What is the worst bodge a previous owner left in your house?

[Rhys]

Anyone who has bought an older house knows the feeling. You lift a floorboard, open a cupboard or remove a light fitting and discover something that makes you stop and stare. Wires twisted together with tape, pipes held up with string, shelves hanging off a single rawl plug or wallpaper holding the plaster together. Every house seems to have a few surprises left by previous owners

Some bodges are dangerous, like dodgy electrics, gas fittings done by someone who should not have touched them or a missing structural support. Others are just baffling, like a light switch that controls nothing, a door that opens onto a wall or a radiator painted with gloss paint while it was on. A few are almost impressive in their creativity

Our best one was in the bathroom. When we took the panel off the bath, we found the waste pipe had been joined using a cut up washing up liquid bottle and a lot of silicone. It had apparently been working for years, which somehow made it worse. The plumber took a photo of it for his collection

Please share your discoveries, with photos if you have them, but no names or addresses of course. If the bodge was dangerous, feel free to share what you did about it, since that might help others spot similar problems. If it was just funny, even better

What is the worst bodge a previous owner left in your house?