Living in a house thats being worked on

amother

Oak

Sun, May 19 2019, 9:42 pm

Yes and yes. It depends how adaptable you are and how central the area is that's being worked on. I've done it twice.

But you must move out while you refinish floors, and should think about it during demolition if your house is old enough to have toxic materials released in the process.

thunderstorm

Sun, May 19 2019, 9:55 pm

Ugh yes. The mess took forever to clean up afterward. There was a film of white dust that would settle over everything every day even though we kept cleaning and washing.
We demolished and renovated our kitchen while living in the house. We set up a makeshift kitchen in our playroom downstairs. The entrance ways to the kitchen had heavy plastic covering it to try to keep the dust and mess in the kitchen only but even the workers shoes made a mess and they were always walking up and down etc.
It was a few months . I worked then and was out of the house until 5:30 so we were barely home besides for weekends.

Rubber Ducky

Sun, May 19 2019, 9:57 pm

It can be done, and yes, I've done it. More than once. As alluded to by the previous poster, your home may be full of toxins, so be very careful if you have small children and the remodeling/addition area cannot be isolated.

amother

Wheat

Sun, May 19 2019, 10:00 pm

Yes, we did a fair amount of work while living in a two bedroom apartment (demo and reno kitchen and two bathrooms). It was not fun, I almost had a nervous breakdown. But couldn't really afford an alternative so I guess it was worth it anyway.

amother

Black

Sun, May 19 2019, 10:01 pm

We lived in our house while extensive renovations were going on. Everything was being done on one side so they put up a temporary wall. We lived in our part (not much more than our bedrooms) and they worked on their side. Separate entrances and even separate alarms. We heard some noise of course, but no construction dust and no daily invasion of privacy. It was amazing. When the work was done the wall came down and they finished up the floor/ paint/ and other minor touches.

amother

Salmon

Sun, May 19 2019, 10:14 pm

Yes. My parents added on three times when we were little and we never moved out when once. My mother told the workers she just needed a space with a sink and stove always as a "makeshift kitchen". We always had a working stove and sink no matter what but they we're hooked up in different parts of the house every day. We used to just adapt to wtvr rooms were able to be used that day. We got used to workers in out home every single day from early morning till evening.

amother

Brunette

Sun, May 19 2019, 10:21 pm

We did it. I still do it constantly. DH rebuilt the whole house around us. We needed to stay for the set backs. He is still constantly changing things.

He basically sets up a clean chamber to walk through and dust stayed out of the living area.

amother

Olive

Sun, May 19 2019, 10:28 pm

For all the people that did it, there is no way to know whether you were exposed to dangerous chemicals or not. So anyone saying, "we did it and it was fine" it may well not have been fine - you just don't know one way or other.

amother

Wine

Sun, May 19 2019, 11:42 pm

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

We did it nearly 20 years ago, and no one's shown symptoms of illness from exposure.

amother

Pewter

Mon, May 20 2019, 12:09 am

How do you make sure there's nothing dangerous/toxic to be exposed to? are there quick tests or inspections to do before started any construction?

amother

Lemon

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:32 am

Yes, we stayed in the house.

Our renovations were done by "Klutz and Botch-it" (that wasn't their actual name but should have been) and the whole thing was a living nightmare.

It doesn't need to be though, we were just unlucky, and the best piece of advice is to be out of the house as much as possible whilst they're actually working, but always accessible for questions.

Hatzlocho! This is why G-d invented chocolate. And wine. And more chocolate.

amother

Wine

Mon, May 20 2019, 2:58 am

Why the hug?

We testwd for lead and asbestos and had a full cleanup before we started using the new part of the house.

We're exposed to chemicals all the time as part of normal life. (I'm not talking about working in a coal mine or a nuclear reactor.) Healthy bodies manage to cope.

JoyInTheMorning

Mon, May 20 2019, 3:06 am

My house is reasonably new -- mid 80s. No lead or asbestos. We put in hardwood in most of the rooms before we moved in, but not the bedrooms. I'd like to put hardwood in the bedrooms now too because the carpet there is gross and dirty. There's no point spending money on carpeting because it lasts just a few years, so I want to invest in hardwood now.

Someone above said you need to move out while the floors are refinished. Is this a hard and fast rule, or is there some flexibility about this? We had a semi-gloss finish for the hardwood that we put in several years ago and I do remember there were fumes. Any way to get a semi-gloss finish without the fumes?

amother

Olive

Mon, May 20 2019, 8:46 am

amother [ Wine ] wrote:

We did it nearly 20 years ago, and no one's shown symptoms of illness from exposure.

Ok, I guess that is one way to know. 20 years later, no one got cancer, so therefore it was ok from the get-go.

And it's not just lead and asbestos or old houses. There are chemicals in drywall that are terrible to be exposed to. And probably other things that we haven't discovered yet (just like it took them awhile to discover that asbestos were bad. And even lead, for that matter, which used to be intentionally added to pipes for their durability. So too, there is some chemical we think is great but will likely be proven one day to cause cancer).

And to the comment on a healthy immune system being able to cope, sure, but that is typical day-to-day chemicals, not one living in a demolition zone.

I guess you all know my answer: I would never live in a house under renovation.

amother

Wheat

Mon, May 20 2019, 9:10 am

We had our home tested before we moved in, so there was no concern regarding lead and asbestos. I don't think anyone is advocating sitting around all day breathing it all in while the workers are doing their thing. I know that in our case we were out at work and school while they were working, and the workers try to keep things ventilated for themselves anyway. Certainly no one licked the floors when they were home either.

amother

Bronze

Mon, May 20 2019, 9:27 am

I had a child with lead poisoning. It's a very serious thing. My child suffered severe medical and developmental consequences. Please don't do shortcuts.

amother

Black

Mon, May 20 2019, 1:30 pm

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

Which dangerous chemicals? Whatever chemicals are involved in construction work are still in your home when you move in.
I'm not saying it's all 100% organic and benign. I'm just saying whatever they put in your house is staying there anyhow.
Obviously demolition will create clouds of dust that nobody should breathe in - but once that's done - which is the quick part - what is the big concern really?

amother

Bronze

Mon, May 20 2019, 2:12 pm

amother [ Black ] wrote:

Cutting up tiles creates lead dust. There are other cancer causing chemicals like cadmium and asbestos. At least have your kids lead tested after.