ᐅ Self-performed work – Flooring, painting, tiling, and what else?

bvlgari schrieb:
Hello everyone,

I'm wondering what tasks can be done by oneself in a single-family house to save some money. I’m fairly handy and think I could manage quite a few things on my own.

What comes to mind right now are:

• Flooring
• Painting work (painting, plastering, varnishing)
• Tiling/bathroom/shower (my father is a tiler)

What else could be done as a DIY project?

Best regards,
Marko

You could add installing interior doors to the list if you have the patience for it.

nordanney schrieb:
50sqm (540 sq ft) installed over the weekend – then you must have two left hands
You can get a lot more done over the weekend, plus an extra day for the baseboards. Click vinyl is even faster (and easier to cut) – I installed a room in just over 1.5 hours today. And I’m mostly a desk worker...

So you just assume how many rooms there are and what their layout is like (for example, a 45° wall requires more effort). Sure, the square meters are fixed, but special cutouts do take some time (e.g., for floor-to-ceiling windows, chimneys, etc.) and it gets really tricky in hallways and staircases, especially if the stairs are not yet installed and you don’t know how they will be attached (we learned about that later...).
Still, it’s a manageable DIY task.
PS: The procurement and delivery time is basically included in the total time. It’s not easy getting all those packages up just using a ladder.

As you know, I'm not much of a DIY person – today we cut a countertop and installed a sink. It wasn’t very difficult, but the whole Sunday afternoon was gone (well, we also had some cake and coffee).
Yesterday we did the shopping and assembled a table.
Now the weekend is over, and we have a fantastic countertop in the utility room… my point is, don’t underestimate this. Especially if you’re busy with work and feel like you need the weekend to recover, or at least part of it, I would recommend keeping any housebuilding work to a minimum.

If you are truly skilled in craftsmanship, you can talk to your electrician and do the chases and drilling for the electrical boxes yourself. It’s a dusty task, but not technically difficult, and it can save you quite a bit.

Likewise, plastering over the flush-mounted boxes afterward is something we also did ourselves throughout the whole house, following the electrician’s instructions.

Payday schrieb:
So you just know how many rooms there are and what their features are (for example, a 45° wall requires a bit more effort). Of course, the square meters are fixed, but special cutouts do take some extra time (e.g., floor-to-ceiling windows, chimney, etc.) and it gets really interesting in the hallway and on the stairs if the stairs aren’t installed yet and you don’t know how they will actually be fixed (we figured that out later...). Still, a manageable amount of DIY work.
PS: procurement and transportation basically add to the total time as well. It’s not easy getting all those packages up a ladder.

No, but over the past two years, I have glued about 300 square meters (3,229 square feet) of parquet, laid around 60 square meters (646 square feet) of vinyl, and installed quite a bit of laminate. So, as an amateur craftsman, I can estimate quite well what is feasible and what isn’t. A 45-degree wall doesn’t really require more effort than a straight wall. Also, projections or similar features can be handled quite quickly. Laminate, especially, which is very easy to cut with a laminate cutter or vinyl simply with a utility knife, goes incredibly fast. For example, I spent one day working on the vinyl—including cutting around old chimney shafts, making cutouts for heating pipes, and dealing with uneven walls (1960s vintage building).

By the way, you didn’t mention that you also had to carry the materials, so none of us could have known. That certainly changes how you should view the time involved.

It’s all very subjective...

For example, I glued down all the hardwood flooring throughout our house...installed some of the electrical wiring and all the media cables...spackled over all the chases...connected and programmed the entire KNX system...purchased and installed some of the sanitary fixtures...connected the ventilation system and handled the plumbing in the utility room...and then, together with a painter friend, covered the whole house with painter’s fleece and applied multiple coats of paint...

However, I wouldn’t want to touch the tiling or drywall work myself...those are better left to professionals who are usually faster and achieve a better finish.

You can do the work you’re skilled at yourself...otherwise, in the end, you don’t really save money and just end up with problems...as is often shown on the many homebuilding TV shows.