Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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What To Do If You’re Second Guessing A DIY

Question: Are there any projects that you wish you hadn’t DIY-ed? I’m in the middle of one that’s not going smoothly and I’m second-guessing my decision not to hire it out. – Holly

Answer: This question comes up fairly frequently – it even popped up during the Q&A portion of our talk at the Richmond Home & Garden Show earlier this month. The truth is that we both have trouble recalling a project that we got to the end of and said “man, I wish we hadn’t DIYed that one.” Maybe it’s that post project rush of victory, the relief of completion, or the joy of saving money? Or maybe it’s like childbirth and you forget the pain in hindsight? But there definitely have been PLENTY of projects that have elicited a major “what were we thinking?!?” moment mid-way through. I’ll even cop to shedding a few tears over one. Okay, maybe two.

So I thought I’d break down four projects that nearly broke me down and share what each one has taught me (spoiler: it’s not to stop DIYing, it’s just to DIY smarter).

what-to-do-if-youre-second-guessing-a-diy-project

#1: The Bathroom Demo. I was still working my 9-5 at the time and Sherry was pregnant with Clara, so I carved out a Saturday to smash out all of the existing tile in our first home’s only full bathroom. This was my first major reno project and I just totally underestimated the time, strength, and endurance it would require as well as the gigantic mess it would make. You can practically feel the exhaustion in the words of my post from back then.

EAnswer Bathroom Working

Lesson Learned: Seemingly simple projects like removing the old stuff can be just as taxing and time consuming as installing the new stuff – especially in an older home where you’re dealing with mortar and metal-mesh behind every last tile. But learning this the hard way means that we’ve become better at accounting for that step in our planning moving forward, and renting equipment that makes it easier (like the demolition hammer that saved me at the end of bathroom demo). So now, whether it’s removing old carpeting or clearing the land for our deck (this is foreshadowing, btw) – we go into it expecting it to take time and energy, instead of blindly saying “we’ll have that done in an hour, tops.” In some cases it has even lead us to hire out a demo step, like removing the beams in our home’s sunroom for $200, so we could get to the fun stuff faster and save our aching backs.

EAnswer Bathroom Demo

#2: The Patio. This was a project that we actually contracted out at our first house, but decided to tackle on our own at our second one. The crew at the first house knocked it out in a day, but we knew better than to expect any sort of speed for ourselves. We did rely on a local stoneyard to help us calculate and deliver materials, but somehow in ordering three tons of gravel we didn’t quite the connect the dots that we’d later be manually moving and spreading three tons of gravel into place. So despite our best efforts to manage expectations, it still turned out to be a back-breaking job that had me and Sherry crying for mercy more than once (though not literally crying – that one comes later).

EAnswer Patio Blurry Beat

Lesson Learned: Moving materials from point A to point B can be a lot harder than it sounds, so take advantage of any help you can get – whether it’s having supplies delivered to your site (which we did) or having a few extra sets of hands around when it comes time to haul something (which we didn’t). There isn’t much glory in hauling or lifting stuff, so it’s something we’ve become more willing to pay for in dollars, instead of paying for it in lost time or aching muscles.

EAnswer Patio Dirt

#3: The Deck. If I weren’t going in chronological order, this is the one that would probably top my list of Most Second Guessed While It Progressed projects. And it took virtually forever to complete, so there was a lot of time to freak out. Oddly enough, in the end I have great pride in completing this project – and I gained lots of new confidence in my abilities – so I don’t wish I had contracted it out at all. It truly is one of my proudest accomplishments to date. But there were a few times that I was on the brink of turning the project over to the professionals.

It was a perfect storm of some of my least favorite things about any project:

  • Lots of manual labor (even though materials were delivered to our house, there was still lots of lugging and lifting)
  • Lots of uncertainty (it was unlike any project we’d ever taken on, so there were plenty of unknowns and unfamiliar challenges)
  • Lots of pressure (having to execute a structurally sound construction and pass multiple county inspections)
  • Lots of heat (it was summertime in a very sunny outdoor spot)

EAnswer Deck Sweaty

The one element we were sure to eliminate from the story was a time crunch. We didn’t give ourselves a deadline, which is the only thing that made all of those “hiccups” (that’s putting it gently) bearable. And again, it’s probably the project I have the most pride in completing – probably because it was my toughest. Oh yeah, and it totally made me cry once thanks to being totally exhausted and then falling and hurting my back. Still not sure whether it was the exhaustion or back pain that brought on the tears.

EAnswer Deck Back

Lesson Learned: If all else fails, try to eliminate or reduce the time pressures of a project or loosen up a super strict budget if you can. Giving yourself the gift of a more flexible deadline or a budget with a little more padding can really turn those “how will I ever recover from this mistake??” moments into an “I can get through this” Rocky-music rally moment. And oh yeah, make sure your next house already has a deck so you don’t have to build one again. (I’m kidding. Kind of.)

Stain Furnished 1

#4: The Hardwood Floors. This one makes the list because we totally disregarded the lesson that we learned from the deck: don’t rush yourself. When our second house sold much faster than we expected, it caught us by surprise… and suddenly gave us a deadline for removing all of the upstairs carpeting, painting all the trim and doors up there, and installing the hardwoods. While we owned the house for a while before moving in, the priority had been to get our second house ready for sale. Then when our old house sold before even hitting the market (as opposed to around 6 weeks later, which is how long our first house took), suddenly those six weeks that we thought would be built into the process were gone and our closing date was looming a few weeks away, with all of that carpeting, trim, and hardwood flooring to deal with.

EAnswer Floor Sore

We did our best to learn from our previous projects by carving out time for demo (i.e. carpet removal) and enlisting my parents to watch Clara a few times so we could have two sets of hands doing as much as possible. But we still found ourselves racing the clock at the end, which translated to some super long and tiring days of under-pressure floor laying. This one made me shed tears of frustration more than once, and this time I can’t deflect blame an injury. I was just dead tired and ridiculously ready to be done with laying plank after plank, day after day, in every seemingly endless room, hallway, and closet. And Sherry was right there with me. We were like a couple of cooks cutting onions. At midnight. While laying floors.

FlooringSchedule

Lesson Learned: Even the best laid plans can blow up in your face. So by now we just do our best to expect at least one or two project derailments (and sometimes four or five) while reminding ourselves why we’re DIYing something in the first place. Maybe we’re saving money (which we definitely did with the floors). Maybe we’re learning a new skill (which can propel your whole house-journey forward and allow you to tackle bigger and better projects down the line). And maybe at the very least we’re proving something to ourselves about perseverance and determination (there’s nothing like dusting your shoulders off when you’re done, both literally and figuratively).

Using Tape

But if those things aren’t the in cards, perhaps you’ll decide that you’re dealing with a job that’s best left to the professionals – and there’s no shame in handing it over. Especially if you did a little bit of the up-front stuff before realizing it was best left to an expert (every little bit helps, so that supremely annoying realization probably comes with some money-savings from the stuff you did before hiring someone). In a strange way, as our DIY know-how has grown, we feel more comfortable with calling in a pro. We’ll gladly contract out work like our bathroom plumbing issue, our yard-leveling adventures, and larger electrical or load-bearing jobs that are just plain out of our skill set. After all, when you know just how taxing certain jobs might be, there’s definitely a tiny thrill when you get to watch someone else take that off your plate. Especially if it leaves you enough steam to tackle something else on your list at the same time…

PS: If you want to read more about how we decide whether or not to tackle a project ourselves before starting, check out this post which bullets some of the evaluation criteria that we use before diving in. 

Comments

  1. Rachel S. says

    Thanks for the reassurance and reality check. I have been planning and putting off a DIY kitchen reno for a while now while I “save money”. But really I have the money and am a little terrified of the process. My wonderful partner and I have a similar “only one party may freak out” system as well as a symbiotic “one party must push and inspire while the other is lazy and procrastinating” system which seems to magically switch off between the two of us. Perhaps soon we can get up the gumption to replace those cabinets!

    Reply

  2. Jenna says

    In the nicest possible way it’s so good to know that you both struggle through projects!! I am in the middle of a reno and sometimes you think “what have I done!”, “why did I start this?!” But it is usually all worth it in the end :o) Jenna, islandbluebird.com

    Reply

  3. Barbara says

    Please HELP!!!! I am having my wood floors refinished for the first time since Ihave lived in my house currently 15 years. I want so badly to go with a darker color on the floors. It currently matches my kitchen cabinets which I would call a honey maple colors. They cabinets are in good shape and there is no way in He!! that my husband would let me paint them. Do you think it would be alright to have the light cabinets with darker floors? I really can’t make a decision and need to put the blame on somebody else if this project goes South and you are the lucky people! I love everything you guys do so I figured you would be the right people to ask.

    Thank you so much for your help.

    Barbara
    Cincinnati, OHio

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would take to home magazines/sites like Pinterest to check out other kitchens and see if you can find one with darker wood floors and lighter wood cabinets. It sounds really pretty and layered to me (for example, how people might have dark hardwoods and a lighter rustic wood table on top of them) so I bet you can find some pretty examples to give you confidence to go for it. Good luck!

      xo
      s

    • Lisa E says

      You can totally do that, but I just want to forewarn you that many people that went with the darker stained floors ended up hating them because they show everything; dust, footprints, etc. Bummer because they look so pretty.

    • Martha says

      Would your husband let you sand and then re-stain the cabinets to be a more complementary shade? I think lighter cabinets and darker floors could work quite well, it’s all about the undertones of both surfaces. Like if you have orange-y 90’s cabinets versus lighter-oak cabinets (kind of like the color of John’s sisters cabinets).

  4. Sheila F. says

    I was blessed with a Daddy who taught his 8 kids how to DIY everything from cars to lawns to houses.LOL The hubs and I are on our 5th house remodel. (we are not flippers we just move alot due to work.) I remember our first little home though. It was constantly in DIY chaos. LOL. My kids (now in their 30’s) remember with fondness the 2×4’s in the corner,WRAPPED WITH CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! Haha. I just decorated the reno supplies and hosted Christmas. I figured I would never have a finished house and I was not going to let that keep me from enjoying friends and family! You guys are doing great enjoy this time. After all this IS your life!

    Reply

  5. Amanda Bolan says

    We are in the midst of replacing hardwood flooring in the entire 2200 sq ft of our house. It’s been definitely interesting with all our furniture already in the house and a 4 year old and 5 month old as well. I can’t wait for Friday when supposedly my husband will be finished (we will see).

    Reply

  6. Nikki W. says

    You Guys Rock!! Nothing beats the satisfaction of a job well done, especially the kind you didn’t even know you were capable of. And.. especially the kind where half way into it you’re about ready to hit google for some professionals to come save you. If someone told you 10 years ago you would install a hardwood floor and build a deck I’d bet you wouldn’t believe them.
    We are finishing our basement, all DIY with exception of electrical. When our electrician came the other day to finish up some work it was the first time anyone other than my husband and I laid eyes on the drywall… the electricians comment was “Who did you hire for the dry wall?!” (ouch!)… but quickly followed by “It looks great!”. He couldn’t believe we’d done it ourselves and even said it better than some professional work he’s seen. I’m bummed there is not video evidence of the ridiculous dancing, fist-pumping, and high-fiving we did when he left :) Probably something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_DF2Af3LM

    By the way… sanding a drywall ceiling at 3 am, 8 hours into the job… just about broke me.

    GREAT JOB again guys!!! You always help give me the gusto to give it a go!

    Reply

  7. Nancy says

    Off topic and at the risk of sounding like a pissant beeyotch, which no one wants, I have a grammar tip for you that my journalist grandmother taught me.

    Tip: Most of the time, if you take it down to just one person, the pronoun that sounds best is the right one.

    For example, “…had Sherry and I crying for mercy more than once…” If you take Sherry out you would say “…had me crying for mercy more than once…” not “…had I crying for mercy more than once…” – and “me” is right!

    I’m not hating on you, REALLY!! Just had to share in the spirit of blogging camaraderie. Carry on!! ;-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Nancy – that’s one of those grammar rules I know but still screw up. It was my dad’s biggest pet peeve with me growing up (he was my childhood grammar policeman) so somewhere he’s thanking you for keeping me on track!

      -John

    • Jane says

      This has been bugging me too, but mainly because the rest of your writing is good and, like someone else said, you are like heroes to me for all you attempt and accomplish while still being such great parents. When someone I respect makes this grammatical mistake, it disturbs me more than it should!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jane! I’m making a solemn vow to work harder at catching it. It has slipped past me for decades, so it’s about time I master it. For you guys, and my dad.

      -John

  8. Rhiannon says

    I think for us when we were DIY-ing it with our older home, our issue was time. Even though we knew deep down that there are always surprise issues that happen when you tear into an older home, we were never really prepared for some of the setbacks we encountered! Like when you only have one bathroom and you’re remodeling it…have an emergency plan! =)

    Reply

  9. Danielle Ferretti in Miami says

    I just really wanted to stop by and say how much I adore the both of yous ! :)

    Even though there were blood, sweat and tears (no one is judging here, John – you do make it sound VERY manly when you cry!) you still make me believe that I can actually pull off some of my own DIY. Obviously, not in the same magnitude as yours (since our house is newer having being built in 2001).

    So I just wanted to say – I love you for keeping it real, and THANK YOU !

    xo

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We usually hear from them in the comments saying “Ahhh you answered my question!” which is really fun. And it’s even more fun when they update us (by email or comment or on Facebook) later when it comes to what they tried/did/experienced!

      xo
      s

  11. Laura & the Shell says

    Hey Guys, I noticed a fitbit in the “We’re Digging” section. Is this an advertisement or is one of you actually using one? I just got a bodymedia and it both mystifies me and excites me! I’m curious what you think of the fitbit. I was *this close* to choosing it over the body media.

    Reply

  12. Karen says

    I had to laugh when I saw the photo of your first bathroom being demo’d because it’s almost exactly like the first bath that we DIY’ed – the finished version! Same floor tile (we scored someone else’s return for cheap at Lowe’s), white tile (ours was 3×6 subway) with the black top strip at the same varied heights, light green paint with white trim… Too funny. We’re on our 2nd house now which also needed a major bath redo but hired out for that one since we had a newborn to wrangle. Best $ we ever spent to save our sanity on that one.

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  13. Laurel says

    oh man…reading John’s bathroom demo post makes me want to cry for him. we have a very similar bathroom in our 50s rambler with blue basketweave floor tile and the same wall tile but in blue. we had a “grout medic” come out and tell us the floor is basically not clean-able bc it’s laid in cement.so we’re thinking we’ll replace it. but reading about your demo experience makes me 99% sure we will hire this out!

    Reply

  14. BeccaK says

    “We were like a couple of cooks cutting onions. At midnight. While laying floors.” Oh, I’ve been there :) This is probably one of your best descriptions, ever.

    Reply

  15. mary says

    Sometimes it’s the opposite– you hire it out and look at what they did and wish you’d just done it yourself. That’s more rare, though.

    Or sometimes you hire it out and wish you’d hired someone even more experienced or qualified.

    Reply

  16. Tania // Run To Radiance says

    I felt like that SO MANY TIMES during our remodel. Especially during the 6 months we didn’t’ have a kitchen. That was pretty rough. We just did one bathroom ourselves and that took 4 months…now on to the next. I’m scared but excited…but sometimes do wish we were just super rich and could pay someone to do the hard parts we didn’t like, and we could just pick and choose the fun things! :)

    Reply

  17. Jen says

    You guys! You’re just so stinkin’ awesome. I think the reason we all show up here every day isn’t just because of the DIY inspiration. It’s because of the LIFE inspiration. Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes you have to do really hard things. Sometimes you process that hard with tears. (I LOVE that John was awesome enough to share how normal that is for men, too!) But, in the end, those hard things build a kind of muscle (sometimes literal muscle, sometimes emotional or intellectual muscle) that we couldn’t build in any other way. And that prepares us for even greater things in life. Such an important important important lesson! You guys are the best! XO

    Reply

  18. Noelle says

    I have to share my 2 cents about hiring professionals! Make sure you get multiple quotes! My husband and I DIYed everything at our last house (except our central air conditioning install, can’t DIY that). At our current house we decided to splurge and have someone else put in the laminate floor I love from Costco, same stuff we put in at our old place. The prices in the bids were SHOCKINGLY different. Same with our AC install. I’m talking THOUSANDS of dollars difference for the same job. If you’re going to hire it out, make sure you get at least 3 quotes! Totally worth the time to get multiple estimates. We ended up deciding to do the flooring ourselves again because in the end, even the lowest bid wasn’t worth 2 weeks of pay to have someone else install it.

    We also like to think we’re teaching our son to do what he can for himself but also know your limits (like carpet and AC). Just my way of turning living into a construction zone into a positive!

    Reply

  19. Stacy says

    Is it bad that I’ve never DIY’d anything except painting the 2 upstairs bedrooms that I did this summer with my husband and I’m wishing I had hired out? I still have to touch up the ceiling paint because I got a little bit of paint on them around the edges and I have to paint the trim and I’m dreading it. I am waiting until spring. I still have the upstairs hall way to paint at some point and I don’t even want to do that… I just know it will look better with a coat of paint on it. It isn’t the amount of work involved either, it’s just the fact that I can’t get it to look professional enough.

    Reply

  20. Erin J. says

    “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
    This quote keeps me going!! I even have it printed out and framed in our living room wall collage.

    Reply

  21. Susan says

    I love this post. How honest and brave of you to admit to shedding real tears.

    We’ve tried to DIY two major projects in our house, and by we, I mean my husband. He demo’ed our bathroom as soon as we moved in because it was so nasty I wouldn’t even walk in it. There were no walls, no tub, no toilet, only studs and hanging electrical…for over a YEAR! We all shared one bathroom (four of us) which led to an established “pee tree” for the boys. And did I mention we had a little baby at the time. We finally got “someone he knew” to finish the job and we LOVE it. The crew took about a week to install the tub, tile, drywall, paint, lighting, etc. And the rate was reasonable since he knew them and he had done all that demo work.

    The other project he demo’ed last year was our FIREPLACE! Stones and dirt went crashing everywhere. And to date, there are still exposed studs and insulation and no new fireplace. Oh, and did I mention we have another baby in the house?

    I think demo must be his way of dealing with new babies?? I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that fireplace.

    Luckily, we have four kids now, so I think we’re done with the demos. Hopefully.

    Reply

  22. Teresa says

    The tile-smashing bathroom post-my husband could totally relate to that. He took three days smashing the wall and floor tile of our 1960 blue bathroom. Seventy, yes, seventy trash bags later the bathroom was ready for the new stuff. He’ll never to that again!

    Replacing the deck is the next project for this spring. Oh boy…..

    Reply

  23. Kelly says

    Same for us! There have been many times in the middle of a project when I have thought it might have been a big mistake to attempt it, and maybe even panicked a little, but it has always worked out in the end. It definitely gives you some perspective for future decisions though!

    Reply

  24. Amy M says

    First off I love you guys and all your projects…. I have a few big ones Im wanting to tackle. The one that worries me the most is removing out hardwood floors and replacing with wood look tile. I want to do demo myself but I have no clue as to how to begin. Im assuming I will need to remove all base boards first and ripping up wood shouldn’t be too much of an issue BUT they are glued down (eeekkk scary part). I have no idea how to remove that and be left with clean concrete for when professionals arrive. Any advise is greatly appreciated!!
    As always thanks for being just plain awesome!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, we have never tackled that so we would research it before starting. Maybe bring a picture to a tile specialist to see what they say (the experts at The Tile Shop are really helpful and even host free workshops).

      xo
      s

  25. Kristine says

    LOVE this post. Especially this line: “We were like a couple of cooks cutting onions. At midnight. While laying floors.”

    What about the time that you had to crawl many times in the attic through such a tiny maze of crawl space, just to move the electric box a few inches for the bathroom ceiling light fixture? That seemed really painful!

    Reply

  26. Marie says

    If you hear some loud “dang that Sherry and John” grumbling all the way in VA this evening…please know its probably from my husband. I was just talking to him the other day about removing our concrete slab of patio that grades towards the house this spring…and now I’m going to go home and sweetly say, “look Sherry and John did it and they saved around 3K”! (yes, we talk about you like we’re good ol’ friends) So thanks for the link!! I must have missed your patio reno since I was busy getting married the most wonderful “Sherry and John” grumbling man in the world back in May 2011 ;)

    Reply

  27. Evelina says

    Random question: I’m looking to subscribe to a good decoration slash DIY magazine. Do you have any suggestions? Sherry, you always mention flipping through magazines for inspiration!

    Reply

  28. Rachael says

    Oh man, I totally feel your pain with the labor intensive patio install. We did that last summer and we were trying so so hard to get it done by the day we were having our kids’ birthday party so we could use it. All that aggregate is SO SO heavy! And the pavers. And the dirt. Thankfully we had my dad helping out and my mom watching the kids, but it still took us WAY longer than we had planned, and boy were we hurting!

    Reply

  29. Larissa says

    Seeking advice… Moved into a house with painted wood kitchen cabinets. The paint is chipping off. Do I need to strip the paint? Sand the paint? Can I just paint over with primer and paint? I’m tired of having to wash the paint off my clean dishes before I use them! Thank you!

    Reply

  30. marisol B says

    Just wanted to say, floors are looking beautiful, the whole house is. I hope to get many projects done. ..in our going on 4 yr home. …

    Reply

  31. Emily A says

    This post was awesome, thanks for sharing! Do you all plan out your timeline long-term? As far as which projects you’re going to be tackling in what order and how long you expect to spend on them?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We tend to just try to keep moving and generally plan things like “let’s not do a deck in late fall when we could run out of good weather” but for most things we give our best guess about a timeline but try not to be married to that since it can cause a lot of stress. As for planning what projects to do next, we just do whatever we are excited about and have the budget for, and we jump around a lot to keep morale up ;)

      xo
      s

  32. Debbie C says

    John, I am stilled amazed that you built a deck yourself. I hope you went out for a fancy meal afterwards to celebrate. Or at least a good ice cream place (since it was hot). You guys rock!

    Reply

  33. Heather says

    I LOVE this post! Last spring we gave ourselves ONE WEEK to complete renovate our kitchen. That involved tearing down walls & putting up new drywall (my husband’s first time doing it, btw). On Saturday (6 days after we started) we knew we weren’t going to make it if we didn’t get some help from a professional. We found a drywaller on Craigslist, he & his partner came over at 8:00pm on Saturday night and were finished by 1:00am.

    It was worth the $400 we spent to make our deadline & have the stress off of us.

    AND our kitchen turned out lovely =)

    http://www.bakecreatelove.com/2013/04/stick-4-ft-fork-in-it-this-kitchen.html

    Reply

  34. Patti says

    Honestly, some of the best times I’ve ever had with my husband have been when we’re in the middle of DIYing… tears and all! Good times!

    Reply

  35. Laurie says

    You’re so sweet to admit the tears. I frequently have tear moments when I’m frustrated and it’s nice to know that no one is virtually yelling, “There’s no crying in DIY!” (channel your inner Tom Hanks for that)

    Reply

  37. Susan says

    Good post! I’m little older than you so we’re one step ahead in projects. But this last summer we tackled 2000 sq. Ft of hardwoods ourselves. In retrospect, it was so physically back breaking, time consuming, and expensive that now I want to cry! Had we but known we wouldn’t have done it, which is the only reason I’m glad we did. We would never…ever have hardwoods otherwise.

    Reply

  38. Charlotte @ Ciburbanity says

    We have a crazy powder room that we hope to move one day but for now… it’s just ugly. I’ve been tempted to tackle that knowing that in a few years it will be demolished, but man oh man does the domino effect of DIY intimidate me! Removing the tiles leads to replacing subfloor leads to patching drywall… Brings on a cold sweat just thinking of it. Can’t even imagine a deck or hardwood, but a couple of years ago I would never have guessed I could have replaced a toilet either (which I unfortunately learned how to do this summer). Love hearing about you guys and your first kitchen! There’s hope! xx

    Reply

  39. Laura says

    Have you all ever posted advice about hiring pros? I’m just so intimidated and worried we’ll overpay. It surprises me every time you guys post about hiring someone for just $200. I could totally afford that for peace of mind but have no idea where to start or go about it.

    Reply

  40. Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says

    You guys have really taken on some challenging projects and I so admire you for that! I’m working on one right now that’s got me completely outside my comfort zone. It’s going well and I’m learning a lot, but it’s challenging physically. I totally agree with your suggestion of not putting a “time schedule” on more challenging project. I can’t imagine having that stressor along with the challenge of the project, too. Great post!

    Reply

  41. Steph Nelson says

    You never talked about the Richmond Home Show!! Are you gonna?? :)

    Cooks cutting onions killed me!!! So funny, such a visual…:)
    I’m a yeller. If something isn’t going well it seems a few f bombs thrown at the projects direction always seems to help.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! There definitely are some muttered choice words during rough projects. As for the home show, we just had a chat with folks and did a signing. It was a great event, but we didn’t take many pics or plan a post around it :)

      xo
      s

  42. Elizabeth says

    Perfect timing! I’m looking at installing a wall (looks like one was there, and the precious owners punched it out and framed it). It’ll be situated between the laundry room and guest room (see why it’s awkward). And I want to put barn/sliding/pocket doors. Between the laundry and guest room, and replace the swinging door to the laundry room with the same sort of door.

    And then I’m planning a remodel for the master bath (luckily we don’t even use it at this point) and I want a claw foot, maybe. And an open, no curtain, drains in the same floor you walk to the toilet on. So that’s going to be fun to see what’s in store when that starts coming out. Luckily we havea plumber in the family, and my father in law is SUPER handy.

    Reply

  43. Susan says

    We completed numerous projects as DIY over many years. Honestly, you name it, we’ve done it. Here’s the thing. It used to be we’d be sore, tired, sometimes maimed, but we quickly bounced back. Then we noticed the ‘bounce back’ was slower. Then, we started experiencing chronic issues. All those years of ‘heavy’, repetitive-motion, work takes a toll on backs, rotator cuffs, knees, hands. That, now guides our DIY decisions… And looking back, we kinda wished we’d hired more help. Saving money at the expense of long term well-being–not such a savings.

    Reply

  44. Barbara Moore says

    I really love EVERYTHING about your sweet blog: the info, your personalities, heck – even the way the both of you write! AND I know you’re both as great as you seem after hearing you talk at HAVEN 2012. Thanks so much for allowing us to follow along with all your adventures. Can’t wait to meet the barnacle.
    Barbara

    Reply

  45. Phuong says

    Loved this post! You guys make DIY (and blogging about it!) look like an easy cake walk sometimes, and I’m glad to know that you work hard and it’s not always easy! Not that I am wishing a hard knock life for you! But thank you for keeping it real so we don’t feel like failures!

    Oh – we hire tons of stuff out and live a DIY life vicariously through you guys! Thanks for making me feel like a DIY-er just by reading your blog!!

    Reply

  46. Jessica says

    I have a slightly off topic question for you! Do you have trouble with “cracking” around your crown and built-ins? We installed crown about a year ago and the areas where we caulked are all separating and need to be touched up. Do you use products that are less prone to shrink, or is that to be expected?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I would try caulking in the coldest time of year if possible (that’s when everything shrinks up the most) and the hopefully once you fill those cracks it won’t ever flex smaller than that and crack again. We like white Dap paintable window & door caulk. Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  47. Vicki Cornelius says

    For some reason I get your dailiy posts in my mailbox the day after they are sent—any idea why??? They don’t go to the SPAM first either…

    Anyway–
    We owned new home for year before we decided whether or not to put it on the market w/o any remodeling efforts or with…had a big leak from HVAC on July 4 and walked in to an inch of water in the floors of the guest bath and hall and utility room…So we did what turned into a bigger remodel than we first considered….but also because after 25 yrs there, it was little harder to let go…

    Second question/point–
    Have you noticed that the floors upstairs are maybe a little warmer in the cold due to the undernent layer you used when installing them than they might be w/o that factor??? Since the weather has been so cold and humid has that made any effect on them?

    Reply

    • Vicki Cornelius says

      I mean we were in our NEWER home for year before doing anything with our previous home–probably longest time ever for letting a home sit idle…

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Daily posts are delivered the next day just so they don’t clutter your inbox on days that we post twice (ex: a Monday morning post and a Monday afternoon giveaway would be two separate emails, but we tell them to deliver them the next morning together as a package so you don’t get more emails than you need). As for the floors upstairs, we have noticed that they’re warmer than the hardwoods downstairs, although we’re not sure if that’s all due to the underlayment (could also be that the floor beneath them is heated, meanwhile the crawl space under our first floor isn’t). As for the hot/cold, they have definitely swelled in the super hot weather and shrunk up in the super cold weather, but there aren’t any giant gaps or seams or anything, they seem to perform just like the original hardwoods that we have downstairs or the ones we had at our last house.

      xo
      s

  48. sarina says

    Mine would have to be the 2 car garage that me and my ex decided to contract out in pieces.. and do some of the work ourselves.. instead of hiring one guy to just “do it all”.

    The first snafu came along when the guy who was supposed to dig the foundation didn’t show up.. (no call/no show.. nice). Well, we had all the other parts set up.. block layer.. inspector etc.. We did NOT have time to get someone else to dig the foundation.. so we did it.. by hand.

    I remember laying on piles of dirt exclaiming.. “I got a MASTERS degree so I could pay other people to dig ditches!!”

    In the end, we got it done. We figured out that using our garden tiller would actually break up the dirt in just about the right width.. so eventually it was a till/ shovel out loose dirt.. till some more etc.. until we got the right depth.

    Of course, there were some weather related issues.. why.. oh why does it rain buckets just when you need to do something like construction.. it makes for a huge mud pit!

    We did get it done eventually though. saved a bunch of money by doing stuff ourselves.. or having friends with skills do stuff with our help!

    Reply

  49. Lee says

    I’m over 60 so everything takes me much longer.

    Been discouraged many times while trying to ready a house for sale while getting another house ready to move to.

    It’s been a journey of cycles; excitment when a new project is started, despair during and relief when it’s finished coupled with this amazing sense that yes even with physical pain (arthritic hands, hips, knees, back ) I DID THAT The amazing thing is I have to do it because there is no money to hire someone.

    Your blog encourages me :) I love reading every morning over my coffee before i start a project. Keep up the great work!

    Reply

  50. Koliti says

    So glad you guys have mutual love and support – and it’s a good thing to use your release-valve (tear ducts)!

    John, I’m feeling an “info-graphic” moment may have been missed here – where’s the “Tear-O-Meter”, “Cuss-Word Factor Rating”, “Days to Complete in J&S Time vs Burger Time”, “Muscles or Brains”, “Cool Tools” (you could create icons for all your cool tools used in your project), “DIY Victory Dance” (high-5 to better-than-winning-the-lottery), “Take a Nap and Hire Out”, etc – hahaha :)

    You guys rock – thanks for your VERY informative how-to posts – I learn A LOT about things I think I will never do.

    Reply

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