DIY– Do It Yourself (Dangers?)

Do it yourself.! That sounds great, appealing, and the first thing that crosses your mind is I will save money!

So you boot up YouTube, or you watch the fixer-upper shows on television. Now you feel empowered, and you can tackle anything and any project.

I have an example of a DIY project that went wrong. A homeowner has a brick colonial, and they needed the shutters redone. So they did a DIY on the shutters and painted them blue. What is the big deal correct?

The problem is now the house is listed for sale, and no one wants to see the house. I was consulted and asked why isn’t anyone interested in the home? The homeowner was perplexed. “I just repainted the shutters so what is the problem with the house?”

When I saw the picture of the front of the house, the blue shutters jumped right out at me, almost screaming!. If it bothered me. It is going to bother and be a distraction to the next person.

My suggestion was to paint the shutters black and do an open house immediately after that and see what happens. Good luck to that DIY, but do your research of the dangers.

In New Jersey, there have been changes to the construction process where certain things do not need a permit — replacing the roof, siding, etc. When it comes to the kitchen or bathrooms if you only replace what is there and not move any plumbing? No permit is required or town inspection. That sounds great, and the homeowner saves money right. No wrong if that homeowner does not install everything correctly, they can damage the house.

Take a bathroom re-model for example. If the showerhead is not installed correctly it could be leaking behind the wall and create a mold problem.

When they go to sell the house, and the buyer hires a home inspector, the inspector will point out all the things that were not installed correctly. That could hold off the sale and may be a deal-breaker. Depending on the township Certificate of inspection on resales may fail it.