If you work in construction or regularly renovate homes, you might need a personal injury attorney at some point in your career, but you don’t have to be a professional to find yourself at risk of experiencing an accident. If you are remodeling your home yourself, and even if you have trades coming into your home to help, you could find yourself in an accident.
Not only do you have to consider paint colors, furniture, and flooring when planning a remodel, you also have to think about safety. With these tips, you can get the beautiful home renovation you have always wanted without getting injured or compromising your health.

Consult an Expert

You should start by consulting an expert, especially if you’re planning a relatively large remodeling project. Although it may not seem like that much work to knock down a wall and patch up the drywall yourself, you could be putting your family in danger. If that’s a load-bearing wall, the structure of your entire home could be compromised!
An expert can help you plan many of the other points on this list, and when you hire a contractor, they can do nearly all of the work for you. Just make sure you take the time to hire a contractor who really knows what they’re doing. That includes asking them about how they protect the safety of their workers and their clients while the job is underway.

Start With the Safety of the Structure

Whether you hire a professional or not, the very first thing you should do is take a close look at the safety of your home’s structure. If you’re renovating an older house, chances are, you’ll run into a problem that needs to be addressed. Whether it’s rotted beams or rusty pipes, it’s important to take care of these problems before the rest of the project continues.
If you are remodeling a home, make sure your budget isn’t too tight when you begin. You should always assume that something will come up, and having a few extra thousand dollars can help you tackle any surprises that may pop up.

Hire Help for Plumbing and Electrical Work

If you hire a contractor, you won’t have to worry about dealing with plumbing and electrical work because they will hire subcontractors to come in and do the work for you. If instead, you have decided to tackle a remodel on your own, you should still reach out for help when doing it yourself could be dangerous.
For example, working with electrical can be very dangerous. Even if you don’t shock yourself when you’re installing or repairing the wires, if not done correctly, your electrical could cause problems later.
Plumbing is also something you shouldn’t mess with on your own unless you have professional plumbing experience. Although not as dangerous as electrical, one wrong move and you could find that you’ve flooded your house.
When it comes to electrical and plumbing, it really is best to call in the experts.

Separate Your Living Space

Living in a construction zone can be hard on your mental health, but it can also compromise your safety. If you’re always walking on extension cords or weaving in and out of boxes that need to be unpacked, it’s only a matter of time before you trip and fall.
Before you begin, it’s important to separate your living space. Set up your home so you can avoid the construction zone unless you’re actively working. This can help you preserve your sanity, but more importantly, it can reduce the chance of accidents in your home, especially if you have children.

Create a Schedule You Can Stick To

You should always consider a schedule when you begin a project. The longer a project drags on, the more you expose your family to potentially hazardous living conditions.
However, that doesn’t mean you should rush a project either. If you or your contractor attempts to complete a job a little too fast, it’s likely that things won’t be installed properly, which can also be dangerous. Not to mention, a schedule that’s a little too tight can be more stressful than it’s worth.
Create a schedule with balance. Build in at least a few days for mistakes and emergencies to be addressed, and don’t overwork yourself or your contractor to ensure silly mistakes don’t turn into serious accidents.

Make Sure Alarms Are Fully Functional

As you’re tearing out cabinets and getting ready to paint the walls, you’ll likely find yourself taking things down and packing them away. However, the carbon and smoke detectors in the space should be left up throughout the duration of your remodel. That’s when accidents are most likely to happen, and making sure all of your alarms are fully functional can keep everyone safe.
While you’re at it, you should see if it’s time to replace your fire extinguisher, and you should place it in a spot where it can be found easily should it be needed.

Pick up at the End of Every Day

Construction zones can get messy fast, and they are likely to stay messy until everything is installed and ready to be enjoyed. However, that doesn’t mean you should leave the mess until the very end. You should pick up at the end of every day.
Things you should clean up at the end of the day include:

• Wipe up spills and small debris
• Haul large debris out to the dumpster
• Gather and put away tools
• Move cords and other items out of walkways
• Clean up excess dust

If you’re working with a contractor, make sure that they clean up at the end of the workday too. If they don’t, ask their crew to quit early the next day so they have time to tidy up.
You want your home renovation to look great when it’s done, but you should also care about the safety of your project. With these tips, you can ensure everyone involved in your renovation stays healthy and safe from start to finish.