DIY’ing is touted as one of the best ways to save big bucks on home improvement tasks.
And it’s often incredibly rewarding — sometimes. Some jobs just aren’t meant to be tackled after a handful of YouTube tutorials and some gumption. Here are five examples of scenarios where attempting a DIY could have disastrous results.
Electrical Work
Electrical wiring is enormously complicated. One wrong move or snip, and your appliances are fried or your electrical panel is wrecked. This is also a DIY task that has a higher risk of injury and fire hazards.
And if you’re thinking of skipping that permit? Inspectors will catch it, and insurance will make sure you pay for your negligence.
Even if nothing “bad” happens to you and you manage to escape electric shock, you’ll likely pay an arm and a leg to fix something a professional could do in a few hours.
Plumbing Repair
Plumbing is a lot like electrical work; it’s much more complicated than people realize, and many of the pipes are interrelated. Mess with one, and the whole system could come crashing down. And even just one leaky connection can turn your bathroom into a swimming pool filled with surprise mold colonies.
Same deal with insurance, too: go rogue with a large project like this, and you could accidentally void your home insurance warranty, meaning you’ll pay for shoddy workmanship out of pocket. It’s just not worth it.
HVAC Repair or Replacement
Small HVAC adjustments and maintenance aren’t the end of the world, and many homeowners could get away with DIY’ing these with little issue. But once you start getting into work involving refrigerants and ductwork, you’re in a much more dangerous situation.
Bad repairs also make your system work harder than it needs to, meaning higher bills and a shorter lifespan. A new HVAC unit isn’t cheap; break it, and you’ll most certainly sweat the expense.
Roofing Repair
Roofing repair is pretty obviously dangerous. Climbing up there is risky enough, let alone keeping your footing and ensuring you don’t fall off. Ladders aren’t a foolproof way to keep yourself safe, either.
Less-than-professional workmanship on roofs has a similar issue to plumbing, as it can let moisture into your home that does a massive amount more damage. It’s much too detail-oriented for those without training and certifications, so it’s best left to the experts.
Structural Problems or Modifications
This is one of the most expensive things you could possibly DIY, even just to set yourself up with the right tools. Don’t try anything that can compromise your home’s integrity yourself. Load-bearing walls exist for a reason; removing one without real knowledge can literally bring the house down.
You might argue that structural problems are too expensive to fix, but they don’t get cheaper when you have to have an expert come back to undo everything you did. And some structural issues create a domino effect, potentially impacting your property value for years to come.
