Tips For Keeping Your Kids Safe during Home Renovations

Although your home renovations will likely be completely worth it in the long run, while they’re taking place, you might start to wonder what you were thinking and what you’ve gotten yourself into. Apart from the complete life upheaval that often comes along with doing big home renovation projects, you also have to ensure that your family is safe if you’re planning to stay in the home while the construction work is taking place. So to help you and your family come through the other side of remodels, here are three tips for keeping your kids safe when doing home renovations.

Outline Rules With The Contractor and Your Family

Once you’ve decided that you’re going to have work done on your home and who you’re going to have complete the project, Pro.com recommends that you sit down with both your contractor and your children so you can lay out some ground rules. When speaking to your contractor, share that your family will still be in the home during construction and what hours you expect them to keep. When you speak with your kids or other family members living in the home, tell them your expectations about staying out of the areas being worked on and to keep their hands off of things like tools or other equipment they might see.

Make It Easy To Stay Away

To help your contractor and their team get the work done as quickly as possible and to ensure that your children aren’t around when any dangerous jobs are being done, you should do everything you can to make it easy for your kids to stay away from the areas they shouldn’t be in. According to Alyson McNutt English, a contributor to Bob Vila, you should lock doors to areas where they shouldn’t be or put up plastic sheeting that reminds them to stay out. For common rooms being worked on, try to set up a makeshift version of them somewhere else, like a small fridge and microwave in the garage for example.

Be Careful With Air Quality

With all this work being done on your home, there are bound to be a few times where particles get into the air that you don’t necessarily want your family to be breathing. To combat this, Hanady Kader, a contributor to SeattleChildrens.org, advises that you make cleanliness a priority for both you and your contractors. Make sure they clean up after they’re done with work for the day and that you wipe down surfaces and ventilate rooms before you allow your kids back into them after construction work has taken place.

If you and your family will be staying in your home while doing renovations there, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you keep your children out of harm’s way during this time.