Neighbours: How to keep the peace during renovations
If it’s disruptive to you, imagine what it’s like for your neighbours.
You chose to get your house renovated, and at the end of it you get a nice new bathroom. Or a nice new kitchen, or a nice new kitchen, or a toasty new boiler. Your neighbours get nothing but noise, loud builders and ugly scaffolding for the length of your project.
We’ve collected tips from everywhere on how you can avoid being an annoying neighbour when renovating carrying out building work on any part of your home.
Inform your neighbours first.
Depending on how disruptive the work is, this informative process could be anything from a polite note through the door to a knock on the door, to an invite to tea.
Take pictures of everything before and after.
Especially if you and the work may affect your neighbours. Consider this particularly if you have adjoining walls. There’s nothing like before and after pictures to establish responsibility over things that could go wrong.
Give regular updates.
If anything changes, make sure to let your neighbour know. If some work was meant to take 2 weeks and you find it will overrun, let your neighbours know.
Not just the one next door.
Yeah, it’s easy to forget, but the people who live behind and across the street from you are your neighbours too. So include them when you think about your neighbours.
If you’re the new guy/gal, be diplomatic.
Remember that your neighbour doesn’t know you and you don’t know them. They have no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt and they don’t care that your house will look better when this is all over. In these instance, remember that the diplomacy and just being thoughtful can go a long way.
The basic summary of this article is this – if you want to avoid drama with your neighbours, being thoughtful is key. A simple invite for tea and keeping everyone informed can go a long way to helping you avoid added agro you don’t need while running your renovation.