Do it Yourself Limits

Do-it-Yourself Limits

Know the limits with do-it-yourself projects
10/27/2005

By Peg McNichol
Morris News Service

HOLLAND, Mich. — Jim Dokter has seen almost everything in a decade of inspecting more than 4,300 homes. Pennies jammed where fuses used to be. Roof vents installed backwards so water rolled into the house instead of over the top.
In one basement, he found 47 electrical violations.
“That’s what we could see to count,” said Dokter, a builder for 25 years before hanging out his shingle as a full-time home inspector. “Bare wires, hot wires — you name it, it was everywhere. They even took lightweight extension cords and used them (instead of insulated wire required by building codes). It was crazy.”
“Water is your No. 1 enemy,” he tells his clients. “Harry Homeowner is No. 2.”
Homeowners should heed the advice of building professionals and home inspectors when they consider a do-it-yourself project: Get good instructions, have the proper tools, and call a pro if you get in over your head. And don’t be tempted to take shortcuts that could lead to building code violations, danger or structural weakness to the home.
Shortcuts are common for Harry Homeowners, according to Larry Van Rhee, owner of Van Rhee Plumbing, who said he meets two types of do-it-yourselfers.
One type gets over-confident after talking to a home store sales agents but ends up way over his head once the project is started.
“They’ll stop and call a plumber. They get a little embarrassed, but they’ll call,” he said.
The others are rugged individualists who have “always done it themselves,” he said.
“We see a lot of duct tape. If there’s hole in the pipe or a drain’s starting to leak, they’ll put a radiator hose around it. We see a lot of that,” he said.
Dokter said homeowners should do their homework before undertaking home renovations and repairs.

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