Survival tips for living while remodeling

Last week we introduced you to the Smiths, a family of eight that just survived a fairly extensive renovation while living in their split-level home throughout the construction process.

Their remodel included an addition of 400 square feet to both the main and lower levels, adding a great room (family room, dining area and kitchen) to the main floor with a secondary family room below.

As much as they tried to keep the construction zone contained, living in a home that is being remodeled disturbs the rest of the house and how a family lives.

Tiffany Smith offers some insight into how she survived living through the remodel with her small children.

Deciding to stay: They broke ground for the project when the youngest of her six children was 7 months old. It took almost a year to complete the construction, and they lived through it, literally, right in the midst of the construction zone.

Many families stay in their home during a remodel. One common reason is the budget.

On the one hand, if a family moves out they can theoretically save money because the contractor can get the job done faster (and therefore cheaper) if they don't have to work around a family.

On the other hand, the cost of a temporary apartment or a condo tends to eat up any such savings.

For the Smiths, it was a hard decision. "I thought about this so much," Tiffany says. Even now that the remodel is finished she has gone back and crunched the numbers again.

"Would it cost more to stay or is it cheaper to move out? Honestly, I still don't know."

Ultimately, they stayed because they didn't want to uproot everyone. "Even though it was a weird construction phase, the kids were sleeping in their own beds." At least among the chaos, that was one constant.

Stay organized (as much as possible): The problem with staying in the house during a remodel is that it is almost like moving but you don't go anywhere.

You still have to pack boxes. Everything from the areas to be remodeled has to go somewhere else during construction. The Smiths used a storage shed for some boxes, but most of the stuff ended up stacked in the den and the master bedroom.

"Our master bedroom was the catchall," she says. "Everything had to go somewhere, and our room was floor to ceiling with boxes. I don't know how we survived it."

Check in with reality: The reality is that remodeling is messy, noisy and stressful.