5 Most Common and Expensive DIY Home Repair Mistakes to Avoid

0
137
DIY Home Repair

When it comes to repairing your home, there is a fine balance to be found. It falls somewhere between saving money by doing it yourself and getting a professional to finish it to an exemplary standard. Some jobs are fine to do yourself. Some are not so fine. 

Whether you are putting up a shelf or knocking down a supporting wall – STOP! Read this first… Let’s find out what the five things you definitely shouldn’t do are… 

The 5 most costly DIY mistakes you can make

So what are these five mistakes? Your first hint is not to knock down anything that is holding your house up. Otherwise, avoid these DIY disasters as if your home depended on it…

1 – Check your Wood!

Before you embark on any DIY project involving wood, you need to check it. Firstly for woodworm, because you don’t want to put that into your house. Secondly for rot… and that applies more to the wood already in your home than the new stuff. 

One DIY project we hear tell of involved a man almost falling through the roof of a refurbishing project. The wood was rotten away as they were laying new tiles. The roof wouldn’t have supported all those new slates so it’s just as well they found out before they slept under it. Total cost of a whole new roof? Less than the price of the lives of your family.

2 – Keeping on top of Water

Gutters, spouts, roofing, and rising damp are all chronic problems for housing. If you decide to ignore it, you are running the gauntlet. Water will eventually bring your whole house down if you let it. Worse than the cost of water damage is the mould, bacteria, and general nastiness that standing water brings with it. 

If carrying out excavations you really, really, really (we cannot stress this enough), really, need to hire a pro. Groundwork leads the water away from your home and is something you just don’t think about with regards to digging a new cellar. Get onto an online marketplace like Snupit instead and avoid the risk of upsetting your foundations.

3 – Not Planning Ahead

There is a reason that big renovation or redecorating projects have project managers… Someone needs to think ahead, see the big picture, and be aware of where all the bits slot together. If you just suddenly decide you don’t like your fireplace one day and start drilling it out? Be prepared to pay through the nose…

4 – Measure Twice, Cut Once

Another saying that exists for a reason. Any DIY project will skyrocket in price if you start wasting materials. If you are using $50 planks for your new deck and you cut all ten beams to the wrong size, you are going to need to delay the whole project. Don’t fall into this trap. We would even caution to measure three times, it’s just that important.

5 – Not Getting Permits

If you don’t get the correct licensing for your new builds – be it a shed or a roof garden – you may find you need to take it all back down again. Local governments have the right to order deconstruction if it bothers other people or, let’s be honest about this, if they are feeling particularly spiteful that day. Don’t let it happen to you!

Rounding Up

So if you take our advice you will shortly find that you avoid some of the most common DIY mistakes. Well… at least five of them, anyway. Once you start digging you realise just how many thousands of dollars a bad DIY job could cost you. Frankly, it isn’t worth the risk.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here