Yes, but usually not ours. Our builder gets the blame for most of the rotten fixit jobs we tackle.

There is one job I have in mind that dh did. All the tile in our house was done without taking up the baseboard, EXCEPT in one bathroom, where one piece was taken up. Instead of cutting down the baseboard, dh just put it on top of the tile thinking no one would notice since it doesn't touch any of the lower baseboard. I notice.

We too are atoning for the PO's fixit sins, just as we did in the last house, since both times we have had POs who thought they were MUCH better DIYers than they were! We had a handyman over to look at a couple of things a couple of weeks ago and you should have heard him cluck-clucking over PO's idea of good taping and mudding (which IS awful, you can tell every room he worked on because the tape is bubbling or pulling right off the wall and the mud wasn't even sanded before painting - without primer, natch!).

All joking aside, yes, we've definitely had to redo things we did. Sometimes it's cost a chunk of cash to fix it. There was the toilet that didn't fit and the pricey console sink that was about 4" too tall for my short self and made me feel about 8yo... although I was able to sell the sink and move the extra toilet to this house where I could use it to replace one of the clogs-if-you-look-at-it-crosseyed el cheapo toilets PO installed. Then there was the enormous light fixture that no matter how securely installed looked like it was going to jump off the wall and onto your head - that's in my cellar now awaiting donation to Habitat. Sometimes it was just a PITA, like spending hours chipping patiently away at rock-hard spray foam insulation because I didn't realize just HOW much it was going to expand (I got the wrong kind, I learned afterward) and it went everywhere. I called the manufacturer's helpline and they said since it's viciously sticky stuff it's easier to wait until it hardens to cut off the excess, but I didn't realize they meant "firms up" rather than "cures"! I've gotten myself into trouble with caulk too, but I was about 12 and under the watchful eye of my father so I was back fixing it the next weekend. :-)

lucille I know you didn't mean it literally but what you did was anything but a sin no matter how bad that caulk job was - you did what it took to keep hearth and home for your kids! You're not atoning for past sins you're mending the inexperience of youth ;-)

I agree with dlm2000! Everybody learns, you just go back and do it better after you've gained more experience. I need to refinish the first oak dresser I stripped and stained, since I didn't completely get all the green paint off, and I never put an actual *finish* on it, just stain. But it's lasted almost 25 years like that and it'll last a couple more.

I pulled unused exterior outlets off our old house to use the circuit (box was full) for a whirlpool tub. Before we sold, we had to wire them back in to another circuit (the one for the basement circuit box outlet - may not have met code having another outlet on with the breaker box outlet, but it was the only one that wouldn't have been overloaded, and it was easy to get to). We also removed an old unused water filter in the basement and piece in some new copper (not our "sin" though, PO's)

DH has to pull down the circular stone wall he built around our wellhead yesterday, since when he showed it off to me I said "It's beautiful, but umm, you didn't use mortar - I think it's dangerous with the kids around." (it's 3 ft high - I did stacked stone under our porch deck and haven't finished to top course, I didn't use mortar but when the final course is in, it'll be really wedged under, it's only a foot high, and though adults seem to want to step on it instead of walking all the way to the steps in the middle of the porch, the kids haven't been tempted to climb it). He wasn't too happy, so if I want it rebuilt I might have to do it myself.

My cousin the carpenter was here for 5 hours today atoning for the past sins of the builder(s). First thing this AM I put another coat of joint compound on the walls that ahd the corners built out so baseboard won't lie flush (so I'm building out the middle). Then he came over and fixed the cabinet that had the left back corner broken out and was only secured to one stud (27" wide cabinet) - he hit both studs on the back and got it tight to side wall so my range has a little more room than it used to, but at least everything on the countertop doesn't rattle when we shut the drawer now!

Then he shimmed the window sill so there's no longer a gap in the middle where they nailed it down - closed up the gap at the top too, and pinned the side pieces that hold the screens in a little more securely (Andersen didn't get them tight).

Then he cut (and coped the inside corners!) of the shoe mold I stained to hide the gap where the counter meets the wall. Nothing we can do about the overhang not being consistent.

Finally, he measured to make a new window sill/stool for the center window in the bay, since it was made out of the same 1x4 stock as the side windows, but the wall must be 1/4" deeper since it projects 1/4" less from the wall than the others. I'm going to have him do a continuous sill running under all 3 windows since the middle window almost completely fills its wall, and the other 2 are not quite symmetrical (right window is 1/8" closer to center than left bay is). He says this isn't really bad construction tolerances, but the lack of symmetry was getting to me - the ends of the sills are so close together that the 1/4" difference in depth and the 1/8" difference in the gap was noticeable.

But when he went to double check the precut trim for the right window before he joined it (so mitres would be tight) he found that the top piece was 1/16" short and one of the verticals was twisted, so we have to cut new pieces. He'll do that after he does the sill.

We still have to try to get new casing (original cut too short, so at least we have plenty for windows) on the kitchen doorways, but have to get it to lie flat with a twisted stud in the FR. And I don't know what I'm going to do with the pocket doors that are set an inch too high. I might have to move an electrical box in the foyer too - with the front door set an inch off the subfloor, plus the inch threshold, if I hang a semi-flush fixture in palce of the builder's flush fixture, it might hit - I only have 13.5" from top of door to ceiling. Manufacturer site says the fixture is 13" high, but Bellacor say 14" so I have to call, or take my chances and order it. If they had put it a foot back farther, we wouldn't have this problem, and wouldn't have needed 2 lights in the center hall of the foyer "T". The light by the door isn't even lined up with the one at the foot of the stairs, so I don't know what they were thinking.

Oy, my home is filled with sins! Some are from the builder, some are from our own doing and some resulted from a natural disaster.

My husband and I have a list of things to be fixed or corrected. I'd be happy to atone for at least half of them before I die.

Oh, Mari, I also foamed around the kitchen window today after he shimmed it. Didn't use the Great Stuff b/c it's so sticky and one-time use. Though ended up using a whole can of DAP Tex anyway - but it's water cleanup. Gotta go get more for the other windows - I only bought 5 cans yesterday (and have 18-19 windows plus front door)!

My first boss had this theory he called "negative time." If you messed something up, you worked for free to fix it (or at least get it back to the point where it was before you messed with it). Sure made his apprentices learn quickly!