Home renovation accompanies a lot of excitement, optimism, and anticipation. You might have been living in a house for a long time without making any changes or upgrades, or you may just have purchased an old home that needs a lot of fixing up before it reaches the standards of your dream house. If so, you probably have come to the conclusion that it is time for a home renovation.
Home renovations are the perfect way to recreate your space according to your needs and desires. There is something very intriguing in transforming your house from what it is to what it could be. But home renovation is also a challenging time, so much so that it often creates stress for the residents. Not only because homeowners spend so much money on it, but also because it turns your life completely upside down. Therefore, the road to achieving the goal of living in a perfect house is bumpy and bouncy.
The problem with home renovation projects is that you often get stuck in issues that you may have failed to anticipate even after meticulously planning the project ahead of time. However, these hurdles should not be the end of your home renovation endeavors. Knowing these nightmares can help you to prepare, so you can avoid them through some careful considerations.
Here is a list of home renovation nightmares that you must avoid.
Damage to your personal belongings
One of the nightmares of a home improvement project is taking care of your belongings and furniture to keep them away from damage. It is somewhat risky to start a home renovation project with all the stuff in the house since there is the constant risk of paint splashes and tools dropping on your belongings. One way to keep your belongings safe is by keeping them in a nearby self storage facility in your locality. Your stuff can remain away from theft and damage while you finish the renovation. Also, once you have made arrangements for the safekeeping of your stuff, you can concentrate on your home makeover project without any stress.
Making an unrealistic budget
Budgeting is an essential aspect of any home renovation project, big or small. Often people have to stop their projects midways due to a shortage of money. Predominantly, this happens with homeowners who make an unrealistic budget at the start of the project. With their conservative estimates, they often want to save money. However, they don’t realize that with erroneous estimates of the material and other costs of their projects, they spend more when the prices for the material increase or projects extend beyond the estimated time. Stopping the project midway is the biggest nightmare one can have during their project. The ideal way to go about it is to make realistic estimates of the various material prices, contractor, and labor fees and then make the budget. Moreover, you must always keep 20% more than the calculated expenses as a buffer for unexpected events.
Discovering water damage
Often a simple home renovation project proves to be a gateway for bigger problems hidden in the house. For example, you might just want to change the bathtub in your bathroom but end up discovering water damage. Such unplanned issues not only increase the cost of your project but also delay your overall timeline. However, homeowners starting a renovation project should always be ready for such surprises.
Water damage is a grave issue that can lead to other problems such as mold, foundational, and structural damage in the house. Therefore, once you discover it, you cannot leave it as is; you need to get it fixed. The best way to deal with water damage is to call a water damage expert for inspection. As for the delays in the project timeline and additional costs, these unexpected problems are why homeowners are advised to keep an extra budget and not start their project on a short time frame. Another way to avoid such issues is by carefully examining before the start of the project and factoring in the problems that your house might have depending on the age of the structure, past issues, and other relevant factors.
Required material going out of stock
Imagine that you are almost done with your bathroom retiling project but end up falling short of a few tiles. Even worse, you cannot find the same tiles, and since you chose imported ones, they will take two months to be restocked and delivered. This is one example of when material goes out of stock while you still need it. You can avoid this problem by making the correct estimates of the material according to the area’s measurements under renovation. Moreover, you should always stock more material than estimated. Also, keep in mind that while imported stuff may be trendier, it can cause you a world of problems if you end up short. Therefore, go for local materials and suppliers as much as possible; not only are local materials cheaper, but they are also readily available.
Contractor bailing on you
A contractor steers your home renovation project in the right direction, just like the captain of a ship. However, if this same person bails on you, leaving the project midway, it can put the whole home renovation project in jeopardy. This becomes an absolute nightmare if you need to completely halt the project until you find a new contractor. Therefore, homeowners should ensure that they have everything documented in a contract with penalties carefully defined to deal with such events.
Conclusion
Home renovation might give your home a quick new look, but these projects always require careful planning and execution for their successful completion. Often home renovation projects are stopped midway or delayed due to issues hindering their progress. While some problems might be inevitable, careful budgeting, planning and realistic timelines can help you avoid many pitfalls.