Post 6: Demo with a Side of COVID

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Confined to one room for five-days

The first week of demo didn’t exactly go as planned. I ended up testing positive for Omicron by Saturday (Jan 15). The ironic thing was, I also got my booster on the Tuesday that same week. I must be one of the only people to be boosted and test positive the same week. The day I got my booster, I had a bad reaction and felt horrible, or maybe it was the beginning of COVID, who knows? I had a fever, so that night I ordered a $9 milk shake from Skip the Dishes that I did not regret one bit. Desperate times, friends. I spent the week quarantining and was going a bit crazy as I was confined to my bedroom, since my downstairs was not accessible. I wanted to lie on my couch so badly, but it was all wrapped up in plastic and caked with renovation dust.

Check your batteries

I was not prepared to get sick. First, I had to find my thermometer (which was hiding in the storage totes in the basement as for some reason I kept it in one of my kitchen cabinets). When I finally found the thermometer after searching through many totes, the batteries were dead, so I went hunting for new ones. The renovation was put on hold for the week as me and one of the crew members recovered from COVID. We got a major snow storm the week I was quarantining. I was not able to go out and shovel, so the snow just keep piling, evidenced in the picture below. By Friday that week, I had tested negative again, but it was masks on whenever I left my room, from then on out.

Rookie Tip: Make sure you keep track of what’s in each storage bin. A few times over the renovation, I had to go digging through my totes to find an item. Also try to keep all items you think you might need with you if possible. Unfortunately, it’s the unforeseen items that you don’t plan ahead for.

Friends to the rescue

Shoutout my amazing friends that were there for me in multiple ways during this stressful week. At that time, Ontario wasn’t giving PCR tests to non-high-risk individuals. I also did not have a rapid test kit on hand. One friend saved the day, by giving me one of her last rapid tests, so that I could determine if I was indeed positive. Yup you guessed it, the same friend that referred me to Debby and loaned me her renovation survival appliances. When I picked up the test, double masked, only coming within a safe distance outside of course, she also sent me home with a survival kit with some delicious homemade chili. I came home and immediately took the test. I couldn’t believe it when the second red line appeared on the test. Yes, my friends, after staving it off for nearly two-years, a few days into my renovation I tested positive for COVID 🙁

My next issue was I didn’t have another test to determine when I was negative. Another amazing friend travelled from Aurora (about an hour away) to bring me one of her last rapid test kits, as well as some groceries. I couldn’t leave my place and I didn’t have a lot of groceries that week as I was living through a renovation, so her delivery saved me. That’s a pretty long commute, but she wanted to hand deliver the test, so it didn’t get damaged in shipping. By Friday that week, I had tested negative and was ready to emerge again. Good thing as I had lots of items I still needed to purchase for my renovation, like backsplash tile, lighting, handles etc… Thankfully, my Omicron case was mild. I just had a cough with stuffy nose. No other major symptoms. The following Monday the renovation was back on schedule.

Building back up

The week after the COVID hiatus, things started taking shape. All the electrical got roughed in and the drywall started going up. I was staying upstairs and avoiding everyone but saw some of the action on my Nest doorbell camera. I watched them bringing in gigantic pieces of sheet rock, but this gave me a little anxiety. A few weeks before my renovation started, I had new glass railings installed at my front entrance, not something I recommend before a renovation, but that’s how the timing worked out. I had to turn the camera off as I could not stand seeing the big items being unloaded. It was exciting to see some progress in the room as the exposed walls were insulated and covered back up again.

Rookie Tip: When I got my new front door in the fall, one thing I added was keyless entry. This came in handy during my renovation. I set my contracting crew up with their own code and they could let themselves in, come and go as needed, and I could see whenever someone entered. I could also cancel the code whenever I wanted. Some days they started pretty early, so I didn’t even have to get out of bed to let them in. It also came in handy when I was quarantining and avoiding direct contact with anyone else in my house 🙂 I have this one, but there are lots of other great ones in the market.