this is a little less than practical tidbit compared to the weighty information i’ve read so far, but having gone through a kitchen renovation, let me say this: be prepared to be dusty. did i mention the dust? there will be dust. lots and lots of dust. and it will stay for months afterward.
if at all possible, sling some plastic draping over accessways into the rest of the house. it will help. a little. you can’t get ahead of it, you can’t clean it, and it won’t go away for a while.
if you have any doodads - such as your great-great-grandfather’s clock - that could be adversely affected by fine grit, put them away. better yet, get them out of the house completely.
Actually, I was talking about a plastic curtain between the kitchen and everywhere else. A contractor should put down plastic on the floors wherever they are walking, as well. Carpets can be covered with builders plastic, which is sticky on one side, but not so sticky that it can’t be pulled up easily.
There are lots of good suggestions in lots of posts in this thread. We went through this earlier this year, starting March 2, ending June 30. So here is a recap of everything I can think of, some of which repeats other posts.
Design. A professional designer is expensive but worth it. Make the designer responsible for making sure everything (cabinets, etc.) fit. Don’t make the last payment to the designer until the project is finished.
Time. Our contractor budgeted 13 weeks (after the design was finalized). It took 17+ weeks. Not bad, all things considered. (This was for both a bathroom and a kitchen.)
Time (2). There will be a big gap after you have the counters templated before they are delivered. Try to get your contractor to work things out so they have other things to work on in your project during this period, otherwise they likely will disappear for a few days and it may be hard to get them back in the groove on your project. The contractor has to keep his people busy, help him do that.
Dust and cleanup. This should be specified in your contract with the contractor, that they will seal off other areas of the house, protect flooring, and keep the dust cleaned up outside the work area every day. And of course that they will clean up completely at the end.
Budget. Someone early on in this thread was right on the spot. There are no good surprises. Have 20% over your budget available in ready money.
Sub-contractors. I hired a contractor who doesn’t use subs, who has all his own employees. I think this is the better approach, without sub-contractors there is much less finger-pointing back and forth about who is responsible for problems. Also fewer strangers in your house.
Punch list. Towards the end of the project, you’ll want to walk through with the contractor and note all the little (or not so little) things that need fixing or finishing, and make a list. Don’t make your last payment until everything on the list is done.
Permits. Absolutely yes. Aside from assuring minimum quality work and that the work meets code, if one of your neighbors turns you in the city could actually stop work on your project. Also lack of permits could affect resale value, especially if you end up selling any time soon.
Communication. Try to get a contractor who likes to talk to you, and who will keep you up to date, daily if necessary, on what is going on. This is one area where my contractor fell short. I don’t think it was dishonesty or anything like that, just his personality.
Neighbors. If you are going to impact your neighbors’ quality of life, let them know ahead of time. We had a huge dumpster in front of our house (narrow street) for over 3 months, but they were very nice about it.
Staging. You have to have an area that can get dirty, like your garage or someplace protected, where the workers can stage their materials and do some of the work like cutting boards or cutting tile. Cabinets and appliances will be delivered there, etc. You won’t be able to use it yourself, for the duration.
Access. I gave my contractor an opener for the garage door, and that’s all. Once the project was over, it was easy to change the garage door opener code so there was no worry about unauthorized access (even though we got the opener back, and even though I trust these guys a lot, it was still a prudent thing to do).
Remember the triangle - you can have it good quality, you can have it fast, or you can have it cheap. You can never have all three. You can sometimes have one and be a little ahead on a 2nd.
Good luck. We love our new kitchen and bath, and in retrospect the construction period seems to have passed very quickly (it did not seem so at the time, of course).
Roddy
As someone who used to run high-end kitchen renovations, my advice is that you will survive this best if you are emotionally prepared. A good contractor will also manage your expectations. We used to give something called the “Mood Swings” speech at one of the early meetings in the process.
We would lay out how at the beginning, with demolition and framing, things seem to be moving fast. When the plumbers and electricians start, there seems to be much less visible progress every day. Whenever the unknown condition that is sure to arise (asbestos, ancient wiring, decrepit cast iron drains, window factory on strike, etc) appears, you will be angry or utterly discouraged. When the finish works gets underway your mood will lighten. You have to be ready for the long haul and remind yourself that waiting another week or two or more will give you a nicer kitchen that you will enjoy for many years.
Do what you can to set up another kitchen-like space so you can cope with any delays. Clients would set up a refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, grill, crock pot, etc. down cellar, on the screen porch, or in the garage with a laundry sink or a hose. It helps. So does having access to good cheap takeout food.
If you can’t do the whole thing yourself, can you do the demo work? Removing the cupboard and tiles will save you money.
Before you see a designer, what has been bugging you for the last 5 years? Cupboards to high? Not enough outlets? Can’t open the silverware drawer while the dishwasher is open?
If your budget will handle it, consider buying your cupboards from someone that speciallizes in them, and handles the kitchen design as part of the package. We weren’t charged for the design work, because we were ordering cupboards/sink/hardware from them.
As mentioned above, consider drawers instead of lower cupboards. The kitchen we just finished is in an apartment for my parents. Getting to the back of a lower cupboard would be really hard for them. Drawers make that storage space much easier to access.
Ask for samples of your materials, and try living with them for a little while. We got sampels of the countertop, the backsplash tile, the flooring and the cupboard, and laid them out where we could see them in different lights. What looks good at night under artifical light might not look as good in sunlight.
Talk to the contractors. I made a habit of leaving for work after they arrived each morning. That way I could talk to them about how things were going and what I was seeing.
Unless you will be home the whole time they are working, you will need some way for the contractors to get into the house. We have a garage door opener that will let us program temporary codes, good for a set number of uses. There was no risk that someone would copy a key to the door.
Good =) You had me worried with the descriptions of all the walls that were going to [hopefully] be removed …
I shudder at a lot of the renovation shows on HGTV and assorted other channels … they show people [like that make an apartment in your basement dude] blithly bashing out walls with a sledgehammer and no apparent checking to see if it is loadbearing or not.
I adore Mike Holmes and the way he goes in and fixes what contractors and previous owners screwed up.
You are planning on getting the proper permits and inspections?
Yeah. The people who I’m interviewing are knowledgeable about all the permits that will be required, as is my MIL, who worked for an electrician for over 20 years.
Lighting will be an important component of the remodel.
You can do replacement under cabinet lighting simultaneously or later, but I suggest simultaneously.
LED lights are becoming much less expensive than they used to be. However, most electricians are not highly familiar with them. So you might have to do some homework on your own.
The benefit will be a MUCH lower electricity bill, and less heating of the cabinets which means MORE safety.
If you were me, you could expect your cheap and clueless brother-in-law to come for a visit mid remodel.
Clueless B-i-L: Hey, I thought I’d swing by for a couple days on my way to Mom’s.
Me: Wow, we’d love to have you but it’s kind of a mess here right now. We’re down to one bathroom, the other has been gutted and so has the kitchen. The fridge is in the living room, and there’s a 4’ x 8’ hole in the kitchen floor so they can fix the pillars under the house. There’s dust and dirt everywhere, we’ve got plastic sheeting from one end of the house to the other, and the contractor’s truck is taking up half the driveway.
Clueless B-i-L: That’s ok. I don’t mind. See you Saturday.
Me: :smack:
