Two tips for those who are having their home renovated

If you have hired a contractor to renovate your home, here are two tips that you may find helpful.

Put your belongings into storage

Leaving your belongings in the parts of your home that are being renovated is not a good idea.

There are two reasons for this; firstly, they will take up space and make it harder for your contractor and their renovation crew to gain access to the areas in which they need to work. They will then have to spend their time moving your possessions out of the way so that they can continue with the renovation activities.

Secondly, there is a much greater chance that your belongings will end up sustaining damage if you leave them out on display whilst construction work is being performed in your home.

The reason for this is that that renovation projects are messy, chaotic and often involve the use of sharp and powerful tools. As such, even though your contractor and their team will undoubtedly do their utmost to avoid damaging anything, some of your items could still end up broken if they are left in the area of your property where the renovations will be taking place.

For example, the strong vibrations produced by a commercial drill when it is being used to create a hole in a wall could result in any nearby mirrors or framed pictures that are hanging on that wall falling to the floor and shattering. Likewise, if you are having a room painted, the wet paint on the painting crew's brushes could potentially splatter and land on nearby trinkets, books or furniture.

It is best to remove all valuable items from the rooms that are going to be renovated and to place these goods somewhere safe for the duration of the project (such as your garage or a self-storage facility).

Hire a large skip bin

A day or two before your contractor is due to begin the home renovation work, you should arrange for a large skip bin to be delivered to your home.

The reason for this is as follows; home renovations tend to generate an enormous amount of rubbish. Even if your property is quite small and you are only having a few rooms renovated, you will still find yourself left with a lot of debris, such as timber scraps, torn-out cabinetry, flooring or shelves, as well as old nails, half-empty bottles of paint thinner, rags and various other items.

If you don't hire a skip bin, your household bins will reach maximum capacity after just a day or two and the rest of the rubbish that the renovation work generates will be left in piles around your home.

This could create an unsafe work environment for your renovation team and put you and your family at risk of injury (if you are staying in the property during the renovations). Someone could, for example, trip over a pile of old plaster and break a bone, or step on an old nail and sustain a foot wound.

Renting a skip bin will ensure that you have a safe space in which to stow away potentially-hazardous construction waste.

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