THE WASHINGTON POST.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2019EZ10
BY SARA CLEMENCEW
hen Sara Kate Gillingham decided to
install an outdoor pizza oven at her
Upstate New York house, she didn’t call a
specialist. Gillingham, who is co-founder
of the Brooklyn cooking school the Dyna-
mite Shop, considers herself handy, and
she liked the sense of ownership and accomplishment that
would come with making the oven herself — especially in
time for her 40th birthday party.
Gillingham “nerded out” on wood-burning ovens, read-
ing books and watching countless YouTube videos, she says.
“There’s so much information online, it’s kind of dizzying.”
A few sites suggested that with the help of a few friends,
an oven could be built in a weekend from a “put this in
quotes,” she says, “kit.” The components, including fire
brick, perlite and the oven dome in four pieces, would be
delivered on a pallet, ready for assembly.
That turned out not to be the case. She discovered that
the oven needed a two-foot-deep foundation. In April, two
months before her birthday, “we went out and started
digging with shovels, in sneakers,” Gillingham says. After
hitting roots, she decided t o hire a professional. And though
she wanted to maintain a sense of having completed the
oven herself, putting the pieces together was so difficult
Gillingham brought in a mason to help finish the job.
“I love it, so I can’t complain,” she says. Still, “I had all
these dreams of an outdoor kitchen. Eventually, we’ll do
that, but this thing stopped me in my tracks.”
The Internet — and cable television — increasingly makes
DIY seem like NBD (no big deal). Yo uTube is packed with
videos on everything from tiling a backsplash to building
your own tiny house for under $2,000. And in most cases,
they make it look easy. On many home-improvement shows,
hosts turn shambolic buildings into stylish abodes in 22
minutes flat.
Little wonder that Americans are increasingly finding
DIY appealing. With s ome t ime and sweat, homeowners can
save money, l earn new skills and (theoretically) ensure t heir
project turns out exactly the way they want it to. They even
get the bragging rights that come with designing their own
deck or redoing the kitchen.
But there’s a reason some people say DIY really stands for
“destroy it yourself.” C ountless homeowners have had to l ive
with projects that didn’t turn out as they’d hoped, spent
much more time or money than they anticipated, or had to
hire someone to take over. Worse, some people have
unwittingly caused major damage to their homes, made
modifications that violated building codes or put their
safety at risk.A shocking experience
Even careful, experienced homeowners can unwittingly
put themselves in harm’s way.
In the early 1990s, Laura Sampson bought her parents’COVER STORYDIY: Do it
yourself or
destroy it
yourself?
Home improvement can look easy on TV.
But with some plans, proceed with caution.ILLUSTRATIONS BY ISTOCK