Oh, you brought back some memories! I walked around for months with the vaccuum cleaner in one hand and the swiffer duster in the other. If I remember correctly, I had to have them surgically removed after the reno was completed.

To some extent , yes. I, too, found drywall dust the messiest part of remodeling...the dust from the demo is just round one with drywall dust.

I just sealed off a large room with double layers of plastic sheetting and blocked heating/air conditioning vents; I kept that room clean for us to spend family time in and did the same thing to bedrooms. The rest of the house...I just did not stress about. I did vacum up the work areas sometimes after workmen left like pre tile underlayment/drywall sheets when I did not want dust/chips, etc. buried behind new coverings.

It will be worth it!

I'm still finding dust 3.5 months later, but in random places. Our guys would vacuum before leaving everyday, and in some instances one would do work and another would be behind him vacuuming. I'd do a vacuum and Swiffer every Friday after they left for the weekend. Hang in there! It will be worth it!

sherri58 If I remember correctly, I had to have them surgically removed after the reno was completed.

I LOL'd.

I'm still finding dust 3.5 months later, but in random places. Our guys would vacuum before leaving everyday, and in some instances one would do work and another would be behind him vacuuming. I'd do a vacuum and Swiffer every Friday after they left for the weekend. Hang in there! It will be worth it!

sherri58 If I remember correctly, I had to have them surgically removed after the reno was completed.

I LOL'd.

I keep trying to remind myself that it will be worth it. but I'm also not in a groove at all - still trying to remember where things are stashed. and haven't yet made peace with the lack of kitchen - so I'm still trying to prepare meals. I am really struggling with the idea of eating out frequently with the kids because restaurant choice / what they want when we're eating out, are never as healthy as home cooked food.

I feel like I just need to find a way to relax about it, but I can't. I've literally swiffered about eight times today. and it just keeps settling all over again. i clean. and 30 minutes later, it's coated again.

aannnddd, i feel like a total loser stressing about any of this or complaining because to be able to do a reno is a LUXURY, and one we brought upon ourselves. so I should really just get over myself. yet still...i'm struggling to not cry. ugh.

The dust is the worst part for sure. And the worst parts for dust are demo and drywall.

Due to the way my recent kitchen renovation had to be implemented, there was a 2 month delay between the demo of the kitchen, until it was put back together and operational. Living without a kitchen sink for 2 months was the worst experience ever.

sonny, this is one of my fears - living without a sink on the first floor, because we have trashed our existing powder room as part of the revamp. contractor told me he'll leave me sink and stove as long as possible, but then once it comes out (in a week or so) it's gone until we're totally back in business.

isn't everyone without a functioning kitchen for 2 months? our cabinets will be 8 weeks and then then god only knows when we'll get counter tops in.

Our kitchen was part of a very large whole house reno that included an addition, removing a large fireplace in the middle of the house, replacing all of the doors and trim, replacing all the flooring, and installing a new deck door. With my daugher being less than a year old and my son at 4 y.o., I could not imagine living with that filth and mess, without a kitchen, only 1 bathroom, and crammed into a small area of the house. We moved out.

The constant dust and mess issue aside, which is physically the worst issue, I think the very worst part is simply the frustration of slow progress. A small deadline gets missed here, a trade doesn't show when they're supposed to, someone's grandmother dies for the 2nd time on your job, etc and suddenly you're days behind schedule. It can be like pulling teeth to get little things done at the end. Keep your chin up though! It WILL be worth it in the end when you're enjoying your (practically) new house. Over time, these difficult experiences will dull a bit in your memory.

Yup. That's reality. And it will get worse. And last MUCH longer than you expect.

Our project sounds very similar to yours . . . basement started in February . . . Outside additions began in April, and by May my "old kitchen" was gutted . . . I just got back a mostly functional kitchen the week before Christmas . . . but the ovens don't work yet (hoping for today . . .)

It has been HELL living through this chaos and mess constantly.

We have a pod in the yard with all our couches and large hutches, etc in it. Most of our other "non essentials" are packed away in the (new) crawlspaces and the remaining unfinished part of the basement. I just saw my "good pots" when the kitchen got fairly functional 2 weeks ago, after 6 months of cooking on a one burner induction hotplate and a large toaster oven and various other plug in appliances . . . in our basement . . . where two of our kids (who had "temporarily" lost their bedrooms in the renovation process) were in bunk beds and our only remaining couch resided . . .

All this seemed OK when I believed the 3-5 month schedule . . . but it turned out to be a 12 month (if we're lucky) schedule.

If it is possible to MOVE OUT . . . do it. Honestly.

I don't think the cost would have been higher, as having us in the middle of everything caused plenty of complications (need to constantly clean up after themselves, move stuff around, etc.) . . . so our savings of not having to move/rent a place/etc has surely been eaten up with higher costs. That said, I can't see how I could have done this without being on site for hours daily, as I've had to direct/correct/guide 1001 decisions every day.

So, anyway, IME, it's going to be very bad. Hire cleaning help if you can to keep up with the moving/packing/dusting/tidying/survival . . . and plan to eat out as much as possible. Buy disposable utensils/plates/etc . . .

At the end of the day, the worst part is living in a chaotic messy zone for so long. If at all possible, claim a "haven" and do NOT let anyone stash anything there. If I'd had one peaceful room these months, it would have been much better. In our case, virtually every room has been majorly disrupted, and I foolishly allowed the construction to attack too many areas at once . . . I am now holding firm on making them FINISH some rooms before letting them back into my bedroom to do the floors (they've already long-since demo'ed my master bath . . . and reconstruction is last on our priority list, so will still be a couple months . . .)

Hang in there.

We are in a similar situation, just months ahead of you. Started August 1 (demo to the back 1/3 of the house). We had a bathroom pedestal sink upstairs to wash the dishes in.
My husband has been at home (job searching) and deals with the workers(and they work hard) on a day to day basis. Husband is an engineer with a specialty in pharmaceutical quality control. Dust is not his friend, especially construction dust of a house built in 1880. He had the guys build a plywood wall across the opening to our living space (like you see in the mall when they do a construction reno in macy's). I thought it was a bit over the top at the time but it really did work. We did not use our central heating or ac during the demo phases. No construction dust on our living space (the basement storage was a different story, plaster dust falls down) We had similar frustrations as szruns with too much stuff in too little space where we are trying to live and cook and bathe. We just got the kitchen functioning (not done by any means) on December 19. It was suppose to be by October 28. I think they will be finished (minus exterior paint and drainage) by Feb 15? There is a lot of work out there now and everyone is busy. If you can afford it move out, if not you will continue to have to deal with this everyday. But as my GC says "construction is dirty and dusty". I will have a beautiful house that will function much better in the long run for our family but it has been a long, stressful 5 months.

Could anyone tel me what a realistic timeframe would be for a kitchen-only renovation that includes taking down a load-bearing wall between the kitchen and living room? We haven't gotten too far into the details, but the contractor is saying that jobs like this generally take 5-8 weeks. It would be nice to know what a realistic timeframe might be.

Also is 25% a reasonable figure to budget for change orders/problems/contingencies, etc?

Question 1: My time line is showing 8 weeks for a kitchen with no walls being moved. I'm the GC on the project. I've given myself lots of flex spots in that time line. Because a load-bearing wall is involved, I would plan 8 to 12 weeks. If you have a GC, get them to work up a time line for you. That way, you will know what to expect, when to push them and when to lay off.

Question 2: Contingencies are hard to estimate. If you watch some of the home improvement shows (Love it or List It) you wonder why they even accept some of the projects. There is no way they can embark on the projects with the scanty budgets.

The homes are obviously obsolete. They are piles of deficient wiring, plumbing, drainage, roofing, electrical, and structural elements. Some of them should be torn down. How do people live that way? The list goes on.

The older the house, the greater the contingency fund. You have to honestly judge what can possibly go wrong. Do you have enough electrical capacity? How old are the pipes? When is the last time the roof was completely exposed and examined? Do you have any leaky gutters? Are there issues in the basement or with the foundation? The big money isn't in the glamorous, shiny stuff, it's in the unglamorous stuff like pluming and sewerage.

I have a 10% contingency for the kitchen project, but I know exactly what I am getting into. I have worked on home projects with 50% contingencies and used them.

You have to use your judgment. Ask your contractor.

They just mistakenly cut thru my family room wall. I'm honestly not sure I will make it thru this with hair or a husband bc he thinks I'm "too stressed". Yet he's in Miami for the week for work. I'm here in snow w 2 kids, 2 FILTHY dogs (low to the ground so they're like dust magnets) and blades coming thru the wrong walls. Gah!!

Oh, the dust, the dust. The gritty reality of life under renovation.

We had agreed with the GC to seal off the top two floors of our house at the stairwell. The first floor was the floor being worked on, so between that and the second floor was an elaborate platform of pillars, drywall, plastic and insulation. It was great at dampening noise and keeping the heat in the top two floors, which was our living space. Stupidly, we thought it was a dust preventer as well.

The first day of demolition, I came downstairs to what looked like an avalanche of dust moving down the hallway at me. No dust was coming from the sealed-off stairway; instead, it was coming through every other nook and cranny of our old house: the floorboards, the baseboards, the electrical outlets, everywhere.

We spent two hours that evening vacuuming and covering furniture, books and art with tarps and garbage bags.

Two days later, there was another layer of dust over everything.

We resigned ourselves to living, breathing and eating dust. I kept our eating area relatively dust-free and let the rest go.

Now that we're at punch-list stage, I'm gearing up for a full house spring clean, the kind where I'm on a ladder wiping down the window trim on the third floor because there's dust there. And emptying the third-floor linen closet and wiping down the shelves because there's dust there.

Keep one or two areas clean if you can, and don't knock yourself out trying to stay on top of the dust. It will win every time until your job is completed.

Zeebee,

Any advice for someone about to have a complete bottom floor renovation? We thought we could live upstairs, but were advised to move out since my son has severe asthma.

So the good news is we will not be living through the destruction, but I'm concerned about all our bed rooms upstairs while we are gone.

We plan to keep all our furniture upstairs...will it be ruined? Should I put tarps over all our beds?! After reading your post, I'm thinking I should put tape over all my air vents and possibly electrical outlets?

Once we move out, I'm not sure I will even have access to our upstairs for awhile. I'd hate to finally go up there and have a dust storm to deal with!

Thanks for any advice, and good luck to the OP. I can feel your pain!

greasetrap, Ours was a kitchen-only reno where we pulled down a half wall and rerouted plumbing. We were told 8 weeks. The reality was 13 weeks.

Do you have an older home? Our last house was built in 1930 and had all kinds of "surprises" behind the walls, which added to the time some projects took. Just an FYI if you happen to live in an older house.

LaurajeanS, definitely cover everything. Tarp as much as you can, roll up the rugs, strip the bed linens and cover the mattresses. Cover/protect or take down the stuff that's hardest to clean later, like blinds and curtains and intricate light fixtures. Bathrooms are easy to clean, and wood floors, so that's less of a concern. Cover your vents and blue-tape the electrical outlets (if the workers cover all the vents in the work zone, that's half of the battle). You can tape the closets shut to minimize dust entering them.

Good advice about anyone with severe asthma avoiding a construction zone. My DH has minor dust allergies and was concerned, but apparently plaster dust is A-OK with his body, while household dustbunnies are not. :)

Dear HomeChef & hsw,

Thanks for the input. We're not far enough into the process yet to get a timeline from the contractor (I just posted preliminary plans in another thread last night and would welcome everyone's input), but I'll make sure to get one before signing a contract.

My house was built in 1960 and I've spent the last 24 years having all of the known problems fixed, so hopefully there shouldn't be too many surprises. The biggest unknown is that windows and sliding doors will be replaced in areas that are prone to ice dams in the winter, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were some mold or rotted wood in the framing. I plan to have a separate contingency for that.

Overall, I'd prefer to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised, than the other way around.

We just renovated a 1920's bungalow. On the main level, we moved the kitchen (to where a tiny eating nook and small screened porch used to be), added a powder room and coat closet (where the old kitchen was), removed a load bearing wall, made a pass-through opening, widened a doorway, installed new front and back doors. Basement involved demoing the ceiling and repairing old termite damage on joists, tiling the floor, remodeling the bathroom, removed a few weird non-bearing dividers, and added a small LVL to prevent a bit of floor bounce in the new kitchen. Upper level, we remodeled the bathroom. Finally, we refinished the wood floors and painted the whole house. We moved out of the house on May 12, and moved back in on November 1, to a clean and nearly finished house.

We are never going through this again! The plaster in our house is nearly 3 inches thick -- I can't even explain the type of dust it creates when demoed. I have done drywall demo, and this is 10x dustier than that. We had packed all of our main floor stuff into one room, and all of our bedroom stuff into one room and did our best to seal those off. Everything still got pretty dusty anyway. The worst part was the playing of furniture musical chairs that we needed to do during the process of refinishing the floors. There was still the occasional plaster repair that was going on at this point, so everything just kept getting covered in more dust. Our contractor was terrible at doing quality control, so there were several times we had them redo certain things -- plumbing piping coming down into our low-ceiling basement, when it could have easily been put between joists, an unacceptably wavy drywall ceiling that I had them tear down and replace, damaged tiles that were installed, that I had them replace. I am lucky that I telecommute and was nearby to constantly show up to make decisions, do QC, and direct things. The whole house had to be cleaned several times -- every bit of moulding, every piece of furniture, windows, bedding, blinds, floors. It took me about a week to get everything clean enough for us to feel comfortable moving the kids back into the house.

We lived in this house for more than 10 years before we finally worked up the nerve to undertake a major renovation. We knew that it would be somewhat terrible. And it was -- really terrible. But we are happy with the finished product! It is so nice! You will hate your life (and probably your contractor, too) while it is all going on, but you will be happy once it is done! You can do this!

One concern about moving out - If your contractor/crew have other jobs they're working on at the same time they're doing yours it can lead to an out of sight/out of mind scenario and yours might be neglected for days on end.

In some cases, more immediate attention will be paid to the job where people are there, waiting for the guys to show up every day (and chasing them down if they don't) and where the hardship of living in a construction site are obvious. It's wrong, but it happens.

While we didn't live day-to-day in dust, our lives (& those of other family members we imposed on) were much disrupted. We also incurred significant extra living/commuting expenses & an additional $600 for storage pod rental because the job went so far beyond schedule.

This summer someone posted asking if she should outfit her garage w/ a small kitchen for use during her reno. She was advised not to because it would appear that there was less urgency to get the job done on time.

I would never have been one to think that way, but I've seen how it might impact how your job is handled with some contractors. For those who choose to move out, don't be shy about tracking progress while you're away.

My best advice for dealing with the mess/dust: lower your standards.

You can raise them back up again when the reno is done.

weedyacres, you summed it up perfectly!

The view from the other side:

IâÂÂm having a pretty nice morning, but the lady whose kitchen IâÂÂm remodeling apparently isnâÂÂt. Wearing her housecoat, slippers, and bed-head, she bumbles into the dining area and wrenches a cup of coffee from the pot without so much as a âÂÂGood morningâ or even a glance in my direction. The kitchen becomes noticeably cooler. IâÂÂve got enough experience with women to know when not to say anything and this is definitely one of those times. If feel like an intruder on my own jobsite.

Later when her husband takes a smoke break in the garage, he clues me in. âÂÂSheâÂÂs sick of having this house torn up. ItâÂÂs been 5 weeks.â There we have it. Confirmation of my initial and instant diagnosis, a classic case of remodeling fatigue. IâÂÂve seen this many times before and have experienced it personally with my wife of 32 years. If you Google it, youâÂÂll get several hits.

In fairness to myself, I havenâÂÂt had their kitchen torn up for 5 weeks. The dufuss âÂÂcontractorâ they hired to set cabinets and build countertops used 4 of the 5 weeks in question. This is the guy that didnâÂÂt know to use a filler strip where a cabinet meets a wall to provide enough clearance so the drawer wonâÂÂt strike the door casing when you open it.

Of course you canâÂÂt just pull this 6â run of cabinets, install the filler, and call it good. After you do that, youâÂÂve got to reset the 3â cabinet to the right of the stove opening and every upper cabinet has to be reset too. This takes time, looks like you havenâÂÂt done much work at the end of the day, and that feeds remodeling fatigue.

When my jaw is propped open while heâÂÂs performing my root canal, I may get fatigued, but I donâÂÂt get short with my dentist. He didnâÂÂt bite on that olive pit and split my tooth. Well I didnâÂÂt hire and give a fat down payment to a guy who couldnâÂÂt set cabinets, build countertops, or install flooring without taking cabinets out of level. So why is the guy who is saving your butt from your previous decisions suddenly persona non grata? IâÂÂd love to ask this question, but know better. You donâÂÂt stay married for over thirty years and have great customer reviews without the ability to hold your tongue.

The only cure is to finish the job right. I donâÂÂt tell my dentist how to do his job even though itâÂÂs my mouth, and IâÂÂll not have you rush me even though itâÂÂs your home. I know youâÂÂre sick of me and having your space unusable and messy, but thereâÂÂs only one way out of this that will make both of us happy in the long run and thatâÂÂs stay the course. WeâÂÂll get through this and youâÂÂll love me again, I promise.

My kitchen, dining room, laundry room and bathroom redo has stalled as I wait for the contractor so I got a heavy duty air cleaner and that seemed to help a lot.

I don't see a lot of dust around anymore.

The mess was the worst part. And the cabinet doors and trims sitting in the living room and family room until it was done. (We did a reface, not replace so had flat boxes with doors, plywood ends and veneers in them, as opposed to large boxes with cabinets) It always takes longer than you think it will. We foolishly started ours in November - what were we thinking? That was 2013, and its finished, we love it and its all behind us. So now, we are getting ready to start on one of the bathrooms. Crazy, right? But at least this time we waited until after the holidays.........

our reno of Kitchen and DR lasted 6 mos, March to September with DH doing 90% of work....contracted out plumber, electrician and counters...plumber was a friend who did sink, pot filler -copper line and ice machine -copper line...electrician was my brother who ran wire but DH told him what and where and we bought all material ourselves...

same as everyone else, dust dust and more dust....

we/I cooked on a induction hot plate, the grill, a griddle - it really was a huge help that the summer was coming, but we planned it that way....

if i remember correctly, there is a thread with "meals to cook while under construction" or something like that...that really helped me...

my kids were in college/HS, so that end was so much easier than OP....

we ate in our FR, which is downstairs, split level....
had a dish, condiment, food cart....sounds good, but truly ugly and horrible, but it did serve the purpose. my kids still laugh about....

we were so cramped but we had to make it work, no choice...

my best advice is set up a temporary kitchen as best u can and use paper products as often as u can...
i had to wash in my "slob sink"...which was tough but again, no choice
go to family houses to be in a clean house, let kids sleep there if possible... and hopefully u will get some invites for dinner....

i just kept telling myself..."this too shall pass", this too shall pass"....
it will over one day and it will be sooooo worth it

hang in there :)

Trebuchet, are the people acting as their own GCs? It seems to me that the principal reason for hiring a GC is to ensure that you've got competent subcontractors doing the work.

Last week I was at the Balduccis in McLean (for those not familiar with the DC area it's a very tony area of Northern VA) on line at the register with some items. The woman behind me (a stranger) starts wiping the back of my jacket with her hand, announcing that I'm dusty! I told her we were doing a home reno and she said ,"Oh yes, that drywall dust will stay with you for months!"

Anyway, like others have said, the answer is the dust! And, not being able to find anything. And, the 10lbs everyone gains because you're eating out so often. And, finally, the frustration with all of the little things.

We are in the home stretch now and i can tell you that DH, who did not want to do this reno, is thrilled that we went through with it. I can already tell how much better our quality of life will be with a bigger, more family friendly kitchen, functional mudroom and upstairs laundry.

Don't get me wrong -- the dust is bad. But dust can be cleaned up. It isn't permanent.

The worst part is when you realize you've made a choice you regret, and are suck with it (because of cost, and so forth). ð©.

So a long as you're happy with the outcome, it is all good!!!!!

You can buy special drywall dust filters for some of the larger Shop vac type machines.

Beyond getting stuck with a total crook doing your reno, signing a contract with smooth Dr Jekyll one day and then trying to work with his nasty twin, Mr Hyde, who shows up on the first day of site work can be somewhat off putting.

"Trebuchet, are the people acting as their own GCs?"

The folks in the article I wrote were. That's the downside to hiring your own subs. No history and no leverage.

Zee bee, thanks for the earlier reply about protecting our second floor....I now plan to tarp every thing. Plus, I never would have thought to tape over my electrical outlets. Wow....this renovation is going to be interesting!

Imgch, You are going through the worst part. And living in the mess with 2 little kids, in the snow and 2 dirty dogs? I feel so bad for you! Can you take some mini breaks? Check into a hotel with an indoor pool for a night or two? Let the kids burn off some energy. How about one of the residence type hotels? I stayed one place where they even served a buffet dinner as well as a buffet breakfast.

Find some dust free place to hang out, you and your kids need clean air. Most of all, don't be too hard on yourself. Anyone who has lived through something similar knows the stress you feel.

(Next week, leave your hubby with the mess, while you go to Miami!)