Special Report: Preventing "Do It Yourself Disasters"

Carole Donavan, Homeowner
"We chose to do it on our own."

Carole Donavan and her husband who live in North Grafton thought a stone patio would be perfect for their back yard.

Carole Donavan, Homeowner
"We were expecting to get some pallets of rocks, place them down, fill it with sand and that’s the end of that."

Fern Bussun, Homeowner
"We thought we could paint."

Fern Bussun and her husband wanted to paint paneling inside their Sudbury home.

Fern Bussun, Homeowner
"Bob said we had to fill in all of those cracks first."

But like thousands of do-it-yourself projects, these quickly turned into big headaches.

Carole Donavan, Homeowner
"We ended up with three months of carting around rocks."

The Donavans mistake was buying two pallets of stones, which were not the same thickness.

Carole Donavan, Homeowner
"We have a rock this high, the next rock was this high. They were up and down, up and down, all over like that."

Fern and Bob's mistake was spending 20 hours covering up wood paneling only to find out it needed to come down.

Bob Bussun, Homeowner
"It was an admirable idea, but it didn't work."

Not all do-it-yourself projects have to end in failure. Experts say if you follow a few recommendations you too can tackle most home improvement missions.

Do-it-yourself instructor Dan Lynch says your first step before any project should be research.

Dan Lynch, Do-it-yourself instructor
"Go online, come to a store, either rent or purchase a video."

If you're going to do this yourself, make sure you have plenty of time.

Dan Lynch, Do-it-yourself instructor
"Just in case you run into problems."

Lynch also says you need to know your limitations.

Dan Lynch, Do-it-yourself instructor
"You wanna weigh your abilities against the complexity of the job."

And most importantly, if you have questions, speak up.

Dan Lynch, Do-it-yourself instructor
"When in doubt or when in trouble, ask."

Fern and Robert have their own advice.

Fern Bussun, Homeowner
"Above all, try to keep your sense of humor"

Don’t forget, leave the heavy plumbing and major electrical work to the pros. In this case, if you make a mistake it could be more than a headache; it could be dangerous.