I learned a lot growing up just by watching other people do DIY projects. For instance if you’re going to install skylights, copius amounts of tar is no substitute for flashing. And you’re not going to get a good drywall seam without tape. And level gutters may look nice, but they’re useless.
I could probably build a pretty nice house…now.
When you first move into a house, relabel all the breakers in the breaker box. If you do not have a chance to do this, do not just trust that the ‘kitchen’ breaker actually cuts power to the outlets in the kitchen. You will be in for a shock.
This board needs puncuit breakers.
Don’t start a renovation unless you can afford the time and money to do the whole damned house. I’d like to replace the kitchen taps, but I’m askeered. 
First, shut off the valve…
I’ll tell you what I told one of my friends just a few months ago…you can get a voltage tester for like $5 at Home Depot. Next time you’re going to do electrical work get one of those or call me and I’ll come over and help you.
And with that something I’ve started doing is anytime I do electrical work, before I flip the power back on I mark the inside of all the open boxes with the number of the breaker (if the panel is numbered). I always test to make sure the power’s off, but it’s easier to open the box and see the number and know exactly which breaker to flip instead of wondering if “LR LT” which I assume is Living Room Lights is also going to be the outlets in the living room. It saves a few trips up and down the stairs.
Oh, also, here’s a trick. Plug in a radio or hair dryer or something you can hear running when you’re down in the basement. When you flip the right breaker, you’ll know it.
Don’t skimp on tools.
Craftsman are excellent hand tools and Sears will replace them no questions asked (not so for power tools).
Cordless tools are nice for quick jobs. If you’re doing serious work however you’ll need tools that plug in. I’ve never seen anyone remodel a basement or build a garage successfully with a cordless circular saw.
Same goes for Kobalt from Lowes.
DeWalt cordless tools are very good. Their cordless drills (18 and 12 volt) hold up quite well and will drill through just about anything. The reciprocating saw is good for most medium size projects, especially if you have two (good) batteries. The circular saw, not so much. It’s good for a small project, but don’t plan to build a deck with it. The biggest problem I’ve run into is if you’re using the recip or circular saw and trying to do a really big project and running them non stop is that the battery gets really hot. The charger won’t recharge them until it cools down. The problem is that you’ll run down the second battery before the first one is cool enough to start charging.
But like I said, if you’re just doing small projects around the house, they’re fine. I’ve cut down 15 foot plum trees and chopped them into small pieces with the recip saw and I’ve made small stoops with the circular saw.
Also, to repeat what I said before though, their 18V drill is as good as any powered drill I’ve used and I don’t think I’ve ever run out of battery power in one project (meaning the drill doesn’t heat up the battery enough to cause a delay in charging so as soon as one battery is dead the other one is charged).
Always work from the top down, except when sanding.
Do not sand joint compound.
If you do sand joint compound, don’t paint until you get all the dust off.
Buy a house with one more room than you need.
If you’re putting in a whole new kitchen, seriously consider putting it in another room, then converting to old kitchen to a room with a wet bar and gas fireplace. (This is where that extra room comes in handy.)
And if you don’t like DIY, there is nothing wrong with helping the economy by hiring some one.
And make sure you don’t have ADD.
You know that saying “measure twice, cut once”? There’s a typo. It’s actually “measure 4x, cut once.” And if you’re just handy versus a professional builder or something, that goes double for anything you’re mitering. (Buy extra molding, quarter-round, etc. It’s cheaper than all the extra trips back to the lumber yard.)
Also, never skimp on the “behind the scenes” work: prep walls right for painting, use a good primer, prep and level floors and use a proper underlayment before installing flooring, etc. If you do a jackleg job, you will notice the flaws forevermore, or you’ll repeat the job far sooner than you’d planned.
When budgeting for home improvements, take your most realistic assessment, then double the cash and quadruple the time you expect to spend.
Before starting any project, learn where the gas and water cutoff valves are located, along with the breaker box.
Keep numbers handy for a plumber and an electrician, just in case.
Youtube videos will not educate you properly on good tiling technique. I’m still embarrassed to go in that bathroom.
I always wanted to see a “This Old House” project off by a foot when the last wall goes up.
That reminds me of another one. Always buy quality paint. My paint of choice, the only paint I’ll use is Behr. IMO, paint should cost about $25-$35 per gallon. If you buy the stuff that costs $10 a gallon it’ll go on like crap, look awful and you’ll end up having to put on 3 or 4 coats instead of 1 or 2.
Also, get a good brush, spend $12-$15. A cheap one will fall apart. The nap from the roller or bristles from the brush will disappear as you paint. But they don’t just go into the ether, you’ll find them stuck in the wall all over the room. And with that, I just throw out the roller cover when I’m done with the room (put a bag over it and it’ll be fine over night) and don’t even bother cleaning it. Brushes that I use for edging are usually good for 3 or 4 rooms before I have to throw them away…no matter how much I love a brush after a while it just won’t cut as well.
Also, one of the most important things, make sure the brush/roller is comfortable in your hand. After an two hours of painting your hand is going to be tired, if the brush is uncomfortable, your hand is going to hurt and the work is going to suffer. That’s how you wind up with paint on the trim, ceiling, carpet etc.
Side rant:
My college workstudy was in the theater scene shop. It drove me crazy how often I’d come into work on Monday to find 3 or 4 brushes sitting in the dry sink covered in paint. It takes a few minutes to clean a brush thoroughly immediately after use. After a weekend, though, I may be able to salvage it enough to make it a texture brush but usually it’s wrecked. And no, filling a can with water and dropping the brush in is not acceptable. Treating stuff right is the best way to have stuff for a long time.
If you shut off a circuit breaker, still test to make sure power has been removed. I heard a story of someone that didn’t do that got the shock of his life, Turns out someone had attached the neutral to a circuit breaker.
If you have a house with aluminum wiring and/or Federal Pacific circuit breakers, you got trouble.
Ugh. And don’t lift the toilet off the floor before you empty it of water. An actual PLUMBER did this and water poured down through my kitchen ceiling. :rolleyes:
Wait, why?
Do Not Install the clawfoot tub before installing the flooring. Especially in a bathroom where you had to put the tub in the bathroom prior to closing up the wall.
Don’t ask how I know this.
It’s messy as hell and if you don’t get the wall perfectly clean the paint doesn’t adhere to the wall and will bubble if it gets wet. Then I will buy your house and have to peel the paint off the wall before I paint. Besides, it’s a pain and you don’t have to.
Apply several coats very smoothly, allowing them to dry and scraping of those little ridges with the joint knife in between. Make sure you don’t have any little pieces of dried mud on the knife. You can go over it at the end with a very fine sanding sponge if you want a perfect wall.
Also, if the drywall pieces aren’t flush against each other, you will get cracking. And if you skimp on compound at the seems you will get cracking. (I’m testing latex painters’ caulk on my wall cracks now. I’ll report back in two years.)