Home Repairs Too Dangerous To Do Yourself

With the temperatures up, it's time to get out of the house and start on those home improvement projects.

Wednesday, May 9th 2012, 10:56 pm

By: News 9


With the temperatures up, it's time to get out of the house and start on those home improvement projects.

We live in a "do it yourself" age. But I quickly learned there are some home repairs too dangerous to do on your own. Self-proclaimed "do it yourselfer" Rick Safi learned that the hard and painful way.

"I was running, trying to get out of the door as fast as I could as the roof truce caught me," Safi recalls.

Tearing down an old wooden storage building cost him a broken leg when the roof collapsed right on top of him.

"Saving a little bit of money doing that, I ended up wasting an entire year of time stuck inside the house," Safi said.

While many of us want to turn home improvement projects into a DIY, some are just too risky.

Licensed contractor Matt Jones has been remodeling metro homes for 20 years. He says the first thing we should never do ourselves:  electrical work.

"If you don't do it right, there's an extreme danger of you getting hurt," Jones said.

Read more about repairs you should not do yourself.

And in the end, that costs even more than just hiring a professional in the first place. Something else that's hands off: heat and air.

"I personally know of two people that have touched the capacitor and they have no feeling on one side of their arm," Jones said.

Shutting water off may sound simple enough, but one wrong turn could flood your home with more problems.

"If you don't tighten it down enough or if you over tighten it, it could possibly burst," Jones said.

And if your blunder causes a flood, insurance probably won't pay. Next, to the garage for another do it yourself don't. Brent Trotter has seen many homeowners get hurt trying to repair garage door springs and cables.

"People taking cables off while the spring is still wound, end up hitting them in the face," Trotter said. "We've seen fingers get lost."

Rick Safi has learned what he can and can't do himself.

"I'd hire somebody to maybe come help me or take care of the big stuff," Safi said.

Experts say don't sweat the small stuff. But for more dangerous jobs, leave it to the pros. In the long run, it could save you a lot of money and possibly your life.  And before hiring any contractor, make sure they have insurance and worker's compensation.

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