Note: To celebrate the end of 2019 and the start of  a new decade, Mr. Rick’s blog is bringing you a special article this month. We will resume our regular schedule next time with our article on home expert Tina Gleisner, an author, and DIY expert who dedicates her website to empowering women to be better informed about homes and their own DIY activities.

To borrow a phrase from an insurance TV commercial, “We’ve seen it all.” The we in this case are those of us in the home inspection industry. What we’ve seen are the remarkable efforts by DIYers to fix their home problems without the help of an expert.

So, here are some samples from 2019 of how not to fix things in your home, with credit to those who provided these wonderful images.

These first few come from the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, MN, which publishes an annual column of home inspection disasters.

Here’s a simple yet frightening way of taking care of the exhaust from your bathroom.

This home can probably get programming from every TV station and streaming service in the world, along with some from other planets.

Our guess is that with this attic ductwork, the family must originally be from Arizona.

This next one is from Family Handyman.

We can only assume this is the easy entry and exit for a teenager breaking curfew.

These two are from a website called Active Rain

Here, we’re assuming they didn’t want to get any water on the floor.

We’re hoping the green slime is soap. If not, we’d better call the Ghostbusters.

Finally, these last few are from This Old House.

We can only imagine they wanted water nearby in case of an electrical fire.

We hope the car does not need handicap access.

We don’t know what to say about this one.

So, we hope you enjoyed this brief review of home inspection nightmares for 2019. Happy New Year!