Don’t Risk Your Health: DIY to Steer Clear of

With so many articles out there on how we should simply pull up our sleeves and do it ourselves, it’s easy to think that this applies to most home renovations. How hard can it be? All you need are a couple of tools, a decent YouTube video, and there you go – a luxurious bathroom, ready to pamper and comfort you.

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Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy, and there are a few home renovations you should never attempt to do yourself. Not just because the outcome will be less than up to standard, but also because embarking on this on your own can be downright dangerous.

Big basement renovations

As a more or less hidden part of the house, many homeowners fool themselves to believe this is an easy task – and, if it doesn’t look that great, minor mistakes are easy to cover up down there. They tend to overlook the many details of home safety that need to be added when renovating basements, though, such as fire-blocking and vapour barriers.

Some DIY enthusiasts even embark on the massive project of underpinning which, in some cases, have ended disastrously. Leave the basement projects to the experts and feel secure in your own home. It’s worth it.

Structural work

To fiddle with the structure of your house is the same thinking as when people start a major basement project on their own; they don’t understand how everything is connected. If you tear down a wall, for example, you might be surprised to notice how your upstairs floor starts to sag as the wall you removed were, in fact, holding a lot of its weight.

As a worst case scenario, you even risk seeing your entire home collapse, so it’s always better to grab the phone rather than the hammer when you’re dealing with a structural renovation.

Plus, if your home dates back to before the 80’s, you might even have harmful minerals in its structure which you should never start to fiddle with on your own. These products are not harmful when left undisturbed but much more so if it is broken or disturbed – have a look at Madeksho Law for more information about this.

Electrical changes

Unlike the two renovations above, most people seem to understand the danger of electricity – it’s been internalised since we were kids. Unfortunately, you do have certain self-proclaimed handymen who believe they’re able to perform electrical repairs even though they have no experience with wiring whatsoever.

If you are not an electrician yourself, it’s safe to say that anything beyond changing a simple light fixture is best left to the professionals. The dangers of not having wired it properly or overlooking buried wires are monumental and, of everything you should steer clear of, disturbing the electrical system of your house is a major one.

Plumbing repairs

Water is able to cost you a fortune if it’s allowed to flood your home. Some plumbing repairs are possible to do yourself if you have a bit of experience, such as the simple task of changing the faucets as well as a regular shower head. Anything beyond this, on the other hand, and you risk having a tiny leak costing you thousands of dollars in repair.

It’s usually when over-excited DIYers attempt to change the structure of their plumbing system that things start to look gloomy. Hot water equals copper pipes, which again calls for working with a blowtorch.

Unless you have extensive experience with copper pipes and blowtorches, we suggest you stay away from the plumbing jobs. You can have a look at Home Advisor to see the estimated cost for yourself – and to make you pick up that phone to give your plumber a call when it’s time.

Roofing repairs

When winter has finally passed, and it’s time for spring, many homeowners are inclined to get the ladder out and fix up the look of their home. Winter and weather can be tough on roofs, and it’s understandable that you’d like to get this over with as soon as possible; yet, it’s very common to forget how tiring the work is – and how easy it is to fall off.

While the job itself isn’t the trickiest and you could easily have done it if those roof tiles didn’t happen to be so high up, it’s better to let someone with more experience take care of it. Besides, it’s not the most expensive thing in the world – and you save yourself the dreadful flight down if you were to fall off.

It’s safe to say that most major renovation tasks are best handed over to the professionals. It will save you the trouble of doing it yourself as well as costly repairs if something goes wrong – in addition to the potential harm you expose your household to if the job is done incorrectly.