Living in a home during renovation

[georgina]

Our remodel still hasn’t started.

Ours hasn't either. We signed the contracts before Thanksgiving, he estimated it would start no later than end of February, but though it could be earlier. It depends on when the crew is available to do the work. Once they start the crew just works on our project until it's finished (estimated 3 weeks, we'll see). We have the bathtub sitting in our garage awaiting installation. I got a call a few weeks ago that the tile manufacturer is no longer making matching bullnose pieces to cap off the tile, so we had to choose a different one.

 

[AustinTink]

Ours hasn't either. We signed the contracts before Thanksgiving, he estimated it would start no later than end of February, but though it could be earlier. It depends on when the crew is available to do the work. Once they start the crew just works on our project until it's finished (estimated 3 weeks, we'll see). We have the bathtub sitting in our garage awaiting installation. I got a call a few weeks ago that the tile manufacturer is no longer making matching bullnose pieces to cap off the tile, so we had to choose a different one.

Well I’m relieved to know I”m in good company. Sorry your project is delayed though. I honestly have started getting so anxious about the whole thing and questioning moving forward with this contractor.

 

[focusondisney]

Well I’m relieved to know I”m in good company. Sorry your project is delayed though. I honestly have started getting so anxious about the whole thing and questioning moving forward with this contractor.

Are you within the time frame the contractor gave you? As I mentioned before, we’re having a bathroom remodel done too. We’re using the contractor who did our family room. We signed the family room contract in early July 2018. That work didn’t start til mid December & went into January 2019. For this bathroom, we signed in June. We were warned when we called for an estimate that they were scheduling at least 15 months out. Our contract gives a 2 month window for starting ranging from late September to mid November, so 15-17 months after signing the contract, but we were given fair warning. The contractor is very popular, has an excellent reputation & has certain standards for the workers he hires. We were willing to wait because we know it will be quality work.

As far as messes, we just finished an unplanned project too. We took down some paneling we’ve had in the stairwell & upstairs & found the walls needed a lot of repairs. We hired a painting company to remove & repair the popcorn ceilings in both upstairs & downstairs halls, repair the walls, replace the doors to the bedrooms & bathroom & paint everything, including the stair railings & spindles. The owner warned us removing the popcorn it would be messy & dusty when they had to smooth the walls. The finished results are great but we were disappointed in the crews efforts to contain the mess. The daily cleaning was very basic. The plastic sheeting used to separate the wasn’t even as thick as a garbage bag. It blew around every time they came in or out of the house & they were careless when removing it & their drop cloths. My husband & I vacuumed both halls & the stairs every day, so we didn’t track the mess into our bedrooms or family room. They finished Wednesday. We still spent 8 hours on Thursday cleaning every room in the house. I’m glad our upcoming bathroom remodel will be more contained & I know that contractor’s workers will be more respectful of the rest of our home. Dealing with the mess is certainly hard. Its one big reason we’ve put major remodels off so long.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I don't know how I just saw this.

We did three bathroom remodels (two full/one half) between 2020-2021. We went one bathroom at a time so that we always had a working shower. We started with the kids' bathroom. I honestly cannot recall how long it took, but we stored some things in my home office while that reno was going on. Obviously, relying on one shower was not fun, but we got used to it after a couple of weeks and made it easier with a loose schedule. I don't know why, but coping with it came easier after everything was ripped out. Like seeing a totally unusable room made the experience more palatable. The master bath reno took the longest just because it was a much bigger bathroom. Our half bath was the easiest and least disruptive. My only regret was using our contractor friend. He messed up several things to the point that we're going to have to redo some big things with both of the full baths.

To make it easier, I’d recommend finding a good spot to store stuff you’re keeping that’s out of the way. It’s also a great opportunity to get rid of stuff that’s currently stuffed away in bathroom closets and cabinets. We also squared away a spot in the garage for supplies. One of our bigger headaches was a neighbor complaining about the debris, which led to several frustrating discussions with the HOA. Beyond that…it can get really loud and messy in the demo phase. I found myself in noise canceling headphones at times. We also had to stay mindful of keeping things in place to protect floors near the work zones.

 

[HannaBelle]

We signed a contract in May 2023 to add 320 square feet to our house. The contractor did not get started until mid-September. We added a pottery studio space for me, shifted our guest room over, enlarged the guest room and enlarged our laundry room. It was an absolutely horrible experience. I am an extremely tidy person as well, I enjoy having a home free of clutter and dust. I was absolutely miserable for the entire project.

Our contractor did put up plastic but they did not clean up, they left food trash in our yard and garage, and then acted like we were unreasonable for complaining because it was a construction site. They were supposed to be done the first weekend in November, we mutually parted ways on Dec 27th and my husband and I hired subcontractors to finish the project. The final piece was completed last week.

I would recommend renting an air scrubber for your house while they are working and to take up drinking. I won't ever do this again.

 

[SteveH]

Based on your concern for your health, I'd encourage you to find an off-site place to live if at all possible.

We pulled all our flooring, did kitchen and bath counters, shower and full paint. Thankfully, we had an RV, it was a long 4 weeks, but thankful we were out of the house during the construction. We rented an air scrubber during construction, then had our ducts cleaned and finally after everything was completed we had a cleaning crew come in to give everything a once over before we moved our household items back in.

 

[HannaBelle]

Based on your concern for your health, I'd encourage you to find an off-site place to live if at all possible.

We pulled all our flooring, did kitchen and bath counters, shower and full paint. Thankfully, we had an RV, it was a long 4 weeks, but thankful we were out of the house during the construction. We rented an air scrubber during construction, then had our ducts cleaned and finally after everything was completed we had a cleaning crew come in to give everything a once over before we moved our household items back in.

We had a post construction clean, but need to have the air vents done. My house is especially dusty lately.

It sounds like y'all had a great plan!

 

[georgina]

My bathroom is almost done. The majority of the work took 3 weeks, I moved to the bedroom/bath on the next floor up for the construction time. The dust wasn't as bad as I expected. Still waiting on a custom mirror, shower glass wall, and them to replace a couple of wall tiles that got chipped in the installation (not sure how they missed that while installing).

 

[SteveH]

@HannaBelle - Thanks we really tried to plan it out, and had some great advice from friends and a contractor

 

[AustinTink]

We changed contractors a while back before any work had started. We had a new start date in a few weeks but just got some bad medical news today that will push back our start date once again.

It feels like the remodel will never happen.

 

[SteveH]

@AustinTink I hate to say it but that's the norm right now - it sucks but sadly its how things seem to be going for more projects - I'd got a roofing, carpet and painting project and all have been delayed for one reason or another. The only one that's on time and under budget was a low voltage IT project - gotta celebrate the wins when you can. Hang in there.

 

[luisov]

I recommend hiring someone to clean the house every few days, if not even daily.
I renovated a few rooms in my office space in Lafayette last year. In the other rooms, the staff kept working. So, I hired a commercial cleaning company to clean up the area while the renovation took place. In that way, it was clean for the others.
Used the services of Going Green Commercial Cleaning, if someone might need it. Search in your area and hire such services, only residential. They'll keep the rest of your house manageable by regularly cleaning up and maintaining a sanitary environment amidst the chaos of renovation.

 

[AustinTink]

I recommend hiring someone to clean the house every few days, if not even daily.

This is scary to read. Housecleaners charge $250 to clean a home in this area. I will be cleaning the house myself and will hire a crew to come in at the end for a one-time clean.

 

[Kameron Milne]

This is scary to read. Housecleaners charge $250 to clean a home in this area. I will be cleaning the house myself and will hire a crew to come in at the end for a one-time clean.

I think if a person has enough money - go on, hire someone. But when I can do sth myself, I do it myself. Cleaning the house is not so hard. I would handle it myself, although it is very time-consuming. On the other hand, I always hire professionals where I know I'm not handy enough.

 

[AustinTink]

Update: Still haven’t started our renovation. It’s laughable at this point.