Please tell me what to expect!

[Alligirl]

Tomorrow the contractor shoud show up bright and early to start gutting my kitchen! I have removed almost everything from the kitchen(my basement is about to bust!) and moved the microwave, coffee maker, toaster and such to the guest room! I was told by a friend to buy drop clothes for the living room furniture due to the amount of dust involved? Any other last minute tips from those that have been through this?! Thanks!!
~Allison

[Stitchahula]

I had a thought that maybe because of the dust if you hang a drop cloth over the door way to block the opening to the living room maybe that would help. I've never been through this before so not sure if this is a good idea or not. Maybe you could ask your contractor for some suggestions. Good luck I hope your redo goes smoothly.

[Wayne]

Been there, done that.

If they are taking the kitchen all the way to the studs and you'll be getting new dry-wall and such then the dust will be terrible. You'll want to have plastic sheeting to cover all of the doorways from the kitchen to the rest of the house. I'd also suggest sealing the ductwork as well. Probably wouldn't hurt to replace the air filters now and then again once the kitchen is done... and be ready to find a very fine dust on everything (and I do mean everything) in your house.

The good thing is that once it is all said and done you'll have a new kitchen.

[diz_girl]

From my past experience, here's what I would expect:

- Contractor will not show up bright & early, the first or any day, if he shows up at all. You're lucky if he gets there by ten, which will make you late for work. Every day.
-Contractor will not clean up the mess as well as you'd like, including the one he will probably make in your bathroom after you leave for the day . So ask him to use the bathroom in your home that you care about the least and is the easiest to clean.
-Contractor will damage some other part of your home (wall, floor) when bringing in or taking out supplies & equipment, as well as damaging some part of the room that you hired him to renovate. Of course, you won't discover this until after the renovation is over.
-Contractor will leave at least one thing unfinished or completed poorly. Just try to get him to come back and fix the problem - he won't answer or return your phone calls.
-Contractor will take twice as long as he said that he would.

Granted, there are many contractors that respond quickly, arrive on-time and do a great job. I have some experience with them. Unfortunately, there are just as many contractors who do what I described above and give contractors a bad name. Or maybe it's because I live in New Jersey that there are more bad contractors than the norm or something. So just hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Good luck.

[alphamommy]

My dad was a builder, who "retired" to a cabinet shop. For the first couple years he had the shop open, we built cabinets and did full installations of kitchens (he, my mom, and I did about 53 kitchens in one year). Also, in our first house, DH and I gutted our kitchen to the subfloor and studs and completely remodeled it. Mom & Dad built the cabinets. We had our fridge and microwave in the living room for over 2 months, but got done just in time to host Thanksgiving.

Anyway, based on my experience, the advice about dust is very good. Try to keep something over the door(s) - an old sheet, a drop cloth, plastic, whatever. Don't be surprised at the amount of dust. There will be a lot, especially if they're doing drywall.

Unexpected things happen in any remodel like this. I don't know how old your house is, but one of the biggest problems we ran into when we were installing cabinets and counter tops was walls and floors that were out of square or not level. This alone can make a job run longer than planned.

If the worker(s) will have to tromp through other parts of your house for any reason (to get to the bathroom, circuit breakers, etc.), you might want to consider drop cloths or plastic along their path. These could be rolled up at the end of the day so you don't have to walk on them.

I wish you good luck with your contractor, and with the whole process. Unfortunately for contractors like my dad was, there are some out there who will not treat you well as another poster outlined. I hope you have a good one!

[Alligirl]

Thanks Everyone!!
I got through day 1 ok. Dinner is bubbling away in the crock pot(I have a feeling after this is over I may never want to use it agan!). The kitchen is gutted to the studs and sub floor it is amazing the difference in just a days work. Oh the mess I kept sweeping up after them, they hung a damp canvas drop cloth to catch most of it but tomorrow a whole wall comes down good grief!
Tammy I was thinking about what you said, my house is about 60 years old. The kitchen is an addition on the back of a cape. The original owner did most of the work, made the cabinets and everything, but I am sure things will be a bit out of wack!
Thanks for the advice, talk to you soon!
~Allison

[DisneyDog]

Ha, I did the crock pot thing. Then I realized I had no dishwasher and no kitchen sink and no garbage disposal, so the crockpot sat there for a month. Yuck. I did a lot of microwave cooking and used a lot of paper plates.

My contractor put up the sheeting for us, and was very clean. We really didn't have any dust in other parts of the house at all. He was wonderful. I love my new kitchen. We still have to do a backsplash and get new windows. The windows should be coming soon, we just have a little bit more to save up. The backsplash will have to wait.

Good luck! I'm sure your new kitchen will be gorgeous!