My house is being renovated ~ help!

Renovation of a house can be a relatively simple procedure – or a major undertaking. The latter will apply if you have bought a shell of a house and now need to construct your home or if you have simply chosen to have everything done at once. Or if the necessary work involves in-depth procedures such as floors lifted, the roof removed and replaced, replacing ceilings, plastering, full electrical re-wire, an extension, loft conversion – works of this nature. Whether it’s one room or several you are very likely to have to live with inconvenience and lack of certain facilities for several days or weeks. Consider the work that you might need to have done if you are, say, replacing a kitchen or bathroom, or repairing an old flight of stairs for safe use. Surfaces will be ripped out, floor tiles or carpet taken up, appliances removed for storage or replacement and only then can the process of replacing everything begin. And don’t forget that any work of this type will necessarily cause dirt, mess and clouds of dust to descend upon your home, which is at best unpleasant and at worst sometimes hazardous. Especially if you have pets or small children.

Your options for retaining maximum comfort during this period range from relocating your living space to moving out entirely. If you choose to relocate your living space, consider what you will need for comfort. Depending on the size of your family, space and sleeping arrangements will be key. Setting up camp in the master bedroom is often a good idea. Many of them have en-suite bathrooms which can be used in the event of the main one, or ones, being renovated. They are also likely to be easy to keep warm or cool depending on the weather. You won’t have to worry about access to clothes, or shoes, and you will only have to make minimal adjustments for extra sleeping space. This could be spare beds brought in, or simply a mattress and sleeping bags on the floor. Lack of cooking space is a difficult one to get around, but very often there will only be no cooking facilities for a day or two and then you will have use of an oven or microwave while the rest of the kitchen is being fitted. This is when local takeaways are your friend!
However, consider the impracticalities of living in one room. It could be a cramped and unpleasant experience. Other options during your major renovation include staying with family or friends for the duration, possibly moving between different homes, or deciding to create a temporary home elsewhere. Take the example of an unfinished barn conversion. The structure of the building will be there but you will need to have windows put in, possibly extra floors, certainly rooms divided and separated and kitchen and bathrooms installed. This would clearly be an impossible level of work to live with so your best option is to put a mobile home next to your work in progress and live there. It might seem an unappealing idea, but proximity to the house will give you the peace of mind and security that everything is being carried out in the correct and timely fashion, and also most importantly access to vital facilities.

These are water and electricity primarily, or gas if this is what your central heating functions from. You will be able to achieve this elsewhere obviously, but it could be both inconvenient and costly. If you are unable to get your mobile home on site with the work in progress, then the next best option would be to locate it on a relative’s driveway for precisely the same reasons. Whilst your property is undergoing necessary work you will undoubtedly want to conserve funds so think restricting expenditure and finding the cheapest possible method of supporting yourself.
Another compelling reason for living off-site is that you will obviously want the work completed as quickly as possible, and the best way to achieve this is to have the maximum amount work going on at any one time as you can. Therefore you will necessarily have a lot of tradespeople going in, out and through your house. And whilst this is good for your property, it is bad for your privacy. Their working day will start early and potentially finish late. If someone is around in the house the whole time that work is going on there will be inevitable questions, concerns and queries to address continually, and quite possibly the need to make endless cups of tea. In comparison, if visits are limited then any concerns can be addressed directly and quickly.

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H. Roberts is a content writer from London, UK. She has great flair for decoration and interior design. She is searching for new challenges and hence often moves to different places. Heather writes about: Mayfair Removal Van