Avoiding DIY Disaster: Q&A with Karl Champley

What's the most common mistake homeowners make when they start a construction project?

They fail to organize and don't do the necessary research. We had a couple on DIY to the Rescue that almost had a real disaster. While the husband was on a business trip, the wife used a sledgehammer to tear out two load-bearing walls.

Now, I salute her for having the guts to do it, but it caused the roof to sag and her kids were swinging on live electrical wires that were left dangling. She should have talked with a structural engineer who would have explained how to install temporary bracing and replace the wall with another load-carrying member. On the show, we installed a beam to carry the roof load safely to the outside walls, and we got an electrician to relocate the wiring.