Being a homeowner isn't cheap work, but taking on DIY projects around the house can truly save a lot of money — if done right. Recently, homeowners of the BuzzFeed Community shared the DIY projects they took on, attempted, or even finished that, looking back, they wish they'd just hired a professional for instead. Here are some of the most honest answers that might have you reconsidering before touching your current (or future) home:
1. "I taught myself, with the help of YouTube, how to tile a floor. I did it in my very small bathroom, and let me tell you, I will NEVER tile something on my own ever again. It was SO MUCH WORK. I can't imagine if I'd decided to tile a larger area. I will always pay to have someone lay tile in the future."
2. "At my parents' house, my dad wanted a stone wall around the pool because we have a giant dirt hill behind it, so he bought all this stone and asked my grandpa for help. They worked on it for one day and did not get very far — it's still unfinished to this day. My dad started this project when I was in high school, and now I am in my mid-20s. It sucks because our backyard area could be so nice if he just shared his vision with someone who can do the work."
3. "We pulled up the carpet and had to redo the stairs. Never again! It looks amazing, but the weeks of sanding, painting, and staining in addition to all the dust around the house was not worth it!"
4. "The only project we got in over our heads with was cutting down an old apple tree. That was trivial; we ended up calling a tree service to cut it up and haul it away. Every other project — gutting the kitchen, building a deck, building a workshop, landscaping, building a hot tub out of a pile of lumber, etc. — went fine. But that apple tree nearly killed us."
5. "My dad was a contractor for decades, so he had/could borrow most of the tools we needed while renovating the 200-year-old farmhouse I grew up in. Most of the projects we did on our own, and between the four of us and some friends who helped out, we redid that whole place, top to bottom. I loved being able to design my own room, and I learned how to refinish old pine floorboards by hand. I learned a lot about home repair and taking the time to do something properly. I will, however, NEVER replace brick grout ever again. The bricks were ancient, had to be hand-done with special brushes and tiny special chisels, and my snot was orangey red for a month from doing it. Never again."
6. "We attempted to fix our backyard. That was a disaster. Turns out that hiring someone to regrade and fix our yard wasn't as expensive as we thought it would be."
7. "Hanging the slab doors. We thought it would be an easy way to update our 50-year-old house, but even after making sure we got the right sizes, all the door jams had shifted and warped over the five decades, so NONE of them fit squarely. Not to mention figuring out how to paint both sides of all of them, in addition to measuring and installing the hinges and handles. That's easily the number one project I regret taking on."
8. "I tried to fix a clogged faucet. I spent three days trying to fix it before finally getting a plumber. I would never have managed to fix it because it was clogged farther down the line and needed a replacement line or longer snake or whatever. Never mess with plumbing."
9. "After I got married, I worked full time. I painted the inside and outside of my 1,800-square-foot house. It took me a year."
10. "My mom injured herself doing DIY wallpaper. She didn't have the right ladder, so she stood on a chair, fell off, and then had to be hospitalized for severe bruising. She was lucky it wasn't worse. She also gave herself chemical burns once while stripping paint from a table because she wasn't wearing proper safety gear. She is now banned from DIY projects and leaves everything to the professionals."
11. "My wife and I agreed that the bathroom needed a freshening up: some new cabinets from the classic big-box store, a simple paint job, and new tile. After tile shopping, before I knew it, I was pulling up the floor and demolishing the shower stall. What was supposed to be a relatively simple 'facelift' became a total gut. We've had a lot of experience DIY'ing, so we were okay with the idea of the jobs. It was the drain of energy that caused the most problems. My health issues only allowed me to work for about six hours every other day. It seemed to be taking forever — we didn't have it done in July, or by Christmas, or even by April the following year."
12. "We did a 17-foot-diameter firepit/patio in our backyard last summer without trying to take extra days off. We bought a kit from a hardware store, and we had four pallets delivered to our house. Digging up 8 feet of sod was the worst. Those YouTubers who say, 'Just cut and roll — it's so easy,' are lying. I don't know if it's only easy when it comes to new sod, but established grass with 10-foot roots does NOT come up easily. Also, I highly recommend renting a compactor to level the rock. Best $50 ever spent."
13. "The deck at my mom's house. We put new planks over old planks and wound up with a deck that slowly rotted over the course of 10 years. Last summer, we finally took all the rotten wood out and got a wood alternative that will, hopefully, last a lifetime. Thanks to that, we no longer have to stain wood (something else we did wrong), and we no longer have to walk on eggshells in fear of breaking our ankles from a rotten plank. The fear was real."
14. "One of my outside hose bibs started leaking and wouldn't stop. Not wanting to waste water or money, I attempted to fix it myself. YouTube made it look so easy — ha! I gathered all the tools and even borrowed some parts from my job. What I didn't have was the strength! No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the nut off. I tried every tool in my arsenal, with no luck. I ended up taking off a piece of it, but then the water really started running and wouldn't stop. I had to shut the water off to the whole house. I ended up calling off work the next day so I could call a plumber. He fixed it in 20 minutes!"
—Jaime, 45, Pennsylvania
15. "We had some leaking pipes that required us to open up our ceiling, but the plumbers don't do drywall. The drywall guys were going to charge between $500 and $700 to fix the ceiling. I thought, I can do that, and though I did do it, it was a huge pain that took me several days. It requires a lot of strength to cut everything appropriately and to seize the drywall into place, especially if you only have basic tools. I understand why the pros charge so much."
16. "We put in a laminate floor that was supposed to be a simple lock-and-groove thing. There was no need for a mat or subfloor, just the planks! At least, that's what it said on the box(es) of the flooring. Our three adult kids helped out — they did the heavy lifting and all the kneeling. It ended up taking us twice as long and required four additional trips to the hardware store. Plus, we had to rent a floor sander. We're going to try again with the subfloor thing, but it's not gonna happen for a while. Mind you, it's already been seven years."
—Pahz
17. Lastly: "I bought my first house at 23. It was a small home with an all-original bath and kitchen. I decided to take on the bathroom first because I figured I could do it during a long weekend. Turns out, it took me all weekend to just get the seven — yes, seven — layers of randomly nailed linoleum torn up. By the time I was done with the bathroom, two months had passed. It looked great! I was super proud of my accomplishment...until my brother-in-law took a look. He laughed at my upside-down tub surround kit. That was 40 years ago. I sold the house to this guy 33 years ago, and he still lives there with the upside-down surround. I love DIY projects, but I learned that sometimes you just need a pro."
Have you ever taken on a DIY project that you regret not hiring an expert to do? What's a home project that you'll never try to tackle by yourself again? Let me know down in the comments, or you can submit anonymously using this Google form!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.