Let’s face it. Room additions, remodeling, renovation or general repairs to the home can often force a household to endure significant short-term life changes. Some families have actually moved out of their homes to live with relatives or rent apartments until the needed work on their homes was complete.
The degree of inconvenience will usually depend on the extent of the work involved and on the layout of the home. But the short answer to the question asked in the above headline is “As little as possible.” VISION Builders believes that the bulk of home construction disruptions can be greatly minimized or even avoided with some simple up-front planning. Let’s look at some examples:
Interior room additions or renovations are usually the most challenging projects when it comes to insulating families from the activities of construction crews. But it can be done. If the work to be done is on the ground floor, plastic barriers or “corridors” to and from the outside can be a helpful way to separate work activity from the normal flow of family comings and goings. If the crew has the luxury of being assigned it’s own special entrance and exit from the home — like a backdoor or garage entrance to the work area, or a second stairway — family “traffic jams” can be greatly reduced.
Especially in the case of room additions, VISION can even create temporary working entrances/exits which allow crews to do most of their work outside but still get materials and tools into the project area – all without inconveniencing family members.
Remodeling basements with “walk-outs” makes working from the outside-in much easier. But even when there is no walk-out, existing basement windows can provide acceptable entry and egress points for workers and materials until the remodeling is complete.
Bottomline, there is no way to absolutely guarantee there won’t be inconveniences associated with building your addition or remodeling your bathroom or kitchen. But we have found that if we are aware of the family’s life patterns (when household members get up, when they come home from school, when piano students come for their lesson, when dinner time happens, etc) and then can plan our activities around them, construction can proceed fairly unobtrusively.
Our first task on any project will always be to understand, not only your vision for the addition or renovation planned, but also how we can plan the work so that your lifestyle remains as “normal” as possible.
Take a look at some of the many testimonials you’ll find on our web site. We couldn’t have hoped for glowing remarks like those if we had made ourselves nuisances during the actual building process. But don’t take our word for it. We’ll give you the phone numbers of clients who have done work similar to the work you are considering. Ask them if we found a way to maintain their family lifestyle during the building or remodeling process. You’ll see what we mean!