Managing house renovations as single woman

[niadainud]

I was hoping for some advice or just general moral support regarding having work done while still living in your property. I'm single so have no-one to help with either practical things or to share thoughts or problems.

The main areas that need attention are bathroom and ensuite, plus ideally all my carpets need to be replaced. So I guess it's a medium-sized project - not full-on renovations, but not just a quick lick of paint.

How do people manage with moving furniture when it's a small flat with nowhere to move it to and they're not physically capable of moving half of it anyway?

Also how do people cope with the noise, the disruption, the dust, etc.? Aaarrgghhh!

I always feel uncomfortable having tradesmen in my house and this is my idea of a nightmare, but I do want to get these things done and can't put them off for ever.

So in short, I'd appreciate any brilliant tips on how to make this process more bearable. I'm not doing it on a tiny budget so can throw a little money at it, but can't (for example) afford to stay in a hotel for a month.

Thank you!

Will your trades people not help if you give them the heads up that it’s just you and some items are too heavy for you? My mum has recently done extensive renovations and her builders were really helpful with moving furniture around and stuff as they knew she couldn’t do it alone. Obviously she did as much as she could, so they could see she was trying and not lazy.

Thanks. They might, I don't know yet. I haven't got as far as booking anyone!

I'm a single parent and I need to move a wardrobe from one room to another but I can't manage it myself so the answer is I don't! It's had to stay there as I have no way of moving it.

I find i can move most furniture if I empty everything out first, then remove drawers etc. Or take things like beds and tables apart and move them bit by bit (this also makes them easier to stack in a corner). If you have a hard floor, get a couple of carpet tiles, cut them into squares and put under the legs with the carpet side down, you can then slide even quite heavy things

@FlowersInAFlowerBed

just ask family/Friends/neighbours/

most people are willing to help if you just ask!

If only I had someone to ask

As a pp said then, ask the tradesperson doing the job if they will help move it or just leave it there. Or dismantle it if you're confident doing that.

Going forwards, it's worth being on friendly terms with neighbours and colleagues - if only if it's to ask for a hand moving furniture once every 5 years! Don't you take in parcels for your neighbours? If so, ask them for a favour in return.

My tip would be to not let on you’re on your own. I put my brothers shoes and stuff around the place.

Dont stress about it, just do it step at a time. The bathroom and ensuite will likely take a week each, and yes will be a bit disruptive but no big deal. It's good you have both as it means you'll always have a working shower and toilet!

For the carpets, you move what you can and the carpet fitters will deal with the big stuff, eg sofa, bed, wardrobe (empty your stuff out of it). When I got carpets done it was an extra £30 for the furniture moving.

For bigger jobs, I also found out that you can hire removal people by the hour, so the people who do proper house moves will come round and shift your furniture wherever you want it for an hourly rate, about £30/40.

Carpet fitters will usually move furniture as they fit unless they’re super budget ones. With the bathrooms, just do one at a time and then you’ve got the other available. My bathroom fitter put a plastic curtain over the door frame when he was stripping out to keep the dust and mess contained and dust sheets all the way to the front door. Don’t choose hexagonal tiles as they take forever ( lesson learned). I did have to get comfortable with him just being there on his own most of the time but he was a recommendation.

When you order carpet be sure to tell them that you can't move the big furniture and they will know to send 2 fitters on the day. We have 2 huge wardrobes which we emptied ready for them and they had no trouble

The carpet people dealt with it no problem.
As for dealing with the dust - you just have to, and hopefully your trades will keep a clean site.
Also, first day, show them the kettle and have tea bags, milk and some biscuits out for them and tell them to help themselves. Do NOT start making them tea every five minutes!
Be sure of your choices and choose what you want - they may have preferred suppliers but you can also source your own materials. Don't start saying 'I don't know' or 'I'm not sure' - they will do what's ever easiest for them.
If in a flat with immediate neighbours, especially above and below, warn them and even give them a preemptive bunch of flowers to apologise for noise.
Lastly, if they redo your bathroom and it's the only one you may have a few days without the use of it - be prepared to have showers elsewhere and to use a bucket!

What I mean is if you prevaricate they will do what's easiest - not always what you want do be definite and do not accept less!

@FlowersInAFlowerBed

I live alone. My family don't live near me. I know it's not easy & at times feels very hard & lonely when you don't have people who 'are there' for you.

But people will help if you ask, you must have neighbours & people you know through the kids??

if you were my neighbour or someone I'd met through the kids, I'd happily help you, but you'd need to ask because I wouldn't know to offer!

though since my accident I'm not good at lifting heavy objects - so it may take us a while! I'll bring the pizza!

Thank you everyone - some really useful tips.

I had a full bathroom Reno and even though they did a amazing job I was without a bath/shower for nearly two weeks

they did leave the old toilet in (took it out everyday and put it back in before going home) until the new one went in which was the last thing to do

i would recommend joining a gym maybe on a trial for a month so you can shower there daily otherwise it’s just horrendous

carpets - if you use a good company they will move the furniture for you, when I was growing up my mum had a big house lots of kids and lots of stuff and we never had issues when a new carpet went in

If you have loads of little jobs that need doing it before the trades could be worth hiring a handyman for half a day and getting them to do it

Whilst I am not single I’m in a similar position as my husband has poor health and I have a very dodgy back.
I’m just very up front and am clear before they quote that I can’t move heavy furniture etc. This gives the tradesman chance to quote allowing for the work.
Currently waiting for work to start in our en-suite, plumber has been so helpful and when he realised my husband was having no involvement was happy to discuss ideas and feasibility of everything. Even helped me decide which tiles would look best!
Also having the house re carpeted and made it clear they will have to move furniture, remove old flooring etc and we agreed a schedule that would make that feasible for the carpet fitters.
It’s all do-able if you’re just honest about your expectations from the start

This is rubbish.

@Blink360

Maybe it just depends how likeable you are? I've always found it works for me.

Workmen of good repute will do it quickly and move the stuff for you so they'll be a real help for this kind of stuff

For jobs that are too heavy for me, I get someone from taskrabbit to do it.

Not everyone has family / neighbours / friends close by or able enough to help.

Spend time to think all the tasks through and be upfront with tradespeople about what needs doing and what you can and cannot do in terms of preparation. Most are really helpful if they know in advance but it is not fair to have someone come to start work and have to spend time shifting furniture etc. For moving smaller items out of the way I found my neighbour's teenage son very helpful for ££ As for choosing tradespeople have you any neighbourhood FB/WhatsApp groups to ask for recommendations?

You shouldn’t ever be left without a working toilet overnight, there’s no need. They should leave the old one in until it’s time to put the new one in. And a gym membership is definitely the way forward. But OP said bathroom and ensuite- if she’s got both it shouldn’t be an issue.

This may not be the case if you choose new tiles on the bathroom floor. When I got my bathroom done recently, they had to take the old toilet out, place the new tiles and then leave the tile adhesive overnight to set, before placing and fitting the new toilet on the tiles the next day once tile adhesive fully set. Putting the new toilet on the tiles prior to the tile adhesive drying would have displaced the tiles apparently.

Maybe some workman can find a way round this (or it depends on the tiles you choose), but mine couldn’t - he did get the new toilet in as quickly as possible though. Another workman I got a quote from for the bathroom suggested I would need to move out for 2 full weeks whilst it was being done - told him where to go!