The ability to not only save a good amount of money, but also gain an inimitable sense of satisfaction, makes the prospect of DIY an exciting one. In fact, even too exciting sometimes, to the extent of blinding DIY enthusiasts of the risks, downsides, and their own shortcomings.
Before you dive headfirst into a DIY project, there are a few essential questions you should ask yourself even if you already have a couple of projects under your belt. Those questions fall into two categories, the first one coming down to whether you’re capable of carrying out the DIY project. Those questions include:
- Do you have the know-how, the technical skills, and the necessary experience?
- Do you have the time? (and the money you’d sacrifice during it by not working)
- Do you have the energy?
- Do you know the risks and how to handle them?
Even if you answered “yes” to all of the above, there’s the other question category, which is actually just a single, ultimate question that can render the others irrelevant – “Is it worth it?”
And even if your answer was another resounding “yes,” here are a few types of jobs for which we strongly advise you to swallow your pride and call an expert anyway.
Plumbing
Sure, a lot of people might be able to unclog a drain or fix a leak, but that doesn’t exhaust all plumbing scenarios, let alone emergencies. The fact of the matter is, plumbing is a far more delicate line of work than it may seem on the outside, and if you’re surprised by this statement, then that’s a clear sign you’re an outsider.
For one, a botched plumbing job is not only bad in itself, but it can also trigger a chain reaction of problems that extend far beyond plumbing. Poorly sealed connections, for example, can cause leaks, which respectively invite moisture that unnoticeably creeps into the house, damages your property, and brings along mold which is bad for your walls, not to mention your health. All of that snowballs into a massive hassle you could have easily avoided with a simple phone call.
But besides the relatively trivial hurdles, you can bring down something much worse on yourself. For example, you could stumble upon a gas line, which is already bad since gas lines are not something you should stumble upon by accident. Even being unsure if a gas pipe could cross your DIY path is more than a good enough reason to call an expert.
Dealing with old piping and septic tanks are other endeavor you should simply leave to the experts. To find out about other risky plumbing jobs and emergencies that require far more expertise than you might think, visit https://www.plumbingforce.co.uk/emergencies/.
Electrical Jobs
Luckily, electrical jobs tend to inspire more fear than plumbing, even if it’s only because of mainstream movies. With that being said, there are still lots of DIY daredevils who think just because something happens in a film, it’s entirely fictional. Don’t be one of them, as simple as that.
And even if you think you’ve done a good job and make it out intact at first, you might have actually made a bigger mess that is simply yet to unfurl. Faulty wiring, for example, is like a ticking time bomb that won’t make a sound until it’s too late.
And while the safety risks of DIY electrical jobs are luckily quite well-documented, there’s also the more trivial side of things that isn’t. Even if an electricity task is by some chance risk-free, botching it will cost you dearly since a real electrician will charge you much more to fix your mess than he/she would have to simply do it in the first place.
Knocking Down Internal Walls
Knocking down internal walls sure may seem fun and bad-ass in films, but if it’s not done by a professional who can assess the load distribution of your house and the wall’s role in it, you might end up knocking down your entire house.
Roof Repairs
Even if you happen to have the skills in themselves to fix a problem in your roof, which quite likely you don’t anyway, it usually takes a professional to do it in awkward positions quite a few feet from the ground.
There are other tempting jobs out there that DIY enthusiasts should resist, but these are the four that are a hard “no,” whoever you are.
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