Marielle Holmes Blog

Thanks to YouTube, many homeowners are feeling a lot more comfortable about tackling home improvement projects they never would have dreamed of doing a decade ago. There are video tutorials on how to do just about any project around the house. But just because you can find a video tutorial on YouTube, that doesn’t mean you should attempt the project yourself. One video tutorial does not an expert make. Here are five home improvement projects you shouldn’t attempt to do on your own. Better play it safe and hire a professional.Tree removalWhile you’re looking at video tutorials of tree removal, you may as well watch a few videos of homeowners trying to do it themselves. You’ll find that way too often, homeowners cause extensive damage to their home, vehicles, or surrounding power lines. Unless you have experience in tree removal, leave this job to the pros. If you don’t know what you’re doing, the tree is just as likely to fall on your house as it is to fall in the direction you want it to.Even tree trimming is a job you should leave to the professionals. Working with sharp tools from the top of a ladder is a recipe for disaster if you don’t have a lot of experience. Professional tree trimmers have the right equipment, the right training, and countless of hours of experience to do the job safely and properly.Structural changesWhen doing a major remodel, some homeowners opt to do the demolition stage themselves. There’s something therapeutic about taking a sledge hammer to that wall you’ve always wanted gone. But once again, this is a job best left to the professionals. At the very least, call in a contractor to look at the project before you begin. You don’t want to start tearing down a wall only to find out that there is electrical wires or plumbing behind it. Also, the average homeowner doesn’t know the difference between a load-bearing wall and a non-load-bearing wall.Electrical workElectrical work requires special expertise that the average homeowner won’t have. Additionally, electrical work can be extremely dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. A single mistake can cause catastrophic electrical problems for your whole home. Even worse, you can be seriously injured or killed. If you have electrical work that needs doing, hire an electrician.Plumbing workAny plumbing work beyond tightening a leaky faucet should be left to an experienced plumber. One wrong move and you can end up with some serious flooding on your hands. In the long run, it