You fancy yourself as a bit of a DIY buff, don’t you? It’s fun to walk around the house, dealing with common home repairs on your own. You save a lot of money doing this, and you also give yourself a nice challenge. Sadly, there are some instances where it’s not okay to carry out DIY repairs in your home. It’s not illegal by any means, just ill-advised. The question is, when is it not okay to attempt DIY repairs? How will you know if it’s safe to do it or not? Usually, you can boil things down to these factors:
When there’s height involved
If your repairs require you to climb to a tall height, the risks increase dramatically. A common example of this is a roofing repair. Here, you’d need a tall ladder to access your roof. Right away, you can see how this is very dangerous – particularly if you’re on your own. Instead, keep your two feet on the ground and hire some roofing contractors to handle it for you. They have access to more equipment, and they’re vastly more experienced at dealing with roofing repairs. Thus, the risks are minimized across the board.
When you’re dealing with electricity & wires
Generally, it’s not advised that you tackle electrical repairs on your own. There’s a reason people undergo training to become qualified electricians! It’s very dangerous when playing around with electricity, even though you should have it turned off. Any job that requires fiddling with wires or attaching wires to different things should be avoided. All it takes is one mistake to make sparks fly and potentially damage your home. It’s not worth the risk, call a professional instead.
When you have complex plumbing issues
Similarly, if you have to work with the pipes in your home, it’s best to call in an expert. Some plumbing issues can be solved by yourself, but they tend to be minor. We’re talking about a blocked toilet that can be unclogged with a plunger or a faucet that needs to be tightened. If you need to play around with the pipes and unscrew or re-fasten things, it’s best to leave them alone. You don’t understand the inner workings of a plumbing system, so trust someone that does.
When the task requires multiple people
Many DIY home repairs can be handled by one person. In these scenarios, provided they don’t include the issues above, you can tackle them. However, if the tasks need more than one person, it’s almost always better to get professional help. Attempting them alone will lead to a high risk of injuries and a disaster. You could get a friend to assist you, but it’s a risk as you don’t know if they’ve ever done something like this before. Plus, you become responsible if they get hurt. No, if a task is complicated enough to demand more than one person, you should hire the experts.
Don’t worry, you’ll still find loads of DIY repairs that can be done by yourself! It’s mainly a case of understanding the risks and learning when to take a step back and let others work for you.
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