me we can manage with one oven and we'd rather spend the money on other things.

MigGril · 13/10/2024 11:44

We have a missing door on the kitchen cupboards and the timer on the oven is really doggy it sometimes doesn't work at all. I really want to replace it.

But most things do get fixed in our house so can't complain to much. DH does most jobs and we've just found a great plumber which is good as thar seems to be one thing he's not so keen on.

Original poster
Hyacinthandrichard · 13/10/2024 12:47

Also the knob on my slow cooker is hanging off but it still works .so so what ?

OP posts:
doonaduvet · 13/10/2024 12:53

Me

Bjorkdidit · 13/10/2024 12:56

Not long after we got our first fridge freezer, the little plastic clip that held a flap on broke and we were a bit skint so didn't want to pay something ridiculous like £7 to get a new one (this was years ago before eBay, Amazon and 3D printing etc).

So we lived with an open shelf in the top of the freezer for decades as that FF lasted for well over 20 years - if I'd have known how long it was going to last I'd have bought a new one at the time as it was always a bit of a lottery when opening the freezer, whether something was going to come sliding out from the top shelf.

henlake7 · 13/10/2024 13:03

I have had broken lights in one bedroom and the kitchen for years (TBH I prefer using table lamps so havent bothered fixing them!).
Boiler also broke years ago (am now used to boiling my own hot water).
Bathroom has broken tap (its the hot....who cares!?) also an unattached toilet seat as a bolt is rusted and I cant get it off.

Many. many other little things all over the house as well. Honestly its not worth the aggro of trying to find decent tradesmen to sort it out!

spiderlight · 13/10/2024 13:12

Me.

AppleDumplingWithCustard · 13/10/2024 13:13

The toilet cistern in my main bathroom has just started to leak when flushed. No water going into the pan, just pouring out all over the floor. 🤬

Doughdog · 13/10/2024 13:15

The top draw of my dishwasher hasn't had its stopper thingy on the tracks for about 9 years. So if you don't know you can pull the draw out completely. I think the machine is 10 years old.
Over the years it has had various temp fixes with sugru or gorilla tape, but none have held longer than a few months. But things still go in dirty and come out clean so I just can't bring myself to do anything other than pull the drawer carefully!

Also the push to open catch on the fuel door of my car has broken. So I have to open it with something flatish like a credit/loyalty card. When I mentioned it to my amazing mechanic he laughed so I swiftly moved on and it will be like that until it gets driven over the rainbow bridge.

Craftyroom · 13/10/2024 13:19

Not broken exactly but when I moved in I hung the curtains in both bedrooms in a hurry all wrong and they dangle sadly and look awful. But they work and I can't be bothered to get the stepladder out and try and sort them out.

cheapskatemum · 13/10/2024 13:33

Thank you for reminding me that one of the kitchen table legs is broken: sheared off at the top where it's attached to the table top. We no longer sit at it as there's a breakfast bar in the kitchen & a dining table in the lounge as alternatives, but I should get around to fixing it as it will come in handy when we've got the house full at Christmas.

DifficultMiddleChild · 13/10/2024 14:08

Staying with my mother just now - the main oven is broken. Ma is as bad as I am about making phone calls it's going to stay that way for a while. The top oven, hob and microwave are all fine so it's low priority.

It'll be interesting to see if it's still that way when I come back at Christmas.