is it necessary to move my family out of the house if we are having the kitchen completely gutted and redone?

Question

we have a 10 month old son and a 5 year old as well?

has anyone been through this? was it necessary to temporarily move through the house?

Answer 1

You won't need to move out, but do plan on eating out a lot. Although if the noise level gets excessive it may be difficult getting the kids down for nap time.

Answer 2

Only if you can cook and store food in another area sealed off from the kicthen. There will be a great deal of construction dust. This will float through the rest of the house. If your home is older than 1978 there could be lead paint in the dust that will expose your children to risks. You also have to think about the noise. Your construction crew will be using power tools. This may make nap time unbearable. Your 5 year old may not be able to hear the TV or may tread dangerously close to nails and tools left by the contractors. It will be much easier if you're not living there. At the very least you should not be there during construction hours.

Answer 3

This summer did a total remodel of our kitchen and a half bath. We removed three interior walls, ripped most of the exterior walls down to the studs, put down new flooring, put in another exterior door, and had hardwood floors refinished in the new kitchen and the living room.

At one point there was absolutely nothing resembling a kitchen other than a sink propped up with 2x4s....and then we had to take out the sink. So it was a pretty invasive/inconvenient remodeling job, and I speak from experience.

My wife and I have an 8 y/o boy. HE took it in stride. WE were seriously stressed by the end. Having your entire house in a state of disrepair is tough. Think about where you are going to move EVERYTHING that is currently in your kitchen. We had our spare bedroom packed with boxes of kitchen stuff. Our garage was filled with supplies.

We thought that we would grill out a lot. I love to grill and you don't need a kitchen to do it...Kind of. What about your refrigerator? Ours was in the garage. What about cleaning up grilling utensils? We went through a TON of paper plates, and plastic cups/utensils before we just said "forget it" and ate out for every meal.

You can do it. Just make it clear to the 5 y/o that there is NO running in the house, period. If your remodel is like ours there will be nails sticking out of the walls, holes in the sub floor, etc. If your home is big enough you can retreat into the areas of the house that aren't so bad, but dust will be EVERYWHERE.

The only time we had to leave the house was when the floors were being refinished. The smell of polyurethane will drive anyone out of a house.

We started the demo in May. The contractors started in mid- June and were done by mid-July. We did trim work and waited on our custom cabinets until late August (we ordered them late). Counter tops went in the first week of September.

Was it worth it? Without a doubt.

Answer 4

I do not know the extent to the work being done. I there any sheetrock being replaced? If so then you may want to close the doors off with plastic. The old dust and old isulation that will fill the air could be bad for your kids. Especially if they have any dust allergies. Otherwise you should be ok living normally in the house. Just try mot to get in the way of the workers, kids have a tendency to be curious. And accidents can happen if a worker doesn't realize someone is behind them. Work boots really hurt little tootsies. Enjoy the new kitchen.

Answer 5

By the time most folks can afford to do a complete kitchen re-do, they can't afford to relocate their home & hearth during construction too.

So the simple answer is NO, you don't have to relocate during construction.

But you should have a temporary kitchen set up elsewhere in your home during construction.

Be it the basement, a spare room, the garage... you're gonna want someplace to have at least a working refrigerator (consider a dorm sized 'fridge if you don't want to relocate your old one or buy the new one yet), a 2-burner electric stove, a toaster oven, mebbe an electric fry pan/griddle, an electric tea kettle, an electric coffee pot, a microwave and a table w/ chairs.

You can pick up most of these items at garage sales or very cheaply at Wal-Mart, etc... donate them to a local senior center, church or scouting group when you move into your new kitchen.

Plus, try your best for RUNNING water and, preferably, a sink. Even if you vow to paper plate/plastic cutlery it during the renovation, you're still going to want to wash produce, wash hands, scrub a pot, fill the coffee pot, etc. and trying to do this in a bathroom sink down the hall from your temporary "kitchen"... well, that just sucks. LOL!

Hope this helps,
      TX Griff

Answer 6

It depends...let's see.
How old is the house? If the house was built before 1978 and you are tearing down walls, I'd be careful for lead exposure as well as asbestos from old tiles, popcorn ceilings, etc.
Children in the house? If so, they are the ones that tend to respond to lead and pollutants more than the adults. Remember that even fine particles of sheetrock tend to worsen allergies, asthma, etc.
What's the layout? Some houses are built around kitchens...decide if you can just ignore your kitchen for the next 3 to 5 months.
Don't forget to hire a qualified contractor and have a contract lawyer review the contract for outs and crazy increases in prices...phewww, I am finished!

Answer 7

It's not necessary to move. All you have to do is buy paper plates, cups, plastic cutlery and move the fridge and microwave to another room. You may have to eat out or buy some pre-cooked foods. You could make a bulk of certain things like veggies, potato salad, mac n cheese etc and microwave it when you need to.

Answer 8

It all depends on your cooking and how much time is involved. You can always move a fridge to another room, grill outside, and wash dishes if needed in the bathroom sink. My family had to move to the living room for 3 weeks (me, hubby and teenybopper) because we had to replace the floors in our bedrooms. UGH!! While it was inconvenient, it was a lot cheaper than moving out and we had some fun with it!!

Answer 9

I seen a family do this on tv, they moved into the basement.
Had a little mini kitchen setup there.

I would think it would be okay. Put plastic up so the particles can't freely float about.

Answer 10

It depends. How old is your home? If it is pre-1978, you probably have lead-based paint. This is a big health risk, especially with children. This link will go into more detail.