Ditto with my house. It was a bodger's paradise! The whole house inside had to be stripped back to basics and then rebuilt practically. Two of the less dangerous things they did was paint over every socket and light switch in the house with emulsion! And every socket and light switch had the x marks cut into them where they had cut wallpaper round the switches.All of them had to be replaced. And paint over an original tiled/cast Victorian fireplace with multiple layers of paint. Took me loads of hours and multiple cans of paint stripper to redo that one.
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
But you're right, it doesn't look like a 'proper' job - whatever is in there. It's vulnerable and regardless of what's in it, it shouldn't have been left as it is. You need to find out why and what and get it moved to a safer route.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Ditto with my house. It was a bodger's paradise! The whole house inside had to be stripped back to basics and then rebuilt practically. Two of the less dangerous things they did was paint over every socket and light switch in the house with emulsion! And every socket and light switch had the x marks cut into them where they had cut wallpaper round the switches.All of them had to be replaced. And paint over an original tiled/cast Victorian fireplace with multiple layers of paint. Took me loads of hours and multiple cans of paint stripper to redo that one.
Reading these have made me smile at a horrid time for us as our beloved friend Buster T Dog went to sleep this weekend. So although your problem with the awful pipe did not make me smile Pinchie, the other of botched jobs did, because it's amazing how utterly crap some people are at stuff..and how amazing you all get on with it and make it pretty.
We bought our house 8 years ago, it's a victorian detached in a Yorkshire town. Loved the house - as said before the whole garden which wraps itself around the house is complely covered in concrete and tarmac.
but that was no the worst of it. When we came to view ( 3 times) the main bedroom had some horrid built in wardrobes , but you can just rip them out we thought, carpet was new so we thought it could stay while we fixed things up and hardboard shelves, panelling whatever everywhere - we are still just on the bedroom.
I got the keys, and although I was dying to go to my new house I had to wait a few more days as my husband works away from home every week And we wanted to go in for the first time together, with Buster T Dog. We eventually got there at 11pm on his birthday after he travelled from Exenter after work.
went to our new bedroom to find the new carpet had been fitted around the bloody bed and there was a king size hole in it with a mangy stickiy stinky bright pink shag pile in it. lol
when we went down to the big sitting room which was all newly decorated, ...well it wasn't behind the furniture that had been there previously. The lazy sods had not even moved a telly cabinet to paint or wall paper around.
makes me chuckle now but every room we have done has taken 6 months or so to sort out 'Mr DIY's' errors.
Luckily my old man is a cabinetmaker with lots of other skills so he has restored this old house with the respect it deserves.
Me? I garden over concrete. The more flowers the better - there is always room for more .
One we went to llook at belonged to 'arty' people. Hardly any two walls were the same colour, but all sludgy blues and greens and yellows. The kitchen sink was full of dirty crocks and the worksurfaces were invisible. Every light switch was surrounded by a wide halo of clayey finger prints from their pottery making and just outside the back door was a mini volcanic cone where they regularly dumped the ashes from the aga!
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Any possibility it might be a makeshift conduit for an electric cable, to a shed or greenhouse maybe?
Last edited: 29 May 2017 23:44:24
Surely if it carries electricity that should be indicated in some way? Needs investigating in my opinion.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
When we moved into this house we found some very eccentric (and dangerous!) wiring.
Some people will do just about anything!
Ditto with my house. It was a bodger's paradise! The whole house inside had to be stripped back to basics and then rebuilt practically. Two of the less dangerous things they did was paint over every socket and light switch in the house with emulsion! And every socket and light switch had the x marks cut into them where they had cut wallpaper round the switches.All of them had to be replaced. And paint over an original tiled/cast Victorian fireplace with multiple layers of paint. Took me loads of hours and multiple cans of paint stripper to redo that one.
If it's a foul drain from the house?
But you're right, it doesn't look like a 'proper' job - whatever is in there. It's vulnerable and regardless of what's in it, it shouldn't have been left as it is. You need to find out why and what and get it moved to a safer route.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Huh! That's nothing
We once viewed a house where the low level loo cistern had been covered with Artex!!!!!!!!!!!! Top and sides!!!!!!!!!! 
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Reading these have made me smile at a horrid time for us as our beloved friend Buster T Dog went to sleep this weekend. So although your problem with the awful pipe did not make me smile Pinchie, the other of botched jobs did, because it's amazing how utterly crap some people are at stuff..and how amazing you all get on with it and make it pretty.
We bought our house 8 years ago, it's a victorian detached in a Yorkshire town. Loved the house - as said before the whole garden which wraps itself around the house is complely covered in concrete and tarmac.
but that was no the worst of it. When we came to view ( 3 times) the main bedroom had some horrid built in wardrobes , but you can just rip them out we thought, carpet was new so we thought it could stay while we fixed things up and hardboard shelves, panelling whatever everywhere - we are still just on the bedroom.
I got the keys, and although I was dying to go to my new house I had to wait a few more days as my husband works away from home every week And we wanted to go in for the first time together, with Buster T Dog. We eventually got there at 11pm on his birthday after he travelled from Exenter after work.
went to our new bedroom to find the new carpet had been fitted around the bloody bed and there was a king size hole in it with a mangy stickiy stinky bright pink shag pile in it. lol
when we went down to the big sitting room which was all newly decorated, ...well it wasn't behind the furniture that had been there previously. The lazy sods had not even moved a telly cabinet to paint or wall paper around.
makes me chuckle now but every room we have done has taken 6 months or so to sort out 'Mr DIY's' errors.
Luckily my old man is a cabinetmaker with lots of other skills so he has restored this old house with the respect it deserves.
Me? I garden over concrete. The more flowers the better - there is always room for more .
They probably did it up to sell it.
At least they made that much effort!
One we went to llook at belonged to 'arty' people. Hardly any two walls were the same colour, but all sludgy blues and greens and yellows. The kitchen sink was full of dirty crocks and the worksurfaces were invisible. Every light switch was surrounded by a wide halo of clayey finger prints from their pottery making and just outside the back door was a mini volcanic cone where they regularly dumped the ashes from the aga!
We didn't bother with a second viewing!