If you’ve ever worked on a home project inside your house before, you know that it can be a messy job. But remodeling one part of your home shouldn’t cause you to have to redo the entire rest of your home because of unexpected dust or damage.
Renovations can be noisy, dirty, and downright disruptive, but you have to go on living your life in your house during that time. Here are a few ways that you can protect your safety, the safety of your home, and the safety of your belongings.
CLEAR THE AREA
Whether you’re simply painting a room or completely removing drywall, flooring, and appliances, removing excess items creates space and protects your belongings. Box up and label any small or fragile belongings first.
If some of your belongings, like furniture, are too big to move out of your room easily (or you have nowhere to store them long-term during renovations) move them to a safe corner of the room.
COVER YOUR SURFACES
If you’re not able to remove all of your belongings from the room, cover anything remaining with drop cloths or plastic sheeting. This will help protect them from dust accumulation, debris, or potential spills during construction. Make sure you vacuum or sweep your floor before laying down protective sheeting to prevent scuffing from stones or other unseen debris.
If you’ll be walking through other parts of your home bringing in materials for construction, lay down runners to create protected pathways from room to room. Rolling out plastic runners (or even spare blankets) can be an inexpensive way to prevent unintended damage to your flooring. Also available is plastic sheeting with a light adhesive on one side that is safe for carpeting (not for hard flooring or other hard surfaces) that will be more secure and not move around while working. This can usually be used for a few days without any residue issues.
It’s also a good idea to lay down cardboard on any countertops that might potentially be used as a work surface. You may get in a hurry and carelessly toss a wrench or screwdriver on your countertop only to accidentally nick or scratch the surface or get grease on it — that could lead to other potentially expensive repairs!
INSTALL DUST BARRIERS
Whether your home improvement project contains drywall, concrete, or sawdust, it’s going to get absolutely everywhere inside your home if you don’t take precautions.
Install a dust barrier in the room you’re renovating by hanging a plastic sheet that’s completely sealed using tape along the full edges. Consider using heavy-duty tarp (8 millimeters or thicker) to prevent dust from escaping the room.
Block off any registers or vents (such as cold air returns) with barriers, too, or you’ll just end up circulating dust throughout your home with your HVAC system. Using the wide blue painter’s tape is perfect for blocking your vents as it removes easily.
Lastly, don’t forget to dust yourself off before exiting the room to keep dust particles from falling on the ground throughout your home as you walk through it.
MIND YOUR HVAC SYSTEM
Even if you block off the vents in the room where you’re working, it’s still possible your HVAC system will circulate dust throughout your home. Consider installing temporary high-efficiency air filters to capture as much dust as possible during the construction process.
If the weather allows, consider opening the windows in your home to increase air circulation and to prevent your HVAC system from carrying dust throughout your home. If the room you’re working in has a window, you can potentially install a temporary box fan to blow dust out of your home.
CLEAN OFTEN
Vacuum and clean as often as you can. This will help prevent dust and debris from settling in the room you’re renovating and circulating throughout your house. Cleaning debris will also help prevent unwanted scuffs, nicks, and scratches as you walk through the area. If you’re using a Shop Vac to vacuum drywall dust or other fine debris, be sure to use the special filter bags in the canister to capture the fine particles which will escape the normal filter and blow back into the room.
If you’re ready to renovate part of your home, Big C Lumber has the materials you need! From countertops to kitchen cabinets, we’ve got several brands to meet your needs no matter your budget. Contact us today to get started!