You can almost always keep living at home during a renovation with Van Dycke Projects. The crew keeps a toilet working the whole time, holds shower downtime to a minimum, and sets up a temporary sink where one is needed. The single exception is hazardous material removal, the one job that requires you to move out.
How does a house stay livable during a renovation?
Van Dycke Projects, based in Steinbach, Manitoba, plans the work so your home keeps functioning while the crew is in it. A toilet stays usable the whole time. Shower downtime is kept short, and where the work takes out your only sink, the crew puts in a temporary one.
The work area itself is sealed behind poly dust walls, which are plastic sheeting barriers with zipper doors, so the rest of the house stays clean and usable. The crew also cleans up at the end of each day, so you get your living space back every evening rather than only at the end of the job.
None of this is left to chance. It is planned into the job before the first day, so the home stays a home while the work happens.
What is the one renovation that means moving out?
The one job where you cannot stay is hazardous material abatement. Abatement is the licensed removal of a dangerous material such as asbestos. When that work is happening, Van Dycke Projects needs you out of the home until it is done and cleared.
This is the only exception. For a standard bathroom or kitchen renovation with no hazardous material, you stay put. If testing finds something that needs abatement, the crew tells you before any of that work begins, so a move is never a surprise.
How do you renovate around a family that still lives there?
Van Dycke Projects works around your daily life, not just around the walls. One real example: a client had company coming to stay during their renovation. The crew finished what it could and left the second bathroom untouched and fully working while the guests were there. Once the company left, the crew moved into that bathroom and carried on.
That is the mindset on every job. The crew sequences the work so you keep the parts of the home you need, when you need them.
Here is what stays working while you live through a renovation:
- A functioning toilet, the whole time
- Short, planned shower downtime
- A temporary sink where the work removes your only one
- A sealed, poly-walled work area that keeps dust out of your living space
What should you tell the crew before the work starts?
Van Dycke Projects keeps a toilet working and holds shower downtime short, but the crew still needs to know your must-haves. If your mornings hinge on one shower, say so. If a home office cannot lose power for a day, flag it early.
Before the walk-through, think about which rooms and fixtures you cannot do without, and for how long each day. A household with small kids has different needs than one without. Share those needs, and the crew builds the plan around them rather than asking you to work around the plan.
That is how a family stays in a house through a renovation without the renovation taking over the house. You can read how Van Dycke Projects controls dust during a renovation, or see the renovation FAQ on the Van Dycke Projects homepage.