With the popularity of home improvement shows designed to enthrall viewers with stunning renovations, it’s easy to get swept up in the DIY craze. In the hopes of saving money and channeling their inner design diva, even not-so-handy homeowners may be tempted to pick up a hammer and give home repair a go. This may sound empowering, but there are several home repairs you should never do yourself.
While there are home repairs that can certainly be tackled by enthusiastic amateurs, taking on complicated tasks you’re not qualified to do can have costly consequences. Fact: There is such a thing as home repairs best left to professionals. Not only could faulty work lead to spending more money on repairs than you would have spent if you’d hired a pro from the start, they could result in your home not being up to code, serious injuries or even death.
Even if DIY is your life motto, there are certain cost-cutting measures you want to avoid when it comes to home maintenance. Here are some home repairs best left to professionals:
“Number one on my list of jobs for homeowners not to do themselves would be electrical—it’s just too dangerous,” says Frank Cohn, owner of Cohn Construction Ltd. and host of the Home Improvement Show on Toronto’s NEWSTALK 1010 radio. “I’ve seen too many electrical jobs where people have done it themselves, or had a brother or an uncle do the wiring, and a lot of these people are lucky they’re alive to tell their tale because I find all sorts of buried wires or things wired improperly. It’s so dangerous. I just can’t stress that enough.”
While installing a basic light fixture may be a suitable task for an experienced DIYer, anything more complicated is a home repair you should never DIY and should be handled by a licensed electrician. There’s a reason electricians can be expensive: They spend many painstaking years training to work with electrical currents that can be deadly when handled improperly.
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