A quick google search brings up a TON of remodel memes talking about the disasters and stress that can occur. My latest remodel I learned from my past mistakes and want to share with you how to keep your sanity while you remodel.

Step 1) Plan Enough Time for your Remodel

If you’ve read my page “Why DIY?“, you know that I COMPLETELY miscalculated how long my project was going to take. I planned on a weekend, and it took more than a year. As you plan out your project, make sure you take into accounts cure times, etc. For example, the actual laying of thinset doesn’t take too long, it’s easily done in an afternoon. However, the thinset needs at least 24 hours to dry, even more if you’re in a humid or cold area, so a tile job no matter how small will be difficult to accomplish in a weekend. Whatever timeline you have for your project, double it. Triple it if you have a hard stop at the end of it (for example your counter tops are being delivered).

Step 2) Prepare Your Storage

One of the things that surprised me the most about remodeling was how much space remodeling took. My first major remodel was a bathroom, and I ended up with an entire bedroom that ended up full of supplies/debris from the remodel process. Pay special attention to the recommended storage temps of your supplies. I made the mistake of keeping my subfloor adhesive in the garage so it was a pain to use since it gets thicker when it’s colder. Tile are generally not supposed to go through dramatic temperature swings. Anything stored outside will get wet, dirty, hot or dirty. I made the mistake of throwing some beams outside out of the way that I needed to go back through and pull nails out of. Well, I live in the Midwest and we were hit with record breaking cold, ice, and snow. Those beams are currently frozen to the ground and buried under snow. They’re going to be there until the spring.

Step 3) Plan Your Trash

I tackle my projects with the assumption it will take forever, so I set up my long term material/debris storage ahead of time. On my first project I kept the debris stored in my spare bedroom until the very end of my project, cluttering up space that I needed. This time I burned scrap wood as I went, instead of keeping it until the end. This GREATLY cut down on the amount of space I needed for storage.

Additionally, I recycled and reused what I could. Nails/Screws are metal and are recyclable where I live. Any of my “dead” materials (broken brick and mortar) I used a fill material and hid under the floors of my new room, but you could also use these to build up a place in your backyard, etc.

Step 4) CLOSE OFF YOUR WORKSPACE!!!!!

I learned the very hard way that when you forget to close the ducts in your workspace, you end up with dust and debris spread throughout your house thanks to your HVAC system. Obviously don’t seal yourself away when you’re using materials that recommend not using in an enclosed space (aerosols, some adhesives, etc), but you do want to close off a space that will have a lot of dust and wear appropriate safety equipment (respirator or mask).

Since the room I am working on is open to the rest of my main living space, I also closed it off with a painters canvas. These drop clothes are cheap and are great at isolating a space. They keep the dust and debris inside the work area, and are also nice at hiding the disaster zone from the rest of the house. Walking by the mess on the other side of that canvas drives me nuts, but having this canvas keeps it out of sight and out of mind when I don’t have time to work on it.

I can just duck through either side if I need in an out quickly, or I use a clamp to hold the whole thing up when I am actively bringing in materials.

To mount the drop cloth I used a piece of scrap wood on either end and drove screws through the 2×4, the cloth, and then the header.