A.Can we actually live in the house while a second floor is being added?
B. For how long are the furniture and goods inside the house exposed to the elements with the roof off, or incomplete seal to the outdoors from rain, or opossums (they like roof running here), or tree insects (we're under a tree canopy).
C. I'm terribly allergic to the dust, fumes, molds, whatevers of construction. We can arrange for me to temporarily live elsewhere for a fixed amount of time if need be. The problem is that all the additions I know of where the second floor is added, the timeline for construction goes completely wacko, and there's just no good estimate for the amount of time needed to move out. The planned schedule is often compounded by the fact that it's an "older house" 1930's, and therefore has "surprises" found during construction. What hope do I have of entering into a second floor addition over all or part of the house, and actually being able to move back in within months, instead of a year or more? It's a 1300 sq ft house. How big can the unexpected be?
D. I cannot have any cigarette smoking on the jobsite. Nor can we allow the workers to run music boxes outside to amuse themselves. Does anyone build this way?
E. Alternatively, we could limit the addition to an extension on the back of the house and not overhead. Is it realistic to think that I could live in the house for all but the last few weeks of construction when they break through the back wall?
Thanks for all your help. HouseDreamer