Living with building work

[ButtfaceMiscreant]

I was wondering if I could pick the hive mind a bit.

We are due to have our current, very tiny (think one adult at a time) kitchen gutted and knocked through into our current living room, which will become a kitchen diner. Our dining room will therefore become a living room. These rooms are the extent of our downstairs, and the work has been projected to take 2 weeks (so I am assuming at least 3...).

We can't massively afford, either costs or time off work, to move out/go on holiday whilst the works are being done, and no family has space to house us all. Please tell me how doable it is to live in essentially the upstairs for two weeks?! I am a SAHM to 3 under 5 and can be out of the house all day, and feed the kids at grandparents etc. What would make the lack of a downstairs more bearable? We are thinking about getting a cheap small fridge for milk etc so we can do breakfast/packed lunches/cuppas out of the dining room, but what else can we do?

Thank you so much in advance!

Ooh we did something similar. I didn't do all this, but if I were to do it again this is what I'd do:

• there will be dust EVERYWHERE. try to put some sort of drop cloth door type thing between the room(s) being gutted and the other rooms

-put all your surplus stuff from the rooms being worked on into storage / the garage / parents house if possible. It is hard enough living in a tiny space without that tiny space being full of boxes -if you start eating in a different room to normal be aware that food will get all over that room! We had a microwave and fridge temporarily in the living room, and although we were careful the mess was grim. Cover furniture in there in sheets / dropcloths to protect it. -as you said, go out a lot 😄

• try to have a working telly somewhere

Sounds exciting, hope it goes really well for you!

We are doing our kitchen at the moment - we're about 5 weeks in. We have created a mini kitchen in the utility room and that has been a godsend - we do have a sink, a microwave and a fridge still. In terms of cooking, we are barbequing - a lot. Just about every meal is a variation on grilled meat and salad. But our other option is 'ping meals'. We never normally use much pre-prepared food, but it is coming into it's own. A few times we have had pre-prepared new potatoes cooked in the microwave, and also microwave rice and pasta with microwaveable sauces. Our weekly highlight is a M&S ready meal at the weekend - they're actually not bad!

Will you be able to access the dining room when builders are in?

You may find it easier to designate one of the bedrooms as kitchen diner area. Then all food requirements kettle toaster etc are in one place.

You will need a washing up bowl in the bathroom to use for cups plates etc.

Definitely remove everything you can from the rooms which will be affected as cloths are not that effective.

We have done this twice, first a loft conversion and then a side and rear extension. We had a camping stove in the living room and used upstair bathroom for washing up etc. It's hard but definitely doable, our one took months rather than weeks

Definitely sheet the clean areas off, it makes a huge difference with the dust. Also second having one room or half a room as the temp kitchen and easy to prep and store food.

I'd advise lots of sheeting and an electric salt-lamp or ioniser in the upstairs rooms to keep the air as clear as you can.

I found telling our builders not to sweep up when they finished helped a lot but of course was more work for me. They would go crackers with a broom, and the air downstairs was like a fog until the dust settled a couple of hours later. Much easier for me to vac it all up without all the particles being airborne first.

It is inconvenient, but keep telling yourself it's not that long to be in upheaval and the end result will be worth it.
We had 18 months off and on, mostly on, with a major refurb, but we all survived

Thank you all!

Yes, we will be able to access the current dining room but it will have some lots of boxes, storage units etc from the kitchen and living room. Should still be able to use the table, I hope! Good ideas on the sheeting on the doors, will definitely do that. Also the washing up bowl in the bathroom; I hadn't even thought about washing up so thank you!

We had the bathroom done earlier this year and went on holiday for the first week while they gutted and made it good, then in for the last 2 weeks (1 week of which was bucket flushing...) so I know it is doable to live with building work if a bit stressful. It's the same company doing the kitchen work so I know they are very tidy workers. I think it will have to be a grin and bear it job. I can't wait for it to be done though and have a kitchen we can let the kids in to learn basic cooking and baking! At the moment we keep them out as it's just too cramped and the slate tile floor can just never get clean as it sucks the dirt in and is very hard on a little head if they fell.

Can they access the kitchen round the back? If so, use plastic sheeting and seal off the entire area, and the rest of the house will be reasonably OK. If not, try to make plastic curtains overlapping and sealing off the stairs to limit the dust.

If your fridge is under-counter you could carry it upstairs, ditto freezer, or can you keep it in the hall on 'your' side? For 2-3 weeks in summer it'll be OK. A baby bath or two is good for putting dirty dishes in and then clean ones, when washing up in the bath.

We're just coming to the end of a similar project - for eight weeks we lived upstairs between bedrooms as our downstairs was gutted. It was tough at times (washing up in the bathroom sink is depressing beyond belief) but do-able. My tip would be to put as many belongings as you can into storage, especially furniture. That way your upstairs won't feel as cluttered and it won't be ruined by dust and debris. Talking from experience here!

Our drive etc is all at the rear so other than nipping to the loo the workmen shouldn't need to come out of the kitchen really. We will be getting rid of our sofa and getting a new one so that's the biggest bit of furniture to sort so should be fine there.

Wow Makemine 8 weeks, that is brave of you! Makes me feel a lot better about my two weeks (although I am going to assume it will be 4 because it's probably a safe bet that it will overrun). I bet it has been worth it though. I know from when our bathroom was done it wasn't ideal to bucket flush and go elsewhere to shower and bathe the kids, but it was worth it and a distant memory now, so holding on to that! The end result will be worth it!

A portaloo is about £80/week round here - if you can stretch to it I'd get one for the builders so that they don't have to be in the house at all. Then you can just seal your house off and keep it a bit cleaner.

We have been without a kitchen for six weeks. They've been fiiting it for three and it is nowhere near finished, so plan for being without a kitchen for much longer than the three weeks you think it will take.
Expect dust, and to be cleaning every single day.
Set up a mini kitchen if you can. We have our fridge freezer, kettle, toaster and microwave on the original cupboards and worktops, in our lounge. It's amazing what you can learn to cook in a microwave, because daily takeaways and eating out get very expensive. We have also had lots of barbecues.
Do not underestimate how tedious it will become trying to be out of the house all day and going to your parents for meals.
Allow extra time for things like washing up and not having a washing machine plumbed in (if this is currently in your kitchen.
Keep doors shut wherever possible.

We lived through a major kitchen extension in 2016 with a newborn and three year old in winter.

We had heating and hot water as the boiler was situated in the loft so all good on that front.

The builders were excellent so no dust issues.