apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i find that we are doing more and more of our renovation projects ourselves. our budget is tight enough that the people we can afford to bring in are not necessarily the most qualified. for a few projects we have wound up re doing the work we hired out in order to get the quality of finish that we wanted. not looking forward to scraping 80 years of paint off of original metal window sills and door frames myself though...

After 5 years of owning a perpetual fixer upper and with merely basic fix-it skills and no family members/boyfriend etc with fix-it skills, I've learned some basic lessons:

1. If my boyfriend has equal or less fix-it skills than I do, then DO NOT ask him to help to things I can't. It only leads to bad feelings and badly done projects - such as the leaning fence project which turned into a huge argument and a whole wasted day since it had to be completely redone. Ugh. never again.
2. Anything that requires massive scraping and sanding - hire out. This includes floor refinishing. It was totally not worth saving 1000 dollars in labor costs to lug that stupid sander around, rent it, break my back (not literally) over it, and spend a good week on my hands and knees, scraping corners, patching, resanding, and adding 3 layers of finishing.
3. Hire out for drywall. It's just easier and not that expensive and is faster if a pro does it.
4. Find a reliable handyman who doesn't mind showing me how to do things and allows me to be his helper. Really, for twenty bucks an hour it saves me hundreds of dollars in self mistakes and I increase my skills and experience at the same time.

I dunno, I was all gung-ho when I first bought my house. Then after a year I sort of realized I really wanted free weekends and nights and my social life was really suffering. I was also tired of running to Home Depot a few times a week to get such and such. Basically, I wanted my life back.

I just call my father when I have any handyman-type projects. For drywall, painting stuff, I would hire someone. I have no DIY ability and no interest in doing fix-it stuff on my own. I'd rather use my time for other things.

Well ok I don't own a home. I rent so I call the landlord to fix any complicated or expensive issues, but I mostly do the maintenance myself because, frankly I don't trust most maintenance men. I would never hire someone to paint, I can do just as good of a job as a professional. The first few places I painted were terrible because I was too lazy to tape everything off. If I owned a home pretty much the only thing I'd hire out would be for roof, foundation, electric, or plumbing.

Generally, it depends on how many hands I need. In my house, I'm handier than my husband, so often times the most he can do is run and fetch me whatever tool I need (which I totally appreciate, honey!). So, if a project requires 2 sets of hands, I'll generally call in a handyman. Anything requiring new electrical lines, or anything where the finish work is extremely complicated or absolutely *has* to look perfect also gets hired out. I have found that the longer I've lived in my house, the more willing I've become to hire a handyman or a contractor. Sometimes I just want it to be done!

unless it's physically impossible for me, i do it myself.

i've found that the key is reading, planning, preparedness, patience and THE RIGHT TOOLS. People often overlook this step, and it is often the major difference between a DIY that looks like a diy, or one that looks professional.

People seem oppsed to bbuying new tools for a job, but they are usually way cheaper than the labor costs would have been, can be bought used on craigslist, or resold when done to minimize the expense.

i've rebuilt my car's engine, gutted a kitchen, drywall, plumbing, flooring, soapstone countertops, you name it.

[*] i do most of the harder tasks around the house that take skill and patience, but happily pay folks to dig trenches and scrape paint.

I hire a professional.

We needed to replace our garage opener (after it started to smoke because of an overheating issue). So a trip to Lowes garnered a Genie Opener after the salesperson said it was easy to install by a DIY'er.

Long story short, it was a nightmare. At least over 50 pieces required to assemble, a track in 3 pieces, and the worst instructions ever. Returned to Lowes.

In turns out a local garage door company installed the opener with a better quality model in less than an hour, gave a year warranty on installation and service, and cost us only $125.

I saved time, frustration, and money by hiring someone to do the job right the first time.

Every evening I stare at the wall separating our kitchen and living room and wonder whether it is load-bearing. That's one case were I am considering hiring a professional before starting my DIY demolition.

I so envy the DIYers. I'm trying, but more often than not my attempts to save money by doing it myself end up costing me more because I screw it up. Then I've wasted money on the materials and tools I bought, and I have to pay someone anyways in the end to fix my mistakes. Given that I cannot cut a straight line to save my life, maybe my quest to be handy is just wishful thinking. And the fact that I struggle to be patient doesn't help, either.

Every time I try to tackle a plumbing job short of changing a shower head, it goes awry. So I draw the line at plumbing. But electrical projects don't scare me, but I'm not running wires or anything.

I hire a pro. Always. Breaking my ankle while scraping wallpaper was pretty much the clincher for me.

Here's something I'll never do myself again: Paint my vaulted popcorn ceiling. Ugh. Someone else with proper tools and skill will be doing that next time--and removing the popcorn.

All electrical work should be left to professionals. It's scary.

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