How to Prepare Your Home for a Major Renovation
Every renovation is uniquely challenging for homeowners. From painting your walls to transforming your kitchen, the beauty of the renovation process unfolds with every step differently. While renovating can be overwhelming, it can also be fulfilling for homeowners. The successful before-and-after renovation process is a product of their creativity, patience, and attention to detail, making it an upfront challenge for homeowners. Preparing for its challenge is more than just cleaning the renovated area; it is much more. Without preparation, the home renovation process can be full of disappointments and surprises. Good planning can make a real difference in terms of the success of your renovation and your ability to work within your budget. With so many things to plan, it is essential to be ready in all aspects. Here’s what you need to know about preparing for a smooth major renovation:
Clearing out spaces: What to store and what to discard.
Before starting your renovation process, it is essential to declutter stuff effectively, clearing your space of unwanted items and storing belongings securely in a different area. To manage belongings, sort the items you want to discard, give, or keep. Create distinct areas for your belongings, categorized as follows:
Trash—To minimize time and effort, put all the items you want to discard in the trash. These can be the things you no longer use, don't need, or are not functional.
Donate/Sell—If you have mismatched utensils or rarely used appliances, you can donate them to your relatives or to someone you know who needs them more. If you have extra time and energy, you can have a garage sale for these kinds of items.
Return—Before storage, safely pack and label the items you want to return in place after the renovation process. Protect fragile items with bubble wrap. Label boxes or containers where you keep these items to make retrieval easier after the renovation.
2. Protecting furniture and valuables: Covers, moving services, and insurance.
Protecting your furniture and valuables before renovation is crucial to safeguard your items from dust, debris, and potential damage caused by the renovation process. Here are some protective steps to ensure that your belongings remain safe throughout the remodeling process:
Cover your belongings with plastic sheets or drop cloths to prevent dust and debris. Plastic sheeting and drop clothing are ideal for large items like furniture, stairs, and flooring, while bubble wrap is best for fragile items that need extra cushioning to prevent damage caused by impacts.
Hire moving services to ensure a fast and secure temporary move-out of your belongings from your home, such as furniture, electronics, and other valuables that need to be kept away from the renovation area. If you do not have a storage area, you can rent a temporary storage to keep your things secured off-site.
Insure your belongings to protect them against accidental damage. You can choose an insurance policy that covers damages to both the home's structure and personal belongings.
3. Communicating with contractors: Setting expectations for timelines.
Effective communication with your contractors is key in setting a realistic timeline for your renovation project. Understanding the factors affecting the renovation timeline will help homeowners set realistic expectations. Here are some factors that have the potential to impact your renovation contractor’s timeline:
1. Weather
Weather plays a significant role in the renovation’s progress or delay. The contractor can reschedule work or pause operations during bad weather such as heavy rain or snow.
2. Availability of Materials
Materials in high demand may be out of stock. Specialized or custom-made materials can also take a long time to produce. Awaiting the next delivery or shipment of these materials can potentially delay your renovation timeline. It is important to consider the availability of your materials before starting the renovation.
3. Permitting
Permit approval is a prerequisite to major renovation projects. It is critical to start your renovation project, and delays in the permitting process can significantly delay the renovation timeline.
Understanding the timeline of the renovation project helps homeowners make informed decisions. While unexpected challenges may affect the timeline, it is important to communicate everything with your contractor to mitigate delays and issues.
4. Safety precautions: Keep pets and kids away from work zones.
The veterinarian and author of Doc Halligan’s What Every Pet Owner Should Know, Karen Halligan, says, “Renovation is stressful for humans who fully understand what the turmoil is all about. Imagine what it’s like for a pet that has no idea why her world is suddenly being turned upside down.” Home renovations can have unexpected risks to pets. Pets can be exposed to sudden changes in the environment and construction noises, which can trigger their stress and anxiety levels. Having unfamiliar people at home can leave them confused. Similar effects to kids exposed to the renovation site. While they may understand the situation better, it can still be unsafe because of physical dangers such as nails, wood splinters, or sharp tools left around the work area. Setting up a temporary play area for your kids to keep the renovation area off-limits will be a good idea.
5. Planning for temporary displacement: Alternative living arrangements.
Living in a home under major renovation can be stressful and dangerous due to the construction process. Home renovations can disrupt your routine, causing inconveniences that can be difficult to manage. It is recommended that homeowners have an alternative housing arrangement for the duration of the renovation project. Your temporary displacement may vary depending on the family's lifestyle, budget, and project timeline. Here are some temporary housing options:
1. Short-term rental property
You can book a short-term stay in hotels, apartments, condos, and even single-family homes with lease terms usually shorter than 12 months.
2. Trailer
A mobile home in a trailer is one of the most creative and cost-effective options for temporary living. But you need to customize it by installing specific amenities, like a toilet or sink, for a while.
3. Relative or Friend’s Home
The most convenient and affordable option is temporarily living with a relative or a friend. It’s also nice to bond and reunite for a few days or weeks.
A Do-It-Yourself renovation can be both rewarding and cost-effective. However, the National Association of Home Builders says that more than 30% of all jobs home remodelers perform come from failed DIY projects. To ensure the success of your renovation project, you will likely want the help of a contractor to get the job done. Finding the right professional contractor to satisfy your renovation needs is key to realizing your dream home. Modern Handymen & Remodel is a trusted name for top-notch renovation services in Nashville and Brentwood, Tennessee. A team of seasoned craftsmen from Modern Handymen & Remodel walks you through the beauty of the renovation process. Whether it’s a small handyman task or a major renovation, your trusted professionals from Modern Handymen & Remodel deliver quality work on time and within budget. Contact us today at 615-200-8071 and let us make your renovation stress-free!
