Baeumler Bryan - Measure twice: tips and tricks from the pros to help you avoid the most common DIY disasters

TIPS AND TRICKS FROM THE PROS TO
HELP YOU AVOID THE MOST COMMON
DIY DISASTERS

Photography by Shannon J. Ross

To Sarah, Quintyn, Charlotte, Lincoln and Josephine

The seeds of this book were planted more than a decade ago, a few years before we started shooting my first show for HGTV. My construction company was getting a lot of calls from homeowners who needed professionals to come in and repair work that had been done by the resident handymen who had no idea what they were doing. In one home, theyd taken out a wall to make a new sewing room, and it turned out to be a load-bearing wall. There was a kitchen on the floor above, and most of the house was being supported by a single 2 4. Another guy had renovated his basement using metal studs, and he ran the electrical through the framing without the right insulators and then glued drywall directly to the concrete foundationthe interior walls were all electrified, and the exterior walls were full of mould!

Botched jobs like these were the inspiration for Disaster DIY, which debuted in 2007. Before the show aired, I contacted the producers and offered our construction services in exchange for some advertising. As it turned out, they were looking for a little more than just labour. We shot 91 episodes of that show over five seasons, and then followed it up with Leave It to Bryan, which is now in its fourth season. Ive also filmed three seasons of House of Bryan and Canadas Handyman Challenge. I think its fair to say Ive seen just about every mistake a homeowner can makeand Ive collected 191 in this book to help you avoid them.

These days almost all homeowners think they can do their own renos. Many of them canits not all that hard to replace a faucet or lay a few flagstones. Ive even met a lot of handy folks who have done a respectable job of tiling a backsplash or laying a hardwood floor. But doing these projects properly takes experience, and most homeowners just dont have the opportunity to gain that experience. I mean, if youre not a professional, how many times are you going to build a deck or install a countertop? Do it many times, and eventually you might learn all the tricks, but your early mistakes will all be on display in your homeand those mistakes can be costly. Have you ever tried to take out a granite countertop? They dont always come out in one piece. Its a lot cheaper to have someone do it right the first time.

I have to accept part of the blame here. When you watch shows like mine, its easy to get the impression you can quickly turn any rundown home into a showpiece. The truth is those episodes are filmed over several weeks, and many hours of footage are edited down to the 22 minutes you see on TV. Viewers dont always appreciate how many people were involved in turning that ugly bathroom into a spa or that dungeon into a man cave. But they see the show and think, I should do that in my house, it looks easy. Well, I promise you its harder and more time-consuming than it looks.

The other danger with TV renos is that when we uncover a major problem, its always fixed by the time we come back from breakwhich can leave you thinking that even if you do make a mistake, fixing it wont be a big deal. But the reality may have been that more than a week (and thousands of dollars) elapsed in those three minutes of detergent commercials.

Theres another idea I want to stress in this book. Youll notice I dont spend any time talking about how to pick the prettiest tiles or the most stylish lighting. Thats because people often have a difficult time getting their priorities right when theyre renovating: they tend to dwell on superficial improvements while ignoring larger problems. That was the idea behind Leave It to Bryan: I wanted to help homeowners understand that renos should add long-term value. Everyone understands that goal on some level, but its like we have an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. The angel is saying, Theres water coming into your basement, and you need to fix that now. But the devil is saying, You need a big flat-screen TV. Almost everybody listens to the devil.

Were a consumer society, and we all want the pretty finishes. Thats fine, but it cant come at the expense of dealing with the larger issues. You probably wont get a lot of enjoyment from a properly spray-foamed basement or a well-insulated attic. Youre not likely to invite friends and family over to see your well-installed eavestrough or the proper grading the landscapers did in your backyard. But these sorts of projects can save you thousands of dollars by lowering your energy bills and preventing serious water damage to your home. I know this stuff isnt as fun as a new kitchen island, but you should always remember that your home is an investment and you need to preserve its value.

Speaking of which, bad DIY renovations are one of the surest ways to lower the value of your home. One of the worst mistakesand its one that comes up several times in this bookis not getting permits for major projects like running new wires, building a raised deck or removing a structural wall. I know it can be expensive and time-consuming to do surveys, get drawings and pull permits, but building codes were created for a reason. If you do this work wrong, you can put your home and family in danger.

Measure Twice is not meant to be a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to every job youll ever encounter around your home. My main goal is to help you as a homeowner to anticipate common problems and to use that knowledge to determine which jobs you can tackle on your own and which ones require a professional. Youll notice I havent included chapters on electrical or plumbing, and there are no instructions for how to cut rafters or underpin your basement: thats because I dont think any homeowner who is not properly trained and very experienced should be doing that kind of work. But after reading these pages, you might just be ready to frame a small partition wall or replace an undermount sink or build a fence to keep your dog in the yard. Or at least youll be able to discuss the job intelligently with the contractor you eventually hire.

Sometimes I think homeownersand maybe this is just a guy thingfeel calling a pro is an admission of failure. Thats crazyno matter how handy you are, no one can do everything on their own. Although Ive been around construction sites since I was a kid, Im the first to admit there are lots of pros better than me at stonework, putting down shingles and many other specific jobs because Im not using the tools every day and they are. You have to know your limits. And to help with that, Ive given you difficulty ratings at the beginning of each chapter. The lower the number, the greater the chance youll be able to successfully tackle a project on your own.