It’s déjà vu all over again!

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Hey Cupcake, the guys are doing fine but I need a tuna break! Stick a sardine in it and maybe a little catnip.

We have a house full of contractors doing contractor stuff. I forgot how annoying it is. I’m up early to get the cats fed. Once people are in the house, the cats are in hiding except for Gus who supervises from the top of his cat tree.

The guys know it’s annoying so they try hard to lessen it. They put their generator outside the house along with all the sawing and dirty stuff but it’s not like having a quiet house.

Here are some things I noticed.

There is a smell to new construction. It’s part wet spackle, spackle dust and newly sawed wood. It’s lot of bodies sweating in a heat wave. It’s farts and garlic from lunch. It’s a unique smell and I recognized it immediately.

Everyone gets along. They laugh and (somewhat) kindly correct each other. No swearing (or at least not much). I have had crews that screamed at each other all day and that’s not fun for the customer crouching in another room.

The damn radio. With the generator buzzing and hammers going, why does anyone need a radio? It’s just more noise. No one is singing along and mostly there are commercials for cars that are not available (someone needs to explain that to me).

We are at the point where there is noticeable progress. The beloved husband’s music room (henceforth known as the conservatory!) has walls and electricity. It may have doors today! Pictures when its done.

My advice to anyone doing this is to go on vacation. Stay at the beach until it’s done! You will be much happier.

60 thoughts on “It’s déjà vu all over again!”

  4. I’m very jealous of the conservatory! How lovely to have a music room. I laughed at the idea of a smell to new construction, as I could immediately recollect the smell! It’s so true. And I’m with you regarding the radio. Maybe if they played a station I enjoyed it wouldn’t be so bad, but that never happens. Looking forward to the photos!

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  6. We just had our home equity line of credit approved yesterday, so this means we can start looking for contractors at some point soon. I just forwarded this post of yours to my wife as a warning that she’ll find it hard to work with all the noise going on! – Marty

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  8. I must be weird or something, but I actually like having construction projects in progress. It means something is being improved, and that always makes me happy. Admittedly, indoor projects are more challenging than outdoor ones, so I do sympathize with you.

    Our current construction project has a team in the backyard doing a complete re-do of the pool and surrounding patio., Yes, it’s been very noisy {sorry to all my neighbours}. While Theo won’t venture into the backyard while the guys are here, he shamelessly extorts pats and ear scratches from them at the front of the house. This is new behaviour and I’m starting to think he might be going soft in the head in his old age 😏

    Good luck with the new conservatory. I hope you and the furry ones are restored to a quiet place again soon.

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    • Yep you are weird. Much as I’m anxious for the improvement, I don’t like this phase although this group which is small is one of the best. It’s either two or three guys. They’ve made good progress without a ton of people milling around.

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    • Another commenter said it’s white noise for them. I don’t know why they don’t wear ear protection with all the power tools but they don’t. When they are older they won’t be able to hear well.

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  11. I have never had any major construction done, just small things that only took a day or two. Teddy was a wreck. Jack didn’t like it but he was okay. I was happy when it was over and nice and quiet again. Keep focused on the finished project and how wonderful it will be! Before you know it the mess and noise will be a memory.

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  12. I checked, the radio is the equivalent of white noise to the hammer and screwdriver sect. Helps drown out the hammering, screwing, sawing noises. Stay brave. Your crew sound like a good bunch…definitely worth their weight in gold these days of crews not showing up, doing shoddy work and being downright offensive on the clock.
    P.S. That Gus…what a great supervisor.

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  15. I’m a DIY nerd so I have to ask and hope you don’t mind. Is the new conservatory space being added on to the house or are you converting another room(s) that were already there? We’ve only had individuals so they were in and out quick. I’m sure you will be thrilled with the results as long as you make it through the work part.

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  16. Kate, I’m feeling your construction… Ha! We have an appt at 1 this afternoon with the Master bath redo peeps. I don’t know if I have it in me, I’m tuckered out and Delta variant and new cases are beyond scary here. Makes for some long days when worker dudes are in your house. Look to the end… best part. We say no to radio inside but it hasn’t been a problem. I really find radio over the top. It is still my house and they are doing work for us. Pictures will be fun!

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  18. When we bought our house almost 30 years ago, we started a multi-year remodel (we did it mostly ourselves, couldn’t afford contractors at the time). I swore never to live in a home that was being remodeled again. Much better to hire a team and go on a long trip. Your contractors sound pretty good… and hopefully quick.

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  21. HAHA….I had to laugh – the neighbors had a new deck built last week and all day long we heard the radio playing and the guys screaming at each other OVER the radio…..while saws and hammers are going. I don’t get need for the radio with all that noise – the other thing is none of them wore ear protection – the racket from those tools is almost deafening from next door so I’m sure the guys scream at each other because most of them are partially deaf!!!! My cat Teddy enjoyed watching them from “his” deck here but all of us were happy to see them pack up their tools and pull out of the neighbor’s driveway at the end. By the way, the neighbors were on vacation – your suggestion is a good one!

    Hugs, Pam (and Teddy the Deck Spy)

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  22. Vacationing would be better! Except taking pets on vacation could be fraught…

    Oh, the blasting radio! I’d forgotten about that. Or maybe I just figured everyone uses ear pods by now? EAR PODS WOULD BE BETTER (had to yell over the radio).

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  23. Construction while you’re away is an excellent idea, but the cats would need to be elsewhere. As a pet sitter I always refused to pet sit for folks who wanted to leave their pets home alone when construction was happening. Way too many problems with that, stating with stressed out pets who escape. And the radios…I could do without those too when contractor folks are working.

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    • No I’d never leave them alone with contractors. Doors are open for long stretches. No one is attempting anything but I wouldn’t trust it. I had a big project done and I stayed at the beach with my 2 cats for most of the summer.

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