It looked so easy on the Home Improvement Show, but the thinset is drying way faster than you thought, the tile isn’t laying flat or sticking to the wall, and your house is torn apart. The project quickly became overwhelming.
I have been there many times with my father colorfully expressing his unhappiness of a product’s quality or usefulness. It was almost never the product, it was the applicator.
I grew up in a household where move every 3-5 years was the norm. My parents would buy a fixer upper, use child labor to fix it up, and then sell it for a larger house. When they (by they, I mean mainly me) were not working on their house, they loaned me out to my uncle that did the same things, as well as friends. Installing a roof near Lake Mead in Arizona in mid August was not very fun. We got that roof done fast so we could get into the lake. I have been seeing people get overwhelmed on projects my whole life.
I have also seen the poor work done by “House Flippers” more than I care to remember. SANDING asbestos popcorn ceiling. When it was banned in California in 1977, there was still a supply of this and was used well into the 1980’s, however, if you are sanding a 1960’s house with a Popcorn Ceiling, STOP. Many do not know Asbestos is in popcorn. When I bought a home in 2005, the owner was adamant that the Popcorn Ceilings was not Asbestos. He was half right. The layer he sprayed over the original layer was not Asbestos; buyer beware, test if not sure. Asbestos is in a lot of things people are not aware of. The most disturbing thing I see on the Home Improvement Shows is the “Demo Day.”
Crashing through the Drywall or Plaster making the biggest mess possible; looks like a lot of fun, until it’s time to clean it up. Asbestos is in many Joint Compounds (the paste used to hide the seams in drywall) and there is a lot of lead paint as well (also used well past 1978, the year it was banned). Both should be handled a specific way.
There is no way for all DIYers to know all the risks before they start a project, but when they do need help, I am happy to step in and help. If that involves advice on how to finish, or taking over the project, we will do whatever is possible to help.