Every homeowner has the best of intentions when they decide to remodel their kitchen or bathroom. No homeowner wants to come out of a DIY project and find themselves in a disaster or disappointed at the results. Remodeling isn’t an easy process and there are always things homeowners wish that they had done differently. We compiled a list of four commonly made mistakes during a DIY project that every homeowner should know about and avoid.

Not properly preparing for demolition

Most home remodeling projects require some form of demolition. Demolition for a kitchen or bathroom remodel can cause dust to travel through your home if the room has not been properly sealed off. One of the biggest contributors to demolition dust spreading through the home are open air ducts, which allow dust to easily travel from one end of the house to the other. Once dust funnels into an unprotected area, cleaning it from surfaces and the carpet can be a nightmare. You can prevent this by:

  • Sealing off air ducts with plastic and tape
  • Wearing plastic shoe covers to stop from tracking dust outside of the demo area
  • Covering furniture and valuables with plastic tarps or spare sheets
  • Laying down plastic tarps in areas with high foot traffic

Not considering the lighting of the project area

When you go to showrooms or warehouses to pick out the color of your cabinets, tile, back-splash or appliances, they will all look completely different under the lighting in your project space. The whitest white cabinets can look grey and dingy under poor lighting. Lighting can cause elements throughout your project to look different colors, or it can make the room not appear as new and clean as you want it to. Before you make any final purchase decisions, take samples or color swatches home and study them under your lighting conditions throughout the day. Hold them up next to other sample colors for that you want to use. That way you’ll have a good idea of how your selections will fit into your vision. You might need to consider changing your lighting so you can get the overall result that you want.

 

Forgetting to plan for emergencies Projects don’t always stay on schedule. Your demolition team might uncover a host of problems like water damage, mold or termites. Your dream tub might go out of stock and be on back order for 6 months, or your plumbing might need to be replaced before the project moves forward. The walls of a home can be deceitful, though many homeowners think, “What could go wrong with a simple, little remodel?” Think of Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. That is why homeowners need to decide how much they want to spend on their total remodel and allow for an additional 15-20 percent of that budget to cover emergencies. If you think your remodel will cost you $20,000, then you need to have an extra $4,000 in reserve for emergencies and overages. If the miracle of all miracles happens and you don’t hit a snag, then you can reinvest that money into something else … or take a vacation to de-stress from the remodeling process.

Expected Cost = $$

Emergency Cushion = 20%

Overall Remodeling Budget = $$ x 1.20

You didn’t plan from start to finish

When remodeling, it is easy to believe that making a basic timeline will be enough to get you by: select and purchase materials and appliances, demo, installation, and done! Yet, when homeowners plan their project in a general way problems crop up, details fall through the cracks, budgets get out of control, and a simple remodel can span months instead of just a few days. Home improvement projects that start out as fun and exciting can quickly turn into the project that never leaves the to-do list. Instead, write out the process from start to finish with calendar dates – including projects that can’t start until another project is completed – and give yourself some cushion dates, too. Keep your timeline and your budget together as reminders to stay on track and committed.

Prevent future mistakes and disasters by talking to a home remodeling professional. Contact Statewide Remodeling today to schedule a free in-home assessment, and we can help walk you through each step of your remodeling project.