This whole week, we’ll be discussing various measurement techniques for your DIY home improvement projects.
Why Measurements Are Important for DIY Home Improvement Projects
Tile, carpeting, wood floors, concrete, drywall, countertops, and many other materials require quality, accurate measurements. However, each material uses a unique measurement system. For example, carpeting is typically measured in square yards. Tile can be square feet or sometimes by “each” or the number of tiles needed. You order concrete by the cubic yard. It’s important to know how to measure and quantify the material your using for your home improvement project.
More specifically, you need to understand how to take accurate measurements for the following reasons.
- Double-check your contractor: Suppose you hire a contractor to help you with your DIY home improvement project. You need to create your own estimate of the quantity of material to compare to what the contractor charges you for material. Of course, it helps to understand unit costs of materials, but it’s not necessary. Your number and the contractor’s number will never be the same, but if the contractor’s charging you for twice as much material as you estimated, there needs to be an explanation for why. Maybe you missed an entire section of material (I’ve missed flooring tile for an entire bathroom remodel). Maybe the contractor accidentally doubled the quantity take-off. Regardless of the reason, if you have your own estimate of the amount of materials, you can better assess the costs and budget for your project.
- Ordering materials: Even when doing your own home improvement projects, you need to accurately measure the quantity of material you need to buy/order from the home improvement store. There will always be a “waste factor” calculated into your figure (we’ll talk in more detail about waste factors for the rest of the week), so you will have enough material, but not too much. Some materials you can return and some you cannot, so you want to be sure you order appropriately and don’t end up paying for a lot of material you won’t use.
- Building forms and structures: When you’re setting posts for a fence, creating formwork for a concrete pad, or any other formwork or structure you need to know how to properly measure the form and structure; not only for size but also for squareness, plumb, and so on.
For all these reasons and the fact that good measurements form the foundation for any DIY home improvement project, we need a good, solid understanding of measurements.
Tomorrow, we’ll start with square feet and how to properly take square feet measurements and when to use square feet measurements.
Measurement Series Posts:
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
One incy wincy mistake in the measurement can cause a huge flaw in the end. Make sure that you measure things right. Don't just measure it once. You have all the time in the world to double check. Just my two cents. =D
I totally agree with you, Javier. I read a lot of folks who tried to do their flooring, DIY-style, without even measuring the size of the tiles being used, as well as the total measurement of the room. They had to go back and forth to the tile store because they kept on running out of floor tiles. When they were finally done, they still have a lot of tiles left. See how much time and money you'll be able to save if you just be diligent about measuring?