Are you wondering when to tackle a home improvement project yourself and when to call in a professional? Eric G dives into the important distinctions between DIY projects and hiring experts, emphasizing the need to understand your skills and build on them. He shares valuable insights on the complexities of various home systems, like HVAC and plumbing, which often require expert knowledge to avoid costly mistakes. Throughout the episode, Eric discusses the significance of understanding local building codes and the potential pitfalls of relying solely on social media for advice. Tune in for tips on enhancing your DIY skills while ensuring your projects are completed safely and effectively.

Navigating the complex world of home improvement projects can often leave homeowners at a crossroads: to DIY or to hire a professional? Eric G dives deep into this dilemma, emphasizing the importance of understanding one’s own skills before embarking on home improvement tasks. With a wealth of experience, Eric shares personal anecdotes, including his own recent electrical upgrades, where he chose to hire a local company for efficiency and compliance with building codes. He advocates for recognizing when a project exceeds personal capabilities, particularly in areas like HVAC installation, where the intricate science behind ventilation, heat loss calculations, and zoning can be daunting for the untrained eye. This episode serves as a guide for homeowners, encouraging them to assess their skills realistically, seek local classes or resources, and leverage professional expertise when necessary, especially for complex systems that could lead to costly mistakes if mishandled.

Throughout the discussion, Eric also highlights the potential pitfalls of misinformation prevalent on social media and YouTube, where many DIY enthusiasts may find themselves led astray by flashy but incorrect advice. He emphasizes that building codes should be viewed as a minimum standard, not a target, and encourages listeners to prioritize quality and safety over merely passing inspections. Eric’s insights shed light on the importance of understanding local building codes and regulations, which can vary significantly based on geographical location. This episode is packed with valuable advice for those planning renovations, helping them distinguish between projects suited for DIY and those best left to professionals, ultimately guiding listeners toward successful and satisfying home improvement endeavors.

Takeaways:

• Knowing your skills is essential when deciding between DIY and hiring a pro.
• Hiring professionals for complex systems like HVAC ensures better quality and safety.
• Building codes are the bare minimum; don't settle for just meeting them.
• DIY projects can lead to costly mistakes if not planned and executed properly.
• Always consult local building codes before starting any home improvement project.
• Get multiple quotes from licensed contractors to ensure a fair price for work.

Links referenced in this episode:

• pyramidheating.com
• monumentgrills.com
• aroundthehouseonline.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Rose City Electric
• Pyramid Heating and Cooling
• Monument Grills

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Foreign.

It's around the house.

On this episode of around the House, can a licensed electrician come up and go, this is what we're doing?

And off they go.

Absolutely.

Can I do it?

Yeah.

I haven't done it in a few years and quite frankly, my house here, I had a local company do it.

I had my friends over at Rose City Electric come over and do it because they could do it quickly.

I had to move the the panel.

I had to do a lot of stuff and I was like, nope.

Code says the panel had move really?

And where my electrical was coming in and I just had them do it.

It was faster.

Did it cost a little bit more money?

Absolutely.

That's what got it done and got it signed off.

Around the House show is brought to you by Pyramid Heating and Cooling.

Serving in Oregon, the Portland metro area and Bend, Oregon.

They are your one stop shop for heating and cooling and indoor air quality.

This is around the house.

Welcome to the Round the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric G.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monty McGrills.

If you're looking for a brand new barbecue maybe for the big game or yours just didn't survive last summer, good news, check them out.

They're under 900 bucks over at monumentgrills.com well, today I thought this is a great time as we're going through winter.

Winter has hit most of us across the United States, not so much here in the Pacific Northwest.

We've had a pretty light on the west side at least.

But you know, it's time to be planning for those summer projects.

And I thought this is a great topic for us today.

When to call a pro and when is it smart to diy?

And before we get into that, let me tell you how you can find us.

If you're just catching us on the national radio show for the first time, you can find more about us at around the House online.

And if you're a podcast listener and you miss part of the show, don't worry, you can catch us on any podcast player.

Just look for the around the House show.

And of course, these episodes here are part of our around the House insider where you can get the full one commercial free two days early for just four bucks a month.

We've got a 10, 10 day free trial.

To find out more, just head over to aroundthehouse online dot com.

All right, guys, so we've been talking here about, well, how do you save money this year?

You know, we've got a lot of change happening out there.

There are things that are going up in price.

Things might be going down in price.

We'll see what happens after the election is now settled off.

But here's the thing.

Here's my first rule.

And there's 10 rules here.

They are not in order, but all of them are somewhat important.

Probably not one that's important over the rest of them, but they are important.

So the first thing here is kind of one of the bigger ones.

I will say know your skills and build on them.

We have everybody, you and our audience, all of you folks out there that are tuning to the show every week.

I have to say thank you.

But really, where are your skills and what are you good at and what haven't you experienced yet in home projects?

Great example.

I got a buddy of mine, he was not a DIY or didn't have anything with basic tools.

He could do kind of a quick little repair, but he was in no shape to go out and do a remodel project.

And that's exactly what he did.

I've been coaching him along the way, but he has remodeled his beach house and has done a really great job doing it.

And so he would take that project, bite it off in little chunks.

And yes, it has taken a lot longer than, well, what I would say most experienced diyers, but he's done a great job of doing it and asking for help when he can.

And he has learned so much out there of the right way to tackle projects.

And so it's really exciting to see somebody that, well, you know, in his creeping up into his mid-50s, not have any experience doing this stuff.

And then all of a sudden is getting it down.

Now he's building a deck out back of his house at his regular residence, the house out at the coast.

He's been remodeling that for a couple of years and it's coming down and getting wrapped up.

So really it's all about taking your skills and then taking them to the next level.

So really the first thing, when you're trying to tackle this and you're trying to learn, of course, if you've got any local classes, that is a great way to learn.

There are trade schools out there, there are community colleges where you can learn stuff, do a little research and see where you can learn before you tackle that project.

It's going to be a life skill, so you might as well learn it.

Second of all before you jump on social media, because, you know, YouTube is a great resource.

However, there are some absolutely horrible youtubers out there that have probably close to a million followers or more.

And how they do it is they go on there, give you bad advice and they play with the algorithm, with all of the bad, you know, comments coming on there, calling them hacks, calling them, they're gonna hurt somebody, everything else.

And that traffic makes them money.

So you gotta be careful out there.

There are a few of them out there that are anywhere from 50 to 95% wrong all the time.

And I say 95%.

Cause A, you know, bloke broken clock is right twice a day.

Sometimes they get lucky and actually hit it.

But that's super rare.

And if you've watched my social media, you've seen a couple of them that I've highlighted out there where it's just like, you guys have no idea what you're talking about.

Now I do give a little bit of a break for people in Canada up there because you do have building, you know, building codes that are different in the United States.

And what is code up there is not code down here and vice versa.

But, you know, that's the deal.

And so whether or not it's building code or not, in my experience is building code is the minimum.

That's like getting D minus on your test.

All right, I pass code, but did I get it farther enough to get a B or an A on the project?

Passing an inspection is the D minus.

You got it.

It's good enough.

But how do you get it from good enough to stunning?

That's where this makes a difference.

So really.

And other thing here too is just do some research out there.

And when in doubt, feel free to message me.

I actually answer back.

If you get over to around the house online, you can message me there.

If you've got a question or if you've got a question on a resource that you're using, let me know.

I actually answer you back because this is what I do full time.

I do full time on the Home Improvement for my television show, the radio show, the podcast, and then any other public speaking stuff I do.

So I am always on top of the latest and greatest out there.

And it's interesting.

Now here's a funny one.

Social media, you have to be really careful with.

And this is going to take a little longer here to do we might even get into the next segment.

But many times jumping on, even around the House Nation, you know, our closed group that we have on Facebook, even jumping on there and asking a specific question of what's this going to cost?

You're not going to get a correct answer on social media and even some of the larger groups out there, people go, hey, what's it cost to install a deck?

And you're going to get a thousand answers.

And you really don't know until you do that.

But I tell you what, it gets interesting because I tell you what, I have commented in specialty groups.

It's something I do a lot with.

I'm pretty active out there trying to help people.

And there was this guy, I tell you what, who came on, I made a comment about really poor waterproofing and I was shocked about how bad this waterproofing was done.

And he said it was hidden, it was behind it.

I'm not sure if I believe it, but we'll call this guy Mark.

For the, for the sake of argument, I commented on it going, man, you need waterproofing on that.

What's going on?

Because it was a tile group, man, I tell you what, this is what happens sometimes on social media.

Guy jumps on, starts instant messaging me, swearing, yelling, everything else.

Come to find out he's one of the admins of the tile group.

And I'm not talking my friends over at Global Tile Posse or some of these good ones.

This is kind of a, of an interesting group.

And anyway, long story short, be careful on social media.

You'll get these people like that that think they're experts that'll jump on there and give absolutely horrible information.

They'll say they've done it for 30 years, but I think that some of these guys have been doing it for 30 years badly.

And that gets to be a big problem.

So social media, when it's a closed group like ours over at around the House Nation, this is not advertisement for that, but if you post it up over there, we've got great control.

A lot of these other groups like that are really good if you want to read the drama and that kind of stuff, but maybe not so good for helping you get that project finished.

Up next one here, and I'm going to tease this before we go out to break.

This is probably one of the ones here that I look at and I go, you know, this is probably one of the ones that is not the best DIY project.

We'll talk about that when we come back.

Just as soon as around The House returns.

You can find out more about us@aroundthehouse online.com we'll be right back.

Many people without.

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric G.

This hour is brought to you again by our friends at Monument Grills.

Check them out at monumentcom.

Well, we've been talking about when to call a pro and when to diy and we were just talking about knowing your skills and how to build on them and kind of dove into that and where to get the resource of information if you're trying to figure out how, if you want to even tackle a project.

Next up here is H Vac is generally not a DIY project.

As much as I would like to tackle them, it is generally not a DIY project.

And here's why.

There is so much science into designing, putting together, testing and understanding how that system works.

Many times the homeowner, unless they have an education in it, which means they're probably a pro, it's tough to handle and it's tough to do as a DIY project.

And I know there are companies out there that will sell the mini split heat pumps and they, you can get a hold of them, they'll design it out, they'll do it.

But here's the general problem with that.

Those brands that do the DIY ones, it can be super tough to find someone to repair it later.

As soon as they say, oh, it's a DIY brand and that brand comes up, you will hear the scurrying of H VAC professionals running away because it can be a tough one.

And some of those brands are not that repair friendly.

And that can be some major issues.

You know, when someone comes in to figure out to put in a new, you know, whether it's a new build or a remodel, they go in there and H Vac and sits down, figures out heat loss calculations, all the details.

You have to figure out whether it's going to be zoned.

There's a lot of things that go on with this.

Ceiling heights and, and, and of course, mother Nature, right.

If you've got a two story house, heat loves to rise, cold likes to drop.

So there's lots of different ways to do that.

Now you've got building science on top of this, which tells you that you're worried about all the ventilation issues.

You're worried about getting air outside of the house.

What happens when you need to bring in makeup air from the outside?

Because if you've got 400 cubic feet per minute going out from some hoods and vents and maybe a clothes dryer.

Where's that air coming from?

Are you going to condition that, or is that just going to leak up to the crawl space basement around the doors and windows?

Because you have to have it coming in, and 400 cubic feet per minute is like 400 basketballs of air each minute coming in into the house.

It's coming in, it's coming out.

You got to replace it because you don't want to create a vacuum.

So these are all things that you have to worry about.

HRV, ERVs, heat recovery, ventilators, that kind of stuff.

There's all these different things that all have to play together together nicely.

And so these are complex systems.

I fully understand them, and I still lean on professionals to have a debate about how to do this, what to do, how to change it, all of those kind of things.

Because it makes a difference.

It really does.

And of course, if you're spending big money to put a system in, you want it done right.

So I am not a huge fan of the DIY systems that way, and that's the reason there.

And even if you're going to be doing stuff like, you know, if you're changing ducting around, that's one thing, but you still need to be talking to a professional, make sure that you've got the calculations right.

Your furnace is going to work with that.

Because there are so many things that if you do this wrong, it can cause issues.

If you oversize a unit like an air conditioner, maybe it's not going to take the humidity out of the air.

So then what happens?

No humidity out of there.

You better have a dehumidifier.

You know, we were talking a few just a month or so ago.

80% of the houses in the United States need a whole house dehumidifier, and we're not putting them in.

If you get above 60% humidity, relative humidity inside the house, you're going to be growing mold.

So that's why you have to have those numbers down.

And yes, you could have up in the living space in the wintertime, you could have 25%.

It seems dry, it seems low.

And down in the basement, if you don't have any air moving down there, it can be 65 or 70%.

So those things try to balance out.

But airflow and ventilation, and moving that around makes a difference.

So these are things that we all have to keep in mind with that.

So just keep in mind that you are going to be better off and Especially the more complex.

That system there.

When I put it in, I think it has three computers inside of this thing that tells you the depth of this as well as all the tools that you have to have to put it in.

For a central heat system, you know, H Vac, that's a problem.

As a homeowner, you're not going to have the right tools to be able to do it.

So I would say for most H VAC projects, outside of putting in a new thermostat, things like that, generally not a DIY project.

And that one is left best to the pros, unless you're a former pro yourself.

Now, next up, sometimes DIY can cost you way more down the road.

And this is where the mistakes happen, and you don't realize that you've made those mistakes.

Great example, when you're looking at doing insulation, for instance, you're like, hey, I've got this.

I've got a storage area up there in that attic, between the rafters up there.

And I'm going to convert that.

Well, the first thing is, when you're tackling a project like that, unless you're pulling a building permit in most places in the country, that'll never be considered living space because that was considered storage.

And to convert that into living space, you need to talk to your building department to put the codes in so you can build it correctly.

And then once that's finaled off, they'll go, cool, we're going to add that to the livable space of your residence.

So when you change that into a loft, master bedroom and bathroom or something like that, guess what?

They're not going to count that in most cases as livable space.

So your investment into that is not going to get a great return.

So that can be a serious, serious problem.

So think about that.

Second of all, if you go down the road and go, oh, my gosh, I had an insurance claim.

A tree came down and put a hole through the roof, they're going to pull a building permit.

Your insurance company will, with the contractor, they're going to come in and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, where?

That's this living space.

This isn't living space.

This is storage.

And now you're going to have to work through that.

If the building department and many are, are going to want to hold you accountable for that they could force you out of your own pocket to, well, make that back either storage space or do it correctly and pull the permits and get it up to what would be right now 20, 25 building code.

So these are things that you should pay attention to when you're working on these projects.

Sometimes that little project can cost you way more down the road.

So planning all of those things can be really smart as you're tackling these projects.

I'm going to build a big deck and you build the deck outside.

And then you go, oh, you know, plan B was a outdoor kitchen.

I didn't run any electrical or natural gas or anything out there.

Now you got to take the deck down or part of it down to get over to that.

You see where I'm going?

So plan it out really strongly so you know what you're doing because that DIY could cost you down the road if you didn't plan it out correctly.

So the next one here is a huge one.

And we'll talk more about this in the next hour here.

Actually, in the next segment, we'll talk more about this one.

But this is a big one.

When you're doing a DIY project, understanding building code in your area is key.

And it's my opinion that if you're going to be doing those projects, you should pull those building permits.

I'm going to tell you why, because it's a really big deal.

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Don't go anywhere.

Welcome back to the around the House show, the next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric Garrett.

Thanks for joining me today.

To find out more about us, head to aroundthehouse online.com make sure you follow us on YouTube.

Make sure you're grabbing us on TikTok.

I think it's back now again.

It's gone, it's back, it's gone, it's back.

Whatever's going on with that.

And of course, Facebook and Instagram love to have you over there.

And I can answer any Questions over to aroundtheonline.com well, today's hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grills.

To check out those barbecue grills that are really cool, a lot of great value.

Check them out@money mc.com we've been talking about, you know, when to call it pro and when to diy.

And in the last few segments we've talked about know your skills, build on them.

H Vac is generally not a DIY project.

Sometimes DIY can cost you more down the road.

And the next one here we're talking about is understanding building code in your area.

Now, here's the thing.

Building code, as we talked about earlier in the show, is the bare minimum of health, safety and welfare.

70 to do with quality of the build.

Many times, no, you can build a house that is completely racked, not square, not level.

And guess what?

It passes.

As long as it's built to meet code, it passes.

So really, when it comes down to that, that is kind of your minimum.

And I know there's a lot of you out there that are like, I don't want to bring the code people in.

I don't want to do this.

The problem is, as we talked about earlier, if you do that code, if you do that now, what's going to happen is, is when you do the next project or if you've got, you know, it's the documentation of the project, making sure that it's done correctly, it'll help you down the road when you can say, hey, I pulled all the permits, Everything was done correctly.

We did all this.

It's beautiful.

That makes a big, big difference.

So understanding building code in your area is really important.

And I like to have that inspector out there because you as a rookie or even an experienced diy, it is great to have that inspector come out and go, yep, looks good.

You know, you did a good job.

That looks awesome.

Perfect.

And that way you've got that second set of eyes.

And that's really a good way to prevent disasters from happening down the road.

Now, we've talked about this a lot in the show previously, but guess what?

If they sell it at Home Depot or Lowe's or another lumberyard or hardware store, it doesn't mean that it meets building code in your area.

I could go walk through those stores, fill up shopping carts with stuff that never is going to meet building code in my area.

So it's probably not going to meet it in yours as well.

So that's where you can really make some mistakes you got to be careful with.

And building code is important because you want to know how to build better with it.

Some areas to change out a water heater, you don't need to file a building permit.

Sometimes you do.

And these are where things make a difference.

Electrical boy, that can be all over the map.

And especially when it comes down to states that have, like for instance, in my state here in Oregon, where I'm at, or in Washington or in California, generally speaking, you know, some big cities have some additional codes, but these are areas on the west coast that are state run things.

So we have a state building code.

And generally that is the rule of the land.

When you get out on the east coast, my friends up there in the northeast, the south, even some places in the midwest, it can be the wild west on one side of the street, that's in the county or the township and the city on the other side.

You can have completely different building codes or not even have them at all.

So these are things you got to be really careful with out there and making sure you understand it so you're doing it correctly.

And usually when there's building code, it's there for a reason.

It's there to make sure that there's a safer way to do it that's going to be for your health, safety or welfare.

So just really make sure that you're getting that second set of eyes on it and you'll be much better off.

Now the next one here is a big one.

Electrical codes.

Electrical projects can be really easy going in.

Swapping out outlets, changing a switch, maybe even adding an additional circuit if you know what you're doing.

But most homeowners don't have the electrical knowledge or skill to do a panel swap out.

Do I?

Yes.

Am I a licensed electrician?

No.

Can a licensed electrician come up and go, this is what we're doing?

And off they go?

Absolutely.

Can I do it?

Yeah.

I haven't done it in a few years and quite frankly, my house here, I had a local company do it.

I had my friends over at rose city electric come over and do it because they could do it quickly.

I had to move the panel, I had to do a lot of stuff and I was like, nope, code says the panel had to move.

Really?

And where my electrical was coming in and I just had them do it.

It was faster.

Did it cost a little bit more money?

Absolutely.

That's what got it done and got it signed off on the project.

Now they had a lot better ways of doing it because I'm watching, I'm like, oh my gosh, that was so much easier.

I would have done it this way, would have met code.

But they had a way easier way of doing it and that made a lot of sense.

So really, when it comes down to electrical, you need to know what you know and what you don't know.

And when it comes down to those big projects, again, many times if you're adding circuits, you need to make sure and pull those permits to do it.

So that way they know it's There.

That way you have that second set of eyes on it.

You know, out of my brother's house, out of can of beach.

I'm going to post that can of beach house out here because it's going to be available for rental on short term rentals for the summertime.

Beautiful place.

We completely redid that house.

New electrical, new plumbing, new drywall, new insulation, new roof, repaired siding, new windows where we could.

And it really paid off.

Did we do all of that?

Absolutely.

Did we hire some places out when it made sense?

Absolutely we did.

And that's where you can get into that stuff with that.

Did I do all the plumbing?

Yeah.

Did it pass all the inspections?

First time I felt pretty good that we didn't have any changes on that system.

But I've done enough plumbing.

I know what I'm looking at.

Years of experience helps.

So really think about what.

Again, we have to go back to know your skills, but when it comes to electrical code, just understand that that can be tricky.

And if you're a novice DIYer, you're better off to hire a licensed electrician to come out and do it.

Not a handyman, licensed electric electrician to come out and do it and then learn understand it.

Watch some of the people out there, like electricians, you on YouTube, watch that before you tackle the project.

You'll get a lot of good information and you'll understand how this works.

So you don't create a house fire because that's when things go badly or somebody getting hurt.

And that can be done if you don't do this right.

So that's a big one right there.

Now next up here, this can be tricky as well.

Plumbing drain systems are complex and can be easily messed up.

And what I mean by is the fittings on the drain system.

Sometimes I have seen some hack jobs out there where, oh, it's half abs, it's half pvc and it's just a hodgepodge of bad materials used incorrectly or not even transitioned correctly between those materials.

So really understanding how and where I see the biggest problems with plumbing mistakes are in drain systems especially is not having your slope right, not having the right fittings when you're tying into another line or coming into a vent.

All of those fittings that look very similar can be very wrong if you don't understand how they work.

And it takes a while to learn that.

So making sure that you understand that stuff.

It's one of the mistakes that I see with, with on the plumbing side, on the water, on the waterline side, people Will go in and.

Oh, I did it all in cpvc.

Oh, not a material I would use.

It loves to fail.

It's just not a good one.

Shark bites.

Push to connect fittings.

Great for a temporary fix.

Horrible.

You should never put them in a wall.

I've seen them fail.

And for all you out there, oh, they never fail.

Yeah, they fail.

They slide right off.

I've seen it done.

I've seen them incorrectly installed.

I've seen them correctly install and fail.

I've seen it both ways.

Instead of buying a $20 fitting, why don't you buy a $2 one and sweat it on there correctly for, you know, for doing copper, Get a torch.

You know, sorry, guys.

My.

My rule is push to connect fittings when put into a permanent application is really for people that don't know how to use a torch or don't have the plumbing skills to do it correctly.

And I know make a few people mad with that, but that's just the hard facts.

They don't like to stay on there.

Now you can have one and have that.

Have it be there for 30 years.

You can have one be on there for hours and come off.

And that's where my concern is.

Well, we got a lot to jam into this last segment coming up, so stick around.

Don't change that dial around the house.

Be right back.

We'll wrap up when to call a pro and when to diy.

Don't change that dial around the house.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back to the around the house show, the next generation of home improvement.

I'm Eric G.

Thanks for joining me today.

This hour is brought to you by our friends at Monument Grill.

Check them out@monumentgrills.com what we've been talking about here, when to call a pro and when to diy.

Now, if you've got questions with me on this, just head over to aroundthehouse online.com.

you can send a message there and you can follow my tips and tricks and stuff that we do on YouTube.

We've got a few YouTube channels.

We have the one for, of course, this show here.

Then we've got one for our TV show which is over on Fox 12, Oregon.

For the around the house northwest.

We're almost at 500 segments over there with all these different projects, homes, everything else really cool.

And of course, we are everywhere on social media.

Well, we've been talking about all the different things here.

Now the next one here, we were just talking about plumbing fittings.

The next one up here is about Building science.

Building science is a science.

It's always evolving.

It's complex and very regional.

When you jump on social media into one of the major groups with hundreds of thousands of people and you go, hey, I'm trying to figure out how to insulate my basement, you're going to get a dozen answers.

Probably three quarter of them might be right for where they live, but maybe not right where you live.

So you want to consult a building professional environmental engineer in your area, because where someone might want a vapor barrier here, they might want that in a different location depending on where you live.

Because if you're living in South Florida and you're living in Minot, North Dakota, you've got a lot of different things working with, and it's a completely different ball game when you're dealing with things like that.

That is a huge one.

So make sure that you understand what the building science is in your area.

So when it comes to insulation, vapor barriers, sighting, flashing, all of that stuff, understand the way things work in your area.

Because even as little is sitting there working on something and you're within a half mile of a ocean or salt water, that can change things.

Like, are you using stainless steel fasteners?

The galvanized ones won't be good enough.

You see where I'm going?

So make sure you understand that.

And just simply insulating and ventilating an attic can be a huge mess if you do it incorrectly.

You can have mold, you can have rot.

Spray foam can be an interesting product.

I think I'm torn on spray foam as a great example here with this.

I'm torn because I think it has its applications, but there are so many people out there that are using it as a be all, end all.

And I think it's a huge problem.

I'm seeing people go in and want to keep their basement kind of cool in their living space warm.

And they go through and spray, spray foam all through there.

And they're covering up all the electrical and the plumbing and the gas lines and the ventilation.

Nobody wants to have to, when you go in there to do a repair, have to go in there and cut everything open and get all that out of there and go mining to find what you got going on.

So application is key.

Ask around, ask the professionals, make sure you got it covered.

So that's a big one right there.

Now, tile work is a big one.

We've been talking tile work.

We've got some great episodes here in our library if you're looking for in information on tile.

But here's the thing.

If you ask 20 installers from the Internet how to install something, you're going to get 10 answers and they're going to be different answers and a handful will be completely correct.

And that can be a problem when you're trying to do a shower bathtub surround, that's where the big deal is.

I'm not so much worried about your backsplash because there's right ways and wrong ways to do that.

But it's not a wet area anytime you've got water involved.

Because tile and grout are not considered waterproof, you need to have something waterproof behind it.

And that's where the big difference is.

Great resource if you want the right answer.

Check out the Tile Council for of North America for the right answers.

They have a TCNA handbook also ansi ANSI also publishes specifications for the tile industry.

Those are the best practices of installation for the tile industry.

And if you're going to tackle a shower, a bathroom as a DIYer, get the book, look it up.

Understand the process, because those are the tried and true ways of setting tile, waterproofing, all the stuff around tile installation.

Now, if you're looking to help on social media or YouTube, I lean on the guys that have CTI numbers because that is a certification for a certified tile installer.

That means that they have passed the exam and are good at it.

Now, there's different levels, different tests, so understand that too if we want to get in the weeds.

But really, when you're looking at a tile professional, take a look at that one.

Because really, this is a project that you can end up doing twice by skipping one step, and it can cause a heck of a lot of damage.

So think about that one.

All right, here's another one here.

Sometimes it's cheaper to have a contractor do the entire job versus you doing part of it as diy.

Here's why.

For instance, drywall.

If you're hiring a drywall company to come out and finish a project for you, drywall can cost you more if they hang it.

If you hang it, then letting them hang it by the time they tape and texture it.

There are drywall contractors out there that go, oh my gosh, homeowner special.

I got a mess of a drywall installation and I'm going to charge way more if you hang it versus them, always.

If you're dealing with drywall and you want to tackle it yourself, have them give you a price.

Have them give you a price.

If you do it, you might look at and go, that is saving Me a couple hundred bucks and it's not worth it.

We had that out at our beach house.

For the discount that they got on the drywall and the cost of it, I think they charged us 200 bucks difference for hanging drywall.

90% of what's in a house.

That's crazy.

I was like, that's not even close.

So be careful out there.

The same can go with roofing too.

You know, sometimes you doing part of it will cost you more than having them do all of it.

So ask those questions, understand them.

Just like when you're doing a big project, demolition can be an issue.

If you say your contractor, hey, I'm gonna demo it.

Ask them what it's gonna cost for them to demo it.

They might not want you to.

And they're gonna mark it up for a pain in the butt factor of them having to deal with that.

And it could be better for you to let them do the project.

Ask those questions.

It can make a huge difference.

You might not be saving money and creating a huge problem for you.

If they've got a dry, you know, a demolition company coming in there, they're going to have that thing spotless.

You're going to have less dust in your house.

It's going to be beautiful.

And that contractor, when they go in there and start on day one after demo, they don't want to be chasing around.

Wow, that didn't get cut off, right?

Wow, what's this here?

Ah, missed 45 nails where the drywall was or screws.

It's going to be beautiful, clean and taken care of.

So just watch that.

Be careful.

It could cost you more money.

Now the last one here in the list is a big one.

Always get three quotes for a project from licensed bonded insured companies and compare that to the skills in the time we had that with the roof out there on the beach house.

I was going to do the entire roof.

My brother and I were.

We're going to go out there, knock it out.

But the problem was we were going to have to take.

We.

We already had the roof off because that was covered in tarps.

Covered in tarps for decades before we had it.

So we went out there, did a lot of reframing, just replacing rotten wood, got it taken care of, got our grip right, ice and water shield on the whole thing.

And then we were gonna buy the roof, get it done.

And by the time we figured out what it was gonna cost out there to have the roofing materials delivered, all the sheet metal, have it, you know, flashed correctly with stainless steel because we're at the beach around the fireplace and have somebody come do that.

It was going to cost us an extra thousand bucks to have the whole thing installed.

And we were going to have to do that over six weeks, probably because of there's days that we didn't want to be up there in the 40 degree rain doing it.

These guys could come in there and in two days have it knocked out and done, and it was going to be a better project.

So find out what the numbers are.

Find out what it is from a licensed bonded insured contractor and see if it's worth it.

Your time has value and make sure you understand that and put a number to it.

The pros could be cheaper.

All right, everybody, thanks for tuning into around the House this week.

If you want to find out more about us, head to around the house online.com and there's always more information there.

And make sure you're following us on all social media channels.

And of course, the podcast player.

I'm Eric G.

Thanks for tuning in to around the House.