Renovations while pregnant--do in third trimester or wait until after delivery

[Anonymous]

We did 2 bathrooms before I got pregnant and it was a nightmare. They are great though. The dust was awful and not confined to the bathrooms - it gets everywhere! That said, it would be waaaay better in third tri than with a baby. No way you could handle that on maternity leave. Sorry, won't happen or will make you insane. You - and baby - will never sleep and will have annoying messy dudes all over your house every single day. Also, if you haven't done a reno before, prepare for it to take up all of your free time, and to take at least 2x as long as it is supposed to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I would like to do a renovation to the home. We were thinking third trimester might be a good time, or alternatively at some point during the baby's first year. Not sure which would be worse. On the one hand, I don't want to be exposed to dust and construction nasties while pregnant. On the other hand, a renovation (this one would probably last 6 weeks) could be disruptive to a newborn or baby's napping/feeding schedule and they could be bothered by the dust and noise. Not sure what to do. The nice thing about doing it after delivery would be that I would be on maternity leave and could supervise the reno. Otherwise, both of us will be at work full-time and won't be there at all to supervise, and I would prefer to supervise at least some of it.

bwahahahahahahahah!

I'm sorry, what?

I agree. How are you gonna supervise with the baby attached to you? Are you going to take her into the dusty rooms? You won't have time and will likely be too exhausted to think clearly.

[Anonymous]

Do it now. We redid our kitchen before ds was born. Took about 4 Wks. I cannot imagine dealing with it with a newborn.

[Anonymous]

Do it BEfORE the baby comes. And start in the second trimester, not the third.

--Mom whose renovation started in June thinking it would be done in Sept but ended up going until January (baby was born in Dec)

[Anonymous]

Move out of the house and have it done. In that case it doesn't matter if you do it during third trimester or during maternity leave. There is no way I would live in a house during construction either pregnant or with a little one.

[Anonymous]

What about lead paint dust? Much more of a true concern than VOCs. If your house is older than 1979 I would not do any renovations until the baby is 4 or 5 years. Or do it right now, but make sure you are using a lead certified contractor who cleans up properly and tests for lead dust clearance after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you feel the need to do this, get corporate housing and do it now. Double the amount of time they say it will take.

^^^This!

I made the HUGE mistake of thinking it would be awesome to put a bathroom in the basement during my third tri with DD#1. My thinking was that my mom, who was going to help out for a month, would be more comfortable. The project started in early Oct, the baby was due around Jan 1. Plenty of time right? Ha! There were numerous delays. Our contractor was a joke and took waaay longer than his estimate of 6 weeks. My mom had to push her trip back twice as a result because of those delays. Oh yeah, and I went into preterm labor. It all worked out, but I will NEVER do that again. Please have a plan B on where to stay if things go awry if you take on this reno.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hee hee. You have no idea what you're in for. No one ever does. We all have plans for maternity leave and you find out that getting your hair washed is a major accomplishment. If you really want the renovations done, do them now. And add extram time to whatever estimate they give you.

+1 on this.

+ 2

+100 Do it before the baby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you feel the need to do this, get corporate housing and do it now. Double the amount of time they say it will take.

^^^This!

I made the HUGE mistake of thinking it would be awesome to put a bathroom in the basement during my third tri with DD#1. My thinking was that my mom, who was going to help out for a month, would be more comfortable. The project started in early Oct, the baby was due around Jan 1. Plenty of time right? Ha! There were numerous delays. Our contractor was a joke and took waaay longer than his estimate of 6 weeks. My mom had to push her trip back twice as a result because of those delays. Oh yeah, and I went into preterm labor. It all worked out, but I will NEVER do that again. Please have a plan B on where to stay if things go awry if you take on this reno.

Be sure to put a penalty date if not completed by x date on your contractors bid.

[Anonymous]

Also, the noise you'd have with renovation with a new baby? You want to go out and tell the contractor you're supervising that his team must take a half dozen breaks every day to accommodate your baby napping? My husband recorded a record in our basement when DS was five months old with his own band and I nearly killed him.