Home renovation projects can be fun and exciting since you have to choose the designs, plan out a budget, and all related activities. However, living through a home renovation or construction project can be an absolute nightmare.
Seeing your new home come to life is exciting, but the constant hammering noises, chainsaw buzzes, and nails being pounded are sure to disrupt you and your family’s lives. Excessive sounds can even cause a headache and make you feel agitated. Here in St. Louis, home renovations and constructions are very common.
To help you survive renovation projects and witness your dream house become a reality, here are six tips you should always consider-
1. Be Prepared For A Change Of Things
Your renovation project may require days or weeks. Whatever the case, there will always be banging noises and the presence of outside people in your home during the daytime. Some renovation can even require people to work overtime during the night.
Even if no people are working at night, you will still have a messy house and sawdusts to live through. You have to accept this change. This can even trigger your OCD, but you have to bear it till the project ends.
If it is a kitchen or bathroom remodeling, you will not be able to use those rooms for days. If it’s your bedroom, then you may have to find someplace else to stay. It may be different, it may feel uncomfortable, but you will have to accept it, understand it is only temporary, and be flexible.
And wherever you are hiring the experts for these projects, make sure they are reputable. For instance, if you are hiring electricians in St Louis, make sure they are trustworthy and have the license and accreditation to do the job.
2. Find A Place To Stay
For full-scale renovations, you have to find a place to stay. It can be your friends or family’s house.
But if it is a small renovation, such as a single room project, then you have a choice. You can either move out for a few days or stay inside and live around the construction.
But be aware of all the distractions. The noises, the dust, extra people, adjustments, and all that can be overwhelming. If you have other work to attend to, have online meetings, presentations then it is best to move out.
If you do not have a place to crash close by, then rent out a hotel room or Airbnb for a few days.
3. Ensure Protection Against Residues
Here in St. Louis, especially in the countryside, there are plenty of houses built during the early 70s. The house constructed back then looks impressive, but there is also a chance they contain asbestos.
Asbestos can be inside the siding or cement of the house. It can also be inside the floor tiles, ceilings, water pipes, cabinet tops, and shingles. And if it is not correctly taken care of, things can get dangerous. Asbestos is a harmful component and can easily crumble and become airborne.
And if it gets crumbled, it will be exposed to open air. Once this asbestos gets exposed to open air, it becomes extremely dangerous as it can get inside our respiratory system when we inhale the indoor air.
Asbestos only gets exposed if the area containing it is damaged, drilled, or disrupted without precaution. Professionals usually quickly respond to the situation and create a safe working environment to ensure asbestos does not get out.
Other than asbestos, you should also be concerned with dust and other residues. You have to take some precautions to make sure your place stays comfortable and livable.
Take down your curtains before the work begins since curtains often collect tons of dust. If there are large immovable objects, then try covering them. Cover things like sofas, beds, and other items with cushions if you can not carry them out of the house.
4. Clear Out Your Belongings In The Right Time
Whether it is an extensive renovation project or a small one, your entire house will be affected. Even if it’s a bathroom renovation, your other rooms will be affected.
The most annoying parts will be dealing with dust and sawdust. No matter how much you cover up, dust will find its way to every corner of the house. So there is some stuff you must clear out before the project begins.
Clear out any picture frames, breakable objects like plates, decorative items, showpieces, and other expensive things. Sometimes workers can be held liable if they accidentally break something. But it is better to take precautions as some items are irreplaceable and carry sentimental value for you.
You would not want to get into an argument during the whole renovation process. You can check out storage space from Red Dot Storage, Public Storage, or grandslamstorage.com in St. Louis to rent a space to put away your valuables during the renovation projects.
5. Clear Out Your Closet & Cabinets
If you think you will take out just what you need from your closet, you are wrong.
More often than not, you will need something else you didn’t think of at the time of packing. It’s better to clear out everything you need or at least take half of the things from your closet and put them in safe storage solutions like lightweight bins, storage boxes, rolling cloth racks, or drawers on wheels.
This also helps keep the place clean during the remodeling process.
6. Create A Second Kitchen
A kitchen renovation is arguably the most stressful project you will encounter. Kitchen renovations are also time-consuming, so you will be detached from your kitchen for days, if not weeks.
In that case, you will have to get a second place to deal with all your cooking needs. You will have to create a temporary kitchen for your family during the entire construction phase.
To create your temporary kitchen, make sure to bring in a refrigerator, plates, pots, pans, and a microwave oven. During the renovation phase, your food habit may also change. Try eating more salads since they will be easy to make in your temporary kitchen.
Salads are also a healthy alternative to your regular food and will reduce your stress levels until the renovation is done and dusted.
Final Thoughts
Plan early, find a place to stay and make sure you are comfortable with all these changes. Otherwise, your dream project is just going to get in your way and potentially piss you off.