These DIY Remodeling Mistakes Will Come Back to Haunt You

Are you a DIYer with a yearning to take care of everything around your home? If you’re planning on selling your San Diego home soon, don’t fall prey to these common mistakes that will come back to haunt you.

A Prime Example

The Situation: A boisterous family member has accidentally made a dent in the wall. You’re planning on selling your San Diego home soon, and the dent needs to be repaired before the showings. You plaster over the dent and carefully smooth it over so everything is flush. Next, since your list of tasks to complete before the showings is pretty long, you decide to take a little shortcut. You skip the primer and go ahead and paint with the wall color right on top of the plaster. For good measure, you let that dry and apply a second coat of color. It turns out great! There’s no sign of the dent, and you’re pleased with your work.

The Problem: Your real estate agent comes by to take pictures for the online listing. The next day, your agent calls. “What’s going on with the wall?” they ask. Almost like X-ray vision, the photographs show the exact area where you plastered. There’s a dark, blotchy shape on your wall in the photograph that gives away your shady secret. Everyone’s eyes will instantly be drawn to the exact spot you worked so hard to hide.

The Solution: Always take the time to prime before you paint, or buy paint with primer blended in.

Rings That Aren't So Rosy

The Situation: You want to update your bathroom sink. The vanity itself is quality marble, so you decide to just replace the faucet fixtures. It seems like a DIY job you can handle by yourself, since you’re buying the same size as your old sink faucets and there won’t be any drilling. You dutifully take care of it, and the result is fabulous. The new fixtures look modern and beautiful.

The Problem: Several months later, you notice an orange ring has appeared around the base of one of the faucet handles. You assume the sink needs a good cleaning and ignore it for now. A few weeks later, you see that the orange ring has grown into a large orange “blob” shape that’s spread out onto the marble top. It turns out that it’s rust that has seeped down into the porous marble and permanently discolored it. No amount of scrubbing or chemicals will ever get it out. You realize you didn't properly caulk around the base of the faucet handle. Even if you missed one tiny spot, that’s enough for water to seep through and eventually cause rust.

The Solution: There are so many potential problems related to a “simple” faucet replacement that it’s easier and cheaper in the long run to hire a professional to take care of it for you.

An Open and Shut Case

The Situation: The bracket on your garage door opener has broken off the garage door. You figure it’s a simple fix, using just a couple of nuts and bolts and a new bracket. You securely bolt the bracket to the door and tighten it on the outside of the garage door. Now the garage door opener is working perfectly again. Nice job!

The Problem: You forgot to use stainless steel bolts. You realize that fact when you see a long, rust-colored streak running from the head of the bolt all the way down the front of your garage door.

The Solution: You’ll have to start all over with stainless steel hardware, and probably have to repaint your entire garage door. Don’t skip the primer!

The takeaway from all these nightmare scenarios is that there are times when industrious people like you should take the initiative to fix some things around the house. But there are other times when you should leave it to the professionals, not only because professionals are trained and educated, but because they won’t make the same kind of mistakes that you might. Their experience guides them, whereas you have only one chance to get a DIY job perfect. When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder you end up with blotchy walls and rusty marble tops despite your best efforts. Don’t feel bad about calling in the pros, especially when you’re selling your San Diego home and want to get the most out it as possible. The investment in quality workmanship is well worth it.