How To Keep Your Children Safe During A Home Renovation Project

(image)

In a recent article on our website, we gave you a guide to choosing your next home improvement project. There are all kinds of things you could commit to, whether you take on the work yourself or hire a contractor to handle the work for you, and the end result should be worth the stress and expense that comes with the renovation.

However, considering the fact that home renovations can be messy and dangerous affairs, you do need to keep your children safe. With sharp tools, toxic chemicals, and an abundance of dust and debris in your home, the risks to your children are high.

Therefore, you might want to consider the following.

#1: Keep your kids out of the house

If possible, you might want to take up temporary accommodation as a family elsewhere. If you have a friend, family member, or neighbour willing to put you up for the duration of the project, then this is possibly the best way to keep your children safe from harm. You might even rent a room at a hotel or a bed and breakfast. On the other hand, and if it's impossible for you all to stay elsewhere, you might still look for people to accommodate your children, be that for the duration of the project or during the day when work is actively being carried out.

#2: Research contractors

If your children are going to be home a lot of the time, you need to make sure the contractor you hire has some knowledge of the risks posed to your children. While health and safety should be on their agenda anyway, you can never be too careful. If they were to leave tools lying around, or if they failed to put up barriers around the work site, your children would be put at risk. Therefore, ask friends and family for recommendations, read online reviews, and check with any contractor before hiring as to their experience in working in homes where children have been present.

#3: Keep a tidy home

The tidier your home is, the safer it will be. The contractor you hire should focus on this aspect, but if you are working on the renovation project yourself, you should take active steps to safeguard your children. So, be sure to contain the tools you will be using during and after use. Hang down plastic dust cloths to both segregate your home from dangerous areas and to confine the dust to certain parts of the house. And keep on top of any rubbish and debris by bagging everything up, and by looking online at waste skips for hire that are big enough to contain rubble and any other types of waste that could be hazardous to your children.

#4: Instruct your children

Talk to your children, and explain the health and safety dangers that are around the home. Let them know which rooms are safe to go in, and tell them which rooms aren't. Remind them of alternative rooms you have set up for eating and playing. If they are old enough, explain some of the consequences that come with playing with sharp tools and dangerous chemicals. And if you have hired a contractor, remind your children that they shouldn't get in their way or pester them. Rules are never fun for kids, but boundaries need to be set, especially when their safety is in question during a home renovation project.

We hope these suggestions were useful to you but let us know what you think. And if you have any other tips, please share them with us.

Thanks for reading!