Home renovations are never an easy thing. What can make this already stressful situation even more stressful, however, is if you have kids living at home while your renovations are taking place.
For some home repairs or renovations, like fixing your roof or replacing wall paneling or siding, there’s very little impact on your family inside the home. But for major home renovations, almost every aspect of your home life could be affected. So to help make sure that you and your family are able to make it through these times, here are three tips for preparing your family for home renovations.
Meet Your Contractor Together
If your home renovations will require you to hire a contractor to work on your projects, one of the best things you can do is to find someone who’s good with your family and will be safe around your children.
According to Devon Thornsby, a contributor to U.S. News and World Report, a good plan might be to meet with your potential contractors with your entire family so you can see which ones might be a good fit. During this interview process, be sure to ask questions about how the contractor feels about kids being at the home while renovations are taking place and what safety measures they can adhere to during this process.
Pack Up What You Don’t Need
As you prepare your home and family for renovations to begin, you’re likely going to need to pack up some of your belongings in the rooms that are being renovated. For some families, this can be a real challenge, as the items you pack up should ideally be moved to another location and will, therefore, be hard to get to or use.
When going through this process, Emily Fazio, a contributor at HGTV, recommends that you try to downsize as much as possible and only keep the items that you’ll really need. If your children are too young or unable to pare down their belongings on their own, try your best to help them choose which items they should keep and what can be packed away for this short time.
Create Rules For Safety
Now that your home is going to be a construction zone, it’s important that you and your kids know the best ways to stay safe.
To help with this, Karen Cheney, a contributor at Parents.com, shares that you should create some safety rules that everyone involved in the project will follow. These rules could include packing away all tools at the end of the workday, setting up walls or plastic sheeting to block off rooms currently under construction, always wearing closed-toed shoes inside the home, and more.
If your home will soon be going through some major renovations, consider using the tips mentioned above to help prepare your family for this upheaval.
Related: 3 Ways To Make Your Home Safer For Your Kids
Originally posted on October 19, 2019 @ 1:34 am
