Home Renovation Mistakes: 7 Common Mistakes to Avoid

Integral remodeling is essential to improve the quality of the property, to include fashionable elements and to increase the value of the property. However, you should avoid these mistakes when renovating your house.

You’ll find that most people make some common home renovation mistakes.

We may need to renovate as some sectors of the home can wear out over time, due to water seepage, temperature changes, or cycles of the materials. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of the state of the structures to remodel when necessary.
It’s also important that the house preserves the sensations of well-being, has modern styles, and increases its value. This way, renovations are essential because they allow the incorporation of new elements and stop breakdowns that unleash risks.

Bathrooms and kitchens are the areas that suffer most from wear and tear due to their daily exposure to humidity, heat, and grease. Thus, in the first instance, partial home renovations can only occur in these areas.

However, you can also integrally do remodeling, that’s to say, by executing works in the whole home.

In this article, we’ll talk a bit about the mistakes you should avoid when renovating your house!

How often should I renovate my house?

The general structure and painting of the walls and floors can begin to be damaged after several years. The main properties of the materials are weakened by frequent use, direct sunlight, and inclement weather.

You need a complete renovation in all homes to ensure the quality of the building and its inhabitants. In addition, it’s the opportunity to update the house with fashionable objects, provide greater comfort, and have more sophisticated functions.

The process requires a large economic investment because it changes aspects of the entire house. Because of this, and added to the maximum time that materials can resist with good care, experts recommend that this type of renovation be done every 10 to 15 years.

Common home renovation mistakes

Renovating a house is a complex process that requires detailed attention so that the constructions are completed successfully and the expected results are obtained.

Mistakes can generate serious consequences in the short and long term. For this reason, here are some common home renovation mistakes to avoid.

1. Not planning

Planning is necessary to help you recognize the aspects that you need to change, define everything that you need to incorporate, and establish a correct distribution of the space.

It’s essential to clarify ideas, build an outline of what you want to achieve, and communicate the concepts to the professional to avoid misunderstandings.

Improvising can lead to the purchase of unnecessary elements, the non-remediation of essential damages, or incorrect demolitions, which can cause more problems than solutions.

2. Not establishing a budget

At the time of renovations, people may want to buy multiple products that are fashionable and innovative. However, it’s essential to evaluate the exact amount of money available, to define priorities and materials to buy.

Not setting a budget may mean that the balance is exceeded or that you’ve envisioned the renovation with products that, in the end, you can’t purchase. Therefore, it’s essential to make a list of total expenses, keep a record of the investment and make quotations with accurate figures.

3. Not allocating money for unforeseen events

In all construction processes, unforeseen events may occur. This is because when sanding or breaking the walls, you may detect new problems that imply additional materials to solve.

It’s also necessary to take into account that in a construction site there may be damaged tools or material. Thus, you should leave a balance for unplanned situations.

4. Not hiring experts

A complete renovation is a process that has to be left in the hands of specialists. They’re the ones who have the necessary knowledge to intervene in the house safely and to analyze the most effective execution processes.

If the reform is assigned to an inexperienced person, it can put at risk his integrity and that of the inhabitants of the house. This is because the walls and ceilings can be poorly reinforced and collapse. In addition, they may even leave unevenness, causing cracks, humidity, or flooding.

5. Not taking into account the legal procedures

Integral works are large processes that, at some point, may occupy some part of the public realm and interfere with the neighbors’ space. Accordingly, you always need a license to operate with the permission of the law.

For the license to be approved, you must submit documentation that corroborates all the works that workers will carry out. This legal action is to ensure that the requirements are met to do so safely and without affecting surrounding homes.

Not having the approval license to carry out the remodeling can lead to lawsuits and interruption of the construction. In addition, it’s important to agree on parameters with the neighbors to avoid inconveniences that may result in lawsuits.

6. Focusing on aesthetics and forgetting functionality

In the remodeling, the house should have a great decoration, transmit new, elegant and cozy styles. However, you may get carried away and forget the installation of indispensable functionalities, such as lighting and electrical outlets.

You should plan places for lighting, power, and drains before any decoration. This avoids that some decorations interrupt strategic points or that the installations damage the aesthetics that had already been finalized.

7. Failure to sign contracts and guarantee agreements

You must have a written form of commitment. It’s essential to sign contracts between the owner and the professional so that values, delivery deadlines, and guarantee times of the work are stipulated.

You must have the respective copies of all the papers that everyone has signed in a safe place. This is the way to avoid misunderstandings that only generate arguments.

Home renovation mistakes and what to consider

To renovate the house successfully, you must listen to the advice of specialists. They’ll help you make the best decisions, based on their experience. In addition, it’s very important to have previous consultancies that allow to know other remodelings, to learn from the process, and to clear legal doubts.

For a successful renovation, you must ask for quotations in several places and use the best quality materials. These two actions help to take care of the budget and to guarantee that the improvements developed in the building will last.