Renovation Column: You’ll need more than structural support to survive a renovation

You may be the one living in the dust-filled death trap of a home but to survive with your sanity intact, it's important to involve family, friends and even the unsuspecting passerby on the school run whom you moan to about your living situation daily.

When the chips are down and you’re left with no way to cook, wash clothes or use the ground floor of your house outsourcing your day-to-day domestic duties is not a luxury but a survival strategy.

It can be hard to ask for help and even harder to accept it when you know you’re not the only one with a lot on the proverbial plates you are spinning.

I’ve trotted out the “we’re managing” line more times than I care to admit when actually we've been struggling and declined some offers of help along the way because let's face it everyone has got their own stuff going on.

But this week something special happened: our friends and family turned up in a show of solidarity when we needed it the most.

People stopped asking if we needed help and just started giving it anyway.

From home-cooked meals arriving on our doorstep, to mobile laundry support and phone calls telling us which dates we were booked in at their homes for tea.

A slow cooked shepherd's pie was dropped off at the door – I couldn’t even come to the door to receive the meal because the tilers were grouting the front porch and we were quite literally trapped upstairs.

An invite to enjoy a meal at a friend's house in a fully finished kitchen, sitting on real chairs instead of camping chairs and a glass of wine in a clean glass (not one caked in brick dust requiring several soaks in the caravan sink before use).

I did lose three pairs of my favourite knickers to my friend's puppy when she was drying my latest load but it’s a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

My poor mum has also gone back in time to when I was a messy student; she not only calls round with fully cooked meals but also does our washing most weeks.

Even phone calls from friends (calls not texts as it's easy to fob people off via text) to ask how things are going mean so much. Sometimes all you need is a five minute rant to get things off your chest and then you're ready to start tackling plug socket and light switch purchasing.

So if you have friends or family going through a renovation ignore the ‘we’re fine’ protestations drop off a home cooked meal to give them a night off the microwave meal monotony, turn your home into Widow Twankey's laundrette and give them a quick call to ask if they are surviving, it will mean more than you know.

Keep up to date with all the progress by following @ohgodweboughtavicarage on Instagram.