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Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

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Original poster

Cant find anywhere to stay during house renovations!!!

12 replies

newpositiveme · 14/02/2011 20:49

Am getting really worried! We are having some renovations, a new kitchen, bathroom and conversion of a garage done in april going into may, basically a hotel is out of the question (massively expensive plus we have a dog!) We live in a touristy area and the local 'holiday lets' are either patially/fully booked for the period we need or again way too expensive.
No family to stay with- Help, any ideas!!

OP posts:

MarmadukeMarmalade · 14/02/2011 21:25

we lived in a static caravan on site (this was for 16 months though!) how about buying a cheap caravan or hiring a caravan for the duration? Good Luck and remember....it WILL be worth it in the end

sandyballs · 14/02/2011 21:31

I would have thought you could stay in your house if the other rooms aren't affected. We are having our whole upstairs ripped out and extended and downstairs new kitchen and extended dining room. We are staying put but maybe I'm being too optimistic!!

Bearcat · 14/02/2011 21:44

Just slum it in the house. Cheaper and the money you save will help with the finishes or a nice holiday at the end.
Our friends have just gone through what you are having and more and they got the microwave set up in the dining room, ate lots of ready meals and teenage daughter set up her bedroom in the new wooden chalet in the garden!

dinkystinky · 14/02/2011 21:46

OP - whereabouts are you? When we were between properties in London we found a short term let via gumtree.

Dillie · 14/02/2011 21:49

We had our kitchen redone a while ago.

It was totally gutted and rebuilt from scratch. If my memory serves me correct, it was out of action for around 3 or 4 weeks.

We managed ok, but we did both work and DD wasnt born then. So basically we left the workmen to it with myself popping in at lunch time to check up on things :)

It was a lot of restaurant and ready meals, and the poor microwave got a hammering, but in the end it was fine. (If a little dusty!)

PorkChopSter · 14/02/2011 21:53

Are any rooms unaffected? Is recommend staying if possible... you'd be amazed how many times there'll be a 'while you're here'll question or you'll notice them doing something they shouldn't.

Original poster

newpositiveme · 14/02/2011 22:00

Thanks for all the replies!
The main problem from my POV is that we have a 4 month old baby, also a 4 year old. If it was just me and DP it wouldnt bother me at all, but am worried how we will cope with the dust, no water for at least a short period of time, hmmmm, no garden (just a courtyard) so no scope for a caravan which would have been my preferred option.

Will check out gumtreee tho!!

OP posts:

PorkChopSter · 15/02/2011 12:47

Not to be competitive but we did an extension, new bathrooms/kitchen and walls moving with a 9 week old, 2, 4 & 6 year olds. There was one room upstairs and one downstairs that were untouched. We scheduled the rest of the work carefully. I wouldn't say the builders were exceptionally thoughtful but we had a plumbed in washing machine 95% of the time, they gave warning of any water/electric outages, and were gone by 4.30pm.

I interruptted them doing all sorts of stuff using their own initiative. If I was living elsewhere I wouldn't have been there to do that.

SaggyHairyArse · 15/02/2011 14:30

I think you should stay onsite. I know so many people who have lived offsite and the builders have done things they didn't authorise or didn't keep to schedule because they were not there and which ended up adding to the cost of the work.

If you go out for an hour or so in the morning and afternoon, they will be gone by 5pm at the latest so it won't be that ad and it will save you money!

oiwhatsoccuring · 15/02/2011 14:32

Where in the country are you ?
Someone may have a holiday let/second home going empty - it is MN after all!

WeeBitWobbly · 15/02/2011 16:25

Do you have a local forum? we had an empty flat and filled it on a short let at a very reasonable price to a family doing the same thing, all through a posting. We didn't want long term tenants and they didn't want a long term lease.
Worth asking

Unwind · 16/02/2011 19:22

I've seen large tents that could give you a sheltered outdoor cooking/eating area, with bedrooms that you could use for storing stuff - maybe putting one of those small chemical toilets in one.

I am not suggesting you actually live in the tent, but it might be a nice place to get a break from the building in those early summer evenings.

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