No homeowners-at least none who are remotely sane-undertake a remodeling to reduce stress, improve their love life or boost their finances.
Instead, remodeling is a litmus test of how much havoc people can withstand while their ability to control their surroundings crumbles, usually in direct proportion to the plaster dust and mess piling up around them.
Nevertheless, there are ways to significantly lessen potential problems, primarily by instilling some order in the process. Most owners know they should develop a detailed master plan, really equivalent to a wish list. It will help them satisfy needs and pare costly mistakes that can result from leaving out a major feature, such as important electrical outlets.
Most owners also know they need to set a realistic budget that allows some give for the glitches that often lead to cost overruns. A good budget should also set priorities, both must-dos and can-waits.
But fewer owners realize that a significant way to improve the odds of a successful remodeling is to carefully order the way work is done, especially where the owners, for financial reasons, are doing the work by installments. Figuring out the schedule should depend on several factors. Certain types of work need to be done in a logical progression, somewhat akin to adding ingredients when cooking. Follow the recipe in order and you`re more likely to achieve the right result. If you don`t follow the right order when remodeling, you may have to refinish floors a second time after the walls have been moved around, for example.
Inside out
In general, the ideal order is to work from the inside of walls and underpinnings of ceilings and floors outward, says Michael J. Schaffer, president of KWI, a Chicago cabinetry and furnishings shop.
”It`s best to start with the rough, or basic, work first, which is also the most disruptive,” Schaffer says. That means tackling electrical, plumbing, subflooring and ceiling work first, drywalling and outlet location next, then painting or wallpapering and, finally, flooring or carpeting. Otherwise, mistakes may occur. For example, owners may find that their freshly painted ceilings will have to be redone because the holes for the recessed ceiling fans weren`t cut initially.
In some spaces, other features and details need to be scheduled as well. After rough work in a kitchen is finished, for example, cabinets and appliances should be installed, followed by the flooring and countertops, which are more susceptible to damage. Painting, hanging of surface-mounted light fixtures and accessorizing should come last.
With those parameters in mind, the schedule should also hinge partly on an owner`s tolerance for disruption and mess. If you`ve never been through the remodeling process, you should ask yourself some basic questions to be better prepared, essentially doing a ”gut check.”
How long can I cope with workmen arriving at 7 a.m. daily? How long will I mind being without a kitchen and eating takeout food with plastic utensils and paper plates? How long can I stand having favorite possessions stashed in cardboard boxes?
A little or a lot
Depending on the response, there are two fairly different routes owners can take. Some may prefer the all-at-once blitzkrieg, similar to Gen. Sherman`s march to the sea, which left little standing, but led to a quick, complete victory. Other owners may favor a slower, piecemeal approach, similar to the clean-as-you go philosophy of isolating and cleaning up each mess so that only small doses need to be dealt with at a time. Each approach offers decided pluses and minuses.
Those with less patience and bigger budgets to cushion their lack of tolerance should consider doing all the work at once and temporarily moving into rented quarters. This tack brings side benefits. Owners usually save on startup costs incurred each time subcontractors return to start anew, whether it`s for electrical, plumbing or heating work.
The blitzkrieg approach also allows homeowners to have work completed before they`ve run out of emotional steam, which can easily occur as weeks turn into months-and more.
Moving into other quarters while work is in progress brings with it a major disadvantage. Owners will have to return at least weekly, but preferably daily, to inspect changes, answer workmen`s queries and get answers to their own questions, even if they have a crack contractor or architect on retainer. Owners who can`t emotionally and financially tackle so much work at once should consider the alternative and overhaul their home either room by room or category by category-bathrooms en masse, for example. This group of remodelers will benefit from a different set of advantages and disadvantages.
Chicago architect Allan J. Grant, for one, thinks they`ll get their remodeling feet wet and see how well they work with their hired guns. On the other hand, they won`t enjoy the economies of scale that come from ordering all the tile, carpet and appliances at one time, unless they can plan far ahead and store those items. They`ll also need to protect any finished areas with dropcloths and plastic sheets, though even those won`t stop all plaster dust from seeping through.
If owners pursue the room-by-room approach, they`ll need to decide which to change first. There are a host of possibilities to consider, none of which is more right or wrong, according to most experts.
First, the worst
Some owners, for example, prefer first to change the space or spaces they most hate. Bill Alston, a real estate agent with ERA Callero & Catino in Niles, replaced carpeting and wallpaper immediately after buying a house 14 years ago. ”I couldn`t stand waking up and seeing them each morning,” he said. He ran the risk of having to change them again as he made other changes, but it was a gamble he thought worth taking.
Some owners choose first to redo rooms they`ll use most. Chicagoans Barbara and Frank Van Husen knew they couldn`t afford to redo their entire Lincoln Park cooperative in one fell swoop. They decided to gut the kitchen first. ”It was the room where we`d spend the most time,” says Barbara Van Husen, who has two small children. They also thought they could get the work done in the 2 1/2 months they had between taking possession and moving in.
Their budget also permitted them to install central air conditioning, one of the messier, more disruptive jobs, and built-ins in their bedroom. As they replenished their remodeling fund and regained their energy, they planned to redo their bathrooms. ”(The bathrooms) weren`t awful-at least not for the short-term,” Barbara Van Husen says.
Kenneth and Stephani Perlmutter also decided to remodel the kitchen first in their 1970s-era townhouse in Old Town. In their case, it was to get rid of the most costly project right away. ”Psychologically, I thought it would be a good idea,” says Perlmutter, who did most of the work himself at night and on weekends. ”I figured we`d follow it up with smaller, less costly jobs.”
Other homeowners prefer to alter spaces that will help most with resale, even if moving isn`t an immediate concern. Such owners take the attitude that you never know how long you may live somewhere, so you may as well spend dollars that generate the surest paybacks. Among the areas likely to bring high returns are kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.
Small victories
Still other owners prefer to change defects and decor that present only minor problems and therefore can quickly give a sense of accomplishment. Architect Jack Murchie of the Chicago firm of Schroeder Murchie Laya Associates stripped wallpaper from a great room where he planned to spend most of his time before taking on the bigger job of redoing what he describes as
”a crummy-looking kitchen.” He ended up selling the house before he had time to remodel the kitchen.
Some very old or poorly constructed homes or apartments dictate another order, according to Alston, the realty agent. In such cases, he suggests first changing any unsafe features, such as inadequate wiring or poor heating plants. ”It may be fine for an owner who uses little electricity to have low amps, but for a family with several televisions, VCRs and a microwave, it could prove a disaster.”
