Are My Builds Legit?

How much DIY is too much DIY? Have you ever gone to see a house on the market, the relator is walking you through and says “the previous owners were big on DIY.” What is your first reaction? Cringe, curiosity with a hint of worry, full on NOPE, or confidence.

Unfortunately, I think most people would want to nope right out of that house, that or expect some things done quick and dirty.

As a person who works to create quality changes to my home, the stereotype doesn’t fit me. But because I know the stereotype is there I try extra hard to make sure my builds, changes, and improvements are really improvements. I am not a licensed individual so the following tips are recommendations and I am in no way signing-off on your project by you using these tips.

Things I keep in mind:

Fast fixes are temporary.

Yes, sometimes we don’t have the budget, or time, to do the whole job, so I do a fast fix. I only do fast fixes on cosmetic issues, though. I would never do a fast fix on electrical, plumbing, foundation, or structural issues. Never. Problems with those are costly but kicking the problem down the road with a fast fix will be even more costly, and extremely irresponsible.

Do I have the skills to do this job?

This highly depends of your level of DIY.

Painting, whether that be furniture, rooms, doors, etc. are all great entry-level diy jobs. Please go and do confidently.

Putting in trim work, jobs that use power tools, they require a bit more practice and skill growth, so watch a few videos or get a friend who has the skill to bring you up to speed and then go forth and conquer!

Hanging pictures? Absolutely put those nails in the wall. Or use adhesive hooks (they don’t work very will on aggresive texture). Also be aware that a heavy frame or mirror may been a heavy-duty anchor. That said you got this. Make it gorgeous.

Styling a room? Definitely great for an entry-level diyer. Fill your space with what you love. I’ll have some tips linked here in the future to help with it, but get your inner interior designer on and make that space yours—if you love it, its all going to work together. Make sure heavy furniture or mirrors are anchored to the wall for safety.

Hanging shelves—Yes! Do it Yourself. Research anchors, follow the instructions on the shelf of how to best attach it and get to styling those shelves.

But what about those more technical things?

What about walls?

Drywall is not structural, but takes a bit of skill and finesse to make it look right—totally learnable, trial-and-errorable and definitely surmountable for the can-do attitude.

Here’s some nested information about some of these more technical jobs. Read it all, read a few, bookmark it to come back and read up later. Choose your own adventure. But I highly recommend you check out the information on building permits and codes.

• What about building walls

  My answer is where is this wall being built… inside, yeah you can build a wall. It takes a bit of research to know how to make the wall secure to the ceiling and floor and the other walls. Things like level, plumb and square come into play. I can’t stress enough how much walls need to be SECURED.

  Is it going to be outside? Is it going to be attached to the existing house? You’re going to need a building permit. Is it going to be it’s own structure? You will need to check with your city’s building codes to see if it will need a building permit or not. In some places it depends on the size the building will be, it’s footprint, the intended use, or even what kind of foundation it will be put on (the type of foundation may need a building permit also.

• What about taking down walls

  This one gets TRICKY fast. Some walls in houses carry the weight of the roof to the ground or to the lower stories. They can carry the weight of upper stories, or outer walls. These walls are called load-bearing walls and need major structural changes to take place to the house so the house doesn’t collapse. Changes to these walls also need building permits.

  They will need multiple support, temporary walls built and strong heavy beams to carry the weight. This is not a job for an advanced DIY person, but rather extensive knowledge on structural engineering, and a team of people able to lift and position the heavy beam and secure all parts correctly to it, as well as have it correctly supported to the floor all the way to the foundation.

  A collapsing house is not a trivial risk. Hiring this job out is advised, but also, do your research so that you know whoever is doing the work is doing it correctly. Unfortunately professionals are also people and aren’t a sure-fire way to make sure the job is done correctly, which is why work like this HAS to be inspected by a city inspector.

• Are there walls that aren't structural?

  Are there walls that aren’t structural? Yes there are, but if you don’t know if it is structural, please pause and get more information. A few hints that it isn’t structural is if the wall is not connected to the ceiling. Like this photo below.

  Do you see how there is the gap between the header of the wall and the joists above it. Usually this means the wall isn’t structural or carrying any weight. I say usually because sometimes there are people, professional and hobbiest, that will not do the necessary requirements when making changes to a house.

  I know this wall is not structural because this house was built in 2002 and has had no previous work done to this wall. This house passed inspections when first constructed. This wall included.

• What about electrical work?

  Can an entry-level diy person do electrical work. Your die-hards are going to tell you absolutely no. See, the risk goes up with electrical work. What if the wires aren’t connected properly, what if the sheathing gets cut or nicked— it all gets riskier: like fires, or things that shouldn’t be having an electrical current have one. Getting shocked. or electrocuted is a serious concern.

  Things like swapping out a fixture, socket, or switch are all rather doable, just PLEASE make sure your power is off before working with the electricity. Now if you are changing like for like it’s going to be similar. But if you are changing a light fixture for a ceiling fan there needs to be more research. You may have to change out the electrical box because the weight of the ceiling fan is much heavier that the light and the box isn’t prepared to hold that weight. Neither of us want a ceiling fan crashing down.

  Can the entry-level diy person increase the number outlets, sockets, and lights in the room? This is where it gets trickier because you have to start considering the load of the new lights or things you are going to use in the outlets. If you overload an electrical circuit, the breaker can flip and other serious problems. If you aren’t 100% certain hire the licensed professional. And if you aren’t certain about their work—submit a building permit and get and inspector to sign off on it.

  Most of the time you aren’t going to need a building permit. You definitely will for things like adding a new circuit to the breaker box, wiring a new addition to the house, running higher voltage wire (like for charging a car or running higher-demand power tools or equipment) but usually for switching same for same you don’t.

  However a building permit and a city inspector can verify that your electrician, or yourself, is doing it correctly. And that peace of mind is worth the fee. (if you don’t know what any of this means that’s ok. Do some more research and hire a professional)

• Plumbing, can an entry-level diy person do plumbing?

  Plumbing is similar to electrical in that there are certain changes you can make, provided you’d figured out how to do it, that you should be able to confidently do without needing to hire a professional. Jobs like changing out a faucet or drain, changing a washer in a faucet so it doesn’t leak, switching out a toilet. There are other jobs that it is advisable to either hire the professional (like soldering pipe for a new fitting) or submit for a building permit and get an inspector to sign off on it (like changing out a water heater that has larger or smaller capacity, or changing a tube-shower combo to a shower).

  And there are some jobs where you need to get a building permit. Running new piping, gas or water, is always going to be a need, even if you are an expert DIY person and are super comfortable with plumbing, still get the permit.

• Is Tiling entry-level?

  Some tiling is really entry-level friendly. Do a bit of research and go after it. Especially if you use a product call Mussel Bound (affiliated link). It’s not as easy to use a thinset—sort of. in a lot of ways it’s easier, in others it is not for example: once the tiles are placed there is no play in getting into the right place and once the tile is stuck securely it’s stuck. Also, you tiles have to be DRY or the adhesive won’t work.

  It is a dream to work with to make sure your tiles are all level (provided you lower surface is smooth and level), not have to worry about thinset curing quickly or scrape thinset out of the grout-lines. But mussel-bound can’t be used in wet enviroments (not according to my knowledge).

  So tiling for a shower surround gets more challenging as you figure out how to level tiles, keep them spaced correctly, and prepare the waterproof surface before tiling takes a more advanced knowledge than an entry-level diyer. That said, it is a skill and skills can be learned. If you are determined, get your learn on. But please don’t do tiling quick and dirty—loose tiles, cracking grout, mold and water-damage aren’t great to deal with, and can be straight-up catastrophic.

• What is a building permit?

  A building permit is a document from the city where you live. You, or a contractor, will need to submit the plan of changes to the city. The plan will be looked over and if any changes need to be made to the plan the city will require them to be done before the permit will be issued. Once all corrections have been made, and you paid the fees for the verification and inspection, you receive documentation that the building plan is in accordance to the building codes your city uses. The work than starts. Once that part of the build is completed you (or the contractor) will schedule the inspector to come and check that everything has been done according to the plan and is in line with the building codes. If everything is correct the inspector will sign off on the work and you can begin the finishing processes. If it’s not correct the inspector will flag problems what will need to be corrected before finishing work can happen. Finishing things are drywall, or other cladding. Don’t put drywall on a structure, over plumbing or electrical until the inspection or you will have to remove it.

• Where can I find the building codes?

  At this website you can find ALL codes for the United States. Look for your state on the left-hand side, pick the corresponding documentation and get reading.

  Someone, in a tone of superiority, asked me if I even know what codes to read while I was doing electrical work in my house. My answer was no, I didn’t, which is why I read most of them until I found the ones that correlated. It’s ok to not know, but when it comes to doing renovation work yourself, it’s not a good enough excuse to keep you from doing it right.

“What if I’m not an entry-level diyer anymore and I feel comfortable building a fireplace surround, with supports for a tv mounted above, but I’m not a contractor. Are my builds legit? ”

I heard this question from a friend who had started offering her knowledge and services to people. Despite her creating quality builds, with secure attachment points and intelligent construction, she wasn’t aware of what the building code requirements were for building permits. She thought because she hadn’t submitted her builds for permits they lacked legitimacy. I highly highly recommend that once your skills have increased to advanced and expert to get super familiar with building code requirements. If she’d read them she’d know that internal cosmetic changes to a room, even building walls with cutouts for fireplaces and blocking for tv mounts, don’t require a building permit.

So much of the time we walk around with amazing skills, but because of some unknow qualifiers we don’t feel like we can compete or compare to professionals. I just want to let you know somethings that has become my DIY mantras “Someone out there is doing the work, confidently, professionally, and shoddily.” And “professionals are messing it up all the time. If it’s going to be messed up why can’t it be by me.” See, I think that if I mess it up at least I’ll learn as I fix it.

It is always good to know what skills you have and where you are comfortable. Once you get outside of that comfort we each get to decide is it worth it to learn or worth it to have someone else do it. And always, building codes, permits, and inspections are there to help you be confident in not only your work but also the work you hire out.

Besides, building permits are kept on record and if you ever sell your house, having that record can give the buyers the confidence that you have: that your work is quality.