Do-It-Yourself Projects Save Money
June 10, 2008 by Karen Weideman
Filed under cleaning, money saving idea
We rarely pay someone else to do work to our house. It’s not that we wouldn’t love someone else to be outside sweating for us, it’s just that we’re too cheap frugal to pay someone to do something that we can do ourselves. Doing projects yourself can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
My hubby was feeling very motivated Saturday night and he got some projects completed around the house. One of the projects was pressure washing the deck. Check out these pictures which show the before and after.
You can see the line where my husband stopped cleaning so that he could eat his dinner. I’m actually glad that I got to see the difference so that I could appreciate it much more. I can hardly believe our deck got that dirty within just a few years.
DIY projects can save your family a lot of money. Just make sure you know what you doing.
What kinds of projects are you tackling on your home?
images by Karen
I’d like to try DIY. Admittedly, the only thing I can do is paint the walls and do some pretty paintings for our home. Other than that, I think I really need to study a little on DIY ’cause I would love to decorate my own house.
Yvie: Painting can save you hundreds and thousands of dollars too. I had a friend that paid someone a few thousand dollars to paint the interior of her home. I could hardly believe it.
Fortunately, some home improvement stores offer DIY classes. There is also a wealth of information on the internet as well. Good luck!
We do this, too. I have a very talented husband who is not afraid to try anything at least once. I would love to see a tally of all the money he has saved us in our 25 years of marriage. The biggest projects in recent years were the installation of a new heat pump (saved about $6000) and hardwood floors.
It is important to remember if you deck was built earlier than approximately the end of 2004 that the wood used for outdoor decks was treated with CCA, or chromated copper arsenate.
Chromium, copper and arsenic are all carcinogens. If you have a vegetable garden and power wash you deck, you run the risk of contaminated your soil with this. Also that layer of grime that you washed away also removes a barrier between you and the carcinogens in the wood.
If you have a deck like this, make sure you SEAL it with stain and sealers.
I have some links to good sources on preventative steps to take with CCA lumber.
http://tripleventi.com/2007/03/15/picture-perfect-thursday-killer-backyards/
Jay: Thanks for the concern and info. Fortunately for us, our deck was built in 2005.