Moving into a new home is a breathless adventure all of its own – albeit one stippled with stress, pain and more anxiety than you’ve ever felt otherwise. Fun as moving can be, it is also something a great many of us would never wish to try again if injuries occur.
By this token alone, redecorating your home to more intimately match your décor sensibilities is a must. Of course, decorating is not simply a shrewd move to disincentivise moving again; it is also a hugely important part of making your house your home, and giving you something to look exist happily and comfortably in for years to come. But decorating is no simple matter, either. There are some important things to bear in mind as you pick up your drill or paintbrush, in order to keep you and your home safe while you work.
Tools for the Job
Let’s start with tools. No DIY task should be approached willy-nilly, even if it is a low-stakes job like hanging a shelf. To start, you need to know you have the tools and materials necessary to work – and to work safely, at that.
This extends beyond simply selecting the right tools for a given task. You should also be sure that the tools you’re using are up to code, else you could find yourself injured due to faulty equipment; the resulting civil claim process might see you compensated for your experience, but it should go without saying that the better outcome would be a completed DIY task and no injury!
PPE
PPE, or personal protective equipment, is a must-have for DIY projects. You’re most likely to see PPE on construction sites and in the workplace, on account of the PPE at Work Regulations 1992 – but their legal requirement on job sites is because of their efficacy at protecting you from serious injury. Gloves and safety glasses are the most basic forms of PPE you should have at home, being protective where drilling and sawing is concerned; you might also consider steel-toe capped boots to protect your toes from potential crush injuries.
Working with Electricity
Working with domestic electricals can be at once easy and hard; while replacing plug sockets and light switches can be simple as anything, these tasks – and anything more complex – can also be fatally dangerous. To this end, you might benefit from leaving electrical work to the professionals altogether. And if you’re drilling into walls, make certain there are no electrical wires behind where you’re drilling!
