who has done house renovations while pregnant?

Who has had construction or expansions done on their house while pregnant? At what point in your pregnancy did the work start and when did it finish? Did you move out of the house until the work was done?

We are hoping to start our dormer extension by June, I am due October 25th, and hoping we'll have the bulk of the work done by then!! We are only outsourcing the framing, roofing, siding and DH and his family are finishing the interior (which can obviously take some time). I will be happy if our bedroom and the baby's bedroom is done.....but then I guess it would be best if it's all done before we have a newborn in the house so we don't have to worry about sanding and construction dust in the house. I was only planning to move out of the house while the 2nd floor is being demolished and re-framed since I would think that will be the messiest stage.

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

We just bought a 2 family house with my mom back in September. It was completely outdated and gross so we started renovations (DIY) right away and are still in the midst of it all. We conceived in October so I've been in the middle of renovations the whole time. We gutted the bathroom and redid everything but the walls in the kitchen. DH did a good job of keeping the dust to a minimum. Whenever it came to demo, I left the house for the day. Last weekend into week, DH sanded and refinshed the hardwood floors in the living room and bedroom. Luckily, my mom is on vacation, so I've been sleeping upstairs in here part of the house. We are nearing the end of most of the work. Just touch ups here and there in each room. The last project is to turn the front closet into a mud room type closet.

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

I'm 26w5d and we are in the middle of having our kitchen redone (& hopefully if I sell DH on it- the flooring and walls in the living room).

The first few days when they did the demolition our house was SO dusty, the more I think about it, I probably should've left for those days but now that part is done. So, it's probably a good idea that you will be out of the house for the demolition part of your renovations.

I may stay somewhere else the night after he finishes painting, depending on how strong the fumes are, but otherwise I will be staying at home and just making sure the house is constantly ventilated. (Fortunately, with the weather that hasn't been a problem.)

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

We did our entire first floor, they promised it would be finished well in advance of my due date. There was so much dust and the job went 6 weeks past the finish date they gave us. I ended up giving birth 2 weeks early and we all had to move in with my mother in law for 3 weeks while they finished up. The finish work (painting/ staining) smelt so bad we had to wait an additional week for the air to clear before bringing the baby home. As inconvient as it all was it is now so worth it as it looks beautiful and our home is more functional. I also could not imagine doing this kind of work with a newborn. Good luck with the renovation!

We did a new kitchen, new hard wood floors through out, new doors, windows etc. The whole 1st floor was gutted down to the rafters. They had said the job would take 8 weeks max. It took 14 weeks total! If it was inline with the origional time line it would have been completed 1 month prior to my due date.

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

We were working on my basement during my last pregnancy and the job wasn't completed until after I delivered. We would cover the door that led to the basement with a plastic sheet and duct tape just to make sure the dust didn't get upstairs and bother me.

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

We didn't dormer, but had the entire upstairs of our cape gutted and renovated -

It was only 'extra' annoying being PG - but I didn't move out or anything.

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

I have just under 3 weeks until my due date and we are almost done with our current projects.

DH was in the middle of adding a new bathroom when I got pregnant. Plumbing was annoying bc soldering and gluing pipes create a lot of fumes so I used to have to leave the house for hours at a time. Since that's been finished we redid some doorways, the nursery, floors, and our master bedroom (by we I really mean DH and FIL!)

It's taken a looong time but the good thing about DH doing it himself is we can stop when the baby comes. Thankfully we got the big and messy things done just in time- as in last week. The only thing left is adding the shelves and doors to our closet. Hopefully that will get done this weekend. After that, we're taking a BREAK! Once the baby is here we eventually have floors to do in the rest of the house and some other projects, but we were able to prioritize and get the important things done beforehand.

Good luck to you!

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

yes .. i am in the midst of a bathroom/bedroom redo. We are completely gutting both. We have been kinda delayed due to contractor issues, and windows being delayed. I will be moving out- you cannot leave a preggo with no bathroom!!!. I also dont want to inhale the fumes from breaking thehouse down.. im due in July, and it really needs to get moving esepcially if it takes longer than expected.. good luck with yours..

Re: who has done house renovations while pregnant?

I've done construction both pregnancies With my dd we took up all of our floors through the entire house and gutted a bedroom & bathroom. It was a lot of work my brother is a gc so he was doing it before work and weekends. It took over a month. We started it at 29weeks and was finally completed including paint at 35 weeks. I lived here the entire time sometimes without function plumbing and a kitchen. It wasn't glamorous but I made it work.

This time we gutted our laundry room/boiler room. I thought it was going to be a small project because its a small room. I thought wrong. It was a nightmare one problem after another and took 2 weeks. It was just finished last week at 28 weeks. This time was harder because I have my dd here and I had to contain her because of all the construction dangers. Once again we stayed here. I can't see spending money on a hotel when I can live here.