Renovating Your New Home: The Novice's Dos & Don'ts
Buying a house that needs a lot of work is often the best way to enter the property ladder. While you may be planning on doing the renovations yourself to save money, bear in mind that some jobs are best taken care of by professionals. The potential damage you could incur to your property by attempting this work yourself will seriously outweigh the cost of an expert. Not sure which work you can undertake yourself? Take a look at these dos and don'ts.
DO: Refurbish Your Kitchen
Some kitchen renovation is best suited to those who feel comfortable with work tools. Cutting worktops to size, for example, requires knowledge of how to use a jig. However, there are plenty of small jobs you can do without experience. Most drawer panels and cabinet doors come in standard sizes, ready to fit with your existing furnishings. With a lick of paint, this could be all you need to make your kitchen look as good as new.
DON'T: Renovate Your Bathroom
Your bathroom is one area of your house that needs a professional's touch. Every bathroom needs to be thoroughly waterproofed according to Australian law. Inadequate protection from water can lead to a whole host of dangerous and expensive problems, including rotting timbers and structural damage. Many states mandate that a licensed professional must undertake the work, so don't try to renovate this room without calling in a bathroom waterproofing expert. For more information, contact Westside Sealants Pty Ltd or a similar company.
DO: Line Your Walls
Unless you have experience, don't attempt to plaster your own walls. Plastering requires an adequate level of skill, without which you might find yourself with lumpy and uneven walls. If you don't want to call a plasterer in to take care of things, lining paper is a great cover up. Available in various thicknesses, lining paper can hide a multitude of wall sins. It takes little skill to apply, and can look as great as freshly skimmed walls. If you plan to hang wallpaper over the lining paper, hang the lining paper horizontally under the vertical decorative paper.
DON'T: Rewire Your Electrics
Just like bathrooms, electricals are held to a standard set by the law. Aside from the illegality, home electrical work can also be highly dangerous. There are over 1000 serious electrical hospitalisations in Australia every year, and even highly skilled electricians are not immune to injury. Wearing rubber soled shoes will not be enough to protect you from a powerful electric shock. Even relatively simple tasks like replacing plugs or switches are restricted to licensed professionals only, so don't attempt anything beyond changing a light bulb yourself.
