Pitfalls of DIY Projects

“You can do it. We can help.”

Well… maybe. Sure, it looks easy and quick to do a repair or renovation project yourself, and the idea of hiring a professional seems far too expensive. And, by golly, those big box stores make it sound completely feasible to manage any DIY project. After all, they have “experts” to help you.

Truth is, there are some DIY projects you can be successful at, and the list gets longer depending on the kind of experience you have. Painting a room, for example, is something most anyone can handle. Installing a new floor, however, is much more complicated. You’re bound to run into trouble along the way with a DIY project of that magnitude.

Where the Help Comes From

It’s important to note that the “we can help” motto isn’t as reliable as you might think. In truth, many of the employees at big box stores don’t have a lot of training or experience in construction and remodeling.

In fact, to make our point, the following is taken directly from a job listing on a certain popular box store website for a lumber customer service associate – these are the job requirements for interested applicants:

“Ability to operate, demonstrate and explain merchandise in assigned area. Ability to apply basic mathematical concepts such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing and knowledge of weights and measures. Understand and respond appropriately to basic customer and employee inquiries… Ability to operate store equipment in assigned area (including but not limited to LRT, telephone, paging system, copiers, fax machines, computers, CCTV surveillance system, key cutting, panel saw, paint mixing computer, blind cutting, forklifts, pallet jacks, electric lifts, etc). Ability to interpret price tag and UPC information.” 

The requirements are virtually the same for customer service associates job listing in all departments. We include this to show you that employees in these stores may not have any experience building an addition on to a home, installing floors or replacing doors. They may simply have a operations knowledge of the cutting tools in the lumber department or the difference between a 2x4 and a piece of plywood. But as far as guiding your through your DIY process, their knowledge is limited. Yes, they have folks that will do installations if you pay extra, but those are typically contractors that work with the store, rather than direct employees.

The Learning Curve

Okay, so let’s say you go ahead and decide to take on your first major DIY project. And let’s say that you’re going to put new tile down in the bathroom. Seems relatively simple enough – you’ve seen it done a thousand times over on HGTV.

It’s easy to mix thin set and spread it out on the floor. And you can even manage to lay the tile evenly, mix the grout and fill it. But, do you know how to lay out a floor to make it even with the walls? Do you know how to cut tile for those tights spots like the threshold and corners?  Do you know how to sponge it properly to reduce haze?

Do they know enough at the big box stores to guide you through that process from afar?

There is a learning curve with big projects like this – a curve that professional contractors have navigated for years, finding the most effective ways to do each task for quality results.

The Details

There are so many things that must be taken into consideration when doing a repair or renovation. Take hanging an interior door, for example. It’s far more than putting it on the hinges and making sure it swings the right direction. Did you know that it must be level in four different directions? Or what causes a door to rub in the winter and not in the summer? And that trimming the bottom of the door is is not the way to repair one that rubs or fails to latch?

In just about any home repair or remodel there are little traps for DIYers to fall into – details that go overlooked and cause bigger problems down the line.

Trust the Experts… Really

When it comes to DIY projects that go beyond interior design, you’re better off trusting professionals to do the job for you (or, if you’re really lucky, chatting it up with a friend who is a contractor). The time factor alone should be enough to deter you from completing a DIY home repair – it will always take you 2-3 times longer than it would a professional. That alone may be worth paying a little more money…  and dishing out a bit of humility to admit your knowledge is a bit limited on these sorts of things.