Renovating a home can be challenging, whether you’re doing it yourself or with the help of professional contractors. The challenge becomes even more daunting if you plan to stay at home during its renovation.
Still, renting another place to make way for the repair or restoration works can be very expensive, especially with the prohibitive rates of London home rentals.
So, what can you do to live through a renovation in an expensive place like the capital? A few things.
Have a Brilliant Plan
Before you can even consider staying at home during a renovation, you have to examine the logistics. Whether you’re going to be able to stay at your place hardly depends on the size but on what part of the house is being renovated.
To illustrate more clearly, consider the following situations:
If you are updating the entire flooring in a one-room apartment, you might be forced to move out. There is simply no room for you and your family to carry out the necessary domestic activities without interfering with the renovation being done.
The same is true if you are renovating the lone bathroom in your home. Your toilet or shower would most likely be offline and off-limits for the duration of the work, which could mean days or weeks, depending on the size of the project.
In some cases, you can make staying at home work with some creativity. For instance, if you are renovating your kitchen, you can organise a makeshift cooking area with an electric hotplate and a microwave oven. You can get your water from the bathroom sink, which is basically the same water that goes to the kitchen. Witnessing the gradual transformation of your home can be worth the sacrifice of living on microwave dinners for a few days or weeks.
Empty as Much as You Can
For your renovation project to yield the best results, the contractor must have ample working space, which means you may have to declutter. Also, not having too much clutter could make staying at home during a renovation much more comfortable.
A great way to organise your home is by hiring the most convenient storage space London has to offer. Companies like Access Box Storage can pick up your stuff and store it for you while your home is being renovated. What is more, they make it as easy as possible. All you have to do is box your things up, and they will do the rest.
Once the renovation is done, you can have your things delivered back to your home. It’s a much more convenient option than renting a very expensive garage for your stuff or an even more expensive apartment to stay in during the renovation.
How Long Will It Last?
When taking on any renovation project, having a detailed plan is critical. However, it’s important to note that you will be carrying out a complex task with many moving parts. Stick to your strategy as much as possible, but prepare for things not to go as planned.
Case in point, the contractor could uncover defects such as leaks as they take fixtures and other home components apart. This means additional expenses that were not accounted for in your initial budget. If you accumulate enough of these minor issues, it could compromise your budget and the viability of the project.
Additionally, if you are to survive a renovation and get the results that you want, you must have an idea of how long the project will last. This will help you work out other important details of your budget. For instance, if you have no choice but to rent an apartment for the duration of the renovation, you would have to account for this into your overall budget. This could help you pre-empt potential problems that could delay or even halt the project down the road.
