A to Z Blogging: U is for Uncover

Are you tired of hearing about our rental property yet?  It seems like I am living, eating, sleeping, and breathing (cough, cough) 507 all the time.  Well, today's post is still along that theme... U is for uncover.

We have uncovered quite a few dishes of awesome sauce in our renovations.  These are things that make you mumble, grumble, do a little cussing, and a lot of head scratching when they appear.

For instance, when we removed the fiberglass tub surround in the hall bathroom, we uncovered two blank electrical plates.  Beneath each plate was a mass of "hot" wires.  Mind you, this was behind a shower enclosure, about five inches from the shower head.  Not good. Not legal!

In the process of moving these electric boxes to a new location above the bathroom door, it was discovered that the house had been parallel wired, so each light was wired into two (or more) switches at the breaker box.  The parallel wiring caused the guys to lose almost an entire day while trying to figure out how to connect everything back the same way (after discovering that the colored wires don't mean the same in this house as they do in every other house!) Now all electrical repairs or renovations take place with the outside  main breaker in the OFF position.  No taking chances with the inside breaker box!

When the guys took out the upper cabinets by the sink in the hall bathroom, they uncovered a Stag beer can in the soffit.  The can had been there for 50 years (the house was built in 1963) and was the style before pop-tops.  In other words they had to use a can opener!  They threw the can away before I got to see it.   I would have taken a real photo to post here, because I am a blogger...

This past weekend, we reached the point where we needed to remove the toilet in the hall bathroom to do some sheet rock repairs on the surrounding walls (and level the toilet).  When Ornery got the toilet out, he discovered the wall behind the tank was covered with black mold. Yuck!  He cut out the sheet rock there and put in a new piece of green board.  Supposedly the problem was that the wall had not been painted, and CW assures us that once we put a good coat or two of semi-gloss paint on the wall back there, we won't have any more problems like that.  Hope so!

Our most recent undercover mess was in the kitchen when we removed the microwave.  I couldn't begin to describe how disgusting and nasty this appliance was, but let's just say there was enough oil and grease on it (and behind it) to lubricate a large engine for a few months.  Eeeeew!!  When we finally got the beast off the wall above the stove, we discovered that the vent pipe above it was stuffed full of insulation and the wall behind it still had 50 year old Formica anchored to the wall.

Each item uncovered has ended alright but they sure eat up our time!

Have you ever discovered an unsettling surprise in the midst of a renovation or project?