Weird features spotted while house hunting

[TeamBhakta]

This house has an odd bathroom. There's a floor level window in the shower. 

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/05/16/greathomesanddestinations/20130516-LOCATION.html?ref=realestate&_r=0#4

[Rohanna]

I have(lightweight) door chains on the porch (large old windows without safety latches) off one bedroom, the door to the attic stairs, and the door to the basement stairs- and one bedroom because the door won't shut tight. I have small kids in the house and it's the easiest way to keep them out of places that aren't safe for them. Once you've had a patient or DOA call for a child that's fallen down steep stairs or out a window you often get a little.....cautious.

[kherbert05]

I babysat a family with children who had been adopted after being abused and starved. The children would eat the entire contents of the pantry and refrigerator including the box of baking soda in the frig.


So they had locks on the frig and pantry. The problem was they assumed that I knew how to open the locks, because I was friends with an older daughter. I couldn't make us dinner - so I ended up calling my parents to bring over some food. (I was 11 or 12 so didn't have other options)

[Arrynne]

My husband's family rented a home with a grow room.  After they moved in, my husband's mom sent him up to check out the attic.  He opened the attic space and behind it was another door, with a padlock on it!  Once they got that door opened, they found the hoses and light fixtures from a pot growing operation. 

[camlan]

My aunt and uncle bought a lovely old home built around 1930. It had a garage--part of the basement of the house was the garage. But there was no door between the garage and the rest of the basement.

They had a contractor come to add a door between the garage and basement, only to find out that the floors of the garage and basement were at different levels--the house was built on a hill. Because you would have to step up from the basement to the garage, a door there wouldn't meet the building code. Apparently, you could step down from the basement to the garage, but a step up was a fire hazard.

So for the 30+ years they lived there, Aunt would pull up the car at the front door to unload groceries, and then pull the car around to the back to put it in the garage.

[magicdomino]

They had a contractor come to add a door between the garage and basement, only to find out that the floors of the garage and basement were at different levels--the house was built on a hill. Because you would have to step up from the basement to the garage, a door there wouldn't meet the building code. Apparently, you could step down from the basement to the garage, but a step up was a fire hazard.

I guess that makes some sense.  You wouldn't want spilled gasoline or motor oil trickling down into the basement.  Granted, you wouldn't want it in the garage either, but at least it wouldn't spread.

[VorFemme]

House that had been rented out for a few years prior to going up for sale - needed renovation.

To the point that the floor in one corner (bathroom) felt very odd when you walked on it (you could feel it sag and rebound as you stepped onto a sound part) and you could see visible mold/mildew in one corner (by tub enclosure).  It was obvious to ME - apparently my allergies to mold & mildew make me hyper-aware of what the stuff looks like....even after it has been painted over.....

How the real estate agency missed it before starting to show it, I do not know.

It had a very "interesting" layout, as well, originally had no access from the house directly to the back yard.  The kitchen let out into the carport, where you had to go around a storage area at the back to get to the back yard.

Someone, at some point, had cut a door in one bedroom into the back yard - but I don't remember there being a closet in that room any more....which meant that it was no longer a bedroom.....and there were other quirks, too - but the spongy/bouncing floor with the mold up one corner by the tiled tub enclosure got to me..............