Ignore the category header; not actually any fun in this.
The valves for the water supply to our washing machine no longer shut off completely. In an older house, it would be a repair job that would cost three bucks and take me twenty minutes. In this house, because of the type of valve and the way they were installed, the valves have to be replaced. No big deal, except that in order to replace the valves, you have to knock out some drywall. So a quick, cheap job turns into hundreds of dollars and a waste of lots of time.
In the house, the only reason for the manner of construction is that the contractor saved about ten dollars. But it reminded me of hassles that I have had with cars in my earlier life as a mechanic. I had a Jaguar E-Type which needed a new starter. Turns out that the engine and transmission have to be dropped to get to one of the two bolts which hold the starter. Except for that one bolt, replacing the starter would have taken ten minutes. I had a Triumph Stag which needed a new water pump. On most cars of that era, a water pump replacement was a straightforward matter. I won't bore you with details, but on the Stag, it required removal of the glove box. No shit! Some versions of the early Cobra required removal of the engine to replace a couple of the spark plugs.
Why don't people take maintenance into account when designing or building things?
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