Help! I Wrecked My House - General Discussion

[chessiegal]

30 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

Are the pre-construction diaries really pre-construction or are they re-enactments?  

That would be my guess. Or an audition tape to be on the show.

[KeithJ]

Now that I’ve finished the episode, I hate pretty much everything Jasmine did.

What good is a fireplace in the kitchen (now).  You can’t enjoy it at all.

The alcove over the stove is terrible. I would just feel too closed in while cooking.

Thanks for the LG plug Jasmine.

The glass office is stupid. It doesn’t seem to stop anywhere near as much sound as Jasmine makes it out to be. I also wonder how hot it’s going to get in there in summer.

I don’t like the tub in the shower.  The actual area to take a shower is tiny.

Edited November 27, 2023 by KeithJ

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm watching the rerun Full Disclosure:Up in Smoke.   This is the one where the husband set groceries on the electric cook top, hit a dial and turned on a burner, and burned the stove and microwave.   

Two years later they haven't replaced the appliances, can't really cook at all, the microwave is melted.     Instead of replacing the kitchen appliances, they've been having takeout, crockpot meals, and wife is sniping at the husband about the fire.     They have a ton of other barely started, but never finished projects, including a glass slider with glass held in by cloth tape.     Then, they put in a very expensive pool, instead of fixing anything else.   

I can't even tolerate the couple.    

The friends reno tonight on the new episode was a big fail for me.   Why paint a house black exterior, and cabinets and built ins when the couple complained about needing more light and bright?     Painting the exterior black is going to look very dated, and won't help with the utility bills either.   

That hidden coat closet was tiny, so that was a big fail for me too.     At least this house had that regular dining area for six, combined with the five bar stools they had room to hold family and friends gatherings, but too bad the living room was so small.    

I'm guessing that homeowners have a ton more imput than the show acknowledges, but I didn't like anything about this house.   Everything was trendy, and in five years I'm guessing they'll either sell and trade up or redo everything.   

Edited December 1, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[buttersister]

Didn’t watch that one. Whew.

WTF, producers?  Just freaks and friends for Jas?

[Soapy Goddess]

On 11/29/2023 at 9:19 PM, buttersister said:

Just freaks and friends for Jas?

It's pretty much the same premise for Christina on the Coast.

[quirkygal]

Wait, wait, wait...

They ripped up a perfectly good wood floor that could have been refinished and then blended into new flooring to replace the kitchen tile/addition

Only to

Glue down vinyl wood look planks.

I don't get it. Truly baffled.

Waste of money and resources.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's new episode is the worst pair of clueless homeowners ever on this show.      They put a plywood front on a wood burning fireplace, and when Jasmine points out that having the wood on that fireplace will burn the house down, the husband says they have fire extinguishers.    The wife just looks around like nothing is a problem.   

Then, the open tread stair case was another failed, incomplete reno by the husband, who never secured the stair treads, so they wobble around.   

The first floor bathroom has a tiny shower, toilet, and the sink was supposedly recently ripped out, I'm calling garbage on that, it looks very weathered for a freshly ripped out sink area.    The upstairs bathroom is a waste of space. 

The kids share a room, and apparently always will, no closet, but there's plenty of room to put one in.    So, where do the guest stay?   They kept talking about family staying, but where do they sleep?  

Another clueless couple on this show, but they're both downright dangerous.     I'm surprised no one's fallen on the stairs.   The fire danger from the fireplace is horrible, and neither one of the owners seems concerned at all.   I guess the little boy and girl will share the same room forever?  

I was shocked when Jasmine went to the husband's workshop, and he said how safety conscious they are there (or OSHA will fine them out of existence), and at home it was different.   So, he was willing to risk his family's lives because he didn't care about safety.    

I've noticed a lot of failed renovations for the audition videos seem to be super recent, and you can tell they aren't actually old.   I wonder how many of these houses are actually flips?  

Edited December 13, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Andyourlittledog2]

On 12/6/2023 at 6:22 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I guess the little boy and girl will share the same room forever?  

And the next child. Wasn't she also pregnant?

The whole thing was ridiculous. I don't believe for a minute that he destroyed all of that over time with her videoing him doing it.  It's all production for the show.  This show is so over.

[CrazyInAlabama]

So, tonight's new one the people want a lot for their $130k budget, Jasmine says that amount of money won't do it.  So, they raise the budget to $160k, and then Jasmine says the kitchen countertops will be marble.    Who chooses marble for a giant kitchen, with a massive new island, and chooses marble countertops over quartz?   Quartz would be much cheaper, look just as good, and be trouble free, marble is a bad choice for a remodel budget, unless you want to cope with the drawbacks of marble.    

I can't believe how much the homeowner spent on LVP over the hardwoods being refinished.   Then, they decide to marble countertops cost too much, so they switch to porcelain countertops, which require a whole lot more preparation.  Porcelain can be damaged during transportation and install, and can be damaged after they're in place too.  

Edited December 15, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[blondiek237]

I don't understand why anyone would want marble for a kitchen counter.  It is expensive, requires you be very careful not to spill anything with color.  I want my counter tops to as bomb proof as possible

[CrazyInAlabama]

Marble is just for people who want to impress other  people with how much they spend on countertops.    In a remodel where they were cringing about the prices to get what they wanted, spending that much on marble is ridiculous to me.   

I'm guessing that the countertops will be replaced in a few years, probably for whatever is trendy and overpriced then.   

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[jcbrown]

I couldn't believe they replaced those hardwood floors with vinyl. 

I did think Jasmine's space plan worked a lot better than the original layout. Though I struggled to see a TV in that room where they talked about being able to "watch the game."

Edited December 15, 2023 by jcbrown

[Andyourlittledog2]

Well, they got Jasmine's specialty - a big ass kitchen and a banquette. The place looked like a multiple on a lot from the outside. Loved the backyard. Was not surprised it was less than perfect inside. Those multiples on a lot are built to replace older homes on large lots with two or three condo-sized homes and jack up the price of the place you can get for them instead of building one home on a lot. They were by the golf course, which is condo heaven also.

The PV peninsula is my neck of the woods. I was raised around there. It's beautiful but expensive and has way more condo areas than it used to. They used to say that when retailers saw the address of the customer was from up there they would not give them store credit because too many times they've been left without payment by folks who are house poor and can't afford to properly furnish their homes because of it. People would have a beautiful home but hardly any furniture inside because they couldn't afford it. That is obviously not everyone but it was a thing. The furniture in this couple's home reflected that problem - it was a lot of cheap looking stuff that had seen better days. But the home itself was definitely built like a condo with a tiny living room and kitchen. The whole downstairs was tiny. The single homes up there are much better than this one. I don't shame them for buying it or anything, I love it up there as long as you don't mind the city laws that seriously impact your ability to paint homes the color you want and all kinds of other things, like having an HOA even though you don't have an HOA. It is really pretty up there.

What this couple actually needed was an extension of the house into the backyard to expand out and have a larger family/living room off the new kitchen. And the kitchen did not need a four thousand square foot island.  Decorators and their stupid ginormous islands. As usual Jasmine takes up most of the entire downstairs with a kitchen and island and things like that. A banquette, of course. And a mud room. Why a mud room in Los Angeles county? If you have a lot of space, sure, that's nice. But it's absolutely the last thing you spend space on here if you are space challenged, which these folks were.

And you're right, the living room wasn't much better on the 'larger side' and I could not comprehend any configuration of sofa/furniture that would allow for comfortable TV viewing in that cove. The original side Jasmine was going to use was ridiculously tiny also but at least was configured for TV watching. The new 'larger' side has nothing usable for that. I think she should have worked out a kitchen/family room instead of the huge island and super large kitchen. That home simply doesn't have room for a kitchen that size, which is why it never had one that size.

I don't know, I suspect those folks won't be as happy living in the new configuration any more than they were in the old one. What they need is an expansion or reduced expectations or a new house.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Andyourlittledog2

[CrazyInAlabama]

I didn't like the previous week's remodel.    The mismatched pendants were a minor issue, but bothered me because it looks like they're not even trying to make things cohesive, and coordinated. 

 This week was another beach community with over priced homes, and more clueless, passive-aggressive homeowners.   What kind of person puts duct tape on a cooktop for years?   

Dolomite counters?    I’m wondering how they’ll hold up.   Why put so many different colors and finishes of cabinets in the kitchen?       $205,000 was a good budget for once.  

At least the woven kitchen island pendants were the same color this week.   Last week on the dining room they were dramatically different colors. 

[Soapy Goddess]

20 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

and more clueless, passive-aggressive homeowners.   What kind of person puts duct tape on a cooktop for years?   

Dolomite counters?    I’m wondering how they’ll hold up.   Why put so many different colors and finishes of cabinets in the kitchen?    

Make you wonder if production doesn't go into the house before filming just to destroy something (like the cooktop) so it looks like they really need a makeover. Otherwise, I can't imagine living like that...everything in disrepair, and whining about it to boot!

Agree about all these new primary colors for cabinets. The day will eventually come when blue & green cabinets are going to be outdated. At least white or even a muted gray, will always look bright and clean.

[quirkygal]

I didn't understand all the holes in the wall. Once is an accident, twice is recruiting the kids to help fix it/repair, and third time is a sign of a larger kid/parent problem. Maybe it's just me but the third time my brother and I put holes in the wall we'd be using our allowance to pay for the repair, making the repair, and loosing major privileges.

But enough about "back in my day".

Thankfully they used a patch kit to repair the walls after every "accidental" destruction. Don't know if the holes got patched immediately or if Mom waited for Dad to come back from one of his 3 months long work trips but at least that was one proactive thing they did.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Another beach community house I'm guessing.   Another ridiculous floor plan, but the homeowners settled because 'beach' I guess.    Why do all of the kids on this show need a huge playroom?    

I'm really watching just for the outrageous prices for small houses, and to see the same 'beachy' finishes and decor.   Rattan dining and pendant lights in almost every house this season.   I really am sick of hearing the word "beachy".  

After reading about the toll silicosis is taking on people who fabricate quartz and other engineered stone products, seeing the waterfall counter top installers grinding edges without respirators is terrifying.    Australia is banning engineered stone products as of 1 July 24, and I can't believe California will be far behind.     That means we'll see more marble and other low particulate products on these shows.  

Edited December 28, 2023 by CrazyInAlabama

[Soapy Goddess]

7 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I really am sick of hearing the word "beachy".  

I agree. Between that and the fact that every "beachy" house MUST be painted some shade of blue.

[buttersister]

Beachy! Coastal! I’m having flashbacks to Christina. And that’s not good.

[buttersister]

LOL, looks like I'm the only one watching this show and I don't even like it. Although, my hate watch is softening to a WTH watch. So tonight Jasmine "flips" the show's conceit--they didn't wreck their house as much as, allegedly, their house is going to wreck them (their relationship). This 40-something (maybe) year-old couple with 6 kids (there look to be twins in there). They currently share their bedroom with a toddler and an infant. The older daughter has her own room and the other boys are jammed into one room. They have $300,000 (!) for the reno, but when Jas asks why they don't use that as a downpayment on a new house, aha, the house belonged to his (her?) grandmother and they want to keep it in the family.

So Jas and her crew decide to convert the large garage into an ADU (for permits--they'll need to put in a sink, as in a kitchenette, so she turns that into a laundry room).

The family bought an RV and takes off for the 12 (15, in the end) weeks needed. Yes, of course that didn't last long and they said they were in a rental. Although, maybe I heard they were at a parent's. So weird.

Jas takes out a load-bearing wall, puts in a 24' beam, new windows, redoes the fireplace, living room and puts in a ton of storage, a built-in banquet, an island, new kitchen, then goes out to the garage and puts in the laundry room/office for him (a shelf with a pull-out chair that looks like drawers from the back), and a giant fancy bathroom/wet room, walk-in closet and large bedroom. That musta been a very large garage. NO KIDS ALLOWED.

So that left three original bedrooms, which are not seen again, and here's hoping there's a 2/2/2 set up with, I think, one bathroom. Good luck, kids! Your parents thought they could spend 12 weeks in an RV with you. And vice versa.

Oh yeah, Jas said early on that maybe one of the kids would get the house. The parents said they wanted to leave the house to the kids. No need to cut 40 years into the future to see that get settled.

Edited January 11 by buttersister

[Soapy Goddess]

On 1/10/2024 at 8:34 PM, buttersister said:

looks like I'm the only one watching this show and I don't even like it.

Well, I watch the show and DO like it. For me, there's really not much to post about except to type out a synopsis (as you did). But for the record...

I like Jasmine because she doesn't appear to be full of herself. Plus she has a subtle way of getting her point across to the homeowners without insulting them too much. And I like her GC 😁

Edited January 13 by Soapy Goddess

[Rickster]

I've only seen a couple of these episodes, but as a Northeasterner, I was surprised that the garage renovation was classed as a ADU. We have those here too, but without something like a separate entrance, this would have been just a standard renovation. 

I also thought this couple just smashed a few holes in the wall/floor in order to get on the show. Not really wrecking the house.

[KeithJ]

I just watched the non-wrecked episode where they converted the garage into a master suite and I'm not really sure I agree with what they did.  The family has six kids and had three bedrooms (I think).  It looked like the garage was easily big enough to add two bedrooms instead of one large master suite.

I'm also curious why the family didn't consider adding a second floor addition instead of renovating the garage (unless they weren't allowed to).

They also didn't remove the outdoor door in the new bathroom?  That really seemed kinda weird to me.

Edited January 14 by KeithJ

[Soapy Goddess]

15 hours ago, KeithJ said:

I just watched the non-wrecked episode where they converted the garage into a master suite and I'm not really sure I agree with what they did.  The family has six kids and had three bedrooms (I think).  It looked like the garage was easily big enough to add two bedrooms instead of one large master suite.

I'm also curious why the family didn't consider adding a second floor addition instead of renovating the garage (unless they weren't allowed to).

They also didn't remove the outdoor door in the new bathroom?  That really seemed kinda weird to me.

I think they wanted to make a master suite which included a full master bathroom (en suite).

The cost of adding a second story would probably have been twice as much considering that means a whole new roof...along with plans & permits.

I don't recall, but if they have (or will be adding) a pool or hot tub, maybe they want a direct entry to a bathroom to remove wet clothes.

[CrazyInAlabama]

With the ADU addition for the couple with six kids, I suspect that adding a second story would be prohibitively expensive.   The walls and slab for the house might need extensive reframing to support the weight of the second story, plus stairs, upping the capacity of the wiring, replumbing, etc.   I'm wondering if they're stopping at six kids?   That will complicate the situation in the house even more. 

 

Last nights double episode, I liked the family, but who buys a house, rips it apart, and it stays like that for years while they rent somewhere to live?    I can see why the kids were over the reno.    I like Jamine, and Scott, but I'm tired of seeing overpriced beach communities with people with huge budgets that want beachy, or coastal decoration.    

I couldn't understand why they spent $1500 on wallpaper for the ceiling when the budget was so tight?   Paint it, and save $1500 plus labor.   And foozball table right inside the front door?   That was a big fail for me.  I'm guessing some of it was demanded by the homeowners.  I bet the games and other child oriented stuff was supposed to make the kids like the house again.  

Edited January 19 by CrazyInAlabama

[sadie]

I did not like the first floor at all. The furnishings, the odd rooms, does anyone want to walk into your house and see a Foozball table? Huh? And why didn’t they show us the kitchen? Jasmines designs are usually weird but this one might be the worst? 

[jcbrown]

I'm sorry for asking this here but is there a thread somewhere for "Why the heck did I buy this house?"? I have gotten nowhere with searching for one.

[MagicEyes]

On 11/29/2023 at 8:17 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I'm watching the rerun Full Disclosure:Up in Smoke.   This is the one where the husband set groceries on the electric cook top, hit a dial and turned on a burner, and burned the stove and microwave.   

Two years later they haven't replaced the appliances, can't really cook at all, the microwave is melted.     Instead of replacing the kitchen appliances, they've been having takeout, crockpot meals, and wife is sniping at the husband about the fire.     They have a ton of other barely started, but never finished projects, including a glass slider with glass held in by cloth tape.     Then, they put in a very expensive pool, instead of fixing anything else. 

I'm having a hard time believing this story. The stupid husband put groceries on  top of the stove, accidentally turned a burner on, and started a fire. But the wife was asleep, woke up to smoke and a fire alarm, and we don't know where the husband was. Wouldn't he have known about the fire first? Did he just go away and leave the groceries on the stove? What really happened? Also the whole thing with them building a pool instead of redoing their kitchen is just not believable. The melted microwave was wild, though. 

[Shermie]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:32 PM, jcbrown said:

I'm sorry for asking this here but is there a thread somewhere for "Why the heck did I buy this house?"? I have gotten nowhere with searching for one.

Start a thread yourself.

I like this show and I like Jasmine. I do agree that giant islands and banquettes are overdone. Everyone sitting in a long line at a giant island to eat seems counter-productive to having a family meal together.

And often those banquettes are designed to seat 6 or more people but they put in a tiny round table that would hold 3 or 4 plates and nothing else. The people at the end of the banquette seat can't even reach the table.. This happens on many reno shows.

I can’t even talk about the weird family who lived with a burned out kitchen for two years but put in a pool. As for the family with 6 kids - you know what’s cheaper than a $300,000 reno? Birth control. Just saying.

[buttersister]

Yikes, rerun of the not-wrecked house not meant for 8 people. Nice estimate by Jasmin, who needed 2 extensions totaling 5 weeks over the original 12.

Somethings not right with those parents. We’ve got $300k, pass on moving? Bet the mortgage was paid off because it was his grandmother’s house. So no mortgage for 6 years helps get you $300K. 

8 people in an RV? Gosh, what could have happened that made them rent a house? With no budget for it? A call from Child Services?