Can you live in your house while the roof is replaced?

Expect noise. Stripping old tiles or slates means hammering, scraping and the thud of material landing on a chute or in a skip, and the sound carries down through the rafters into the rooms below. The loudest stage is normally the first, when the old covering is coming off. It settles into a steadier rhythm once new battens and tiles are going on.

Expect dust. Even in a house with a well-sealed ceiling, movement overhead shakes fine debris down through gaps, so shut the loft hatch and cover or move anything stored up there. Pictures on walls below the roofline can rattle off their hooks, so take down anything fragile.

The house stays weathertight, because open sections are made watertight before the crew leaves. If you work from home or share the house with a night worker, tell us at the survey so we can plan around it, although the noise will not vanish.

Scaffold changes how the outside of the house works for the length of the job. It stands against the walls, usually blocks first-floor windows, and may take a parking space or part of the pavement. Where it blocks the footway or the road, the highway authority must issue a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. Hampshire County Council, for example, tells customers that the scaffolding firm makes the application.

Think about security and privacy. A scaffold offers anyone a route up to bedroom windows, so keep them closed and locked whenever the room is empty, and leave nothing tempting on a sill. Give the people next door a heads-up before the poles arrive, since the scaffold may crowd their drive or pass close to their glass, and a friendly word costs nothing.

Move cars off the drive, clear the borders and shift garden furniture well away from the walls. Debris falls, and plants below take the worst of it.

Asbestos is the main exception. Before 2000 asbestos went into plenty of buildings, so the Health and Safety Executive's advice is to presume it is there in anything built or refurbished earlier. Lifting cement sheeting off in one piece, with care, is non-licensed work, yet significant breakage moves it into the notifiable category. You do not want to be living beneath that, and waste from a household needs a consignment note. If your roof is cement sheeting, or you suspect asbestos anywhere, say so at the survey.

Wildlife law protects roosting bats and nesting birds, so speak up at once if you have noticed either near the roof.

Beyond that, think about people. Babies, someone recovering from surgery, a person who is distressed by noise, and anyone sleeping by day after night shifts may be happier elsewhere for the loudest stages. You know your household better than any roofer does, so decide with that in mind.

A few jobs the evening before save a lot of trouble. Clear the loft of anything you would not want dust on, or cover it with dust sheets. Move beds away from walls in the top rooms. Remove ornaments from shelves, take down loose mirrors and unplug anything on a high shelf that might shake off.

Pets are best kept in a quiet room or boarded out. A cat or dog will find the din unsettling, and an open door with ladders and tradespeople about is an escape route. Children should be told that the scaffold is not a climbing frame, and the garden should be off limits while the crew works above it.

Agree access in advance. Tell us whether someone will be home each day, and whom to call if a problem comes up. We would rather answer a question than guess at the reply, and a short chat before work begins avoids most misunderstandings.

Have a word with the crew when they arrive each day. A two-minute chat covers what is being opened, what will be noisy and when the loudest part is expected, so you can plan a walk or an errand around it. By evening, ask whether the roof is covered and whether any area is not yet watertight.

Do not go up on the roof or the scaffold yourself. Keep the ground beneath the work clear, and keep children and pets back from the skip and the stacked tiles. If you notice anything odd, such as a loose sheet flapping or water on a ceiling, tell the crew straight away and not at the end of the visit.

For a full picture of how the work runs, our guide to the stages of a roof replacement goes through them in order, and our answer on how long a roof takes to replace covers the timing. Everything else is on roof replacement and new roofs.