What are the pros & cons of a DIY vinyl floor installation?

One of the hottest trends in home improvement projects is for homeowners to attempt the project themselves. Because installing vinyl flooring is often a fairly simple, direct process, going the DIY route can be a great way to save money, provided you have the requisite time and skills.

However, before you commit to installing your vinyl flooring without professional help, it’s important that you examine the pros and cons of this approach. Let’s start with DIY advantages:

• Labor: The biggest plus to handling your flooring project yourself is the lack of labor costs. You’re doing all the work, so that’s money left in your pocket that might have been spent on contractors.
• Low Stress: Contractor directed projects can be very disruptive to your life, with workers constantly moving in and out of your house. When you choose a DIY project, the labor can be completed at your discretion and at your convenience. However, see that installing the vinyl floor yourself might add you different kind of stress: the stress of self installation works: which mean you have to do all the work, including details, that oversaw a professional contractor with experience would do. He does it each day, you do it once (plus minus) in a lifetime. Therefore, we do not recommend jumping on DIY project without having experience or confidence that you can handle the labor, all installation details, and stress associated with DIY flooring project.
• Project Length: When you work with a contractor, there’s no guarantee that your project will be completed in your desired time frame. In contrast, DIY projects can be completed at the speed you want, assuming you 100% know what you doing. However, often DIY projects increase the overall length of your project due to unexpected issues which tend to come in large DIY projects like installing flooring.
• Pride: Successfully completing your vinyl flooring project yourself can give you a sense of accomplishment that you won’t get from a contractor driven installation. Yet might cost you with stress and project length.

• Errors: Because you might have experience with installing vinyl flooring, it’s very possible you will make a mistake during the course of your project. Not only will this increase your project’s length, it can also result in expensive repair costs. Project length, stress, and other factors will be significantly negatively affected by errors. TO avoid errors it is recommended to work with professionals, contractors or experienced DIY talents.
• Safety: Most home improvement projects are accompanied by clean up, sometimes involving materials that have to be disposed of in a special way. Contractors will be aware of how to handle these materials in the proper manner.
• Equipment: The equipment necessary to complete your vinyl flooring project may be very expensive and hard to come by. Your contractor, however, will have easy access to everything needed to complete your project.
• Legal Issues: Depending on the extent of your project, you may be required to obtain special permits or licenses before beginning. Contractors usually have a wealth of experience when it comes to acquiring the permits necessary for home improvement projects.

Resale Value

A question of many homeowners is how much a home improvement project will add to the value of their home. Unfortunately, installing vinyl flooring will not typically add value to your home. However, new flooring can act to attract buyers and may even be a selling point. Resale values are calculated case by case, and if your neighbors have old carpet floors and your apartment has new vinyl floor then your resale value will increase.