HGTV Teaching Bad Practices
- Thread starter exmaxima1
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rick carpenter
Well-known member
Valid observations and complaints! The show I like though is the guy who does the income suites. He seems to have the clients' best interests in mind and does a pretty good job.
Charles (in GA)
Well-known member
Its done for the wow factor on TV. Had they bothered to carefully remove the cabinets (probably would not have taken any longer) they could have donated them to Habitat ReStore and someone else could have made use of them for a beach house, garage, whatever.
slip knot
Well-known member
What gets me is the time line type shows where they re-do the whole house in a week. Everyone now thinks that you can do a complete bath remodel in a day or two. " They do it on TV all the time"
Takes more than a week to get everyone bailed out so we can start.
Takes more than a week to get everyone bailed out so we can start.
Grit size is not the number of grains, it's the number of HOLES in the screen (per square inch) used for sorting it.
CORRECTION: It is holes in a linear inch, not square inch. Sorry.
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Jawn
Well-known member
linear, not square.
logical
Well-known member
I can't even watch them anymore, I'm afraid my head may explode. The manufactured drama and predictable formula whether its cooking, remodeling, house shopping, tattoos, cars, motorcycles or cupcakes...I even saw one the other day that was barbers carving designs in peoples hair.... is unwatchable. Of course being true to the formula the competitors were all egomaniacs, the judges were all A-holes and everything was done with a time limit.
I used to like the big Canadian guy (Mike somebody?) and the early years of This Old House, and a few others. Its all **** now... and Get Off My Lawn!!!!
I used to like the big Canadian guy (Mike somebody?) and the early years of This Old House, and a few others. Its all **** now... and Get Off My Lawn!!!!
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ZRX61
Well-known member
That Flip or Flop program where every episode is like the guy never renovated a house before... & when they do show the guy actually doing some work himself you can tell the **** doesn't know which end of a screwdriver to hold, let alone how to tile a wall.
ZRX61...
Don't you know that's the test they have to pass to get on the show (or get their own show)? If they know which end of a screwdriver to use, they fail.
I pity/fear for the people who buy houses these days. Lord knows what's behind the walls since everyone is a DIY expert now - after all, they've seen it on TV.
Don't you know that's the test they have to pass to get on the show (or get their own show)? If they know which end of a screwdriver to use, they fail.
I pity/fear for the people who buy houses these days. Lord knows what's behind the walls since everyone is a DIY expert now - after all, they've seen it on TV.
rodsnratfinks
Well-known member
That's the real danger, for sure. Many of our friends and associates have been buying homes. The first thing we need to do, is whitewash the fireplace, then we will put in engineered hardwood flooring and paint the walls. Then granite countertops and bathroom remodel... These people have no idea what a house needs.
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jwh
Well-known member
That would be Mike Holmes. Used to watch him every week. Now my work schedule and evening TV don't match up.
lightning02
Well-known member
- Joined
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In 1986 my mother and father bought a new house in long Island (ny). It had a deck and the builders set the post in concrete. The post where 8x8. Not sure why they did it this way but it last 20 years without a single problem until the day they moved. Also in that area of the back yard it was the lowest point and water would sit and during the winter time it would freeze up like a ice rink lol
This is just a completely ******* attitude.
I quit watching HGTV and the other channels like that when they turned into decorating shows and no longer had any relevance.
I grew up on Bob Villa, This Old House, Norm Abrams, Scott Phillips, and the like on PBS. They did stuff right, explained why, and you learned something. They also used something called "Wood", it's this product you get from growing a tree and slicing it up into planks. not melamine particleboard painted MDF garbage they slap together with some hot glue and a nail gun...
BTW, saw that blonde from trading spaces has a new show, geniveve or something, back when Paige was the host...she apparently wears shoes nowadays...
I grew up on Bob Villa, This Old House, Norm Abrams, Scott Phillips, and the like on PBS. They did stuff right, explained why, and you learned something. They also used something called "Wood", it's this product you get from growing a tree and slicing it up into planks. not melamine particleboard painted MDF garbage they slap together with some hot glue and a nail gun...
BTW, saw that blonde from trading spaces has a new show, geniveve or something, back when Paige was the host...she apparently wears shoes nowadays...
maxpower_hd
Well-known member
That was Holmes on Holmes and I used to like that one too because they showed what bad contractors leave homeowners with sometimes. And I have seen some of those situations first hand having worked with friends who are contractors off and on over the years.
DWise
Well-known member
What gets me are some of the price quotes. Saw one the other day and they wanted $800.00 to change 5 kitchen receptacles to GFCI.
maxpower_hd
Well-known member
I have an idea for our own Reality TV show and I think it would be pretty popular. Maybe we could all take turns being guest hosts. It would be very much like Mystery Science Theater except we would sit on a "This End Up" wooden couch drinking beer and making comments about reality TV shows on a giant screen in front of us. I can guarantee the show would get funnier and funnier the more beers that were consumed.
Maybe we could even have some funny skits where people get an unguarded cutting wheel caught in their loose fitting flannel and get cut because the grinder wouldn't stop running because it has a locking button on it. Not that I have done that mind you...
I think we may have a hit show on our hands...
Maybe we could even have some funny skits where people get an unguarded cutting wheel caught in their loose fitting flannel and get cut because the grinder wouldn't stop running because it has a locking button on it. Not that I have done that mind you...
I think we may have a hit show on our hands...
trainer
Well-known member
When your watching, You have to remember realize that the only reason that HGTV and similar channels exist is to get you to part with your money.
The old PBS shows were much less blatant, but the New Yankee Workshop and This Old House were always the best funded shows on that network.
There's nothing wrong with using MDF or melamine-covered particle board in the right applications, especially for a novice who doesn't fully understand how real wood behaves through seasonal changes.
The old PBS shows were much less blatant, but the New Yankee Workshop and This Old House were always the best funded shows on that network.
There's nothing wrong with using MDF or melamine-covered particle board in the right applications, especially for a novice who doesn't fully understand how real wood behaves through seasonal changes.
I rarely see them wearing safety glasses, drives me nuts, sometimes I just change the channel.
I had some really awesome shop teachers growing up who would smack you in the back of the head for not wearing your safety glasses.
Wherever they are now, "Thank you for each and every smack! I still have two good eyes!"
Fretters
Well-known member
Not so much that, but they need viewers. Contrived situations and drama seems to pull most people in. A lot of our programmes are just as shite, and the BBC have automatic yearly revenue guaranteed from anyone who owns a TV, and the other stations rely on advertising, yet they are all capable of turning out the same quality of mind numbing mush in order to keep viewer figures high.
Bar t'old Dibnah in his day, (he was a bit ropey in his steeplejack days though), and possibly Guy Martin, (though that bloke seems to be an accident waiting to happen a lot of the time), any other so called technical or labourer types on the telly over here are generally cretins.
Conversely, I'm shocked with some of the LOW costs on the Flip or Flop show. I wish I could get a completely new bathroom for $2K ! Or even get someone to quote me on a single new window---they all want a minimum of 3 windows to even come out.
HoosierBuddy
Well-known member
The worst thing in my view is none of those shows mention getting utility locates called in before they dig. It's extremely rare to see any flags or marks when they start excavating.
Idiots.
Phil
Idiots.
Phil
GDPossehl
Well-known member
I would guess that's made possible by his contractor who he shovels work to on the regular.
I rarely get to see any of the HGTV shows, except when I am at the local bank on Saturday cashing my check (they have it on tv behind the tellers.) I pay not a lot of attention to it, since I have learned that all of these "reality" types of shows are more drama than reality. Someone mentioned that there is little use of PPE on them; I did note one time the work crew was finishing up doing something at a house and ALL of them had on body harnesses. Then, I noticed no tethers. They were standing on a deck that had been rebuilt as part of the "make over" and were finishing something else. Hey, at least they had the gear.
That Extreme Makeover - Home Edition did a house in my area one time a few years back. Big write-up in the local papers, tv crews doing interviews, etc. I didn't have the time to go and "volunteer" to work. A young woman that I worked with was the niece of the guy that was the "general contractor / architect " for the project. She filled me in on some of the stuff that they do to get it done in a week. Drywall guys taping and putting up compound with the painters literally coming right behind them and painting the wet compound; sod laid down over ground that is not ready (and being used to cover up construction debris that hasn't been hauled off.) I never did hear how this place passed inspection and got a Certificate of Occupancy from the local building inspector.
That Extreme Makeover - Home Edition did a house in my area one time a few years back. Big write-up in the local papers, tv crews doing interviews, etc. I didn't have the time to go and "volunteer" to work. A young woman that I worked with was the niece of the guy that was the "general contractor / architect " for the project. She filled me in on some of the stuff that they do to get it done in a week. Drywall guys taping and putting up compound with the painters literally coming right behind them and painting the wet compound; sod laid down over ground that is not ready (and being used to cover up construction debris that hasn't been hauled off.) I never did hear how this place passed inspection and got a Certificate of Occupancy from the local building inspector.
I made a similar mistake once upon a time. I glued the panel in place on a rail-and-stile china cabinet side. When it split in the middle of the night months later, it sounded like a pistol shot! Luckily, the rest of the panels had enough creep in the glue they manage to float in spite of it. 25 years now, and only one split.
Yup. Just put a few inches of gravel in the bottom of the hole so the concrete doesn't seal the water in.
OK, let's think about this. You know 400 grit sandpaper is pretty fine. Now, if that meant 400 grains per square inch, there would be 20 grains per linear inch. (20x20=400) For easy visualization, think cubic grains so they line up nicely. Twenty of them lined up along the edge of the 1 inch square. That sound right? Is a grain size of 1/20" fine in your book?
Just followed the link above as a sanity check. The crucial difference is grains per INCH, not SQUARE inch. Gauging it by the number of holes in the screen that sizes the grit grains, in the above example it would be 400 holes per inch, or 160,000 holes per square inch. Since the screen's wires have some thickness, the size of the holes, and therefore the grains, is even smaller than 1/400 of an inch!
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djjsr
Well-known member
Is a grain size of 1/20" fine in your book?
Good explanation.
Like I said, my memory isn't too good anymore. But I guess I still remember the things that are wrong. 
"Oh yeah we can take that wall out and open it up" followed by "well, this is a loadbearing wall and we need to spend $2500 installing a beam"
Gloves. Does everybody need to wear construction gloves to do everything ? Assembling an Ikea cabinet, yep we need gloves, hanging a light fixture, need some gloves. Then they wear them to paint in ? I can understand wearing a pair of nitrile or latex gloves for easy clean up but construction style work glove to roll some paint ?
Gloves. Does everybody need to wear construction gloves to do everything ? Assembling an Ikea cabinet, yep we need gloves, hanging a light fixture, need some gloves. Then they wear them to paint in ? I can understand wearing a pair of nitrile or latex gloves for easy clean up but construction style work glove to roll some paint ?
MikeF2316
Well-known member
Speaking of added drama, I was watching one of those tiny house shows, and to get it done in the allocated 8 days, they brought in a crew to work at night. Sure enough, the lights went out and the power tools went silent. The drama they added finding that breaker and turning it back on was unbelievable!
Steevo
Well-known member
Oh, you mean that **** dude that is married to that skanky looking ****** chick, and they drive around in a ghetto Escalade, bidding way too much at auctions for homes that need way too much work, and somehow, his miracle worker contractors (who he treats like ****), manage to save the day, and then, a bidding war at the open house makes them rich!
I hate him too. And her.
ZRX61
Well-known member
She has that Orange County inability to correctly pronounce everyday words that just grates on my last nerve...imporant instead of imporTant etc.
I always notice this too. Plus, no safety glasses under the helmet.
FullRaceMerc
Well-known member
Not necessarily showing bad practices or HGTV, but some TV construction is truly annoying. We had a customer complain that since on TV they did a whole house in a week, why was it taking us so long? The reasons that I could think of right off were:
Did I tell her all that? No, I bit my tongue. I did mention the network paying for it & their massive crew.
I had a buddy who worked on one of those projects. His company had to finish their portion in only 1 of the rooms within the week so it could be in the shot. The rest could be done later.
Thinking about, there had to be bad practices there. Not enough dry time before paint goes on. People working on top of each other to the point where they are in each others way. Working so fast that shortcuts & mistakes were just plain more likely. Sure there must have been pros who did a great job in spite of the situation, but there had to be others who gave in to the pressure.
- The TV budget was paying for it, while on her job it was only her family paying the the bill. She probably paid a lot less than the network did.
- The week long TV job had a crew of 1,200 people working 24 hours a day. We only have a few guys & we sleep at night.
- Sometimes we have to wait for inspections. How they got all the inspections throughout those jobs must have taken some doing & expense.
- The results didn't really matter. The people were getting it for free & had no input as to the quality. It had to look good for the camera for a short time.
- The first thing the TV guys did was to send the family on a vacation while the house was built. The family had no input as to anything on the job. Without customers onsite to change their minds, worry about which door/window/doorknob/faucet/light/carpet/hardwood/counter/tile/fixtures/appliances/paint looked best, ask how much it would cost if we did XYZ as long as we're here, or ask why it takes so long, the job sure would be easier.
Did I tell her all that? No, I bit my tongue. I did mention the network paying for it & their massive crew.
I had a buddy who worked on one of those projects. His company had to finish their portion in only 1 of the rooms within the week so it could be in the shot. The rest could be done later.
Thinking about, there had to be bad practices there. Not enough dry time before paint goes on. People working on top of each other to the point where they are in each others way. Working so fast that shortcuts & mistakes were just plain more likely. Sure there must have been pros who did a great job in spite of the situation, but there had to be others who gave in to the pressure.
ZRX61
Well-known member
What the hell are you taking about? you think Detroit is the garden spot of Michigan?
1949 caddyman
Well-known member
I have a friend that has a condo on a caribben island. His neighbor was on one of thoes " looking for a home" shows. He already owned the home & they show him looking at others & then buying his home. I hope all thoes shows are not set up but they probably are.
The other show is american pickers. They were in Prescot AZ filming. I talked to a antique store owner who said his friend with another store was on the show. The film people brought the "item" that the guys will "find" with them & plant it in the shop for the guys to buy.
The other show is american pickers. They were in Prescot AZ filming. I talked to a antique store owner who said his friend with another store was on the show. The film people brought the "item" that the guys will "find" with them & plant it in the shop for the guys to buy.
How do you remove them easily with the right tools? I do have some post needing to be replaced soon.
FordTruckWench
Well-known member
On one of the shows: Every header they install has to be tucked up into the ceiling. If the budget doesn't allow it, they make a huge fuss. And the workmanship is horrid - the cut joist ends often have huge gaps to the header. Sometimes they install so many hidden headers that the formally solid houses must eventually have their walls splay out.