Drywall in Harrisburg homes, with you still living in them

Almost always, yes, and most people do. One room at a time is normal, you keep a working kitchen and bathroom throughout, and the sealed room is the only part you lose. A whole-floor reboard is easier on everybody if you are out for the two sanding days, but it is not a condition of the job.

Sanding is the dusty part and it lasts a day or two per room. Doorways are zipped, floors are covered, and the sander runs with a vacuum on it, so what escapes is a fine film in the working room rather than a haze through the house. We vacuum before leaving. Anything left in that room will still need wiping.

Joint compound dust is an irritant rather than a poison, but nobody should be sitting in it. Our crews wear masks, the room stays sealed, and we would rather you kept children, anybody with asthma and pets out of it until it is vacuumed. Old texture is a separate question and gets tested before we scrape it.

Empty is best and it makes the job quicker and cheaper. Where something cannot be moved we push it to the middle and wrap it, which slows every visit and shows on the quote. Take curtains, pictures and anything electronic out yourself, because those are the things that hold dust and are awkward to wrap.

On site around eight and away by four or half past, five days a week, unless we agree different hours with you first. The noisy work is at the front of the day rather than the end of it. If a start that early does not suit the house, say so at the measure and we will set the hours around you.

Only for the first morning and the walk round at the end. Plenty of jobs run on a key and an alarm code, and we will agree that in writing rather than by text. Somebody calls you if anything comes up that changes the plan, so nothing gets decided in your house without you knowing about it.

The loud part is short. Taking down plaster and lath and cutting board are the noisy hours and they come at the start; the days after that are quiet work with a knife and a sander. If somebody works nights or a baby naps in the afternoon, tell us and we will put the noisy stage where it does least harm.

The floor is covered before anything else happens, board over sheeting on hard floors and taped at the edges. Corners and door casings on the route in get protected too. If something does get marked we tell you rather than leave you to find it, and we put it right before the job is called finished.

Power from an ordinary outlet and water for a bucket and clean-up, yes. Crews use their own bathroom breaks off site where the job is short, and will ask rather than assume otherwise. Parking is the one to sort out in advance on the older streets, because carrying sheets an extra block is time somebody pays for.

A patch is two short visits over two or three days, because compound has to dry between coats. A single room hung and finished is four to five days, and a ceiling adds one. You get the room back at the end of that, primed and ready for paint, not sitting under tools for another week.

Tell us at the measure and we will plan for it. Zipped doorways keep an inquisitive dog out of the working room, tools and buckets go up or away whenever the crew leaves the room, and we will keep the route from the front door clear. A garden gate that has to stay shut is worth mentioning on the first morning.

Yes, and it happens more than you would think. We finish the stage we are on so nothing is left open or unsealed, tidy the room and agree a date to come back. Breaks cost a little time in setting up twice, and we would far rather do that than leave a family living around bare board for two weeks.