Couple buys a renovated house and six months later discovers a bug infestation, major plumbing issues and a mysterious hidden room: ‘I don't even know who to call to fix some of these issues’

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Aug 20, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

Only six months after buying what seemed like a renovated house, a couple discovers there are major problems with the property, including a secret room they were told about…

I can just feel the anger and the disappointment after realizing that the home that I bought with my partner ended up being a whole disaster. Yes, they knew it was a renovated, flipped house, but it looked very good inside. They also did some inspections before putting in an offer, and nothing major came up. So, of course, this married couple had no other choice but to reach out to the community in r/homeowners to see if someone had any advice.

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  • Dark, unfinished basement with exposed walls and a hidden seceret room couple discovered after buying.
    via Unsplash+ (via Oleksandr Akulenko)

    Dark, unfinished basement with exposed walls and a hidden seceret room couple discovered after buying.

    Stock photo unrelated.

  • A good start is getting the house inspected before buying.

    We bought a house 6 months ago because the price was decent and they would accept our FHA loan. The house was owned by a flipper and somewhat renovated. The inspection came back decent, some issues but nothing major. Upon moving into the
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  • Bugs are very hard to get rid of, especially when living in hot and humid weather.

    house, we discovered pretty quickly as it got warmer that the house was infested with bugs. Giant centipedes, spiders, carpet beetles, etc. We k lled them over time, added baseboard moldings where they were missing and pest control helped a little but
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  • Problems start to pile up with this house...

    even 6 months later it's still somewhat of an issue. Last week I found the moldings above every window in the house were completely open to the
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  • wall and had to seal with window & door foam to prevent bugs traveling through the walls which did help slightly.
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  • And this is the worst part of all: a secret room?! Can't believe they were never told about this.

    We discoverd a hidden room in the basement behind a pipe. Upon opening it up, there is a box around the perimeter. I stuck a camera inside and mostly see construction debris
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  • but it smelled like d th and I quickly sealed it up again and caulked all around it. I don't know who could possibly deal with whatever is in there and can't find what type of contractor to contact.
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  • Lastly, the basement bathroom seems to have been done completely illegally although it is a legal bathroom. There's no P trap and sewer gasses will come back up
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  • through the floor. I put a waterless trap seal in it and covered it but now it's not functional and concerns me. Then, I discovered last week upon the whole house smelling like garbage that the laundry outlet also does not
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  • Woman inspecting a wooden cabinet inside a home as a couple tries to uncover and repair all the unexpected problems months after buying.
    via Unsplash+ (via A. C.)

    Woman inspecting a wooden cabinet inside a home as a couple tries to uncover and repair all the unexpected problems months after buying.

    Model representation. 

  • have a P trap so sewer gasses can come up through there as well. That never happened before so I was just made aware of this now.
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  • I understand the frustration… the worst outcome possible!

    I have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to fix this, and still potentially not solve the bug issue + whatever else the house is hiding (is there mold? are there other issues we don't know about?). More frustrating, I
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  • don't even know who to call to fix some of these issues. It stresses me out a lot and has given me huge amounts of anxiety. I want to get out as soon as possible but I will likely
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  • lose money that I don't have now because we only put down 3.5%. So I feel stuck.
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  • In the comments, most readers were astonished by the fact that the secret room was not advertised on the listing, nor shown to them when they toured the house. And to be fair, they have a point. It's a whole entire room in the house that may not be in the best condition, but for sure it's something important to know about.

     

  • Stressed couple sitting apart at home while mounting repair costs and one unexpected issue after another leave them overwhelmed.
    via Unsplash+ (via Getty Images)

    Stressed couple sitting apart at home while mounting repair costs and one unexpected issue after another leave them overwhelmed.

    Actor performance of story events.

  • AlexSanchez929 My first home was a similar disaster. We were stuck, nowhere to go. I made a list of everything I wanted to change. I started working the list from the cheapest/easiest task first. Took me 4 years and more money than I expected, but I knocked everything out. Start small, youtube is your friend, handle everything you can by yourself.
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  • WhatIsThatNietzsche How did the issues with missing p traps not come up during inspection? Sorry, it's just a really bad situation all around.
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  • afternever They didn't advertise the basement gimp den on the listing?
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  • Big Daddy 1029010290 How is it that you noticed all of these items, but your inspector did not? A good, quality inspector should have caught a lot of that.
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  • CarmenxXxWaldo These arent major concerns. roof is fine? hvac? foundation? main sewer line all good? Dont sweat the small stuff. Bugs can be handled, plumbing can be handled. Im sure you will fine more issues. But its not like "i need to immediately spend 20k issues". Everyone wants their house to be perfect anymore and thats just fantasy.
    via KaleidoscopeDry5961
  • Potential-Bread5075 You may have recourse. Go to the Town Hall and find out if permits were pulled for the bathroom. Also find out what permits were pulled. Read the sellers disclosure documents carefully. You may have recourse, but you will have to contact a real estate attorney and it could cost more to prosecute than it would to fix the basement.
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  • No one can be very prepared when buying a home. Yes, it's a very exciting process, and most people are happy to start creating memories in the new house… but all of this comes with a bag of problems that can come up. Although there are cases in which a home is in perfect condition and nothing really is going on, there are other were you can find and detect small issues that sometimes are easy to address.

    However, in the story we just read, we realized there are bigger issues with this renovated house, especially that secret room that they were never told about. And even though you can get the house inspected, there are times when things like this may come up, and you don't have anything else to do but decide to tackle the problems.

    Yes, you can sit around and feel bad about yourself and everything you want, but essentially, this is never going to get the situation fixed. Instead, it's important to find ways of fixing each of the problems, since the house is already yours and it's very unlikely you're going to sell it right away.

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infested house bugs plumbing renovated house
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