5 DIY Projects you Should’t Try

5 Tasks You Can DIY In The Home But Really Shouldn’t

There are some projects in the home that shouldn’t be given the DIY treatment for different reasons.

Safety is a big issue, and if you are not sure you can complete a project to the highest possible safety standards, then don’t bother starting it, just hire the right kind of help for it.

There is a difference between the work of a professional and that of someone who knows how to use a bunch of tools too, so the finesse of an experienced hand cannot be ignored.

The saying that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” holds even more water than usual here, because DIY projects are not only time and energy consuming, but can be dangerous too.

Here are five tasks around the home you can probably handle on your own, but would be better off hiring help for.

1. CUTTING TREES
   
   

Anyone can walk into a hardware shop and purchase a chainsaw, but not everyone can use it in the proper way – and chainsaw accidents are rarely pretty.

Cutting of trees – especially large ones should be strictly left to the pros because a lot can go wrong. There’s the sharp, engine powered blade, telephone lines maybe, a possible 20ft fall, heavy branches to navigate on that fall, etc. None of these look pretty.

There is that urge within guys to feel the purr of the two – stroke engine in their hands and cut up trees, but looking at the amount of accidents that happen when people, chainsaws and trees combine, the thrill may not be worth it.

Inexperience can also make one mistakenly damage other parts of the home – like the roof – when cutting off tree branches. Calling a professional arborist is the only way to ensure these don’t happen.

2. FIXING ROOFS
   
   

Looking down from the top of a roof, it’s a long way down to the ground but a very short journey to the orthopedic room – or the undertaker’s.

Even gravity is one of the factors against people trying their luck and spending long hours on roofs in the name of effecting some repair or the other.

While the repair work itself might seem easy enough, the part about climbing a ladder with supplies and making repeated runs is already a risk in itself.

Steep roofs – with angles greater than 20 degrees – are a no go for DIYers, so stop testing gravity and your luck, leave it to the pros.

3. ELECTRICAL WORK
   
   

Surprise! Electricity doesn’t give second chances. As long as you remember to turn off the required switches and mains, anyone can change a light bulb, replace sockets, switches, but it ends there.

Any other seemingly major work that requires making structural changes like running additional wires, installing new outlets, fittings and the likes should be left to professionals.

There is the small matter of the safety of the lives of everyone who ever steps into that home, the properties in there, from the very expensive TV that you can fry to basically everything else, should you succeed in starting a fire.

The National Electrical Contractors Association’s director of standards and safety, Michael Johnson even says that this is not a job for a handyman.

An Illinois home inspector, Tom Brooks once reported how a DIYer remodeled their bathroom and installed an electrical wall switch right inside a shower stall. The ramifications of what could come of such a mistake is only best imagined.

Tampering wrongly with circuits, running wires around and installing heavy fittings can only have terrible results – fires, electrocution, damaged appliances, etc.

Let the pros do it.

4. PLUMBING WORK
   
   

You can change a faucet and maybe unclog a blocked drain on your own, but draw a line right there. Any plumbing work that will require tearing down walls, running new pipes should be left to a pro.

Complicated processes like installing heaters which involves some precision welding skills and installation of copper pipes (processes which even appears difficult just from writing about it), all require a level of skill and knowledge before they can be done to standard. Otherwise, you could flood your house, or burn it down – it’s a 50-50 chance between both.

Just like electrical works, this can earn you strokes from your home insurance agent, so should be handled with utmost expertise – that is, do not DIY it.

Just like electrical work, this will also earn you a very heated meeting with the home inspector, your insurance provider, your wife… just let a professional do the job so everyone can live life happily.

5. PAINTING
   
   

Yes you have the paint, and the brush as well as the adventurous spirit to paint but can you beat a professional painter?

You can paint your basement and look upon the terrible wall as evidence of something to never do again, but don’t have a go at more mainstream parts of the house.

What a professional painter assures you is results in record time, but doing it yourself will most probably not give you the Picasso-esque image you pictured in your head.

There is also the small matter of safety. Ladders and climbing and carrying paint and brushes up and down can stump up on an experienced hand causing injuries.

If you are not a painter by profession or for some reason very skilled at it, then do not bother trying to paint your own walls. Hire someone who is trained and certified for the job.

While DIY projects can be fun and rewarding, all the fun and reward can be easily sucked out in a jiffy, so hire professionals for these jobs to avoid ghastly results.