When Home Owners Attack!

When they Attack. When they try to do too much, and it all goes sadly wrong. Trust me on this one: it happens. I work on dozens of houses every year, and see great ideas badly executed by homeowners. I also see projects that look like they never had a chance to succeed. We won’t even mention the stuff that makes us cringe.

With the wealth of DIY information available, and the emphasis on home repair projects “in a jiffy”, it is easy to get in over your head.

Get the mirror out, and look into it. Is the person you are seeing capable of doing all the tasks needed to complete this Project? Most people can easily do many of the jobs involved, but not everyone can do ALL of them.

If a task is new to you, like ceramic tile, or replacing water supply shut-offs, do some research on it. Ask for help. Ask your friends or neighbors for recomendations or referrals to people whose work you can look at, and then decide if you want to 'part out' some of your project to a professional.

Really.

But before you give up on tackling the project yourself, there are a few more steps to go through.

Let’s work backwards first. How do you picture your project when it is all finished? Take a Bathroom Remodel as an example. The easiest way to update your bathroom is to replace the vanity, the faucet, maybe the tub surround , and perhaps install ceramic tile on the floor. Repaint the ceiling, walls & trim (do it in that sequence, too!) and you have a brand new room!

Ok, now for the next step. What else is affected by these changes? When you swap out a Vanity, expect small cosmetic repairs where the old vanity top was caulked to the wall. Removing an old tub surround can damage (or expose damage) to the wall behind it. That new vanity may need additional plumbing work. How are the shutoffs? Do you need to replace (or install!) them as well? Ceramic should go under the toilet, and that means removing & resetting it. What do you do where the tile meets the hallway under the door? A properly Planned job asks and answers these questions.

So now you have a partial list to start budgeting for: Vanity, faucet, plumbing lines, toilet wax ring, paint, and so on. It is often easier to break your project down into sections, and list materials in groups by section. An unorganized list increases your chances of missing an item. Have everything together before you start. NOT having what you need is the most-used excuse for taking ‘shortcuts’ .

Now that your homework is done, it is time for a gut-check. Show your plans to someone and ask to review them with you. The salespeople from your local supply house are a good place to start. Picking the brains of the staff at the Contractor’s Desk can work also. That’s where contractors can be found, and many are willing to jump in and offer advice or tips. A new project can be a social event, like having a new baby, and strangers will happily share your joy!

And unlike a baby, if they think your project is ugly, most will say so ~ right to your face. If you get that reaction, perhaps a full re-evaluation is in order. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but that’s just the way it is. Ultimately you do what YOU want, but bear in mind that somewhere down the road your house will be evaluated by strangers for resale value. You want to improve the quality of your life, sure; but you also don’t want to devalue your investment.

Can you remodel a bathroom in a weekend? Honestly? I didn’t think so. Plan the steps in sequence, and have a matching answer to whatever problems each step creates. Tear out the old vanity, and brush your teeth in the kitchen sink for two days. Tear out the shower walls, and take a bath instead, or use the shower in the basement. While the vanity is out, go ahead and pull the toilet. Make other arrangements for that particular ‘need’ for the next 48 hours.

Tub wall kits are designed to be attractive, functional, and easy to install. Look for kits that are rigid, molded in design, especially if you have an uneven wall surface. Tip: Plan on extra FRP adhesive, too! Installing one properly can be done in a few hours with moderate skill. Read the instructions carefully before you start, please.

It takes some time to re-tile a floor, and some specialty tools. Pull the baseboard, vanity and toilet before you start. The mortar needs to set, so doing the floor in the afternoon makes sense. Let it dry overnight. Grout it in the morning, and you can reset the toilet by lunch, the vanity installs quickly, and you can have the plumbing back together by dinner. That’s a weekend, right? Wrong.

You still have work to do: Nail the baseboard back. Caulk the joints in the trim, fill and sand nail holes; repaint everything. That can be a weekend project all by itself, and if all you have is part of a weekend to give to this project, it could morph into one of those “never-got-done” projects that reality TV is so fond of lately. We don’t want THAT, do we?

Use these steps before you start any type of home repair/ remodel project:

Know what you want to do, figure out what else is affected,

PLAN for the change, and then

PLAN a way to manage the steps involved so that you get the maximum satisfaction from doing a complete job from front to back.

Last minute note: I have deliberately left out step-by-step instructions for a complete bathroom remodel. I did this on purpose. I DID want to get across the level of detail that should be taken into account when you approach a project. Best of Success to you!