Surviving a Remodeling Project

Planning Ahead

Planning Ahead

The mess and inconvenience of remodeling are easier to handle if you're prepared.

Brace yourself. As bad as you think your home looks now, just wait until you see it au naturel with exposed studs, dangling electrical wires, and decades-old insulation flopping onto the floor.

Your mental and emotional health will fare much better if you're confident about the results. For that reason, take plenty of time to assess your needs and craft a design. Hire an architect and contractors you trust to do the job right. Visit other work sites so you can see what a remodeling job really looks like.

Sweat the small stuff.
Forget that baloney you read on book covers. In remodeling, it's all small stuff and it's all worth sweating. The key is to sweat about it during the planning stages and not while standing in the middle of the construction zone at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

Nature will call.
The most important rule of remodeling? Maintain at least one functioning toilet and faucet in your home at all times. If you must shut down all of your toilets for an extended period, plan on staying someplace else. The cost of the hotel room will seem cheaper with every flush.

It's not the cooking, it's the cleanup.
When deciding whether to overhaul the kitchen, your first concern may be cost, but your second concern should be how to feed the family during the process. Consider setting up a temporary kitchen with some small appliances such as a microwave and mini fridge in a separate room.

Protect the children.
Kids and power tools don't mix. Nor do kids and stacks of lumber, kids and exposed electrical wires, or kids and construction workers with jobs to do. Simple preventive measures, such as shutting doors and asking the workers to put their tools away, eliminate obvious dangers. Diversion tactics take care of the rest. Swimming lessons, trips to the park, and weeklong stays at Grandma's are great ways to keep the kids away from harm.

Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Construction dust is amazingly fine. Even if you seal off the work areas and have a back entrance for workers to come and go without tramping through the house, drywall dust will go everywhere. To head off post-construction dust, clean the rest of your house as frequently as possible during the project. Try to go over your home regularly with a vacuum and damp mop, regardless of whether debris is visible.