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UK Households 'Full Of Unfinished Business'

15:36 Mon 24th May 2010 |

Whether it is putting up that shelf, fixing that leaky tap or something more adventurous it seems that our houses are full of DIY jobs that are half finished.

The research revealed that 1.7 million households have been living with an unfinished DIY or home renovation project for more than two years with bedrooms accounting for 38 per cent of all incomplete ventures. Almost quarter of a million households are so resigned to their ongoing DIY nightmare that they have lived with an unfinished project for more than ten years.

Homeowners are running the risk of invalidating their insurance policies as damage caused by sizeable DIY projects may not be covered by their existing home insurance deal. If an unqualified householder causes a fire with their faulty wiring or floods the house when installing a shower they may find they are left picking up the cost of any claim.

The head of underwriting at the firm said: "Employing a professional tradesperson can be an effective strategy to ensure work is completed on time, on budget and to an acceptable standard. Indeed, employing a qualified tradesperson to complete complex renovation projects is vital if householders don't want to risk invalidating their insurance policy if a problem occurs."

The most popular room in the house to have the DIY treatment is the bedroom with 38% of projects based there. Next on the list are kitchens, with 2.8 million of us living with unfinished kitchen refurbishments. A further 2.5 million British households are living with an unfinished bathroom.

While 73 per cent of UK homeowners have been inspired into doing DIY by television programmes, according to a leading investment firm, 16 per cent of them have had to call in experts to repair their efforts, costing an average of £280.

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