When you’ve lived in a house for a long time, renovations can feel exciting. It might feel as if you’re getting a new home. But, anyone who’s gone through significant renovations for their homes knows that as exciting as it is to fix up your home and renew it, this time is also hectic.
It can be hard to move things around and make things easier for the workers and yourself in a house filled with people and all your belongings.
One of the most significant home improvement projects is a roof replacement. Depending on the size of your home, the process itself shouldn’t take too long. It’s a long-term investment that will keep your home and your family safe and secure in the long run.
But to go through the whole process in peace, you have to prepare quite a few things. Leading up to the days when your roof gets replaced, prepare your home and your family rather than just wait.
Here is everything you need to prepare before your roof is replaced:
Table of Contents
Home Exterior
Your home is going to become a worksite with roofers walking around, debris flying everywhere, and more. Of course, the company responsible for the roof replacement will do their best to keep the mess to a minimum, but you can’t expect everything to stay clean. This is why you have to prepare your home’s exterior.
1. Clear the Driveway and the Garage
It’s essential to clear your driveway and garage to speed up the process and prevent any delays. There are going to be a lot of people coming and going into your home.
The roofers will need space for their trucks, equipment, tools, and so on. They’ll also need space for large dumpsters for the old part of the roof.
Additionally, it will be easier for the workers to do their job without worrying about their vehicles or property getting damaged below. No matter how careful people are, accidents can still happen.
2. Clear Out the Yard and Patio
If you have a yard or a patio, make sure to clear that space to ensure the safety of the workers and your things. Just like with the driveway, a cluttered yard or patio can be a cause for delay. Accidents can occur all too easily, and a misplaced toy or bike can cause workers to trip. This also ensures that your things aren’t damaged during the process.
3. Cut the Grass and Prune the Trees
Roofers are generally reliable when it comes to keeping the work site clean and tidy. However, at specific points of the roof replacement process, dust, debris, and even some nails or bigger are bound to leave a mess on the ground.
It will be much easier to clean the yard if the grass is cut short. Pruning the trees can help ensure that there won’t be much (if any at all) dust that settles overhead. This can be a pain to deal with months after the roof replacement. It also gives the roofers better access to the entire roof.
Home Interior
Although there won’t be any work inside your home, it’s still essential to prepare everything. This will help make cleanup much more manageable once the process is over. Dirt and dust have a way of sneaking in places they shouldn’t be, and your home will not be an exception when the work begins.
1. Clear and Protect the Attic
The attic is most likely going to be the most affected area inside your home. It sits just beneath the room, so expect that a bit of the mess coming from the roof will flitter down into the attic. The vibrations from all the hammering and walking around on the roof will also be most clearly felt in this housing area.
If you have any fragile or treasured items in there, make sure to move them elsewhere for the time being. You can also lay a cloth cover or a tarp over furniture or other things that you cannot move out of the attic.
2. Remove Wall Decorations
Depending on the structure of your home, this might only apply to the second floor. Nevertheless, take down any wall decorations to prevent them from inevitably falling.
The vibrations that will go through your home during the roof replacement can be extreme at times. Move other breakable decorations away from the wall as well.
3. Secure Your Windows
Since the vibrations that will go through your home will be strongest on the wall, this leaves your windows vulnerable to damage as well. Not only that, falling parts or debris can also scratch, damage, or even break your windows. For your safety and our family’s, make sure to board up your windows for the project’s duration.
Residents
A roof replacement can be loud and stressful for the residents as well as the neighbors. Of course, roofers know how to keep the disturbance at a minimum, but nothing can eliminate it entirely. Before the work begins, make sure to take appropriate measures to ensure that not only your household is prepared for the work ahead but some of the surrounding homes as well.
1. Stay or Relocate
It’s possible to stay in your home for the duration of the project. However, even the easiest projects can cause a disturbance in your daily life. For example, you might have children and small animals that will be stressed from all the noise and strangers roaming around their homes.
Depending on your living situation and the scale of the project itself, determine whether it will be easier to stay at home or temporarily relocate. After all, it should only be a few days.
2. Talk to Your Neighbors
This is not strictly necessary, but it will probably be greatly appreciated. The impact of the noise and mess from a roof replacement shouldn’t be all that extreme for your neighbors. But, it would be the right thing to do to warn them of some disturbance in the coming days. It will be inconvenient for you and everyone else if a disagreement between neighbors comes from this project.
Summary
It might seem like a lot of work to prepare for a simple roof replacement. However, it is a significant home improvement project. You and your family can benefit a lot from preparing accordingly. Several things inside and outside your home must be put away to ensure they do not get damaged, dirty, and more.
As for your family, it depends on how long the roof replacement will take. Some people opt to wait it out in the relative comfort of their own homes. But, there is always the option of staying somewhere else in the few days it will take to complete the process.
Southern Premier Roofing is a roofing contractor located in Fayetteville, Hope Mills, Raleigh, Charlotte and Boise. We specialize in providing our clients with all their roof replacement needs. Our services are guaranteed to improve your home and last in the long run. Let us know how we can help you by contacting us today!
