Keeping It Clean
We’ve all heard the horror stories of contractors recklessly rampaging through a client’s home during a renovation. Scratched floors, damaged millwork, and stained carpet are just a few examples of what an unprepared contractor can do. Not to mention dust everywhere. EVERYWHERE!
These are things we always work hard to prevent when conducting a renovation in someone’s home. It’s the first thing we address on day one of a new project. Before we even begin, floor protection is laid down from our access point (front door) all the way to the job site. Once that task has been completed, dust containment goes up in the form of poly walls with zippers as required, then air scrubbers are set up. Depending on the scope of the project, this can sometimes take an entire workday. By using a variety of materials including Ram Board, poly, tarps, different tapes, filters, and other flooring protection materials, we ensure that minimal to no dust will escape our direct worksite, and any damage to existing flooring or other parts of the home can be prevented.
The last thing a client wants during an already disruptive renovation process is to have dust travelling throughout the house while they’re living there, infiltrating their living space, causing a mess and even potential health problems. Nor does a client want scratches on their existing hardwood. And let’s be real – we want to keep you, the client, happy! And we don’t want to get hit with a huge cleaning bill to clean the whole house or need to refinish floors. Spending the time to load in properly and maintain the dust containment and floor protection during the renovation process greatly reduces the chances of an unhappy customer and added costs.
Flooring Protection
When we walk in the front door on day 1 of a home renovation, all we have is our Load-in Toolbox which is full of tape, zippers and whatever else we may need to get started, as well as our arsenal of flooring protection. From the front door until we get to either the worksite, (let’s pretend it’s a 2nd storey ensuite bathroom) or until we get to carpet on the stairs, protecting the flooring is what we’re working on. Our product of choice for protecting hard surface flooring is Ram Board. We’ve tried similar products, but we find this to be the highest performing and most reliable product on the market for our intended application.
From RamBoard.com:
“With Spill Guard® Technology woven into the material, this temporary floor protection has extreme liquid holdout, protecting hardwoods, vinyl, tile and other hard surfaces from water, mud and heavy traffic. Ram Board floor protection is made from recycled materials, is reusable and FSC certified.”
This product is also recyclable, which we love!
Once we have the entrance covered, and we’ve made our way to the, let’s say carpeted stairs, the next product to go in is Carpet Shield, which is a self-adhesive plastic, almost like a big roll of clear or tinted tape.
From surfaceshield.com:
“This self-adhering carpet protector is recyclable, heavy-duty, liquid resistant, non-slip, highly resistant to tears and punctures making it a great temporary floor protector for high foot traffic areas and stairs. It is ideal during renovations, remodeling, painting, and moving, and the easy application minimizes clean-up time and damage claims.”
We follow recommended guidelines of replacing this product every 30 days as needed, to avoid leaving any adhesive residue on the carpet.
In the case of a hard surface staircase such as hardwood or vinyl, we will sometimes use a neoprene product from Axiom. This product is primarily used by us for the end of a project after the new stair surface has been installed. It’s a short-term solution for floor protection as it does not stay in place as well as Ram Board and tape, nor is it as rugged, but for short-term, low traffic renovations, we sometimes call upon this product.
Tape
Tape is tape, right? Any tape will do the job when installing floor protection, right?
Nope. We use a variety of tapes when installing floor protection such as Tuck Tape, Gtape, Dragon Skin, Painter’s Tape, Ram Board Tape, and more.
Choosing the right tape for the job is essential. Using the wrong tape can actually damage existing flooring, and some tapes won’t adhere to certain products. Neglecting the use of tape on all edges of the flooring protection can even result in damaged floor.
Throughout the home renovation process, there is a ton of traffic on the floor protection, and debris from work boots is obviously brought in and out of the house. Although clean-up is conducted at the end of every day, if the floor protection is not sealed on every edge, debris can end up under the floor protection and damage the floor. Imagine a few tiny rocks between the Ram Board and the hardwood, and two months of traffic walking over it. Ouch!
Poly Walls
Once all the floor protection has been laid and taped down properly, it’s time to look up at the ceiling. Keeping the dust out of the non-renovated area is essential. From floor to ceiling, we install temporary walls, usually out of medium weight poly. With the help of pole jacks, tape and zippers, we can ensure access to other areas of the home. Often our path from the front door to the space being renovated can block off access for the homeowners to other areas of their house such as the garage door or powder room. Installing self-adhesive zippers allows them access to the rest of the house without contaminating the non-renovated areas with dust.
Air Scrubbers
The use of air scrubbers is what sets us apart from a lot of Edmonton renovation companies, but what is an air scrubber?
An air scrubber is essentially a big fan that draws in air, filters out airborne contaminates (like dust) through a 3-stage filtration system, and then exhausts fresh air out the other end. They come in a range of sizes, but we use the Express Air Beast 600cfm model, and we have a lot of them! We have invested thousands of dollars to ensure that the workers have clean air to breathe, in what would typically be a very dusty jobsite, and ensure that airborne contaminates are not spread throughout the rest of the home.
Originally, these machines were developed for the asbestos abatement and mould remediation industries and are fitted with a 99.97% efficient HEPA filter. Over the years however, some home renovation contractors have adopted them for the use of dust control on jobsites. They are extremely effective for dust control and have become paramount on our renovation projects!
Bin & Toilet
Another part of our cleanliness process is to have a bin and portable toilet delivered to the jobsite.
Pretty self-explanatory here. We like a clean jobsite, so garbage gets hauled out to the bin as it is produced. With tools, workers, and materials, there is already plenty of congestion on renovation sites. Garbage piled up or laying all over the place becomes a safety hazard and can be very frustrating to work around. The solution is simple – get the garbage out!
Home renovations are disruptive, there is no sugar coating that. We do our best to keep the jobsite and workers separate from the rest of the dwelling, especially when the clients are living there during the project, so we get our own outside portable toilet dropped off. This keeps us out of the client’s space and their bathrooms clean.
Signage
To keep all the workers and sub trades educated as to how our sites and clients are to be respected, the final thing we do is put up wall signs and bin magnets. If everyone is on the same page, and there is an element of accountability, the risk of doing damage to existing or finished products will be minimized.
At Adlyn Construction, we pride ourselves in having one of the cleanest and tidiest home renovation jobsites in the city. If you are looking for an Edmonton home renovation contractor that takes many steps to ensure your property, privacy, and even air quality is respected, call or email us today.