Tips For Surviving A Bathroom Renovation

Bathroom Renovation Survival Tips

No matter the type of renovation, always prepare for serious changes in your house during the process. Renovations may alter your waking up time, your sleeping time, and how you go about your daily routines at home. House renovations are known to cause inconveniences, with the level of inconvenience depending on the parts of the house undergoing renovation, the period required for the renovation, the presence of children or pets, etc.

‍

Although generally a small room in the house, the bathroom is essential since we use it daily. The bathroom needs fixtures and fittings that are always in good working condition. Any faulty item in your bathroom can inconvenience you greatly, especially when you have visitors over at your home.

‍

Since bathroom remodelling is costly and some people live in rental homes, renovating the bathroom becomes the better alternative to keep the bathroom in good condition. Bathroom renovation may not be as expensive as a complete remodelling job, but you need thorough preparation to deal with the inconveniences that will come with it. This article brings to you some of the best tips for surviving bathroom renovations. Keep reading!

Have A Plan

The bathroom is an essential room used daily in the house. To avoid the bathroom renovation taking way too much time, you should develop a plan for how you and your family will cope during the renovation. Consult with your contractor to ensure the work is done quickly, with no delays caused by you or your bathroom needs.

‍

Even though you do not want delays, you should accommodate the chances of delays in your plan since things never go as planned all the time. Your plan should have the start date, the approximate period for the renovations, and the finishing date so you know precisely how long you have to adjust your routines for.

‍

You and your contractor should be willing and able to obey the agreed-upon plan. You could do this by ensuring that they purchase all the materials needed in good time and set aside enough resources for the entire renovation process. Also, you do not want your contractor to leave the work half-done because you cannot pay for their services.

Inspect All Fittings And Fixtures

Checking your fixtures and fittings will help you to identify any damages and replacements as may be necessary. If you do this early enough, you will have ample time to purchase new replacements, thus saving time during renovations and giving your plumber more time to focus on your bathroom renovations.

Find Alternative Bathroom Solutions

The bathroom is likely one of the most frequently used areas in a house. Every person uses the bathroom at least once every day. Renovating your bathroom would mean that you will have to stop using it for the time being. Therefore, if you plan to stay around during the renovation, it would help if you showered and washed your hair before the renovations begin if the renovation is minor and can be completed on that same day.

‍

But if renovations will take quite a long time, and given the essentiality of human hygiene, you could talk to your neighbours to let you use their bathroom or extra bathroom for the duration of the renovation.

‍

If you do not want to bother your neighbours asking for favours to let you use their bathroom, it will help to purchase some dry shower gel and dry shampoo. Even though these products would not entirely replace your shower or bath, they can help you stay clean for a few days.

‍

You could also use a bucket of warm water in the bedroom to clean up. You can do this, especially for young children, if you have them. Even though the children would prefer not bathing, and this time would bring joy to them, you should keep them clean as well. Similarly, you should consider purchasing hygiene items such as hand sanitiser and baby wipes for use when you do not have water near you.

Find Alternative Washing Stations

Aside from having alternative solutions for bathing or keeping clean, you could also set up alternative washing stations. You could seclude a single sink in your kitchen to brush your teeth, shave, or wash your hair. Yes, it may all sound disgusting, but due to the nature of such activities, it’s not a good decision to carry them out in the bedroom, for instance.

Clear Out Your Bathroom

You will need to clear out your bathroom to provide enough space for the renovations. You would not want to suffer damages or your items becoming dirty during the renovations. The best way to safeguard valuables is to have all your items in strong boxes. You could then keep these boxes in one of the rooms in your house until the renovations are completed. This is also an opportunity to sort through the items in your bathroom and declutter if need be.

Keep Your Pets Away From The Bathroom

Most people these days prefer keeping pets such as cats and dogs for company. Once pets feel comfortable, and at home, they may not hesitate to go into any room in your house. Similarly, a pet may not know the nature of the renovations going on or even that a renovation is happening in the first place.

‍

Pets can cause a lot of havoc during or after the renovation. Your plumber may need you to leave the bathroom door open during the renovation process, which will risk the pets interfering with the work being done or your pets getting hurt. As such, you should keep your pets away from the bathroom during or a few days after the bathroom renovations.

Keep Your Children Away From The Bathroom

Like pets, young children are playful and may not understand the nature of the activities occurring in the bathroom. Further, the whole idea of renovating the bathroom could be very interesting to the children making them want to spend the entire day watching the plumber go about his work or playing nearby.

‍

Children may also have the temptation to have some of the fittings for themselves to play with. Not only are they able to cause mayhem and damage in the bathroom, but they could also be subjecting themselves to danger without knowing. Therefore, you are responsible as an adult or parent to keep your children in check and ensure they do not go near or play next to the bathroom until after the renovations are complete.

Arm Yourself With Dust Sheets

As you may know, bathroom renovations include the removal of old fixtures or fittings, the removal of the old bathroom suite, the removal of old tiles, etc. Such activities will produce a lot of dust in the process. The dust problem may occur in the bathroom and can spread to every room in your house, thus making your furniture dusty and dirty.

‍

This would force you to thoroughly clean the entire house after the bathroom renovation. This could be a lot of work and tiresome as well as inconvenient. To avoid these possible issues, it is best to purchase enough dust sheets before the bathroom renovations to cover your furniture and any essential items you don’t want to get dust on.

Inform Your Neighbours About Your Renovation

If you have experienced your neighbour getting bathroom renovations, you will understand the amount of noise involved sometimes and how frustrating it can be. By alerting your neighbours early enough of your planned bathroom renovations, you will be earning their favour and helping them plan as well during that period.

‍

The last thing you would likely want or need is to be in conflict with your neighbours during your bathroom renovations due to all the noise. Remember, your neighbours may be the ones helping you by allowing you to use their bathroom while yours is under renovation. Therefore, you need to be on their good side at all costs.

‍

Communicating with your neighbours early enough would also allow them to suggest to you the best approaches to take, such as the time to begin the renovations that would minimise the nuisance. For instance, it would not be right to start your bathroom renovations early in the morning when some people are still asleep or let it go on till late in the evening when most of your neighbours are back from work and want a peaceful rest.

Keep In Communication With Your Contractor

The success of your bathroom renovation is related to how you communicate with your contractor. Remember, during the bathroom renovations, you will not only be communicating with your contractor but also with other points of contact either at the office or at the site.

‍

Your contractor will be the one connecting you to these people. They will help you know what is required, such as setting up tools and materials for the renovations and so on. It is best to ask these questions or seek clarifications where you do not understand certain things or have different views from your contractor during the bathroom renovations.

‍

Most people fear asking contractors questions since they are the experts. However, all questions concerning your bathroom renovations are essential, and you should not hesitate to ask either the contractor or point of contact questions any time you need to. This will help avoid regrets after the renovations are complete.

Now Be Patient

Depending on the actual size of your bathroom and the level of renovations expected, it may take a short or long period. This would also translate to the level of inconvenience you suffer. Similarly, your level of readiness would also determine how fast the bathroom renovation would take place. Do you have enough resources?

‍

Have you purchased all the materials required? Plan ahead to avoid any unnecessary delays on your part. Still, it is important to note that bathroom renovations require a great deal of patience. You do not want to have your contractor rush the bathroom renovations and end up with a sub-standard job done in your bathroom.

‍

Remember, you aim to prevent inconveniences; therefore, you do not want to be the one causing yourself such inconveniences by being hasty. The contractor or plumber knows how much time they would need to do a quality job. All you can do in this scenario is agree with them on how fast you need it done and the strategies to minimise any possible delays.

‍

Of course, your contractor or plumber may advise you to avoid using the bathroom for some days after the renovation. It is best to abide by such instructions for better results. Do not worry; just work with a professional bathroom renovator, and the entire process will all be over soon!