06 Feb How Do I Prepare for a Complete Home Remodel?
Home remodeling is always a great investment, but it can also pose a huge disruption to your daily routine. Construction workers in and out of your house, deafening noises from power tools, materials lying everywhere, and rooms that are temporarily off-limits … there are truly many aspects during a renovation that can affect your usual schedule and your way of life.
Although some chaos is normal for home remodeling, there are definitely steps you can take to mitigate the disorder and ensure your household is completely prepared before the project begins. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare.
Minimize Dust & Dirt
Even small-scale home remodeling projects that require little to no residential demolition (like tearing down walls, ripping up floorboards, installing new features, etc.) can kick up a lot of dust and dirt. Furniture, decorations, and other items directly in the splash zone (as it were) of the worksite may get coated in a fine layer of dust and residue.
To mitigate the “damage,” invest in large plastic sheets that you can use to painstakingly cover the objects you want to avoid dirtying. Alternatively, you can move some of the bigger pieces, like sofas, coffee tables, and rugs, into a separate room or storage area to keep them clean.
Put Small Decorations & Knick-Knacks in Storage
For home remodeling projects that will only take a few days to complete, sure; your picture frames, statuettes, arts-and-crafts masterpieces, flower vases, figurine collections, aromatherapy candles, and other cute, personal touches decorating your home can stay where they are for the duration of the remodel—especially if they’re far away from the renovation area.
However, if your project will go on for at least a week, it might be best to box up these knick-knacks and tuck them away. The vibrations from heavy remodeling equipment like hammers and drills may knock them over. Even if they’re a ways away from the main remodeling area, better safe than sorry.
Establish Temporary Spaces
It goes without saying that a room under renovation is pretty much inaccessible and unusable until it’s completed. You’ll have to take this into consideration when planning your schedule and daily routines for the duration of the home improvement project.
For instance, if the kitchen is going to be remodeled, set up a temporary food prep and cooking area in the dining room, living area, our outdoor kitchen. If you’re having your master bedroom and bathroom remodeled, move the things you absolutely need (clothes, toiletries, electronics and gadgets, work stuff) into the guest bedroom. The rest should be carefully packed up and stored away.
Inform Your Neighbors
Typical home remodels aren’t that noisy per se. Certainly, it can get a little loud—especially if heavy-duty machinery or minor demolitions are involved—but nothing too distracting or too detrimental. Still, it won’t hurt to let your neighbors know that you’re going doing some home remodeling, which means they can expect a fair amount of banging, crashing, hammering, and thumping coming from your property.
However, do keep in mind that professional home improvement contractors typically work during business hours unless absolutely necessary, so the chances of them waking someone up—or keeping someone up—are very slim.
Home remodeling can be quite the endeavor, so it’s always good to be prepared. These four little steps can mean all the difference between a hectic home remodel and a relatively smooth one.
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