Is that Do-It-Yourself home project for you?
Thanks to reality shows on television, home improvement seems like a fun pastime.
But homeowners should beware. Fixing a project gone bad can be even more expensive than hiring someone to do it right in the first place, not to mention the dangers lurking in construction projects.
“We've turned home improvement into entertainment these days,” said Angie Hicks, founder of Angie's List, where members rate service companies, contractors and health care providers.
“They don't show all the steps or that a professional is doing or guiding most of it,” she said. “Pick something small and basic.”
While Hicks and professional contractors urge homeowners to err on the side of caution when deciding whether to do their own home improvement projects or hire someone, the attitude is more generous at Home Depot. There the staff believes homeowners with the right guidance can take on quite a bit, said Chris Long, an associate in the Downers Grove store who also works on the company's online
forum, community.homedepot.com.
For example, a staff person can explain to a customer how to fix or replace a toilet or faucet, he said.
The stores also offer workshops to show how to handle projects like installing tile correctly so it doesn't crack, pop up or look crooked.
Long finds projects with personal danger to be particularly cringe worthy — those involving electricity, gas, plumbing or heights. Thus he thinks most homeowners should not replace hot water tanks or work on their roofs. Anyone determined to take on a roofing project should start with a shed or small garage first, Long advises.
He said it is all right if the careful do-it-yourselfer changes light fixtures and outlets.
“We can teach you the colors of wires and how to test to make sure the power is off,” he said. “Pay attention to the old one and how it went in.”
When home improvement gets at all involved, it's great if an experienced friend or relative helps the homeowner, said Long.
One thing a sales person will ask someone contemplating a job is what tools he or she owns, said Long, with the assumption that the owner of a drill, for example, knows how to use it.
The basic tools that everyone should own and know how to use are a hammer, screwdriver, pliers and drill, he said.
The Home Depot associate's job includes pointing out dangers and complications, as well as giving tips, he said.
Here's an example to consider: Installing new interior doors can be relatively straight forward if they are prehung in frames, while simple doors with no hardware are very inexpensive, but can be difficult to install.
Hicks came up with some projects she thinks beginners should tackle to see where their skills and patience lie:
• Paint a small room that doesn't have much trim.
• Create a flower bed or do some other basic landscaping.
• Update your kitchen by changing the knobs on the cabinet doors.
Eric Udelhoven, owner of Catalyst
Remodeling in Chicago, chimed in with a few other projects for the uninitiated, but he warned even these could be more difficult than they look.
• You might risk simple carpentry jobs, but “Even something as simple as a baseboard” can be tricky because the measurements must be exact within one-eighth or even one-sixteenth of an inch.
• People who are comfortable working with electricity could change one fixture for another, “but if they don't know what they're doing they can end up in a big world of hurt with that,” said Udelhoven
And there are projects that seem simple that can really get homeowners into trouble.
While demolition seems like the type of work a homeowner can do to save money, Udelhoven ran into a couple who took out structural supports, which meant it was unsafe for anyone to even walk in the rear portion of the home's second floor.
He urges homeowners to be careful about who they hire to do work, too, recommending they select members of NARI — National Association of the Remodeling Industry, where he has received special certification.
Scott Keck, Scotty the Handyman from Arlington Heights, said his clients often buy the wrong type of switch when they think they are installing a three-way switch for a fixture that they want to turn on and off from two different sites.
“Or they take apart the old switch and can't remember where the wires went to,” said Keck.
Under sinks he has found way too many joints in the drain pipes, and joints are the areas most likely to leak.
“I'm not saying you have to be a wiz to do plumbing and electric work,” said Keck, “but you have to know what you are doing.”
And the scary scenario for Hicks is when people climb up on ladders to install Christmas lights or clean gutters.
Be sure you have the right size ladder, a solid, level place to put it and someone to hold it before you go up, she said.
“Ladder accidents cause the most common DIY injuries,” she said. “You don't want to hang from a gutter. I guarantee it will not be strong enough. Climbing a ladder is not something you do alone.”
