Unexpected Home Damage Happens, Now What?

 Your home should be a reliable shelter, but time, accidents and natural occurrences can compromise its stability. Whether a storm damaged the roof or a plumbing malfunction flooded your flooring, dealing with home damage can be stressful, costly and time-consuming. You're not alone as you take on home repair. Helpful resources, convenient lenders and professional experts can all guide you through a home-repair crisis.


Assess the Damage

The first step in repairing home damage is diagnosing the problem. A hole in the wall may look like simple drywall patchwork on the surface, but underlying electrical and structural issues could pose a threat to your home's stability.

Professional consultants can clearly identify comprehensive repair needs. Sites like homeadvisors.com, give you hundreds of consulting service providers to help you with damages. These trained professionals can guide you toward realistic do-it-yourself opportunities and more extensive professional repairs. Some even offer a free initial consultation. If you're just looking for a few tips, the Internet is loaded will helpful resources. Diynetwork.com gives you step-by-step video descriptions of everyday assessments and repairs, including lawn sprinklers, replacement hardwood floor repair, and earthquake-related troubles. Before you strap on the tool belt or hire a repair team:

Understand the extent of the damage

Determine what projects you can realistically complete and what you'll need to contract out.

Determine Cost

It's one thing to know what you need to repair your home, but creating an appropriate budget is an entirely different battle. The parts and labor required to complete home repair projects can quickly add up, so you don't want to embark on a repair without a detailed budget.

Repair contractors offer upfront quotes and estimated completion times. Collecting a few quotes can give you leverage to drive down costs. Do-it-yourself projects might save your labor fees, but can still require a significant investment. If your home doubles as an office, look into business credit card offers, which sometimes provide better rewards than consumer credit cards.

Consider Options

Once you have an idea of the repair requirements and cost, there are a few options to execute the repairs. Licensed contractors will save you the time effort and struggle associated with home repair, but labor costs will take a bite out of your budget. Repairing a home on your own saves you money and can be rewarding, but you may not have the expertise to tackle all of the problems.

Consider your prior experience as you decide to tackle a project. If the home repair involves unfamiliar techniques and tools, you may be setting yourself up for failure and frustration.

Hire a professional: while professional repairmen may charge a high-premium, the work they complete can be invaluable. Let's face it, there are some jobs you can't handle. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

You do it: if the project is manageable, strap on your tool belt and get your hands dirty. It might save you money.

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