The five top DIY fails to avoid this Easter..
Do you DIY? I do and I don’t. I dabble, shall we say. But as the weather brightens and the big four-day weekend of Easter approaches, the temptation always rises to do something big. Maybe re-hang that door that’s catching and irritating me. Or maybe fix the wonky fencing in the back garden. Like many men, I love power tools. I am also well aware that power tools can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands, and much as it pains me to admit it, my hands are very much the wrong hands when it comes to many power tools. Some things are definitely best left to the experts, I say.
However, as the Easter bank holiday approaches, thousands of less self-aware homeowners will be reaching for their battery packs, all fired up and ready to take on jobs that need doing, without really thinking about who should really be doing them.
It seems that the rise of TikTok DIY tutorials and YouTube home hacks has led to an overconfidence epidemic among homeowners. Admiral Home Insurance reports a 13 per cent
increase in DIY-related claims over the past year, with 75 percent of cases linked to decorating accidents.
Recent research by Direct Line insurance has revealed that 82 per cent of UK homeowners have attempted DIY projects in the past two years, and 22 percent of those DIY-ers have then gone on to call in a professional to repair their mistakes, with an average repair bill of just short of £1,000 – adding up to a staggering £539 million in extra household expenses each year.
Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of tradespeople surveyed reported a rise in calls from people who need help from a professional to fix or finish a DIY project that has gone wrong. Half of tradespeople say they get called to the rescue at least twice a week.
Here are the top five DIY tasks you should avoid this Easter
Electrical work
This one is perhaps a bit of an obvious one, but with the rise of DIY videos on social media – YouTube to TikTok – it seems many people are a little overconfident about their skills. Attempting electrical repairs or rewiring without expertise can result in serious injury, or worse. You could completely blow your electrics, or even cause a house fire.
Plumbing
From replacing pipework to fixing leaks, amateur plumbing can lead to catastrophic water damage. One wrong move can turn a small repair into a costly disaster – fixing a burst pipe costs a whopping average of £2,023 – plus then of course you have to replace anything irreparably damaged.
Structural alterations
Please don’t go knocking down walls or making alterations without professional assessment. Any major changes you make could weaken your home’s structural integrity, resulting in potential collapse.
Floor sanding
Renting a floor sander might seem like a cost-effective way to refresh your wooden floors, but if you don’t really know what you’re doing you can create deep grooves, uneven surfaces, or even structural damage to older flooring. You may end up having to replace one or more floorboards if you get it wrong, and at an average of £80 per square meter for hardwood boards, plus the cost of a tradesperson, that’s a costly error.
Painting and decorating
This is the most common DIY job of all, one attempted by more homeowners than any other job and indeed is one that most people manage just fine. If you’re going for it yourself this Easter, watch all the YouTube tutorials – repainting walls, especially cutting into ceilings and around skirting boards is not as easy as it looks in the Dulux adverts!
Eddie – Friday 28th March 2025.
