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Renovating
How Do I... Keep My House Clean in a Reno?
House Rules winner Lisa Lamond reveals the secrets to keeping your home liveable during building works
In this practical series, we ask experts to answer your burning home and garden questions. Here, Lisa Lamond, winner of House Rules and Kärcher ambassador, shares some practical tips for keeping your home clean and liveable during a renovation.
People often think it will be easy to keep their home clean during building works, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. If you decide to stay put during a renovation, know that you will be cleaning non-stop. Daily vacuuming, mopping, dusting and wiping everything down is the only way to avoid mess from getting out of hand and your house from becoming unsafe to live in.
Keep dust and mud at bay
Hands down one of the hardest aspects of living through a renovation is the dust and its uncanny ability to end up everywhere. Even after a thorough vacuum, you’ll find that another layer quickly builds up.
The last thing you want is to be dealing with out-of-control dust for months on end. You can prevent dust from building up by vacuuming and mopping floors, and wiping down surfaces at the end of every day during your reno.
You’ll find the same applies to mud if you are landscaping or doing external work – it has a tendency to get absolutely everywhere. You can prevent it from spreading to every corner of your home by keeping one area sectioned off that’s away from the worksite. Keep this area clean by making it a rule that anyone who enters must remove their shoes first.
Hands down one of the hardest aspects of living through a renovation is the dust and its uncanny ability to end up everywhere. Even after a thorough vacuum, you’ll find that another layer quickly builds up.
The last thing you want is to be dealing with out-of-control dust for months on end. You can prevent dust from building up by vacuuming and mopping floors, and wiping down surfaces at the end of every day during your reno.
You’ll find the same applies to mud if you are landscaping or doing external work – it has a tendency to get absolutely everywhere. You can prevent it from spreading to every corner of your home by keeping one area sectioned off that’s away from the worksite. Keep this area clean by making it a rule that anyone who enters must remove their shoes first.
Control clutter
Clutter is inevitable with renovating. This not only includes tools and building equipment, but also the storage of your belongings. In most cases, you would have emptied the contents of rooms and moved furniture to a part of the house you are not yet renovating. This level of clutter and disorganisation can be hard to live with. We know it well; our family – two adults, two babies and two dogs – once spent three months sleeping in our living room with a tarp covering our roof!
To minimise mess building up during a renovation, create a separate living space in your home and corner it off from the general work area. Plastic sheeting can be used to cover the doors, and rolled-up drop sheets can be placed at the base of doors to prevent dust from entering.
Cover furniture, windows and open cupboards or shelves in adjacent rooms with drop sheets too, and limit access to these spaces during non-work times. Lay carpet offcuts down on any walkways.
Clutter is inevitable with renovating. This not only includes tools and building equipment, but also the storage of your belongings. In most cases, you would have emptied the contents of rooms and moved furniture to a part of the house you are not yet renovating. This level of clutter and disorganisation can be hard to live with. We know it well; our family – two adults, two babies and two dogs – once spent three months sleeping in our living room with a tarp covering our roof!
To minimise mess building up during a renovation, create a separate living space in your home and corner it off from the general work area. Plastic sheeting can be used to cover the doors, and rolled-up drop sheets can be placed at the base of doors to prevent dust from entering.
Cover furniture, windows and open cupboards or shelves in adjacent rooms with drop sheets too, and limit access to these spaces during non-work times. Lay carpet offcuts down on any walkways.
Keep mess off pathways
Create a safe, dedicated spot to store tools and building equipment during works, and make sure you keep pathways in your home clear at all times and free of trip hazards.
Having a skip or trailer on site and regularly removing rubbish will go a long way towards keeping your site clean, too.
Create a safe, dedicated spot to store tools and building equipment during works, and make sure you keep pathways in your home clear at all times and free of trip hazards.
Having a skip or trailer on site and regularly removing rubbish will go a long way towards keeping your site clean, too.
Consider living elsewhere during works
Some people can handle the dust and mess that comes with a renovation, and others can’t. If you think you’ll be overwhelmed by living in the middle of a reno and can afford to move elsewhere, it’s well worth considering as it can be a real stress saver.
For us, we decided that we would be far better off financially staying in our own home rather than renting nearby. As we all know, renovating is not cheap – even if you are married to a builder!
Some people can handle the dust and mess that comes with a renovation, and others can’t. If you think you’ll be overwhelmed by living in the middle of a reno and can afford to move elsewhere, it’s well worth considering as it can be a real stress saver.
For us, we decided that we would be far better off financially staying in our own home rather than renting nearby. As we all know, renovating is not cheap – even if you are married to a builder!
Photo: Karcher
Get the right equipment
A steam mop is going to be your best friend during a renovation – it will provide a fast, antibacterial clean to all your hard surfaces, including tiles and benchtops, without any nasty chemicals.
A heavy-duty, wet-and-dry vacuum is another must during a reno; its strong suction power and large filter will allow you to quickly vacuum up large particles of wet or dry dirt without changing the filter. These machines are particularly good for removing dust and dirt from carpets (if you leave dust and debris on carpet for too long, it works its way to the bottom and becomes almost impossible to remove).
Get the right equipment
A steam mop is going to be your best friend during a renovation – it will provide a fast, antibacterial clean to all your hard surfaces, including tiles and benchtops, without any nasty chemicals.
A heavy-duty, wet-and-dry vacuum is another must during a reno; its strong suction power and large filter will allow you to quickly vacuum up large particles of wet or dry dirt without changing the filter. These machines are particularly good for removing dust and dirt from carpets (if you leave dust and debris on carpet for too long, it works its way to the bottom and becomes almost impossible to remove).
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