Planning a cosmetic renovation in an apartment you bought from second hand? In the following tutorial, you will find out what tests you should not pass in order for the renovation to not be temporary, What includes a small overhaul work, how it will be carried out, and how you can optimize the final result.
The large rooms and the closed balcony that characterize the old construction have fascinated you.
In addition to the relatively attractive prices for the prices of new apartments, you decided to prefer buying a second-hand house. Congratulations!
Any novice architect will tell you that old apartments are a heap of potential, but under the same pile may also hide problems that require immediate attention and care.
Most of your equity is designed for a mortgage, so you can only meet the expenses of a small renovation (according to the reform of the Ministry of construction and Housing Renovation up to 45 thousand dollars is considered a small renovation).
Before you pay your full attention to the cosmetic side, read the following guide, and find out what are the things that must be checked before you approach the cosmetic renovation.
What are the critical things you should check before renovating?
Before you approach the design of new outlets, a sideboard and plaster walls, paint, and the rest of the cosmetic moves that you want to implement in your home, stop and check the state of the critical infrastructure of the House.
Any cosmetic work that will be carried out on an improper foundation will permit the renovation since sooner or later you will have to address the problems that will arise thoroughly.
Electricity-the power system is perhaps the most critical system in the house, but it is also fraught with quite a few dangers, and here comes the role of electricians.
Just before you plan the renovation in the house you bought, invite a professional electrician to make sure that the electrical systems in the House are normal.
The electrician will check the electrical panel, the electric shock prevention systems that are the grounding and insulation systems, and all other electrical zones of the apartment.
In addition, it will check the integrity of the sockets and their connection to the same protection systems. You can then evacuate together for planning new power points and eliminating old power points.
In addition, a professional electrician will check the integrity of the system in terms of power, and make sure in front of you that the system is suitable for your needs and throughout your life.
Plumbing
Sometimes eyesight may be misleading, and a house without signs of dampness, with straight and painted walls, maybe in a dilapidated condition in terms of plumbing.
Not always the owners of the House are aware of the problem, and inspection of the plumbing system can prevent damage, aggravation, and a large expense in the future.
The tests that should be carried out before buying the apartment are the inspection of the water outlet points, manholes and taps, water pressure, water quality and monitoring pioneer residues in the pipeline.
In addition, a professional plumber will perform a pipeline inspection that includes the integrity of its diameter, the integrity of its connections, and the detection of liquidity. Another check to be performed is that of the drainage system that comes out of the apartment.
Waterproofing-not every moisture in the wall or ceiling indicates a plumbing problem, and in some cases, it can testify precisely to the problem of waterproofing.
If the apartment you purchased is located on the last floor of the building, or it is a private house, it is worth checking the condition of the waterproofing of the roof and exterior walls by a professional waterproofing contractor.
Sealing problems are expressed in the accumulation of moisture, peeling in the walls and ceiling, mold, and even fungus.
A professional waterproofing contractor will be able to conduct a controlled flooding test on the roof and the purpose of water on the outer walls, thus checking the condition of the waterproofing and finding failures if there is.
In addition, the professional will be able to detect sealing problems even in Windows and doors.
Here are some tips that will help you save on renovation expenses
A low-budget renovation requires prioritization, and certain concessions, and the renewal of elements that in an ideal situation would you prefer to replace.
There are cases when the kitchen cabinets can be replenished, as well as the bathroom and flooring, and there are cases when you will have no choice but to purchase a new product.
Cabinets-beyond the fact that the role of home cabinets in general, and kitchen cabinets, in particular, is storage, the cabinets are a significant design element in the home space.
The favorite couple you bought the apartment left you the big bedroom cabinet and the kitchen cabinets.
The bedroom cabinet door is full of scratches, one of the kitchen cabinets is peeling, the handles are outdated and one of them even came out of the place, and in general, cherry wood cabinets are not exactly your taste.
As long as this is not an unambiguous veto in terms of design, or in broken cabinets or filled with mold, there are many things that can be done to fix the old cabinets pointwise.
A professional carpenter will be able to renew your cabinets by grinding the bedroom cabinet, replacing handles, coloring, and even replacing a certain part of the kitchen cabinets rather than the entire kitchen.
Sanitary ware-you always wanted a hidden Niagara with a hanging toilet and a bidet, but the dowry you received from the previous owners is an ordinary toilet with a Standard Niagara.
If you are not in any way ready to use the toilet, bath, or old taps, plan your renovation budget so that the purchase of sanitary ware is a priority.
It is assumed that this is an expensive expense that will make it difficult for you to renovate additional elements in the House.
A relatively inexpensive solution that you can adopt when it comes to a bath, is acrylic bath dressing on the Old Bath.
Perhaps this is not exactly the ultimate solution, and this will slightly reduce the area of the bathroom, but you can enjoy a completely new and clean surface.
He will be able to serve you for many years until you decide someday to break the Old Bath and install a completely new bath.
Flooring-to improves the appearance of the floor, you must not perform breaking floor tiles and fixing new tiles in place.
A relatively easy and inexpensive solution, in the event that the condition of the floor allows it, is the gluing of tiles on the existing floor.
This becomes possible when the floor is straight, the tiles are not broken, crooked, and when there are no tiles missing in the flooring.
In addition, in the event that under the existing flooring there is an old plumbing system, it is not recommended to carry out the gluing of the flooring, since sooner or later you will have to face the malfunctions and wear of the plumbing.
Terrazzo tiles are an excellent foundation for gluing tiles, so if the floor condition is good, a professional sequencer will be able to perfectly glue on these tiles a new layer of flooring.
Doors-similar to cabinets, interior doors can also peel off over the years, get scratched, accumulate wear and tear, creak, and also do not close and open normally.
Also, the interior doors, similar to cabinets, can be renewed at a certain level. Renovation of interior doors using grinding and painting, is possible mainly when it comes to wooden doors, or combined wood.
A professional carpenter will renew the doors for you, at the first stage he will remove the doors from their seats.
Then clean them well, sand them in order to create a smooth surface, and paint them with a coloring method and paint them you choose.
Renovation of interior doors is also possible by means of gluing Taft.
If the condition of the doors is fixable, you should take this option into account for budget reasons, as it is significantly cheaper than buying new interior doors.
How do you want to divide the space of the House?
Old apartments are characterized by a large area that is not properly exploited.
Some owners of old apartments left the apartment in its original state, so it has two very large central spaces, a narrow corridor, and a closed balcony.
Other apartment owners have built blocks or drywall walls to redistribute the apartment and to add a children’s room or office for example, but not always the division they have made is to your taste or meets your needs.
Dismantling the existing plaster walls is a relatively simple job, and now what you have left is to decide whether you want to build new walls, and if so then what kind of walls?
This is how a professional renovation contractor will perform the division
Wall breaking-expanding the existing spaces in the house by breaking walls, requires consultation with an experienced professional like an engineer or with a remodeling contractor, who will know for sure whether it is a supporting wall or a wall that can be easily broken.
Even walls that do not support the entire building may support their accommodation in old apartments, so consult in any case with a professional.
The supporting wall is defined according to its location, thickness and according to the type of material from which it is made, in the absolute majority of cases it is a concrete wall.
Concrete sawing
By sawing a concrete wall it is possible to establish a connection between two small rooms and thus create one large space.
You can create an opening for a new door or window, you can change the design style of balconies for example (as long as this is not contrary to urban auxiliary law).
Retaining walls can be reduced to Pillars only and thus gain more illuminated space alongside an impressive design element in the form of a pillar that can be designed as you wish (sawing concrete wall with the permission of an engineer only).
The sawing is carried out by means of a diamond disc when during the sawing the renovation contractor takes care to maintain a sterile area on both sides of the wall at any time.
Upon completion of the sawing, the professional will select the side to which the wall will fall and will protect this area if necessary (if it comes to the floor tiles for example).
Drywall construction-gypsum is a flexible material, easy to work and quick to build. You can build a wall or a buffer from a plasterboard of different sizes and shapes, which does not reduce the strength and stability of the wall.
Beyond the construction of drywall, you can purchase ready-made braces directly from the factory.
All that remains for the professional is to install the braces and create a wall so that the work itself can take several individual hours.
Unlike concrete wall repair, drywall can be repaired quickly, and in case of serious damage, the wall can be easily replaced.
The gypsum isolates temperature and sound well, is a biodegradable material, so it is environmentally friendly and, of course, relatively inexpensive for alternatives.
Building a wall of blocks-building a wall of blocks is made possible only on top of bare concrete, which means that if there is the flooring in the house, it must be carved in order to build the wall.
The professional will wet the concrete on which the wall will be built, apply concrete on the wet concrete layer, and on which the blocks will be built.
Then the professional will insert iron spikes between the layers of blocks inside the concrete, and also to the adjacent walls.
After the wall reaches a height of a meter and will do, the professional will build a concrete belt around the wall, which consists of concrete, iron spikes, iron pillars and jute mesh.
In order to seal the wall from water damage and disintegration, the professional will perform applied a waterproofing mixture on top of the wall, and on top of it a layer of black plaster and then white plaster.
Evacuation of rubble
This is a mandatory procedure for any redevelopment, since non-evacuation of waste may entail high fines from the local authority.
In most cases, the evacuation of waste is part of the renovation work, but it is priced separately.
When it comes to a large renovation, the service includes container rental, but in a small renovation, the renovation contractor will also be able to settle for evacuation using a tractor-trolley.
When there is no easy access to the waste disposal from the house to the container, the renovation contractor will use an evacuation sleeve whose cost is priced according to a month.
If used for only a few days, payment will be for the relative part of the period.
Responsibility for evacuation is combined. The tipping contractor should hold a business license for waste disposal.
Your responsibility is to make sure that he does have a valid license.
In addition, it is worthwhile to make sure that the waste is indeed evacuated to the waste evacuation site, and this information you will receive through a weighing report that the evacuation contractor receives on the site.
This is how a professional electrician will add sockets to the apartment
When planning the placement of sockets in the house, the main emphasis should be on the living room and kitchen, while in the bedrooms the fluctuation of electrical appliances from place to place over the years is not great.
In a corridor that is more than three meters long, it is recommended to install an interchange circuit breaker, that is, one Switch will be at the beginning of the corridor and one circuit breaker at the end, which will give more convenient access to turn on and off the light.
Installing sockets in the kitchen-the kitchen is usually the space with a large number of heavy energy consumers in the house.
It is recommended to install about ten power outlets in the kitchen so that you can operate several electrical appliances without fear of overloads at each session.
In order to avoid the use of splitters, it is recommended to install double sockets on the wall. Most of the outlets are recommended to place in the marble area, and do not forget to demand that they be protected from water.
Two more outlets under the sink will give you an option for connecting a dishwasher and a future garbage grinder.
The most important thing is planning the location of electrical appliances before installing the new sockets.
You do not want to find out after the renovation that you lack sockets or that the outlets do not fit, which will make the work of the putty and the paint that will be done later in time.
Installing sockets in the living room – D18 is a box that should include communication sockets and power sockets.
Its goal is to avoid the lack of aesthetes in the wires that spawn along and across the TV or home cinema system.
The stand should be placed in a relatively low place in the wall and must be recessed under the plaster.
Do not give up this position, even if you use a wired network, since if you want to upgrade your TV to smart, you will need a direct connection to the line.
For those of you who are interested in a complete home theater system and not only a sound projector, you must ask the electrician to create for you preparation for the speakers through the walls.
This is a tapeworm pipe inside a block wall and a green distance pipe in drywall.
In terms of installing power outlets in the living room, the recommendation is to install such an outlet for an overhead air conditioner, and an additional outlet for an electrical appliance that consumes a lot of energy, like an electric heater for example, in a low position.
This is how a professional painter will perform a total coloring of the apartment
Before painting the House, professional paints applied putty on the walls of the House. There are different types of putty, but the most recommended and effective is American putty.
The American putty does not require prior preparation or mixing and can be easily applied to the wall. It has excellent adhesion capacity and can be used as a cover for small cracks.
After applying the material to the cracks, drying, and grinding with the help of zero sandpaper, professional paints will smear the entire wall with the material and sand it after it has dried.
He will repeat this operation several times until the wall gets a straight and smooth look.
The ceiling as a starting point in the event that the ceiling is included in the coloring list, where the work will begin.
Professional paints will start the work near one of the corners of the room and paint the ceiling along to optimize the work rather than double work.
In the event that the ceiling is higher than three meters, the military will paint the ceiling with the help of a ladder.
Further problem areas-after the ceiling is dry, the paint will move to the coloring of the walls when it starts in the problem areas, which are the area of the window, panels, and doors.
The paint will paint the frames of the walls in a perpendicular shape with a brush or roller, the connection between the wall and the ceiling.
The rest of the wall-the paints will divide the wall into segments and paint them. Usually, it is about segments of feet by feet.
Professional paints will focus each time on one wall, so it will achieve for you the best product.
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