Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

DH and I are closing on our house soon and the 2 major things we want to do first are to pull up the carpets and have the hardwood floors refinished AND also take down the wallpaper and repaint everything. Which of the 2 jobs would you do yourself and which would you hire out? Keep in mind, we are due to have our first baby in about 4 weeks!

Message edited 9/10/2009 8:36:35 PM.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Message edited 11/29/2011 4:17:01 PM.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Although it's a PITA, I can take off wallpaper and I can paint.

Carpet and hardwood floors. I have no clue. I feel this is really a professional job to do it correctly. I see too many shows of people doing a crapola job on installing their own floors or ruin the floors with a rental sander.

ETA: removing carpet is easy though. You just cut in section of 3-4 ft. Just make sure not to scratch the floor underneath with the cutter especially if you have hardwood floor underneath. Also it's a PITA to remove those tack strips.

Message edited 9/10/2009 8:43:31 PM.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I would definitely do the painting! I would NOT recommend doing the floors yourself....one can very easily ruin hardwood and then it can turn into a huge expense to fix! Good luck!

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

DEFINATELY the painting! I wouldnt know where to start with the floors.

DH and I just bought a house and are doing the painting ourselves. that is the only thing we really can say we "know" how to do...

GOOD LUCK!!!

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I agree with the others, hire out the floors.

Removing wallpaper and painting is easy compared to floors. The wallpaper may be a PITA depending on the type/wall you have but the painting part is pretty easy. Just make sure you get a good brand that goes on well, good rollers and a good brush for the trim.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I'd rip up carpet yourself, and pay to have floors refinished for sure.

Wall paper and paining - we're in the same boat. DH is going to try it and if its too much, then hire someone. Esp. since you only have a few weeks before baby, you may end up hriing someone to finish or just do the rooms that need to be done right away. Good luck!

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I just want to warn you that painting over walls where wall paper was removed is not that simple. My mom hired out for that when she had house redone. Depending on what kind of glue they used for the wall paper and how old it is, it can leave residue on the wall. You might have to do some light sanding. In my mom's case, she had to have all the walls spackled and sanded for a smooth finish before painting. I guess you'll have a better idea once you remove the wall paper. Maybe peel off a corner to see what the wall looks like underneath.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Whoever does the painting (you, DH, a pro), make sure you use no VOC or very low VOC paints, especially with DC coming soon.

I would tear out the carpet myself, the walls myself, and leave the wood floor refinishing to a pro.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

DH is a carpenter and he put in all new HW floors himself but we are paying someone else to sand and re-fininsh them----it's easier to let someone else do it. DH likes to do everything himself, so if HE's paying someone to sand and re-finish the floors, there's a reason! I ripped up all of the carpet myself.

Painting isn't fun, but it's do-able.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Rip up the carpets and the molding yourself - that will save you money - most places charge to do that.....

Leave the hardwoods to the pro's....

Rip the wallpaper down yourselves....if you are in a crunch for time or you think it's going to be too much of a job to do the painting then hire it out....but at least try removing the wallpaper - that will save you some cash....

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I'd remove carpet, wallpaper and do the painting myself.

Refinishing floors - hire out.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

If you have to do some yourselves & hire out some b/c you only have 4 weeks, I would do the following:

* Rip up carpet yourself
* Hire floors to be refinished

* Hire to have wallpaper removed (if it's more than one room)
* Paint yourself

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

You do the painting and removal of wallpaper (I did it with a 5 week old).

Have someone else do the floors.

Message edited 9/11/2009 1:41:17 PM.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I became the queen of wallpaper removal at our house...while my DH was the master painter (along with his dad who is actually a -retired- painter). While we ripped up the carpet in the one room that had it, we hired someone to refinish our floors. Neither of us were comfortable with taking on that job. We did it before we actually moved anything into the house so it worked out perfect for us.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

carpets are pretty easy to do yourself (you just have to roll it up into 4 ft lengths for the garbage - and go around pulling out all the staples), but I would have someone refinish the floors.


I would try taking down the wallpaper and paint, but if it became too much, I would consider hiring someone - although wallpaper removal is expensive.

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

I pay someone to do anything in our house. DH is NOT handy!

I'm reminded of this everyday until I have someone fix the paint in our bedroom

Re: Which would you do yourself and which would you hire out...

Sometimes removing wallpaper can be a pain. (One of my friend's kitchens had about four layers of wallpaper ). But removing wallpaper and painting are far easier to do on your own than refinishing floors IMO.

Message edited 9/12/2009 1:14:39 PM.