We have all seen these signs before. It might be a neighbor who is trying to remove some hundred-year-old plumbing on his own, not knowing the disaster he is creating. You might have even tried to fix that roof on your own one summer, not realizing how close you came to sliding down the roof and ending it all.

Home improvement projects come in all sizes and a few of them are so big and so dangerous that we really need to know when to admit defeat and bring in the pros. Here are some good examples of the kind of repair projects I mean when I say these are not in my list of DIY happy pastimes.

Switching Your Gas Service

I would say that when you are messing with anything that involves something flammable like propane tanks or shifting out a gas line, call in the pros. Companies like Lingas out in the Kentucky area are professionals who have brought in tanks to farms in several neighboring states as well. While I am a pretty handy guy and have done my share of work around the house, this is the kind of stuff I leave well enough alone.

Roofs

If all you need to do is a bit of patching I am sure that you can climb up a ladder and take care of it. Running a garden hose over the offending leaky area can even help you to pinpoint the source of the leak. But if we are talking about putting in a whole new roof, you better have been a roofer in another life to tackle this baby.

It is hard dangerous work and isn’t just sweaty; it can get you killed or seriously injured. Call the locals and let them get up there with the pitch on a sweltering hot summer day. You can hand them up the lemonade if you really want to help.

Sewer Lines

Every once in a while, we run across a problem that is just so big it doesn’t just involve our own mess, it brings the neighbors into it as well. Messed up sewer lines are like that, only worse. You may start with what seems to be a simple problem of a backed-up sink. Before you know it, you are tracing lines across your front yard and into the neighbors.

What is worse, you may end up digging up something far more dangerous than a simple sewer line, as gas lines can often run nearby. So, don’t take chances. The moment that plumbing problem moves beyond your snake taking on a mess, call the experts who know how to track this sucker down.

As you can see from these three examples, most of these kinds of problems start off as something you can usually tackle on your own. You may find yourself going along fine, and before you know it you are up to your armpits in alligators and the house looks like a bomb went off in it. Just walk away slowly, grab your phone, and call in the experts to pick up where you left off. Some days, being a real man is knowing when that job is just a mite too big for you and letting the guys with the insurance for this tackle it.