Living in a home during renovation

[Skippy918]

We recently finished our primary bathroom remodel. The dust gets everywhere. They did use the plastic sheeting in our closet which is on the other side of the bathroom and they put plastic sheeting between the bed and entrance to the bathroom. The demo is loud especially if they are going to be jackhammering the foundation. Hopefully you found good contractors that give you a schedule so you know the timing of things. Our 6 week Reno turned into 4 months.
it was worth it cause our new bathroom is amazing.

 

[tvguy]

The second time was just the "wet" area (tub and surround) but it took the bathroom out of commission for a few days. We decided to change the way the tub and surround were configured so that second one was all our fault but we are looking to move in a year or two so wanted to correct the mistake before the house went on the market.

That was the challenge I faced when I sold my parents house. All the realtors I interviewed to list it said to leave the pink 1960's bathroom tile and flooring alone because it showed how well the house had been cared for. And if I redid it, odds are it would not be to the liking of a potential buyer so it could hurt not help. I sold it with multiple offers in 17 days. The buyer, and investor who spent over $100,000 remodeling, and then relisted it and it took them 13 months and multiple price cuts to sell it.

 

[evilmommie]

We've built 3 homes and renovated 3 homes. Just went through a 2nd floor remodel on our CA house. Our builder did an amazing job keeping the job site clean. That said, dust gets everywhere even when there are good barriers put up. Good luck. LOL

 

[#1hoosierfan]

In the 11 years we have lived in this house (built in 1978) we have done 3 “big” renovations…. Upstairs, main level (mostly kitchen) and the basement. Spreading it out helped with cost and living thru it but also spread out the aggravation.

The most inconvenient was the kitchen, but we did not do a “to the studs” reno so that helped. We couldn’t use the kitchen for about a week though, so we ate out or got take out.

The biggest pain was keeping track of our pets and making sure they did not let a dog or cat out.

 

[AustinTink]

Thank you all for the responses! I see a lot of “dust gets everywhere” comments. As I mentally prepare for this, I’m thinking about cleaning the aftermath. I don’t currently use a cleaning service but many need to hire someone to help after the remodel.

Did any of you hire a service to do a deep clean after the remodel was done? I’m expecting it to be expensive but just a drop in the bucket compared to the remodel itself.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We haven't done a remodel but we did new construction. Most of the dust in our case was something in the duct work that would get through to various parts of the house through that and from the walls over time dust and whatnot falling to the floor/in the air. They gave us the warning that for a few months after expect more of this and to check the HVAC filter a bit more frequently for replacement in those first few months but again our house was brand new construction.

I don't think a cleaning service is bad to do if it makes you feel better to get the crud the workers brought in but if you're going down to the studs and materials are being brought in and out of the house I would expect residual construction stuff to be around even after that for a bit.

But a caveat I know the impact to our house would be less if it was our main level bathroom which is located right across from the garage door even with the downstairs main air return being right there it would still be less overall but if they were redoing our master bath upstairs it would impact a lot more with the floors, the carpet, the walls, etc so that may be a consideration for your particular house.

 

[NotUrsula]

If I were you I'd go to a hotel or visit family for the demolition days; that's when the most dust gets stirred up, and it's also the messiest part, but it usually only lasts a couple of days.

Once the demo is over there is a lot less mess, though I suggest that if you're a neat freak you do your best NOT to look at the work area unless the workers need to show you something; you are going to itch to clean it, but you really should not move things in the workspace until the crew finishes up.

 

[focusondisney]

Our 6 week Reno turned into 4 months.

. Can I ask what caused such a delay? We’re having our only full bath redone next fall, 4 months would be a nightmare.

 

[barkley]

. Can I ask what caused such a delay? We’re having our only full bath redone next fall, 4 months would be a nightmare.

i can tell you what challenges we hit with ours-

tile sample at store was VERY different in coloration than actual tile order so we ended up having to select a different tile (or opt to change color scheme). luckily we ordered early so not as much of a delay as could have been,

co-ordinating different trades b/c certain things had to be done before trip #1 of the plumbers, then we had to be at another point before trip #2 of plumbers. plumbers were booking out 2-3 weeks so if something glitched and got delayed a day we were looking at them being pushed out and bringing everything to a stop.

honestly, even in the best of circumstances if someone is doing any kind of non off the shelf glass shower doors they are looking at many weeks beyond their bathroom's 'completion'. we had to wait until all the tile and entry area of the shower area was completed in order to have it laser measured for the frameless doors we wanted-once the measurements were done it was another 6 week wait for arrival AFTER which they would schedual installation (and they were booking a couple of weeks out).

 

[ronandannette]

. Can I ask what caused such a delay? We’re having our only full bath redone next fall, 4 months would be a nightmare.

Maybe it's something like our situation. Here, materials supply is somewhat of an issue but lack of labour availability is a GAMECHANGER. We rolled the dice on starting a fairly extensive reno after we moved into our new place. In a perfect world, it would have gone sequentially as we planned (I mean prayed) and should have taken 6 weeks - tops. We are now 3 months in and still with a ways to go on the kitchen/bathrooms, which means havoc for the entire house. It was due to short delays/disruptions in a whole bunch of things that then pushed other schedules back and the whole timeline just fell apart like a Jenga tower.

I'm a reasonably patient and calm person and DH and I are both industry professionals with direct connections to all our trades and suppliers - we KNOW how these things go. Even so, I'm almost at the end of my tolerance.

 

[focusondisney]

Maybe it's something like our situation. Here, materials supply is somewhat of an issue but lack of labour availability is a GAMECHANGER. We rolled the dice on starting a fairly extensive reno after we moved into our new place. In a perfect world, it would have gone sequentially as we planned (I mean prayed) and should have taken 6 weeks - tops. We are now 3 months in and still with a ways to go on the kitchen/bathrooms, which means havoc for the entire house. It was due to short delays/disruptions in a whole bunch of things that then pushed other schedules back and the whole timeline just fell apart like a Jenga tower.

I'm a reasonably patient and calm person and DH and I are both industry professionals with direct connections to all our trades and suppliers - we KNOW how these things go. Even so, I'm almost at the end of my tolerance.

Luckily mine is just bathroom. We’re using a popular contractor we’ve used before. They’re so popular they are scheduling 12-15 months out. For cost control & supply issues, they don’t wait to get supplies. I had my selection meeting about 3 weeks after we signed the contract. My custom cabinetry is already made. The flooring, counters, tub, etc are all purchased & being stored at the contractor’s warehouse until our job is started. The only thing I still have to pick out is paint colors. The labor issues are happening here too, it’s the reason this contractor has to schedule so far out… he can’t get enough crews up to his standards to keep up with demand.

 

[Skippy918]

. Can I ask what caused such a delay? We’re having our only full bath redone next fall, 4 months would be a nightmare.

Issues with the contractor. Between the lead person quitting post demo and the whole project got picked up by his boss. Then other delays with getting supplies and the tile install took forever. Then the finish work and having to come back and touch up stuff.

 

[LuvOrlando]

When we had work done finishing the basement I was warned about the dust so I went on a quest. I found a lot of heavy weight drop cloths climbed up on a ladder and stapled them up to the ceilings and as drop downs in hall openings to protect all our stuff & it worked like a charm, I just took it down when they were done and then it was just minor touch up work. Cover furniture with plastic drop cloths if you are not actively using it, try to keep windows open and vents off as much as you can when they are smashing things. Yes, they said they would do it but would they go to the lengths I did, I doubt it. Now there is a Scotch painting drop-cloth product with tape and decent knock offs so I might do that instead of staples.

I used this stuff for recent painting and it helped a lot, the Scotch was excellent but much more $ and this worked well enough.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088FCD39C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/ScotchBlue-P...31ZAv6mUxsSLOgtj5M6mmJeW0TxoCiJ8QAvD_BwE&th=1

Good luck, in my experience the extra work is worth it as it is easier to avoid breathing issues than resolve them once things get going :/

 

[Sweettears]

Worst 5 months of my life. Two story addition (not that big) plus a kitchen remodel. We spent the summer cooking on the grill and washing the dishes in tub. They promised the containment of dust but it was a joke.

 

[ronandannette]

Issues with the contractor. Between the lead person quitting post demo and the whole project got picked up by his boss. Then other delays with getting supplies and the tile install took forever. Then the finish work and having to come back and touch up stuff.

Ah yep - that all sounds pretty much like how things go off the rails, bit-by-bit. Glad it's all behind you now. Can't wait until ours is. The plumber is scheduled to arrive here in an hour and the old appliances are being picked up later today - hopefully we'll regain some traction and get rolling good again next week when work hours officially return to normal.

 

[barkley]

Maybe it's something like our situation. Here, materials supply is somewhat of an issue but lack of labour availability is a GAMECHANGER

that is a MAJOR issue in our region. beyond demand outpacing the normal supply we saw large numbers of retirements among older experienced trades over the last few years and with fewer young people going into these trades the pickings are slim.

there's a special place in heaven for the general contractor i connected with last summer. we discovered a structural problem with our deck that needed to be looked at. i called place after place trying to get someone to come out-noone was willing b/c they were booked out till year's end. finaly connected with one that was not even taking calls for bids until spring 2024 but the guy took pity on me when i said i just wanted to know if it was safe for us to so much as walk on or near it (afraid of collapse). he came out and evaluated it to ensure our safety (and gave me the name of one of the subcontractors he would use for the type of repairs needed, said to say i had been referred to see if they could slide me in at some point).

 

[_19disnA]

I would only choose a contractor who handles all of the coordination between trades for you. The LAST you want to be is some sort of sub-contractor or gate-keeper between the various trades. Not your job........you are the CUSTOMER. Let the contractor manage all of those communications and if they are experienced doing home remodeling they already know how to handle things. You don't want to be the person giving direction to the workers, that is the job of their boss.

With any type of remodeling we have done, I always stayed out of that or referred them to the person who was the lead.

 

[clh2]

We did a major Reno to our primary bath 2 years ago. not only did we go down to the studs, we also moved the door, so this also impacted our bedroom too.

1. As already mentioned, the plastic sheeting the contractors have is awesome. We were specific that this sheeting be put up in front of our walk-in. Closet, but we also had a way into the closet. We had no issues with dust getting in to closet.
2. My husband and I moved the guest bedroom furniture into our dining room, and then moved our primary bedroom furniture into the guest bedroom, this allowed the contractors to use the primary bedroom as a staging area. This worked great. the tile contractor was able to lay out several different options for how the tile would look on the floor in the bedroom.
3. we were not as concerned about the flooring (we we got new carpeting after this project), but our general contractor but down a brown paper on the floors from the front doors to the bedroom doors. The sub-contractors were great about keeping the mess to a minimum.
4. we removed all bedroom screens during the process, so dust wouldn’t land on them), and we also covered up the heating vents in primary bedroom as well as the cold air return vent.

We made 2 electrical changes once down to the studs, we realized an additional light was going to be needed ( we wouldn’t have realized this, but after the door was moved, it was obvious it was needed), and there was a perfect spot for an additional outlet. The additional costs for these 2 changes was $100.

Have fun! I love our new bathroom, it is so much more functional for my DH and me!

 

[Pillialle]

My family went through a similar experience a few years ago and it definitely takes some extra effort to keep things clean and manageable. One tip that worked well for us was to seal off the construction area with plastic sheeting to prevent dust and debris from spreading throughout the house. You can also invest in a good air purifier to help filter out any allergens. As for managing the materials, we found it helpful to label everything and keep a detailed inventory of all the supplies. This made it easier to keep track of things like window board sizes and other materials that we needed to order along the way.

 

[AustinTink]

Our remodel still hasn’t started.