When you’re undertaking home renovations, there’s a lot of stress that can come along with it. However, add into the equation a house full of kids and you’ve got a situation that only an angel would willingly take on. But when there’s work to be done, you’ve got to find a way to keep on schedule while keeping your family safe. To help you do this, here are three tips for safely completing home renovations when you have little kids at home.
Keep Your Projects Contained
If you have quite a few areas that you’re wanting to work on, Lauren Ferranti-Ballem, a contributor to Today’s Parent, recommends that you take your projects one room at a time so you can keep everything contained. With too many projects going on all over the house, it can be almost impossible to keep your kids away from the construction. But by containing your projects to just one room at a time, you’ll be able to only make a certain room off limits rather than having to section off big portions of your home. While this might take more time, it can be very worth it for the sake of your sanity.
Teach Tool Safety
To keep your kids safe, it’s important that you set some ground rules about what to do if they see tools. Many tools, especially power tools can be very dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, let alone in the hands of a child. For this reason, it’s crucial that you teach your kids to stay away from tools and to not touch them if they see them. Additionally, the Master Builders Association advises readers of Porch.com to ask their contractor or others working on their home to always unplug tools they’re not currently using and keep tools put away or out of reach of small hands.
Be Conscious Of Air Quality
When major renovations are taking place, there’s usually a lot of dust and debris that comes along with it. And if your family is still going to be living in your home while construction is going on, you want to do everything you can to ensure that all that dust and dirt isn’t getting breathed in by your family. To help with this, Alyson McNutt English, a contributor to BobVila.com, recommends hanging plastic sheeting to seal off rooms being worked on and to up the amount of times you vacuum to at least once or twice per day. By doing this, you should be able to keep a lot of the dust out of the air you’re family’s breathing at home until construction is over.
If you’re able to take on some renovations at home, consider using the tips mentioned above to help keep your kids safe during this process.
