When a Home Renovation Project Is Best Left In the Hands of a Professional

Posted on: 1 December 2016

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Not all home renovation projects need the services of a contractor; you may be able to rip out your old kitchen cabinets and install new ones with a friend to help and a few sturdy tools or cut a space in a bedroom to install a new wardrobe very easily. However, it's not unusual for homeowners to get too ambitious when it comes to renovation projects and assume they can handle any work on their own if they have those sturdy tools and some helpful videos. This can be disastrous, as some renovation projects are much more complicated than you may realise. Note a few of those and why they should be left to professionals.

1. Removing walls

You never want to remove walls on your own if you don't know all the details of how to do this safely; this includes checking for plumbing pipes, which could be placed behind the wall even if you're nowhere near the bathroom or kitchen! The wall also may not be load-bearing, but it may be giving some support to the walls around it and the ceiling overhead, so removing it can result in shifting and cracking of those surfaces. Trying to remove even the lightest framing can also mean splintering the floorboards or ceiling joists if you don't know how to do this properly, so leave the job to a contractor instead.

2. Tiling the bathroom

As with removing walls, it may seem very easy to add new tile in the shower surround of your bathroom but this job is often more specialized than you may realize. Too much grout and you'll have a messy area that collects dirt and mould more easily, but not adding enough grout can mean tile that gets loose. It can also be very tricky to place tile evenly and straight across and to cut end pieces smoothly and cleanly.

3. Adding weight to the space

If you want to replace the bathtub with a new claw-foot style tub, add a spa tab in the bathroom, install a large kitchen island or do anything else during renovation that adds weight to the area, you should talk to a contrator. If you don't add some bracing to the subfloor, the floorboards can crack and splinter. A contractor will know to check the durability of the subfloor for these types of projects and also how to add some type of bracing to make it strong enough to manage.