The Pros and Cons of DIYing Your Hardwood Floors
Deciding to completely redo your flooring can be a big and costly decision. Depending on where you source the labor and buy the materials, and the intricacy of your home’s floorplan, the total cost can fall somewhere within a tremendous range. While most people leave the installation to the professionals, some brave homeowners decide to do it themselves. Of course, you can save money doing it yourself, but you may learn that it’s easy as the folks on HGTV make it out to be. Let’s review all of the pros and cons of DIYing your hardwood floors so you can decide if you’re up for the challenge.
Let’s Start with the Pros
- The most obvious pro is the cost. If you’re paying for installation, you only have to absorb the cost of the materials. However, if you have no previous knowledge of flooring installation, you might end up costing yourself more in the end after repair costs.
- Another pro is the convenience and flexibility of DIY installation. You’ll be able to work at your own pace and get the job done in as little time, and on whatever schedule, you’d like.
- The last pro is privacy, and in the times of the COVID-19 pandemic, added safety. If keeping strangers out of your personal space is important to you, DIYing may be the right choice.
Then There’s the Cons
- First and foremost, there’s time. Sure, doing it yourself may mean added convenience and flexibility, but the truth is that a professional team is by far the quickest option for flooring installation. If you’re a first-time Do-It-Yourselfer, you may find that a flooring project is a lot more time consuming, and a lot less convenient, than you originally thought.
- Of course, with any DIY project, you risk making an error that could result in costly repairs. If something goes wrong during installation, you could end up spending more on materials and repairs than you would have to hire a professional installation team – leaving you in a hole and with unfinished floors. If you don’t have any experience with floor installation, this is a huge risk and should make you think twice before putting your DIY skills to the test.
- As a DIY-er you won’t have any insurance in case things do go wrong. This means that you’ll have to cover the expenses out-of-pocket if things don’t go as planned. You’ll only want to try DIY hardwoods if you have full confidence that you can complete the project with no major hiccups.
- One large aspect of hardwood installation is material management. It is difficult to understand exactly what materials are needed, and more specifically, how much. You could over/underestimate the materials needed and end up running out, or worse, overbuying. Running out of materials is stressful and could affect the outcome of the project. And of course, overbuying will cost you extra money that you didn’t need to spend. Leaving it up to the professionals will eliminate all of these potential issues.
Once you’ve weighed the pros and cons of DIYing your hardwoods if you decide professional installation is right for you contact the 12th & Oak team. We’re here to help.
