Tips for making your family as comfortable during a renovation

Renovating your home can be an exciting change for your family, bringing about new opportunities and areas to explore when improving or adding to your home.

At the same time, home renovation is also a terribly stressful process that can leave you pulling out your hair for months before the actual renovation and for weeks during and after the process, especially when you are organising the little things to make your family (including young children) as comfortable as possible.

Planning sooner is the best way to ensure that you will encounter the least amount of unforeseen difficulties and problems. Here are some tips to ensure that the renovation goes as well as possible for you and your family.

Where will you stay during the renovation?

The amount of prep work needed before and during the renovation will help you decide whether you can stay at home or live somewhere else during the renovation. If only a small area of the house is being renovated, you should still be able to go about your daily business at home. If the renovation includes gutting the walls, removing pipes, etc., you should find a temporary home. Consider renting an apartment, hotel room, or trailer. You can also ask a family member or close friend if you can live with them for a while.

If you do rent an apartment or hotel room, make sure you are financially sound to afford either option. To feel comfortable during your stay, look for a room with kitchen facilities so you can still cook for your family.

Reminders for every renovation

Find the right contractor. Take your time when it comes to finding the right contractor for your home renovation plan. They should be professional, credible, and proud of their work. There are some contractors who take advantage and build or renovate a room with poor workmanship or the wrong materials. Be sure that your contractor is someone who is trusted by past customers so that you and your family are assured that they will do a good job.

Have the right documents. To ensure that all goes well with the renovation, you will need the right documents, including a building permit in order to follow through with regulations in your city. The building permit will ensure that the renovation(s) are up to code as far as government, planning, heritage, and environmental requirements are concerned.

In some cases, it might be best to hire removalists to ensure that the renovators are able to complete the tasks successfully. The contract between you and the renovator will state which permits you need in order to carry on with the renovation. Sometimes, the contractor will take care of the permit for you, but in other cases, you will have to take care of it yourself.

Keeping an eye on children during renovation

Children can easily be in harm’s way during a home renovation. If you plan on staying at home with your children until the renovation is finished, here are a couple more tips to ensure that all goes well:

• Set up a separate kitchen in another room far from the renovation site.
• Lock doors to certain rooms to keep children out, especially bathrooms, so that they can use another available one instead.
• Maintain air quality by vacuuming extra dust and other particles or sealing off units.
• Make sure tools are not left out in the open.

Try to keep children preoccupied during the renovation. If it occurs during the weekend or in the summer months when they are not in school, take them out for a day at the park or go on vacation. If your presence is required during the renovation, ask a family member or close friend to look after the kids during the day. Never allow them inside a room until you’ve been told by the contractor that it is okay to enter it.

Hopefully, these tips will help ensure that your next renovation is not only a success but safe as well.

This is a post by Ashley Williamson. Ashley is a freelance writer and an occasional guest blogger. When she is not working, she likes to travel and read as much as she can.