Any adult can hang wallpaper and lay laminate flooring. However, pouring floors, installing plumbing fixtures, and installing gas equipment are best left to professionals. We spoke with practitioners from TQN Construct, an integrated facility management company that regularly handles apartment repairs at scale in Australia, to better understand which renovations are safer to leave to specialists.
You Can’t Do It Without a Pro
Thanks to detailed videos on popular platforms, many people are deceived into thinking renovations are simple. It’s tempting to save money and quickly master a new skill. However, in most cases, such grandiose plans are ill-advised, and you should call professional home improvement services.
Apartment Remodeling
Have you always dreamed of a spacious dining room instead of a kitchen and adjoining room? Do you have a sledgehammer for knocking down walls, and have you already found a YouTube video on how to do it correctly? We strongly recommend leaving apartment remodeling to the professionals.
It’s a long, labor-intensive process, and without understanding all the nuances, you can harm yourself and your neighbors (for example, by breaking a load-bearing wall)—and even be fined by the housing inspectorate.
Pouring Floors
Pouring concrete floors is too complex a task to complete without mistakes without experience. Neither YouTube videos nor advice from experienced professionals will help.
You’ll either improperly prepare the waterproofing, and everything will leak onto your neighbors, or you’ll pour the floor unevenly, and your floor will be like a second “Ninth Wave.” Ultimately, you’ll have to redo everything, which will be even more costly, both financially and mentally.
Installing Plumbing
You can only install plumbing yourself if you’re a qualified plumber. All other options require hiring a professional. Installing pipes, toilets, radiators, faucets, and valves—none of these are forgiving. Even the slightest mistake will soon become apparent.
Leaks, neighbor complaints, and expensive repairs—that’s what comes with trying to do it yourself. Installing pipes and equipment may seem simple, but it requires significant experience and expertise.
Gas Equipment Installation
This is another area where it’s absolutely forbidden to tinker without a license and experience. Stoves, water heaters, and pipe installation—mistakes can lead to gas leaks and even death. Incidentally, this issue is also regulated by law: only certified specialists are allowed to perform gas work in residential premises.
Remember, this is not just about your family’s safety, but also that of your neighbors. Don’t be careless with potentially dangerous equipment.
You Can Do It Yourself
There are some projects you can easily handle yourself with minimal effort. So, if you have the desire and free time, feel free to tackle them.
Roof Repairs and Waterproofing
Roof work looks simple from the ground, but it’s one of the easiest places to cause hidden damage. A badly sealed joint or damaged membrane might not show up until the first heavy rain, when water finds its way into ceilings, walls, and wiring.
There’s also the safety risk of working at height without the right equipment. For these reasons, roof repairs and serious waterproofing are usually handled by licensed roofing and maintenance trades rather than DIY attempts.
Priming and Painting Walls
Anyone can prime and paint walls. Liquid primer is easy to work with: just read the can and mix it with the right amount of water. Plaster mix is simple too; even kids can fix dents and nail holes. Painting walls and ceilings can be trickier. You have to pick the right rollers and brushes, and maybe play around with the paint a bit.
A lot of times, when you’re doing DIY stuff (especially if you didn’t prep the walls right), you find you need to put on a few coats of paint, and the rollers kind of wipe off the previous coat and don’t cover well. But you can get through all of this yourself.
Laying Laminate or Linoleum
Here, simply follow the instructions and YouTube videos. Many people today call laying laminate “like a real construction kit”: it’s fun, not too difficult, and there’s always a second chance to redo it if you’re not satisfied with the results. However, if you want to get the perfect result the first time, it is still better to enlist the help of specialists.
Wallpapering
If you’ve got a regular apartment without weird curved walls, you can probably put up the wallpaper yourself. The big thing to remember is to start hanging it away from the windows, not towards them! That way, the seams won’t be so obvious. Also, make sure there aren’t any drafts in the place; otherwise, the wallpaper will dry too fast and start peeling. Oh, and don’t forget to read the instructions. Different wallpapers need different amounts of glue.
Plus, some wallpapers are better for certain rooms. Like, vinyl wallpaper is great for bathrooms because it holds up better in all that moisture. But for a bedroom, regular paper wallpaper works just fine, too.
Disadvantages of DIY Renovations
Fixing up your place yourself can take longer if you haven’t done it before. You gotta pick out and order stuff like paint and flooring, figure out how to arrange everything, plan where the furniture goes, and all that. Just finding the right stuff can eat up a lot of time. You also have to look into different paints and find out which ones are best for each wall or surface. It’s tough to get all that done when you’re working every day.
If you’re not used to doing stuff like laying tile, it might not look so great. If you don’t do it the right way, the finished job might not be what you wanted. Even painting, which seems easy, has steps you gotta follow.
A lot of these jobs need special tools, like a laser level, ladder, screwdriver, drill, or tile cutter. You’ll have to buy all that stuff, and good tools cost money.
Conclusion
So, you’re thinking about fixing up your place? Cool! You can totally handle some stuff on your own. I mean, we’re not talking about messing with the plumbing or knocking down walls. For that kind of stuff, get a pro, or you might end up with a disaster.
But if you’re up for it, painting or priming is something you can likely manage. And hey, if you mess up, it’s not a big deal to fix.
Fixing up an apartment? It takes a lot of time and work! If you let professionals handle it, you don’t have to learn everything yourself or spend all your energy on the renovation. This lets you focus on important things. And don’t feel bad if you decide to hire someone to do the wallpaper. It’s the quickest, easiest way to get a great-looking home with a nice renovation.