It may seem like a crazy idea but believe us when we say it’s possible to live on-site while your home is being remodeled. Unless we are talking about the ENTIRE house, then you may need to find another place to stay. When remodeling just a portion of a home, such as a kitchen, bathroom, or an entire floor it’s possible to relocate that space to another area of your house.
Our main priority is to keep the job site separate from your living space. We don’t just hope to keep the debris and dust away from your living space & items, we prioritize it. With the use of high-quality, thick clear poly plastic sheeting we create temporary “walls.” These are securely placed with 3M ScotchBlue tape to reduce any form of damage to surfaces that will not be touched throughout the remodel.
We use ZipWall to create secure entries to the job site through the plastic sheeting. If possible, we will try to create a separate form of entrance/exit from the job site to outside—through a window or external door—to eliminate any mess to your living space.
Negative Airflow—How It Works, Why We Use It
“Negative airflow” is a crucial step in setting up our job sites. Negative airflow is the process of air being pulled from another room where there is higher air pressure to a room with lower air pressure. This would mean that any potentially contaminated air or particles from inside the room will not flow out into the non-contaminated areas.
To create & maintain “negative pressure,” all entrances to the job site are securely sealed and properly closed before any work is started. This process helps to ensure that all air from the job site is not pushed back into your living space. With a properly placed fan in an outside window, the air is FORCED OUT of the job site, pulling in new-air from the rest of the home.
“Keeping a clean job improves safety & efficient work flow!” —Tom Steffes, Owner
For example, at our current Skyway, Washington Kitchen remodel project, we set up these temporary “walls” between the job site & a living room. Negative airflow was set up through the exterior kitchen window to keep dust and debris out. We found it really useful to create ZipWall entries between a living room & the job site—this allowed our clients to live onsite while construction progressed.
Despite these measures, a small amount of dust still finds its way to other areas of your home. At the end of each day, we make sure to leave our job site clean of dust and debris, and we tidy all of the tools. That also includes cleaning the site entrance and pathways by sweeping and vacuuming any area that interferes with your living space. Besides watching your home transform, it should not feel like living on a construction site.
If you have any questions or comments about how we keep our job site clean, please leave us a comment below or send us a message.
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