After a couple of years in the construction/renovation industry, it has become apparent to me that things not being square, plumb and level or even straight in a home isn't a big deal to numerous people. Our 62 year old home is actually quite remarkable in how square, plumb, level and straight it is but some if the shit I've seen in the past year is mind boggling.
To start, I did some cabinet installs in a new concrete building on Edmonton Trail about 18 months ago and there are certain suites in that building where the floor sloped 1.5" over 10 feet. I could feel it standing on the floor and it resulted in the kitchen being installed twice because whomever built the bulkhead above the cabinets followed the floor mean the cabinets wouldn't fit at one end. They couldn't fix it with Gyp-Crete either because it would've meant a small step/transition within the suite which would've been difficult to explain to prospective buyers. So in the market these suites went and every time I drive by on Edmonton Trail I have to wonder if they've put a marble on their floor and watch it roll away from them.
Fast forward to the last couple of months and I've been doing a lot of renovation jobs, had one job where I had a floor that dropped by 1.5" over 10 feet which I thought was bad (older home) but that was eclipsed by this week's reno job in Bridgeland. Probably an 80 year old home and in the kitchen it dropped 1.25" over 6 feet plus there were hills and valleys, the corner wasn't square but was made up for by a wall that curved back in although it swung out again which meant I had to do done funky shit for the last cabinet in the run.
But the worst was yet to come and I hope I never see worse than this - a run of three vanity base cabinets starting from a corner, a 33" followed by an 18" and then another 33". In the first 33", the floor dropped 1.5" from the wall - ties, you're reading that correctly, 1.5" drop over 33".. But over the length of the run, it was only a 1&1/8" drop because there was a little valley in the middle. Never the less, my cabinets are square, plumb and level and only sitting 5/8" up at the far end after some cabinet modifications but the tile guy - well his job is going to be interesting with 1x2' tiles. He is actually thinking of Gyp-Creting everything that will be tiled although that would make for some nasty transitions between the existing hardwood and anything tiled - we're talking over 1.5" transitions. The electrician summed it up best today, a bulldozer would've been the best money spent on this house.
Over the years, I've been in a variety of homes and have seen some really bad stuff but this vanity run tops them all. What of the rest of you, what horror stories can you share.