Living at Home During a Remodel: How to Protect Your House, Kids and Pets

Who this is for: Bismarck-Mandan families who plan to stay in the house while a bathroom, kitchen, basement or flooring project happens around them.

Short answer

Most people can live at home during a remodel. What makes it work is a plan agreed before demolition day: a closed-off work zone, a protected path from the door to that zone, an agreed cleanup routine, a backup plan for the bathroom or kitchen you're losing, and clear rules for kids and pets.

Below is what a good crew should do, what you can do, and when to move out for a few days, from a remodeling contractor working in occupied homes across Bismarck and Mandan.

Before demolition: a short walkthrough that prevents most headaches

A lot of remodel frustration starts with things nobody talked about up front. Walk the house with your contractor before the start date and settle these:

• The work zone: which rooms get closed off, and where the plastic walls go.
• The path: which door the crew uses, and which hallways and stairs get floor protection. EPA's lead-safe guidance suggests a crew route that isn't your family's entrance, when the house allows it.
• Staging: where materials, tools and the dumpster or trailer go, and whether your driveway stays usable.
• What moves: furniture, rugs and fragile items near the work, plus pictures on the other side of walls being torn out. Demo shakes walls.
• What gets put away: jewelry, cash, prescription medications, firearms and important papers.
• Your routine: nap times, work calls, school pickup and the hours the crew will be in the house.

Take photos of the path and the rooms next to the work area before the start date. If a question comes up later about a scuff or a crack, you'll both have a record.

Dust: how a good crew contains it

Dust is what you'll notice most. Demolition, drywall sanding and cutting all make fine dust that drifts under doors and gets pulled into ductwork. A well-run job uses several layers:

• Plastic barriers from floor to ceiling around the work zone, usually with a zipper door.
• Covered registers inside the work zone, so the furnace doesn't carry dust through the house.
• Floor protection on the path, taped so it doesn't slide.
• Daily cleanup with a vacuum that captures fine dust, not just a broom.
• Dusty cutting outside or in the garage. OSHA notes that cutting, grinding and drilling concrete, stone, brick and mortar creates respirable crystalline silica, a dust linked to silicosis and lung cancer.

Our approach: before demolition, we agree with you on the work area, the protected path, containment, cleanup and whether the crew switches shoes or wears covers in finished rooms. On your side, replace the furnace filter after the dustiest days, usually demolition and drywall sanding.

Homes built before 1978: lead-safe rules apply

If your house was built before 1978, its paint may contain lead. Contractors who disturb paint in these homes must be EPA- or state-certified and follow lead-safe work practices, and they must give you EPA's Renovate Right pamphlet before disturbing more than six square feet of painted surface in a room. The basics: plastic containment, sealed doors and heating vents, no high-dust methods like torching paint, and a final HEPA vacuum and wet wipe. Ask to see the certification.

The pamphlet also suggests turning off forced-air heating while dusty work is going on. In a North Dakota January that isn't realistic for days at a time, so ask your contractor about sealing the registers in the work zone and keeping the dustiest steps short.

Older homes can hide asbestos too. EPA lists vermiculite attic insulation, old vinyl floor tile and textured paint on walls and ceilings among the places it may turn up, and says to leave suspect material alone until a trained, accredited professional samples it. Our guide to what's usually behind the walls of an older Bismarck-Mandan home goes through these by decade.

Protecting floors, fixtures and finishes

For many homeowners, the bigger worry isn't dust. It's damage: a chipped tub, a gouged floor, a cracked sink. Prevention has to happen before the first tool comes out:

• Floors on the crew's path covered with floor protection and taped at the edges
• Tubs, sinks and counters that stay in place covered with something rigid or padded, not just plastic
• Door jambs and stair treads on the carry path protected
• Furniture moved out of the work zone, or wrapped if it can't move

Ask any contractor how they handle damage if it happens, and get the answer in writing. With us, if something is damaged or needs attention, tell Viktor so we can document it and discuss the repair.

Keeping kids safe on a job site that's also their home

The work zone should be off-limits to children, full stop. Open walls, exposed wiring, nails and blades are normal during a remodel. A few rules that help:

• Explain the work zone to kids before day one, and keep its door or zipper closed.
• Use a baby gate or a locked door if little ones can reach the area.
• Keep toys, bottles and snacks out of rooms next to the work. EPA notes that lead is especially dangerous to children under six, mostly through dust on hands and toys.
• Plan naps and quiet time around demolition and tile cutting, usually the loudest days.

Before work begins, we agree with you on how the work zone is closed off from kids and pets and how it is left at the end of the work day.

Pets: plan for the open door

The biggest risk to pets is an exterior door propped open while someone carries in drywall, and in a Bismarck winter a pet that slips out can be in danger fast. EPA's pamphlet also recommends a safe place for pets, because they can be poisoned by lead dust and track it around. What works:

• A pet room away from the work, with a sign on the door so nobody opens it by accident
• Crates or daycare for the loudest two or three days
• Collars, tags and a current microchip, just in case
• A heads-up to the crew: names, temperament, and "please don't feed or let out"
• A check for hiding spots: cats like open walls and cabinet bases, so look before anything gets closed up

Tell us about your pets at the consultation. Before work begins, we agree on the pet room, the doors and the work path.

One bathroom, no kitchen: planning the hard part

Losing the only bathroom or the kitchen is what makes people move out, so plan it first.

One-bathroom homes. If it is your only bathroom, tell us before we schedule. We discuss which nights the toilet or shower may be unavailable and what must be ready before demolition. For showering, line up a gym, a relative or a neighbor. A straightforward prefab shower conversion takes about 2 to 3 working days once materials are on site, and a broader conversion about 3 to 7 working days as a planning guide, and a full bathroom takes longer. Our guide to how long a bathroom remodel takes, phase by phase explains which phases leave you without it.

Kitchens. A kitchen schedule depends on supplier lead times and the crew schedule, and your written schedule shows how long the kitchen will be out of use, so set up a temporary kitchen in the dining room or basement: microwave, coffee maker, electric kettle, slow cooker, paper plates and a laundry or bathroom sink for washing up.

Strangers in your house: who's there and how you'll hear from them

It's fair to ask exactly who will be in your home every day. At HHI, Viktor, our general contractor, is your contact for scope and price. Yurii, our Job Supervisor, or Don, our Foreman, runs the work on site as assigned, and Cyrene, our Office Manager, helps with scheduling and paperwork. We agree on how often you get text and photo updates at the start, and the estimate states who handles specialty trades.

Also settle how the crew gets in when you're at work, which bathroom they may use, and how changes get approved. Any change to scope or price should be written up and signed before work continues.

North Dakota winter adds a few details

Winter suits interior work, as our guide to which remodeling projects fit each season explains, but plan for three things. Every trip through an open door lets heat out, so materials should come in a few loads, not one board at a time. Snow, slush and road salt come in on boots, so the entry needs its own mat and protection. And many materials need heat: CertainTeed's winter drywall guidance calls for at least 50°F, held for 48 hours, for taping and texturing, so keep closed-off rooms heated.

When it's worth moving out for a few days

EPA's pamphlet notes you may want to move out temporarily while all or part of the work is done. Consider it when:

• Someone in the house has asthma, a lung condition or a newborn, and the job includes heavy demolition or sanding
• The home was built before 1978 and the work disturbs a lot of painted surface
• Your only bathroom is being gutted and there's no workaround nearby
• Floors are being refinished or coated across the main level

Even then, it's usually a few nights during the worst stretch, not the whole project. For the full sequence from first call to final walkthrough, see how a remodeling project works, step by step.

Frequently asked questions

Can you live in your house during a remodel?

Usually, yes, for bathroom, basement, flooring and many kitchen projects. It works when the work zone is sealed, the path is protected, the crew cleans up daily, and you have a plan for the bathroom or kitchen you're losing.

How do contractors keep dust out of the rest of the house?

With floor-to-ceiling plastic and a zipper door around the work zone, covered heating registers, floor protection on the path, dusty cutting done outside, and vacuuming at the end of each day.

Is construction dust dangerous?

It can be. In homes built before 1978, dust from painted surfaces may contain lead, which EPA says is especially dangerous to children under six. Cutting concrete, stone, brick or mortar creates silica dust that OSHA links to lung disease.

What should I do with my dog or cat during a remodel?

Keep them in a closed room away from the work with a sign on the door, or crate them on the loudest days. Make sure collars, tags and microchips are current, and tell the crew your pets' names and not to let them out.

Do I need to be home while contractors are working?

Not usually, but agree on how the crew gets in, who your contact is and how you'll get updates. It helps to be there the first morning, when the work zone and path are set up, and for the final walkthrough.

Want to know how your project would work in your house? Before work begins, we agree on the work area, access, pets and bathroom availability. Call or text Viktor at (701) 329-9659 with your town, photos and what you want to change. Our office follows up during business hours. You can also request a free written estimate through the form on this page.