5 Common Home Improvement Myths

With the rise of Home do-it-yourself and home remodels becoming more and more popular, we thought it would be appropriate to make a list of common home improvement myths. It’s easy to get caught up in your home projects without doing the research behind what needs to be known. That’s why this week we decided to make this list to hopefully help you on your next project!

Don’t Follow The Latest Trends

It may seem like a good idea to follow the latest and hottest trends that you see your favorite influencers doing on their projects, but it’s not always the best idea. Trends are called trends for a reason, they don’t last forever and if you follow a trend for a home project, you’re going to be stuck with a look that was popular for a short while. We recommend going with timeless colors, designs and looks for your home as it will last a long time and will not have an outdated feel after the next trend becomes popular. A great way to keep your home trendy is through decor because decor is easy to swap out and to find non-expensive items as well. 

Doing It Yourself Won’t Always Save Money

Home projects can sometimes be very small and not take much effort if at all. Other projects take a lot of work, time, materials, and knowledge on what needs to be done and how. Saving money is important on home projects, but trying to leave it to yourself will not always result in saving money. If a mistake were to be made, time, materials, and money would have been wasted which could have been prevented by hiring a professional.

You may think of yourself as a handy person with a knack for do-it-yourself projects, but with larger projects, it’s likely that a professional or a contractor is the best choice. A professional will be able to make sure a complicated project is done correctly the first time. Now this doesn’t mean you can never complete a do-it-yourself project, as we are huge advocates for DIY, it’s about knowing when a professional is needed or not.

Fixing Is Not Cheaper Than Replacing

It’s easy to become attached to parts of your home that when something goes wrong with it such as an appliance breaking, you may opt to just do a repair than get rid of it altogether. Although upfront it may seem cheaper to make a quick fix than replace it completely, in the long run you may save much more money by updating a specific part of your house. Instead of having to do multiple quick fixes, because the costs will eventually catch up with the price of something brand new, it may be a more cost-effective choice to replace the product.

Home Projects Won’t Happen Quickly

Of course everyone wants their home improvement projects to happen as quickly as possible since it is your home, but this is simply not always the case. When you’re watching your favorite influencers on TikTok or Youtube, it’s easy to think this is a quick process, as they only showed a quick compilation of the steps taken in a video that is sometimes less than a minute. For some projects like switching out the closet dowels from plastic to metal, this trip is as simple as going to your local home improvement retailer and getting the parts that you need. But for larger projects like a bathroom makeover or a kitchen remodel, these projects can generally take from 9 months to a year to complete. We recommend planning far ahead for home projects and to plan for things to be on backorder or low inventory, inclement weather, inspection times, and other variables that can slow this process down. 

All Remodels Aren’t Worth It

There is a belief that upgrading your home in any way will raise the value of your home on the market, but this is a common misconception. For example, if something were to go wrong within your home, such as a mold issue, repairing this mold issue will only raise the market value of your home to the minimum requirements of the home. In this case, the home repair makes sense and is necessary to your home. However, if you were to completely change your backyard into having a pool or a home basketball court, it’s possible that many home buyers may find this as an inconvenience and take away what they would want to do with the backyard. Specifically when it comes to pools, locations like the midwest or East Coast, pools are more of a liability being how much they cost to maintain and that they cannot be used year long due to inclement weather. Also, it’s important to think about how much a home project will cost, and how much it will truly raise the market value of your home. 

Check out our latest podcast where we sit down with Chef Lonny Huot and discuss kitchen remodel must haves! Be sure to follow all of our social media channels for updates from Appliance Educator! 

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