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Deciding to DIY your home renovations is a relatively easy decision to make. It offers more than a few benefits, after all:
Saving you a significant amount of money
Avoiding any contractors that’ll rip you off
Giving you full control of what’s done to your home
That doesn’t mean DIYing your home renovation is an easy process, however. There could be a lot of work to do, as well as quite a bit of stress. You’ll need to be prepared to put the time and effort into it.
Then, there are the mistakes you could make when you’re DIYing any renovations. Even if you have the skills to get everything done, these could still come up. You’ll have to make sure they don’t, as you could cause more of a problem than you would’ve thought.
You’ll have to fix whatever problems it leads to, which could also involve hiring someone to do it for you. No matter what, there’ll be extra stress, hassle, and costs. That’s especially true with ten mistakes, each of which could be more common than you’d realize.
If you’re about to start DIYing around your home, it’s worth making sure you avoid these mistakes.
DIYing Your Home Renovations: 10 Mistakes To Avoid
1. Doing The Wrong Energy-Saving Measures
Energy efficiency is one of the more notable areas people focus on when renovating their properties. That doesn’t mean doing any energy-efficient upgrades are as recommended as others. Some could be much more recommended than you’d expect, and it’s worth focusing on them.
The more notable areas to look at are:
Energy-efficient lightbulbs
Cavity wall insulation
Upgrading your boiler
Draught exclusion
By focusing on these, you’ll make your home more energy-efficient without wasting time and money on unnecessary work.
2. Doing Unnecessary Work
Speaking of unnecessary work, energy efficiency isn’t the only area where you could waste your time and effort. It’s better worth focusing on the areas that’ll actually need work. In most cases, this comes in the form of a repair, not replace, situation.
See if you can repair any areas rather than completely replacing them. Replacing anything, even a window, can often take much more work than simply repairing it. It could even be more expensive and be more complicated, especially with DIY.
If you want to save yourself a bit of time and effort, make sure you’re not doing any unnecessary work.
3. Not Doing Your Research
As skilled as you might be with DIY, there’s no substitute for researching. Before you take on any project, you’ll need to make sure you know exactly how to do it. Spend as much time researching as you can, and you’ll be much better off because of it.
You’ll figure out the best way of carrying out any upgrades or improvements by yourself, making sure everything’s done right. As obvious as this is, many people feel overly confident about their abilities and skip this step. Make sure you don’t.
4. Removing Period Detail
Older properties have period-appropriate features, and these often add more character to a property. Quite a few people don’t realize that, however, and end up removing these period features and replacing them with something else. That could be a bigger mistake than you might’ve thought.
Instead, it’s worth repairing them whenever you can. Not only will they be visually appealing, but you’ll end up making your property more valuable because of it. Even if you’re not worried about this, the replacements you put in might look a little off because of it. They mightn’t fit properly, so you’ll end up needing to do more work with it.
5. Ignoring Rules & Regulations
Even if you don’t know it, there’ll be quite a few rules and regulations to follow when you’re renovating your home. That’ll be the case whether you’re DIYing it or hiring a professional. You should make sure you’re within all legal requirements before you start with any home renovation projects.
Before starting these projects, you should ask:
If you need to notify your neighbors
Whether you need planning permission
If you need planning permission
By being aware of these, you can get them sorted out before carrying out any work. If you don’t, you could end up running into legal issues in the future. You might even have to undo the work you carried out in the first place.
6. Making Negative Value Improvements
When you’re renovating your home, you’ll be focusing on a few particular areas. Making it more appealing and functional for yourself. You could also want to focus on improving your home value with them. That means focusing on making the right renovations when you’re doing this.
Blocking windows and air vents, as well as doing any “improvements” that lead to future issues, are the most notable things to avoid. By focusing on renovations that almost everyone would love can be much better. If you eventually end up selling, you should get a much better price for your home.
7. Not Getting Enough Materials
You’ll need materials when you’re DIYing you home. There are various things you could need to pick up, with pine wall planks being a great option. This all depends on your personal preferences, and there shouldn’t be many wrong choices when it comes to visuals. You’ll still need to be careful with this, however.
You’ll have to make sure you get enough of the materials. You wouldn’t want to be in a position where you have to go back to the store to pick up more materials. It could be worth buying a little more than you’d think in case you make any mistakes during the renovation process.
8. Using The Wrong Materials
Speaking of materials, it’s worth making sure you have the right ones. This part could seem easy, but it’s natural to overlook a few core factors when you’re doing so. It’s worth sticking with materials that’re compatible with how the property was originally built.
If cement was used for construction, then you cement ro any renovations or upgrades. The same can be said for almost any other materials used to originally build the property. While that could mean needing to spend a little more to get certain materials, it avoids any issues in the long-term.
Keep the original construction in mind when you’re doing any work, and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
9. Not Budgeting Enough
DIYing is much less expensive than hiring a contractor to carry out the work for you. As mentioned above, you’ll need to have materials so you can actually start working on the renovations. Then there are the tools you could need to buy specifically for any projects you’re doing.
While cutting out a contractor saves you a decent amount of money, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t have a decent price to pay. The cost of materials and tools could be higher than you’d think, so make sure you don’t underestimate them.
Budget enough to cover all of the materials and supplies you need, and then add an extra 10% to 15%. It’ll make sure you’ve some money set aside for any mistakes you could end up making.
10. Taking On Too Much
Depending on your house, a lot of work could need to be done. That doesn’t mean you should take on all of it yourself. In some cases, you could be out of your depth, and you might’ve have the skills for it. In others, it might simply be too much work just for one person.
It’s worth avoiding taking on too much work, as you’ll end up wearing yourself out and spreading yourself too thin. You’ll eventually do worse work because of that, no matter how good you are with your tools. Even if there’s a lot of work to be done, it’s worth going one project at a time.
Focus on the largest issues first; the ones that’ll be the most hassle and stress. Once these are out of the way, everything else will be easier and easier. You’ll end up making sure you’re not overworked, especially if you have to work a day-job at the same time.
DIYing Your Home Renovation: Wrapping Up
DIYing your home renovation is an easy choice for many people, but that doesn’t mean it’s the easiest thing to do. You’ll save quite a bit of money doing it all yourself, but only if you do it right. You’ll have to avoid making various mistakes throughout the process.
Some of these can be more common than you’d think. No matter how confident you are in your skills, you’ll still need to be on the lookout for them. By doing so, you’ll avoid needing to fix anything you might’ve broken or needing to get more work done later on.
Using the wrong materials, taking on more work than you can handle, ignoring rules and regulations, and similar mistakes can all be some of the more common mistakes. If you’re DIYing your home renovation, make sure you keep an eye out for them.
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