We repair the apartment ourselves. How to start apartment renovation and finish it as soon as possible

The idea of ​​where to start repairs in an apartment begins to bother future homeowners long before the vending “three-ruble note” or “kopeck piece” was officially issued, and the keys to front door migrated from realtor to new owners. With the purchase of housing in a new building, everything is clear, in this case the best option will make a rough repair of the apartment with his own hands. With housing purchased on the secondary market, the situation is more complicated.

Which option is preferable, capital or cosmetic

It is clear that the decision on how to plan the repair of an apartment, where to start and the sequence of work, will be based primarily on the condition of the dwelling. To a large extent, the planned scope of work, what to pay attention to and where to start repairing a secondary apartment depends on a number of conditions, including plans for the future, abilities and luck of the new owners:

• If the apartment was purchased in a relatively new building, 4-10 years old, complete with quality steel doors, plastic windows, shabby, but "living" floors, it is quite possible that you can get by with a redecoration of the apartment;
• Buying an apartment from an intermediary, especially if the residential premises smell of freshly completed cosmetic repairs designed to hide all the flaws and problems, will most likely require a major rework of most of the details;
• The third option is to buy a very old apartment which has not been renovated for a long time. In this case, you will need to spend a lot of time and effort to identify all the shortcomings and problems.

In the latter case, the solution is obvious, it is necessary to renovate the apartment from scratch, it is easier and more convenient to carry out a major overhaul of the premises before the tenants move into new apartments. In such a situation, you can deviate from the standard sequence of work when repairing an apartment and decide on your own where to start the repair, based on financial capabilities and free time.

Apartment with cosmetic repairs, where to start

The second case is considered the most problematic in terms of planning the stages of apartment renovation. Not only is the cost of cosmetic repairs automatically included in the cost of the purchased housing, it will also require the dexterity of a magician to determine the real state of the most important areas of the premises without breaking the freshly laid finish:

• The quality of the floor covering, the condition and degree of wear of the subfloor;
• Serviceability of water pipes, sewerage, heating systems;
• Wiring condition.

Note! Flooring, flooring and electrical wiring is easy enough to check with your own hands. For the revision and repair of pipes, radiators and sewers, it is best to invite specialists.

As a result of the audit, the answer to the question of where to start, and what are the further stages of repairing a secondary apartment, becomes obvious. First of all, performed repair work in areas on which safety and the possibility of using housing depend. Further, you can make repairs to the apartment in any order, it is clear that it is best to start with the most dusty and dirty work and finish with painting and sticker decor.

How to organize and start cosmetic repairs

When planning the purchase of an apartment in the secondary market, experts recommend reserving funds for major repairs, even if, at first glance, the housing is in a tolerable condition. If you are lucky with the purchase of an apartment, and there are no urgent problems that require urgent capital repairs, then you can start with “cosmetics”, and plan a thorough alteration of the premises for a couple of years in advance, when funds and time appear.

Cosmetic repair of a one-room apartment

The most difficult thing is to plan repairs in the "odnushka", there is not enough free space, there is practically nowhere to place materials and tools for apartment renovation. Cosmetic renovation of the interior has to be done in a situation where there is practically no time left to build up and think about where to start repairs, from day to day the residents will move into new housing.

In this case, repair work in the apartment, as they say, is carried out "from the wheels":

At the end of the work, wooden floors are painted or parquet is varnished. If there is no time and opportunity to perform redecorating apartments in full, it is better to start with the restoration of flooring.

Even if you had to move into an unrenovated apartment with furniture and belongings, in the future you can always find a couple of free days when you can make repairs in the apartment. Always, at all times, floor repair has been the most difficult and problematic, so laying or replacing flooring should be done as soon as possible.

Renovation of a two-room apartment

Cosmetic procedures in a kopeck piece are much easier, since it is possible, before starting work, to transfer furniture and some things to a free room.

Masters recommend starting repair work in the apartment by changing the two most difficult parts to repair - replacing windows and elements of the heating system. In addition to a fairly high price, both parts of the apartment's life support system are tied to weather conditions and seasons.

Therefore, it is necessary to replace radiators or window frames customize the entire renovation plan, for example, plan to start redecorating around the end of August, during the next vacation. Prices for double-glazed windows and radiators are already starting to decline, the cold weather is far away, and central system heating is not yet filled with water.

Already in September, you can begin to close up the slopes and paint the pipes. It is still warm enough outside to make the final repairs in the apartment. If autumn frosts fall during the work, it will still be warm enough in the room to make repairs in a two-room apartment with minimal loss of time.

How to start the overhaul of a problematic apartment

Unlike “cosmetics”, which are planned on the basis of the principle - from dirty to clean, a major repair option must begin with solving the most complex and deepest problems. Repair work can take several weeks, it is best to start with early spring, when most of the profile masters do not have so many orders, summer is ahead, and there is an opportunity to thoroughly prepare an apartment:

• Solve the problem of obtaining permits, for example, for the redevelopment of an apartment, the transfer of a meter, the installation of individual heating;
• Remove some of the furniture, flowers, household appliances to the cottage;
• Stock up on garbage bags and plastic covers;
• Purchase materials and tools.

The main thing is that you will need to draw up step-by-step instructions for yourself if the overhaul in the apartment is done from scratch. Useful list work will avoid inconsistencies and loss of time, especially if several craftsmen work simultaneously in the apartment.

Repair sequence

The preparations have been completed, the permits have been received, the materials have been purchased, the process of restoring the apartment can begin. Traditionally, overhaul is planned in the following sequence:

Installation interior doors, laying flooring, installation of fixtures are transferred, as the least urgent, to the final part of the repair. It is necessary to begin the process of restoring the premises with the removal of old trash.

Dismantling door frames, flooring and old plaster

According to the majority of new settlers, it would be right to start a major overhaul in the apartment with the installation of capital-type entrance doors. It can be armor, metal or double oak doors, anyway, as long as they have a sufficiently large opening, at least 90 cm wide, and have good sound insulation.

External walls must be plastered, interior decoration slopes can be transferred at the time of plastering the walls. At the same time, you need to start cutting out all the doorways inside the apartment, the old wooden frames are being dismantled. We tighten the opening with a thick plastic film. Before you start plastering work, it is necessary to install double-glazed windows.

Moving partitions and leveling walls

Next, the dirtiest part of the work is carried out - the plaster is cut off, the chalk or lime whitewash of the ceiling is washed out. Deleted flooring before concrete base, wooden floors are dismantled and removed from the apartment.

If the work plan provides for the transfer of partitions, the next step will be laying out new wall structures from drywall or drywall. First of all, plumbing is removed in the bathroom, plumbing and sewage pipes are changed. Next, the surface of the walls in the toilet, in the bathroom and in the kitchen is leveled for finishing. You can invite craftsmen to lay new communications, but for now you need to start working with plastering walls and ceilings in the living rooms of the apartment.

Unexpected Problems

Capital work associated with the use of a hammer drill, grinders, drills, any other "noisy" power tools should be performed only in the daytime.

Any repair work can be carried out from 8-00 to 20-00. In some cases, by order of the municipal authorities, it is forbidden to work with a tool with a high noise level from 13-00 to 15-00, so it will be useful to know in advance when and how long it is possible to make repairs in the apartment so as not to get into a conflict situation with neighbors.

Laying new electrical wiring

Once the wall leveling process is completed gypsum plaster, you can start wiring. If the apartment does not plan to transfer the meter, then channels are immediately cut, wiring is carried out, installation of socket boxes and leads for lamps. In the event of a meter transfer, the wiring is brought to a new installation location, connection and verification can only be started after the device is sealed.

Simultaneously with the wiring, you can start finishing the bathroom and kitchen, first of all the walls, then the floor and ceiling. Plumbing installed at the same time. Before you start repairing the floor, work in the kitchen-toilet must be fully completed.

Door installation and floor repair

As soon as the walls and ceiling are ready for fine finishing - painting or wallpapering, you can begin to repair the floor. Most often, a laminate or parquet slab is laid on concrete, but a real wooden floor can also be assembled. The floor covering is primed, dried and covered with a film.

At the next stage of the repair, interior doors are assembled. The doors themselves are not yet hung, the platbands are not nailed until the walls and ceiling are finished.

The final stage of the repair

The final stage of the repair can begin with the installation of sockets, switches, lamps, and adjustment of window fittings. If the floor involves painting or varnishing, then you will need to install a ventilator, otherwise the drying process will drag on for several days.

Having started repairing an apartment, many are faced with a huge number of problems and questions that they do not know the answer to. Especially most often, difficulties arise for those who have never done such work with their own hands. In this article, we will tell you what kind of repair can be and analyze all its stages step by step, you will learn where to start repairing an apartment with your own hands and how best to do it, we will offer step-by-step instructions that will help you determine the order of work.

We will also talk about how to carry out a rough finish of an apartment so that further repairs go without problems, what materials are the best, what is the price for them, and much more, which will help us determine the procedure for repairing an apartment with our own hands.

Repair of an apartment can be of several types: major, cosmetic renovation.

1. Overhaul

For holding overhaul apartments will take a lot of time, effort and of course nerves. The price of such repairs will not be small, so get ready for big expenses. Capital repairs of an apartment involve a complete reconstruction and replacement of windows, doors, wall and floor coverings, pipes, and so on. The scope of work carried out includes:

• Competent layout of the size of the premises, if necessary, then you can divide or connect the premises.
• Complete replacement of plumbing or its reconstruction.
• Changing the location of old sockets and installing new ones.
• Issues with old and new lighting are being resolved, if necessary, strobe work is carried out, they are necessary for laying wiring.
• Plastering works. It will be necessary to perform a rough finish of the apartment with special care.
• Complete replacement of doors and windows.
• Choice of built-in furniture.

Above you can see photos of the apartment renovation before and after the overhaul.

It will take a lot of time to carry out a major overhaul of an apartment with your own hands, however, if you correctly decide where to start and write down the order of work, then the time costs will be significantly reduced, and your apartment without finishing will very soon acquire an aesthetic appearance.

The first thing you should do is to vacate the room yourself from the furniture available there. So that it doesn’t turn out that you have to sleep right on the floor somewhere in the corner of the room among a pile of coloring and building materials, peeled wallpaper, so it’s better to resolve the issue with accommodation in advance - stay with relatives for a while or rent a room.

And so that repairs in an apartment without finishing with your own hands do not take much time, you will again need to resolve the issue yourself, we talked about this above, where to start repairs in new apartment, it is this decision that will further influence the time, price and order of work. You also need to take into account that the rough finish of the apartment should be of high quality, so you will significantly simplify and speed up the process of performing work.

1. Redecorating

With such a do-it-yourself apartment renovation, cosmetic work is meant that will help to slightly update your rooms. The price of such a repair will depend on the amount of work and the amount of materials used. Repair of an apartment without finishing will only affect the replacement of coatings of one or all rooms, without replacing existing communications.

This also includes replacing the old floor covering with a new one, finishing the ceiling and walls: painting, wallpapering, puttying. In a word, the redecoration of an apartment will not take you much time, but this is the case if you competently and calmly approach the work, in this case it will take you a couple of weeks to repair, while a major one will take a month or even several, depending on scope of work, the main thing is to decide where to start, and then it will be seen. If necessary, you can make a rough finish of the apartment, although then the price of your repair will increase slightly.

Below is a photo of the repair of the apartment with your own hands - cosmetic repairs.

1. Renovation

The concept of European-quality repair is, one might say, rather conditional; it has come to us since the beginning of the nineties. At that time, during renovation, all work was carried out strictly according to European standards and only with the use of expensive imported building and finishing materials, which is why the price of renovation was too high.

Currently, renovation is an original design approach to interior design, the use of unique technologies, bold style solutions, European zoning of rooms, and so on. In a word, renovation provides the customer with comfortable, beautiful and exclusive housing.

The decision in favor of do-it-yourself renovation should be given if you put forward sufficiently high requirements for the renovation of your home and want to see its complete transformation. Not everyone can afford such a repair, because its price will be simply unbearable for many.

Above is a photo of the renovation of the apartment - renovation.

When repairing an apartment with your own hands, not only the elimination of existing defects in the premises is carried out, it is also a complete replacement heating systems, lighting, air conditioning systems, development of a color scheme in future design.

Before proceeding with European-quality repair, you should create a competent design project for your house, cottage or apartment and determine the order of work. If you wish, you yourself can develop a design using the most original views finishes.

It is also very important to decide where to start the work with your own hands, so that they go quickly and efficiently. If you yourself like to do future design, it means that you creative person, which means that the results of do-it-yourself repairs will not keep you waiting.

How to start repairs in an apartment with a rough finish with your own hands?

If you don’t know where to start repairs in an apartment with a rough finish, in this case you will need to draw up a detailed plan, which will indicate the stages of work in stages. A phased repair plan should be drawn up on the basis of what you want to get as a result of the repair done. In addition to the plan, you will need to independently develop a design project for an apartment without finishing, choose materials, wallpaper, color scheme, and so on.

Thanks to design project and plan, you can determine the price of your future repairs, because they indicate necessary materials, their number and much more. Of course, when repairing with your own hands, you still won’t be able to plan everything correctly, you will need more detailed instructions, however, even this information will help you avoid mass common mistakes, which are most often performed by those who have never done repairs on their own before.

Now you know where to start repairing an apartment without finishing on your own and how to determine its price, albeit an approximate one, but it’s better to know at least something than nothing at all.

The photo above shows an approximate repair plan, but it can be taken as a basis.
To understand where it is better to start repairing an apartment, watch the video:

Repair stages

So, if you don’t know where to start repairing an apartment without finishing it yourself, below we will describe in stages all the steps that will need to be performed.

1. Window installation.
2. Door installation.

• Installation of heating radiators.

1. Pipe installation.
2. Installation of electrical wiring.

All these works with your own hands must be done first. Why? The fact is, if you first make repairs that include finishing work on the ceiling, floor and walls, and only then proceed with the above work, you can spoil the work already done, for example, splash new wallpaper on the walls with mortar, and then you will have to make repairs again.

If you don't have the finances for a complete renovation, then prioritize toilet renovations, bathroom renovations, radiator installations, and window installations. And to repair the rest of the rooms, start gradually buying materials: tiles, wallpaper, putty, and so on.

And in order to more accurately determine the costs, decide where to start repairing with your own hands, what to do next and how to finish, in this case you will know exactly what materials you need to buy, their price, what you can do with your own hands, where to start repairs in apartment when you need to call a specialist.

All other stages of apartment renovation are independently carried out in the following order:

1. First, when repairing an apartment without finishing, you yourself need to do the finishing of the premises with your own hands, such work includes: installing partitions, plastering walls, leveling the floor (screed), installing a plasterboard ceiling.
2. At this stage of the repair, the laying of the flooring is carried out.

• Installation of sanitary products: toilet bowl, bathtub, etc.

1. Carrying out finishing putty. This stage of repair is very important.
2. Wall and ceiling decoration. Ceiling repairs must be carried out correctly.
3. Installation of the necessary electricians: switches, lamps, etc.

• Next, we install the doors with our own hands.
• At the last stage, we install the skirting boards.

If you doubt that you can independently make repairs and install electricians and plumbing, then seek help from specialists. When they carry out repairs, ask them to make a plan for existing communications for you, this will not only help you with DIY repairs, but also eliminate the risk that you accidentally damage pipes and cables laid in the wall.

If you, when repairing an apartment with your own hands, follow the order of work and know exactly where to start, this will help to avoid a huge number of mistakes, which in turn will significantly save time spent on repairs in a new apartment and help to reduce the price well.

From which room to start repairs in the apartment?

It must be said that do-it-yourself repairs in an apartment require a lot of time and, of course, financial investments, so if your budget does not allow you to repair the entire apartment at once, then it’s better to make one room, after a while another. The main thing is to decide where to start the repair, more precisely from which room.

If you ask the beautiful half of humanity from which room it is better to start renovating an apartment, then most likely every second of them will answer that from the bathroom or from the kitchen, and there is some truth in this. After all, it is in the kitchen that we spend more time, and if guests come, then first of all they will want to wash their hands before going to the kitchen and sitting at the table.

Choosing an interior style

There are probably no such people who would not want repairs in an apartment or house to be done with their own hands in full accordance with modern design solutions, therefore, each owner of the apartment chooses a style solution for the interior of his premises, which will one hundred percent meet both his personal wishes and modern trends.

If you prefer to see ease and freedom in your interior, then choose a minimalist or high-tech style. Many people prefer to see their interior in a classic style, which is ideal for rooms of different sizes and for any lighting options.

If your apartment is small in size, and you want to equip it with your own hands as comfortably as possible, then your country style, and for risky and business people the most attractive will be the Art Nouveau style, where the most original ideas sometimes even too provocative.

In a word, everyone chooses an interior style based on their tastes and preferences, someone is comfortable living in a half-empty apartment with a minimum of furniture and decor elements, while for others the house should be a “full bowl” in literally everything. But where to start choosing the future design for your apartment will tell you your imagination.

It must also be said that the cost of your repair will largely depend on the complexity of the chosen interior. If you prefer to see sophistication and luxury in everything, then get ready for the fact that the price of creating such an interior will be far from small.

This photo shows the ceiling, which is made in the Rococo style.

In the photo above, you can see the decor of the living room, which is made in the Indian style.

The photo above shows classic style in the interior.

In the photo above you can see the bedroom, which is made in the style of constructivism.

Preparation of a plan for the upcoming repair

If you started repairing an apartment with your own hands, but do not know where to start, below will be offered step-by-step instruction, which will determine the order of work in the apartment, this will help you a lot when you ask yourself the question of where to start repairs in an apartment without finishing, what is its approximate cost, what materials will you need to buy, and so on

Stage 1 - dismantling of old coatings

We remove with our own hands the old finishing material from the walls, ceiling and floor. If wallpaper is pasted on the walls, they must be torn off. The fact is that many, in order not to waste their time, glue new wallpapers on old ones - this is another mistake that is often made during repairs. This cannot be done, because the old wallpaper under the new one can peel off, but together with the new wallpaper, which will entail an extra waste of money and time, you will need to buy and glue the wallpaper again.

If your subfloor in the apartment has become unusable, you don’t need to touch it yet, such work should be left for later. If you are not going to completely change the subfloor, then you need to cover it with something, a plastic film is suitable for this purpose, which will need to be well fixed at the edges with masking tape. To protect it from mechanical damage, you can use cardboard, it is much more reliable than if you used paper for this purpose.

For those who do not know where to start dismantling old finishing coatings in their apartment - start from the walls: remove old wallpaper or other finishing material, clean the surface of the walls from glue residue, repair cracks, in a word, do all the work so that in front of you left a blank wall.

The photo shows the dismantling of old wallpaper from the walls.

In the video below, you can see how to clean the walls for wallpapering.

Stage 2 - laying wiring and pipes in the wall

Here, do-it-yourself pipework and electrical wiring are already being laid into the wall. This stage of repair work in the apartment is considered the dirtiest, but also the most important. It will be quite difficult to carry out these works in the apartment next time, and in some cases impossible without another major overhaul.

It should also be noted that saving money on electrics and plumbing is better not worth it, because the wiring and pipes hidden in the wall can be damaged, then in order to repair them you will need to dismantle them, just imagine what kind of work it is, and despite the fact that your the rooms have already been completely renovated and covered with expensive wallpaper.

Do-it-yourself wall chasing must be carried out strictly according to the scheme, which then in no case should be thrown away, it will later help you drive nails into the wall into safe places. In do-it-yourself strobes, you need to carefully lay pipes and wires of the required section and then close the strobes. Tip: for laying in strobes, it is better to use propylene pipes.

This photo of an apartment renovation shows how you need to ditch the walls yourself for laying pipes and electrical wiring with your own hands.

In the video below, you can get acquainted with how the work on wall chasing for wiring is carried out.

Stage 3 - installing new windows

At this stage of rough work, the old windows in the apartment are replaced with new ones. Such work is quite time-consuming and requires professionalism. If you are new to this business and do not know where to start the work yourself, then entrust the installation of windows to specialists. As soon as the windows in the apartment are installed, they will need to be protected from dust and dirty splashes, without which no rough finish can pass.

To provide protection to new windows during rough finishing, they need to be covered with a film or pleated paper curtains, their price is low, while they look quite aesthetically pleasing. Well, then you can proceed to the rough finish - we prepare the ceiling and floor for finishing.

The rough finish of the apartment involves leveling the surface of the walls, then all the existing seams and cracks are grouted, then puttying begins. The material for the rough finish in the apartment must be selected based on the type of finish. Now you know how and where to start replacing windows in your apartment.

Above is a photo of the apartment renovation - the dismantling of windows is shown.

In this photo you can see how the installation of new windows.

To better understand how the dismantling and installation of new windows is carried out, watch the video below:

Stage 4 - priming the walls

At this stage of the rough finish in the apartment, you will need to make a primer, it gives the ceiling and walls better strength. After applying the primer, you need to wait until it is completely dry and only then you can paint the ceiling.

Above is a photo of the apartment renovation, where you can see how the ceiling surface is primed.

This video shows the work on the primer ceiling.

Stage 5 - leveling the floor in the apartment

At this stage, you can begin to rough finish the floor. If you are satisfied with the old floor in your apartment, then you do not need the fifth stage. But if you decide to change your floor, then you will need to fill the base of the subfloor with mortar or perform a screed.

It is better to use a self-leveling mortar when repairing a subfloor in an apartment, since you will need much more time and effort to do a screed with your own hands. Here you decide what is best for you and profitable. As soon as the work on the floor screed in the apartment is completed, you need to wait until the solution dries well and only after that you can proceed to other work. After the completion of the work, it will already be clear to you where to start the next stage of repair in the apartment.

The photo shows the stage of rough work on leveling the floor using a self-leveling mortar.

To make it clearer how the work on leveling with self-leveling mixtures takes place, watch the video below

The photo shows the stage of rough work on leveling the floor with cement mortar.

The video below shows how to properly level the floor with a cement-sand mortar.

Stage 6 - do-it-yourself wall decoration

At this stage, we will be engaged in finishing the surface of the walls in the apartment with our own hands. Finishing material should be chosen based on your wishes and the monetary component. For wall decoration, you can buy beautiful wallpaper, preferably non-woven.

Currently, the modern market is simply gushing with an abundance of finishing materials, so you will have no problems with the choice, there are both expensive options for finishing and cheap ones. In addition to the wallpaper option, you can choose painting, decorative plaster other. If your finances allow, you can buy decorative finishes for the apartment, although the price for them will be significantly higher, but the result will certainly please you.

If you have decided on the choice of finishing materials, then think about how and where to start decorating the walls in the apartment yourself. If you will be gluing wallpaper, then paste over so that the patterns match. Paneling should be carried out from the corner of the wall. Important: finishing materials will fit well on the surface of the walls only if the rough finish of the apartment was done correctly and efficiently.

In the photo you can see the decorative wall decoration with your own hands, it looks very beautiful.

Important: when carrying out a rough finish of the walls in the apartment, make sure that the surface is perfectly flat, in this case you can choose any type of finish. If the rough finish of the apartment was carried out poorly and there were bumps on the walls, then among the finishing materials offered on the market today, you can choose only a few options that are suitable for your walls when repairing an apartment. Now you know where to start decorating the walls with your own hands and how to carry out further repairs in a new apartment.

The photo shows the wall decoration with wallpaper.

Stage 7 - flooring

At this stage of the repair, we carry out work related to the installation of flooring. You can buy carpet, linoleum, parquet, laminate, etc. If you decide that you will lay tiles on your floor, then it is better to lay them after the work on the ceiling is completed. In order for the tile to lay well, the subfloor must be perfectly flat.

In the event that the rough finish of the apartment and the floor was done poorly and unevenness remains, then the installation of most floor materials will not be available to you, since they require a floor that is perfectly smooth. In this case, you will either have to re-finish the rough floor, or resort to other methods that will make the rough floor even.

That is why, in order to avoid such mistakes, you need to take the rough finishing of the apartment very seriously, then it will become clear to you where to start this or that work related to the installation of flooring. If the repair is done correctly, then your new apartment will acquire an aesthetic appearance.

The photo shows preparatory work for laying flooring.

The photo above shows how the flooring is laid.

Stage 8 - ceiling

I must say that repairing an apartment with your own hands is a lot of trouble, especially when it comes to the rough finish of the ceiling. But also holding finishing nothing easier. The rough finish of a new apartment, especially the ceiling, worries those people who bought their homes in the secondary market.

Such a purchase of a new apartment very often leads to the fact that most owners of such apartments almost daily have to face a lot of problems, then plaster will fall off in one place, then in another, and there is nothing to say about the appearance of cracks. Many looking at such a disgrace do not even know where to start correcting such problems. In this case, the rough finish of the new apartment must be done with great care.

So where do you need to start repairing an apartment with your own hands, especially the ceiling? The answer is this: do-it-yourself apartment renovation, including the ceiling, must be carried out in exactly the same way as the rough finish of the apartment, floor, wall surfaces, that is, dismantling, screed, whitewashing or painting.

The photo shows how the rough ceiling is leveled in a new apartment with your own hands.

The photo shows how the installation of a plasterboard ceiling is carried out.

The final stage of repair

The final stage of the repair involves: installation of door frames, installing skirting boards and so on. Along with this, pieces of furniture are assembled and placed in their places, decorative elements are added to the interior. That's all, now you can enjoy plenty of how new renovation inhale the same new life to your premises.

And most importantly, you can be proud of yourself, because you had to independently complete all these eight stages of repairing an apartment with your own hands and achieve excellent results by carrying out independent repairs. In addition, such repairs will teach you how to competently perform the rough finish of the apartment, which will be very useful to you in the future.

In the photo you can see the last stage of repairing a new apartment with your own hands - the installation of interior doors.

Apartment renovation cost

There are several indicators that play a huge impact on the cost of a turnkey apartment renovation. There are three such indicators:

1. The complexity of the created project. The more complex the project, the higher the cost of repairing a turnkey apartment with your own hands.
2. The cost of a turnkey repair will depend on the amount of materials used and their price.
3. The cost of the repair, which will be carried out on a turnkey basis, is greatly influenced by the technologies that are used to implement the developed project.

It will be difficult for an inexperienced person to calculate the cost of a turnkey repair on their own, but today there are other ways by which you can accurately determine how much a turnkey repair will cost you.

1. The first option is to call a master at home, who will correctly estimate the cost of a turnkey repair for you.
2. The second option - you can use online calculator, he will quickly and competently calculate the cost of future repairs. To calculate the cost of repairs, you will need to answer a number of questions that you will be asked and fill out a special form, then you should click on the "calculate" button and that's it, the results are in your pocket.
3. The third option, in this case, you will need to ask what prices construction companies offer for apartment renovation today, so you will find out a more accurate cost. Below is a table for you, which shows the average cost of a turnkey repair.

You don't have to manually calculate the repair cost. We suggest you save time and use one of the following options:

• call a master for free to make an estimate for the repair of an apartment in St. Petersburg. To do this, you need to contact us by one of the phones and call the master. Our specialist will come to you, calculate the cost of repairs and make an estimate - completely free of charge. Moreover, the arrival of the master is possible on the day of the call;
• calculate (on-line) the cost of apartment renovation. To do this, you need to answer the questions asked and fill out the form of an apartment renovation cost calculator - an exclusive opportunity only for our clients;
• estimate approximate cost repair, having familiarized with the prices for the repair of apartments. You can do this with a price list that shows the average cost of repairs.

According to the cost, apartment renovation is divided into categories:

Conditional categories of repair work	The approximate cost of repairs per 1 m2 of the total area expressed in rubles.
	Repair work	Materials used	Total cost.
General apartment renovation.	From 3000 rub. up to 5000 rub.	From 2000 rub. up to 3000 rub.	From 5000 rub. up to 8000 rub.
High-quality renovation of the apartment.	From 4000 rub. up to 6000 rub.	From 2000 rub. up to 5000 rub.	From 6000 rub. up to 11000 rub.
High quality apartment renovation.	From 6000 rub. up to 11000 rub.	From 5000 rub. up to 10000 rub.	From 11000 rub. up to 21000 rub.

In this table, you can only see the approximate cost of repairing an apartment with your own hands. In order to more accurately find out the cost of the planned repair, it is still better for you to call the master, who will competently draw up an estimate for you based on the volume of work performed and the cost of them.

I must say that the repair in the apartment is water and fire in one bottle. For those who are faced with such work for the first time, repairs in the apartment will not only take a lot of time, but also spoil a lot of nerves. If you have never done repairs in the apartment on your own, in this case it is better to seek help from knowledgeable people, this will save you from numerous mistakes and save money, plus everything will be done on highest level, especially when it comes to the rough finish of the apartment.

Below is an instruction from an expert that you can rely on before doing repairs in your new apartment with your own hands.

• It is best to buy doors that have high sound insulation. If finances allow, then think about the overall soundproofing of your home. Such repairs will provide you with a comfortable and peaceful stay in the apartment, because you will not be disturbed by the noise that comes from the neighbors from above, the noise of passing cars, the noise of the wind…

In the photo above you can see doors with good sound insulation.

• To carry out repairs in a new apartment, hire highly specialized specialists, practice has proven that high-class specialists do their job a little worse, because they feel that they are irreplaceable, but there are no irreplaceable people, and other people can make good repairs.
• If small children live in the house, then when repairing and decorating walls, give preference to washable wallpaper, you can wash off the children's art from them at any time.

The photo shows washable vinyl wallpaper.

• Before proceeding with the repair in a new apartment, you need to take out the furniture, so it will definitely remain safe and sound.
• When repairing an apartment, it is not necessary to install doors between rooms before self repair, because then it may happen that you have to file the doors, for example, if the level of the screed is made higher with your own hands.
• If the repair in the apartment will be major, then think about installing walk-through switches in the corridors and walk-through rooms.
• Before you start a rough repair in a new apartment, plan in advance where electrical appliances and furniture will be located. If you know the location of electrical equipment, you can correctly determine the exact number of outlets and resolve the issue with their location. By the way, this is perhaps the most common mistake that is made during rough repairs in a new apartment. Such errors lead to a shortage of outlets, which forces the use of extension cords.
• Many who make rough repairs in a new apartment are trying to save money on wiring, this should never be done. The fact is that cheap wires often cannot cope with the electrical load, they begin to melt, short out and can cause a fire.

The photo shows how the wiring is carried out.

To understand how electrical wiring is carried out and electrical work is carried out, you can watch the video below.

• If you plan to install in bathroom washing machine or some other electrical equipment, then in this case it makes sense to install an RCD on the line for this room for a current of no more than ten mA. In old Khrushchev-type apartments, you will not be able to make grounding, because it was not provided there, but with RCD you will provide good protection installed equipment.

In the photo above you can see a diagram of how to properly connect the RCD.

• In no case can metal-plastic pipes be completely hidden in the walls; free access must be provided to the threaded connections, because they will need to be tightened from time to time. If during repairs in a new apartment you decide to wall up pipes in the walls, in this case you need to buy polypropylene pipes, they do not twist, but are soldered, so they will not leak at the joints even after a long time of operation.

In this photo you can see a water supply system based on pipes made of metal-plastic.

• If the floor in the bathroom is tiled, then it is better to make a warm floor.

In the photo you can see the underfloor heating device in the bathroom.
The photo shows how the underfloor heating is installed.

In the video below, you can see how the underfloor heating screed is carried out:

• Carrying out rough repairs in a new apartment, you do not need to put a thick layer of tile adhesive to level the subfloor for laying tiles. The first is that the glue will shrink, the second is that its price is not so small. When repairing in a new apartment, it is best to level the unevenness of the subfloor with cement - sand solutions. Such a rough repair can be done by yourself in a short time.
• If there are large irregularities on the ceiling, then it would be wiser to use a stretch ceiling for finishing during a rough repair.
• If the new apartment has interfloor floor slabs, then before installing the stretch ceiling, you need to seal the seams that are located between the slabs well, pieces of plaster will constantly fall from them and they will be very visible on the stretch ceiling. It is not difficult to make such a rough repair in a new apartment and, of course, an inexperienced person himself will have to suffer first, but this is the first five minutes, then things will go very quickly, and most importantly, with the help of a rough repair, you will get rid of falling plaster for a long time.

The photo shows the seam between the tiles on the ceiling

The issue of repairing a room almost always rests on the budget for future work. Most often, the owners of an apartment or house are faced with a choice - to do a cosmetic renovation of the room with their own hands, without putting it off indefinitely, or to plan a major restructuring with redevelopment and a major design update for an indefinite future. Most masters in such a situation recommend redecorating the room, during which the vast majority of problems with the interior of the room can be solved.

How to approach the organization of repairs in one room

Starting repairs in a room is always inconvenient and even scary, especially if you don’t have enough experience, and of the assistants at hand, there is only a cheat sheet on doing a do-it-yourself room renovation for beginners. But, as a rule, uncertainty and doubts pass when the scope of future work becomes clear and the question is resolved in what sequence to make repairs in the room.

Therefore, the first step is to draw up a master plan for cosmetic repairs, and most importantly, before trying to make repairs in the room, it is necessary to draw up a detailed estimate for the purchased materials and consumables. This is a prerequisite, even for repairs in a small room you will need to make a list of several dozen items.

Where to start repairing the room is not important, you can carry out repair work in the sequence that seems more convenient in these specific conditions. Traditionally, do-it-yourself room repairs begin with the most “dirty” or rough work and end with fine finishing procedures.

A typical list of work or a sequence of repairs in a room is as follows:

• The old finish is removed from the walls, ceiling and floor. Removing the floor covering gives the largest percentage of dust and dirt, so it is removed first;
• A rough preparation of the floor is being carried out for further laying of a new floor covering;
• Wiring is being repaired, lamps, switches are being moved and hung, corrugations are laid out for television and Internet cables;
• Walls and ceilings are cleaned and plastered. If the plans for cosmetic repairs involve changing the wallpaper to a more modern type of finish, then you will need to level the walls with gypsum plaster;
• The ceiling surface is leveled in a similar way. For whitewashing or painting with a water-based emulsion, the ceiling is overwritten, plastered with a lime-gypsum mixture and a decorative coating is laid;
• Performed decorative trim walls, glued ceiling plinths, the lining of interior doors is changing;
• A new floor covering is laid, skirting boards are installed, lamps are hung, switches are being installed.

Of course, at each stage of repairing a room, a photo, a large amount of debris and dust will be generated. Not only will you have to regularly clean the room and take out rubbish blockages, you will need to try to cover areas with already completed repairs with a protective plastic film to avoid dusting the surface.

What not to include in a room remodel

Master finishers often call redecoration work "for three days", in order to update the interior in a room, more, as a rule, is not required. The list of repair measures does not include the most expensive work:

• Redevelopment of premises with the transfer of interior partitions;
• Replacement of the heating system;
• Installation of expensive multi-tiered suspended ceilings;
• Balcony glazing and replacement of windows with double-glazed windows;
• Underfloor heating equipment in the room.

It is clear that all of the listed components of the repair require serious financial costs and the involvement of qualified specialists in the work. It will take more than a day or two to carry out such serious events. In addition, such is the specificity of the repair in the room that, willy-nilly, dust and construction debris spread throughout the apartment. Therefore, the situation is regulated in this way - either cosmetic repairs are made in a single room, or the entire apartment “gets up” for major repairs.

In general, the redecoration plan includes everything that can be done in a couple of days. with my own hands for relatively little money.

The main task of cosmetic repair

The main goal of repair work is to refresh the interior of the room, remove minor defects and damage accumulated over the years, which are insanely annoying and interfere with everyday life.

In rare cases, cosmetic repairs are the result of force majeure, for example, the flooding of the room by the neighbors on the floor above or the preparation of the premises for rent. There can be many reasons, but the main thing is still maintaining the premises in a comfortable condition for living.

Properly performed cosmetic repairs make it possible to save on the volume of future overhauls. For example, performing a floor base screed and leveling the walls will at least reduce the time and effort spent on preparing for a major overhaul, of course, provided that the repair of the room with your own hands is done as conscientiously and efficiently as possible. .

The next stage of repair, distribution of costs and loads

One of the most difficult stages of redecoration is fairly considered to be budget planning and material procurement. Especially if you plan to do most of the repair procedures yourself. The reason is simple - amateurs and novice craftsmen have no idea at all how much specific material is required for a particular area of ​​work.

In this case, the problem is solved in two ways:

• Compiled List works and estimates can be shown to an experienced craftsman who will help calculate the expense by squaring the room;
• Calculate flow on the basis of standard recommendations of building materials manufacturers, increasing the stock of glue, plaster mixtures, wallpaper, flooring by 10% of the calculated indicators.

In the latter case, the cost of purchasing materials will increase significantly, but in the end, the remains of cement, dry plaster and glue can be used to redecorate other rooms in the apartment. In addition, the presence of a list often helps to get a wholesale discount, so there should not be significant gaps in the budget for a future cosmetic renovation of a room with a competent organization of the purchase.

Preparatory stages of repair in the room

The first, most time-consuming stage has always been and remains the rough peeling of the walls and ceiling. Usually, repairs in a room begin with the removal of furniture and sealing the front door with a protective awning. You can use thick plastic wrap or an old blanket. An impromptu curtain will protect the rest of the apartment from noise and dust, which, even with very careful work, the use of a vacuum cleaner and wet cleaning of floors, always accumulates in considerable quantities in the room.

Before repair, lamps must be removed, instead of a chandelier, a cartridge with a light bulb is left in the room. If double-glazed windows are installed in the room, then it will be useful to tighten the window opening with foil before repair. It is clear that the floor covering is also covered with a film, it is easier to roll up the laid polyethylene than to wash out the dirt in the room every evening.

Removing old finishes from walls

It takes about a third of the planned time to prepare for cosmetic repairs. During this time, you will need to remove the whitewash and wallpaper from the walls of the room. If there are areas with damaged plaster, it will take another day to knock the plaster off the walls.

Old wallpaper is removed either with one panel or scraped off in small pieces for a long time, it all depends on the glue used. Before removing the wallpaper, the surface is moistened with a spray bottle with a small amount of water. After 20-30 minutes, the tapestries can be removed in patches. For particularly strong adhesives, boiling water and steam are used. In any case, after peeling off the old trellises, you will need to go through with a vacuum cleaner and a stiff brush to remove dust and glue residue.

Stripping and restoration of the ceiling surface

The ceiling is freed from the decorative coating much faster and easier than the walls. If the plans for cosmetic repairs include sticking polystyrene plates or laying plastic panels, then it will be enough to remove the top layer of whitewash.

The situation is more complicated if the ceiling in the room is painted with water-based paint or whitewashed with lime. In this case, it will take at least a day to remove the durable layer of the old finish.

The most common option for restoring the ceiling during cosmetic repairs involves leveling the plane of the ceiling. In any room of any apartment, floor slabs lie with a trim of several degrees, which leads to a difference in ceiling height near the opposing walls of the room from 2 to 5 cm.

If the time and budget for cosmetic repairs allow, then it is best to level the ceiling with high-quality gypsum plaster.

To do this, plastic slats are sewn onto the ceiling and the plane is tightened with a plaster mesh. Reiki-lighthouses are glued with alabaster, guided by pre-stretched marking horizontal cords. The mesh is sewn on dowels. The total time required for the final leveling of the ceiling in the room is 5-6 hours of work.

In one working day, you can complete a complete ceiling repair. The next day, you can rub, prime and paint the surface.

Cosmetic repairs to the walls of the room

During cosmetic repairs, the walls are leveled and plastered only in exceptional situations when the situation requires it, for example, the appearance of a large number of cracks or chipping of the plaster. In addition, the total area of ​​​​the walls of the room, as a rule, is three times the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe ceiling, which in itself requires a lot of time and materials.

Therefore, during cosmetic repairs, the preparation process is limited to cutting small cracks, followed by puttying and grinding the surface. Sometimes, in order to level the plane of a single wall, especially problematic areas are subjected to grinding with an electric grinder.

In addition, at this stage of the repair work, it is not difficult to change the profile and configuration of the electrical wiring in the room. It is enough to drill channels in the lower part of the walls to the installation site of new electrical sockets, break through the "glasses" for the sockets and install the sockets themselves. Corrugations with wiring laid in channels can be rubbed with gypsum or alabaster mass. All work will take a maximum of 2-3 hours. At the end of the preparation for finishing, the surface is vacuumed and primed.

Rough floor preparation

After the completion of the most time-consuming work with the preparation of the ceiling and walls, you can proceed to cleaning and preparing the floor. If the floors are concrete, with a laminate-based floor covering, then cosmetic repairs may be limited to re-laying laminate boards, with or without replacement of the lining material. Most often, damaged plates are changed in the room, after which the coating is polished using wax mastic.

During cosmetic repairs, linoleum coatings are cut out, the base is cleaned to concrete, primed and covered with a heat-insulating lining based on polyethylene foam.

If the room has wooden floors, then first of all the floorboards themselves are cleaned and repaired, then the joints are clogged and minted, after which the surface is polished and prepared for painting.

Don't forget about debris and dust

Any repair work, even the most simple and superficial, is always accompanied by the formation of a large amount of debris and dust. Before repair, you need to prepare two or three polypropylene bags, in which all the garbage from the room will be collected daily. At the end of the day, after each finishing operation, the walls and floor are cleaned of crumbling crumbs and plaster residues, and before finishing, the walls are vacuumed or wet brushed.

If it is supposed to level the walls of the room with gypsum plaster, then the amount of garbage will increase by five to six times. It will be necessary to think in advance and find a way to collect and remove from the premises 150-200 kg of cement-sand garbage screenings. You cannot send it to the garbage chute or garbage cans; you will need to order a special service for the removal of construction waste.

Fine cosmetic repairs in the room

The first is the finishing of the ceilings. Usually the repaired and sanded surface is primed and painted acrylic paint light tones.

If wallpaper is used in the interior of the room, the ceilings can be decorated with non-woven or vinyl wallpaper to match the future wall decoration. A common practice for decorating lamps and chandeliers is the use of imitation styrofoam moldings and decorative ceiling plinths.

The fine finishing of the walls in the room is considered one of the most responsible and at the same time time-consuming cosmetic surgery. Even taking into account the fact that half of the walls in the room will be covered with furniture, a certain part of the walls will still be clearly visible to everyone in the room. If during the cosmetic repairs it was not possible to qualitatively level the surface of the walls, you can hide the flaws only under the wallpaper. Best of all, tapestries on a fabric basis or with a pronounced embossed textured surface. It will take 7-8 hours or a full day to paste over the room.

Repair of doors and floor in a small room

The wooden plank floor of the old layout often has to be hidden under linoleum or laminate. In this case, the surface of the floorboards is polished with a sander, and the joints are sewn together with nails hammered at an angle to the board. At the next stage of the repair, the floor surface is sewn up OSB boards, after which you can lay linoleum or any other type of flooring in the room.

The situation becomes more complicated if the concrete floors are aligned with the level of the screed throughout the apartment. In this case, any floor covering in the room will lead to the appearance of a threshold, so the laying of laminate or parquet must be planned simultaneously in all rooms.

The final stage is the restoration of interior doors. The hatch and the door itself, if they are in good condition, can not be changed, but restored with cleaning and polishing of the surface. The outer lining of the door frame during the repair is traditionally replaced with a new one. The replacement of doors with a carrier frame is planned for a major overhaul, usually so that the entire apartment or house has doors of the same style and design.

Conclusion

Repair of a room, even in a cosmetic version, requires careful preparation, first of all, in the details of the future interior of the room, the method of decorating walls and floors. Any attempt to postpone the decision to the future, to do it randomly, as it happens, will lead to a significant increase in costs and increase the time required to restore the room by two to three times.

“Yes, so that repairs in your apartment do not end!” - throws a passer-by over his shoulder and leaves home. And you stand and think: “And why is he? Did you wish for wealth or, on the contrary, ... overlaid?

But indeed, the issue of repair is an unpleasant matter for the average citizen. With today's prices for materials and services of construction Jedi, you will have to fork out seriously. And how much time and nerves you have to spend, and even live in a ruined apartment! You don't wish it on your enemy. But repair is a vital necessity, and sooner or later you will still have to face it. Some craftsmen, even in times of crisis, still manage to do the renovation of an apartment with their own hands quickly and inexpensively. But how do they do it? Inexpensive - this is a cosmetic repair with your own hands and domestic materials. Such repairs do not require large financial investments, but the cleanliness and freshness of your apartment is guaranteed. Cheap is not always bad.

Where to begin?

Get a small notebook. In it you will write down all ideas, prices and phone numbers of shops or specialists. But the main thing is that it will contain a plan for your repair and an expense estimate. The plan should reflect all your wishes: replacing windows with plastic, suspended ceiling or just whitewashing, new tile in the bathroom, wallpapering or a couple of new outlets in the kitchen. Write exactly what you want. Decided on the wallpaper - that means wallpaper, if you want decorative plaster - then so be it. Pipes are buzzing - replace, a punctured toilet - throw away. You may think that, based on your desires, do-it-yourself apartment renovation will not work quickly and inexpensively. But you probably do not know this, but only drive yourself into the framework. If it turns out - you will do it, if not - it's not a big loss, it's just a note in a notebook. Next, get down to the estimate: what exactly do you need and in what quantity. How many meters of tiles, grout, bags of putty, wallpaper, chipboard and other things. You can always correct these entries.

To find out exactly what materials, what quality and price you need, go to online stores and construction forums for help. Carefully study the characteristics and pricing policy, approximately calculate the expense. And at the same time, calculate how to replace the faucet yourself, glue wallpaper or install drywall. Determine for yourself: I can do it myself, but here you need to look for an electrician or plumbing. Write it down.

How can you save

Lots of options. To begin with, remember: it is better to buy materials for apartment renovation in the cold season - the price is much lower. Summer is the construction season. In winter, you can stumble upon a 50% discount in building markets or the “Buy 2, get 3 for free” promotion! So you can buy the same wallpaper at a low price, but much more best view and quality. And if they lie for a couple of months in a dry pantry or closet, then nothing will happen to them. Explore local forums, especially if you live in major city. There you will surely find many people who have already done inexpensive repair do-it-yourself apartments Photos of finishes, tips, addresses and phone numbers of specialists you will surely find in the same place. And you will also stumble upon the heading “repair” and “remains of materials”. Periodically view who and what interesting sells or gives away. After repairs, people often have materials that no one will buy at the sale price, but it’s a pity to throw them away. So, you can buy a couple of bags of putty or even Spanish tiles for a ridiculous price. A person has an extra 2-3 meters left, there is nowhere to put them, and you will be fine in the toilet. There you can also find the remnants of the cable or grout “for a chocolate bar”. More impressive people, settling in new buildings, often change brand-new plumbing or PVC windows for more expensive ones, and these are given for next to nothing. Why? Because they want “Rehau” or “only France”, and such a window will do just fine for you. Everything is better than the old wooden one. When you get rich, buy yourself a Rehau.

Tools for repair

A construction tool costs a lot of money, so it’s better not to spend money on it. As an option - take it for a while, it is rented everywhere. And it will be even better if you borrow it from acquaintances, friends or relatives. And be sure to thank the person for the help. How? You better know. Take this opportunity to ask if they can help you with the decoration of the apartment. Especially if your friends are well acquainted with the building charter. It will also help to do the renovation of the apartment with your own hands quickly and inexpensively, and even with high quality. Yes, and for sure your friend will make a significant discount for the old memory.

You will need:

putty

dye

putty knife

roller

brush

container for water and putty

priming

water-based paint

wallpaper glue.

Step-by-step instruction

1. The concept of repair includes the following list:

stripping ceilings and walls from old wallpaper or paint.

putty, primer, sanding of ceilings and walls.

painting the ceiling with water-based paint or wallpapering.

wall papering.

painting window frames and slopes.

floor repair and painting.

2. So that the repair of your apartment is not delayed, remove the furniture from the room in which you start working. If this is not possible, then put it in the center of the room and cover it with foil. 3. Repair in the room, start with preparing the ceiling and walls for decoration. To do this, blur the ceiling to the plate. Wet the ceiling area with warm water, let the whitewash or water-based paint swell, then remove all the old ceiling coating with a spatula and rinse the area again. Change the water as often as possible. The durability of its coating will depend on how you washed the ceiling.

4. The next step is to repair the ceiling. Expand all the cracks with a spatula so that they become deeper. Prime with primer, putty with putty and let dry. After the primer dries, sand the ceiling and prime it again. Repair the walls before painting the ceiling. 5. After working with the ceiling, proceed to remove the old wallpaper. To do this, wet the old wallpaper with water, let it soak for a while, and as soon as it gets wet, remove it with a spatula. The wall must be dry and clean before you start repairing it. Expand all the cracks on the wall with a spatula, prime them with primer and seal with putty. When those places that you putty dry out, sand them, and then cover them with a primer again. If you will be gluing thick wallpaper, then do not use finishing putty. 6. The next step is painting the ceiling or wallpapering the ceiling. Dilute water-based paint, as written on the bank and paint the ceiling 2 times. If you decide to glue the wallpaper for painting, then glue it and paint it 2 times as well. Domestic paints are cheaper, so your budget will not suffer. 7. Before wallpapering the walls, it is necessary to paint the doors and window frames with paint. If you buy "P" paint from Russian manufacturers, and not imported ones, then it will cost you much less. After the paint has dried, proceed to wallpapering. To save money on buying wallpaper, choose a domestic manufacturer. In terms of quality and durability, wallpapers from Russian manufacturers are not inferior to imported ones. 8. The final stage is the painting of the floor. If the furniture was not taken out, then seal the legs and the perimeter of the furniture with masking adhesive tape, and remove it after painting - the furniture will remain clean. Choose domestic paint - it will come out cheaper, but it will not affect the quality of the painting.

Walls

Walls are the first thing that always catches your eye. Of course, everyone will like smooth walls and beautiful stylish wallpapers, but if there is no money for leveling and expensive materials, you can limit yourself to simply replacing old wallpapers. Only by re-gluing the wallpaper will you already transform the apartment. It is quite possible to pick up inexpensive dense wallpaper on a paper or non-woven base, and you can stick them even on not very even walls. Non-woven wallpaper hides small irregularities especially well.

There is another option. The previous owners left a couple of rolls of wallpaper in the apartment, which they did not need during the renovation. For example, I just changed some particularly dirty and torn sections of the wallpaper. It was enough to replace the wallpaper strips where they suffered the most. These are protruding corners, places near door jambs, in the hallway at the entrance, in the kitchen not far from the stove - all this will cost much less than a complete replacement, and the housing will look much better.

Ceiling

If we are dealing with whitewash or lime layers, it is best to clean them first. Numerous lime deposits, flaking and crumbling, are not only aesthetically ugly, but also harmful to health. It is not difficult to wash out lime, you must first soften the layers by wetting small areas of the ceiling with water from a spray bottle, and then clean off the white with a hard spatula or scraper. If there is old peeling wallpaper on the ceiling, they need to be removed.

After stripping, the ceiling can be further sanded with ordinary sandpaper, that is, sandpaper, and primed. If the surface is smooth, without pits and cracks, it will be cheaper to paint the ceiling with acrylic paint, it is better to use matte paint in light, clean colors. If there are small defects, the wallpaper will hide them. Wallpaper for the ceiling should be chosen white or very light, without a pronounced pattern and with very fine corrugation. Another economical option to transform the ceiling is to glue foam boards.

floors

If these are concrete floors, as a rule, nothing further needs to be done with them in terms of preparation, they are quite even and durable. Squeaky wood floors are a much more serious problem, and repairing them, at least over time, cannot be avoided, but the creaking problem can be temporarily solved. Creak in wooden floors occurs when adjacent boards rub against each other. In particularly “loud” places on the floor, you can drill a few holes with a conventional drill and pour in some mounting foam. The foam will fill and seal the voids between the boards and the floor will stop creaking. This must be done carefully, without fanaticism, so that the floor does not swell.

You can even out strong “waves” and uneven wooden floors by nailing hardboard, plywood or OSB sheets on top. For the necessary strength, the thickness of plywood or OSB should be about 1 centimeter. As a floor finish, linoleum is still the most economical and durable. Fortunately, the choice of linoleum in stores is extensive.

Tile

If we have already figured out the wallpaper on the walls, then what to do with the tiled floor? Replacing the tile, of course, can be a way out if the tile does not stick to the wall, because there is no other way out. On rare occasions when tile easily moved away from the solution, and the solution itself keeps well on the wall, the tile is easy to restore by smearing it with a thin layer of PVA glue and pressing it firmly into place against the solution. Here the main thing is to get the right side of the tile into its imprint on the mortar, and the PVA glue will very firmly glue the ceramics with the mortar - checked! But if the tile is holding tight, and buying a new one is expensive, you can work a little on what you have. Tiles, firstly, can and should be thoroughly washed. Since it is a tile, it will withstand much more aggressive cleaners than dish gel, but it will also look much better when it is cleaned from limescale, rust and other traces of use. It is also necessary to clean the seams between the tiles. There is no need to be afraid to damage the grout, on the contrary, you need to clean as much grout as possible. Mold often settles between the tiles in the bathroom and it is very difficult to remove it from there.

After removing as much grout as possible along with unwanted flora and fauna, the seams can be treated with a special antiseptic agent. After that, they can be filled with fresh grout. It is better to choose a grout color that is neutral or close to the color of the tile.

Plumbing

Carefully inspect plumbing fixtures. No cracks or chips? There is no need to change plumbing. Plumbing cleaners will help bring all surfaces of sanitary ware into a more presentable look, and bright curtain for the soul will complete the job. By the way, you can also freshen up a cast-iron bathtub with paint. Not from the inside, of course, but from the outside. But, shining with freshly painted sides, the bath will immediately take on a more elegant look. And if, nevertheless, the inner surface of the bathtub is damaged and worn out, it makes sense to turn to specialists in the restoration of bathtubs, who will cover the surface of the bathtub with new enamel right at home.

As a rule, such a service is cheaper than buying and installing a new bath. And here is another option: make a bath curtain not only for the top, but also for the bottom (use glue and Velcro).

Electrician

Check all outlets. If you see melted plastic around the plug holes or even just dark spots, these sockets should be changed without hesitation! Fixtures are changed as needed. If they are intact, not obsolete and all the bulbs are on, it is enough just to remove them, wash them and hang them back. Do not forget to turn off the power in the apartment when working with an electrician!

10 ways to spend less on decorating an apartment, and get a real masterpiece

Designer tips: 1. 100% polyester silk. Stone-like tiles, parquet-like linoleum, onyx-like laminate, Trekhgorka under Ralph Lauren. Porcelain stoneware "under the python". “Artificially aged” something there ... It’s embarrassing to even think about it. Alas, the number will not pass. Look through good interior magazines. There, everywhere, stone is stone, tile is nothing but tile, and wood is exactly what wood is. If there is no money for parquet, and a simple laminate is below your dignity, look for a good engineering board. As a result, you will get a floor that looks much more expensive than the money spent on it. A good alternative to porcelain tiles for kitchens, bathrooms and hallways is cement tiles. The result will look more expensive a hundred times. 2. Adjacent rooms should contrast. If you have a bright living room, consider painting the entryway a deep, relatively dark color. In any case, the cost of paint will be the same, and the result may look really expensive. 3. If on good carpet no money, look for viscose or fiber blend carpeting that mimics a silk or wool pile carpet.

4. Plant the curtains on a thick lining. Even inexpensive curtain fabric will seriously benefit from this. Look for fabrics that are three meters wide. This results in significant savings. If you are not ready to spend a lot, give up printed textiles (fabrics with a pattern). When cutting fabrics with a pattern, due to the need to properly join the fabrics, there are a lot of scraps. The more rapport, the more waste. Do not use curtain tape for curtains. Let the seamstress lay the "manual" folds. It's not that expensive, and the folds gathered on the braid look very cheap. 5. Set-headset-set. The same things in the interior are allowed only in one case: if they are paired things that form a symmetrical composition. Chandeliers, table lamps and sconces from one set, leave those to whom God did not give imagination. They are also kits upholstered furniture"a sofa or two armchairs" and similar gentle sadness. For more details, see the next paragraph. 6. Ready solutions. Bad news: there are none. At least for us. The shower room is built using the construction method because it is a room. Unless you run a student hostel or an underground massage parlor with a striptease, a shower stall (it's a sad structure of yellowish acrylic and skewed doors) will not work for you. Do not spend money on "designer" plumbing. Let the appearance of the sanitary equipment of the bathroom (kitchen, bathroom) be dictated by the function. Buy washbasins and faucets with simple shapes, without inappropriate decor. The toilet bowl should be invisible and cope with its duties. No one will love them, right? 7. Paintings, prints, prints, photographs and posters frame in simple but deep frames with glass and be sure to passe-partout. Even a picture printed on a home inkjet printer (or a naive children's drawing) looks very significant in such a frame. Play with the size of the passe-partout. A small work in a very wide passe-partout looks very “designer”. And, by the way, cardboard for a passe-partout can be almost any color. eight. Cosiness. Another collective fetish. According to my observations, what is called “comfort” in our Palestinians is, in 99 percent of cases, poetic crampedness. In many ways, this is a bodily memory of a bygone childhood, of a warm and affectionate meager Soviet life with carpets teeming with saprophytes, a kind grandmother, Czechoslovak crystal and Dreiser, unread by anyone, in the polished Polish wall "Hanka". The coziness will not be added by the expensive devilry of the type round bed with music and a minibar, a bar counter with a built-in aquarium, etc. The same is true for such rich things as a lambrequin, a garland and a swag. Do not worry: in a good, thoughtful interior, coziness inevitably comes naturally. Therefore… 9. … Farewell, gypsy Sera! Duvet covers made of coarse calico in a small Nefertiti, towels in scarlet roses, pillowcases with “stray-eye” shades, nylon blankets with Shanghai leopards. All these are attributes of collective farm chic, forgive me for being direct. They don't add comfort. Motley coloring is often necessary for these things solely to hide their exceptionally lousy quality. Let the bed linen and bath towels be plain white (options: ivory, ecru). But from excellent Egyptian cotton. ten. However, with ivory, it is also important not to overdo it. Peach, beige, sand… The average nuance range is good for chain hotels. Because their stencil interiors are bound to please everyone. Your interior should please you. After all, he is a manifestation of your essence, right? Pick up a fan-palette of any paint manufacturer. Do you feel a pleasant heaviness? These are your possibilities. Don't miss them!

They buy an apartment from a developer, often sign a contract without finishing or with a rough finish. This is not only a way to reduce payments, but also to do all the work efficiently. Although repairing an apartment from scratch in a new building is a long and costly business.

Where to start: sequence of actions

If you purchased a property from a developer without finishing, you will need step by step plan works. For a person who is not particularly familiar with construction, the repair procedure is not at all obvious. And since repairing an apartment from scratch in a new building will require going through all the stages, a plan is simply necessary.

Apartment renovation technology in a new building - it all starts with a plan

What does “renovation of an apartment from scratch in a new building” mean?

To determine the scope of work, you need to know where you will start. What you will receive after the delivery of the object is written in the contract. Therefore, we take it, read it carefully, and then you can start planning the order of work. Usually an apartment in a new building without finishing is rented out in this condition:

Basically, this is all you have before you start renovating an apartment from scratch in a new building. Everything is in its infancy, but all communications are summed up.

Apartment renovation in stages

Immediately you should decide on the partitions. Decide where and which ones will stand, which ones will need to be removed / moved. If there are already partitions and you are going to redo something, you need to get permission and only then proceed with the transfer. If there are no partitions and you will install them yourself, the contract states what materials you can make them from. It is better to follow the recommendations, otherwise you can get penalties, and they are considerable.

After approving the plan of the apartment, you first determine where you will have large-sized furniture, appliances, plumbing, etc. You will need this data to prepare a laying plan. engineering systems(water supply, sewerage, lighting, if provided - ventilation). When the plan is more or less ready, you can proceed to the repair itself. The sequence of actions is as follows:

• Installation, transfer of partitions according to the approved project.

  

• While partitions are being built, you are engaged in parallel (or order) development. After the partitions are in place, they do electrical wiring - chasing walls, laying cables (necessarily three-core ones - with grounding,). Depending on the type of cable, it is laid either in the corrugation or without it. Cables are not connected to the shield, sockets, switches are not installed. Only junction boxes, socket boxes are installed, the ends of the cables are inserted into them. Laying electrical wiring:
  
• If you plan to do it, it's time to address this issue. It will be framed or frameless, but it is not necessary to level the walls under it, because now is the time.
• Distribution of pipes for cold and hot water supply, connection of sewerage. If the walls are not load-bearing, the pipes can be laid in strobes in the walls (if the thickness of the partitions allows). Otherwise, they try to carry out most of the pipes in the bathroom / bathroom, and then close them with a plasterboard box, which is subsequently finished with the same material as the walls.

  

• . If you plan to finish the walls plastic panels, you can not plaster - they are attached to the crate, which levels out all the bumps. But if you later plan to lay tiles, it is better to plaster - there will be less trouble later. Previously, they used to plaster with an ordinary cement-sand mortar, but recently ready-made compositions based on cement or gypsum have been preferred (it is easier to work). You can simply plaster - relying on the eye and the building level, or you can - on the lighthouses. The second option is preferable, since it is more likely to get even walls and right angles of 90 °. No more and no less. In any case, the walls must be primed before plastering - to improve the adhesion of the plaster and the base material. The primer is chosen depending on the type of plaster (gypsum or cement).

  

  Wall plastering - quality is important

• If the ceiling will be whitewashed / painted, it is also leveled with plaster (do not forget about laying electrical wiring to the chandeliers). If it can also be done at this stage. Stretch ceiling they do it after finishing the walls, so if you are planning this, we skip this stage. You can only check the quality of sealing interpanel seams.
• and ceiling. This is the preparation for finishing. The choice of putty type depends on the type of finish. If this is painting, they take more expensive materials (Wide, for example) and achieve perfect flat surface(you can check it with a backlight with an LED lamp - the slightest irregularities are visible). Under the wallpaper, the putty composition is taken cheaper and ideality is not so important here. Under the tile, the walls are not puttied at all.

  

  Putty - almost a fine finish

• After the dust has been removed after grouting the putty and all other dirty work, they begin to pour the floor screed. Here, too, it is necessary to make a number of decisions: whether or not there will be insulation, sound insulation, underfloor heating (electric, other types in high-rise buildings are not available or require coordination). The screed can be made with an ordinary cement-sand mixture, you can -. In the second option, the result will be better - a more even floor due to the self-leveling effect of the mixture.
• A week after pouring the screed, while it is “ripening”, we are finishing the bath and toilet. There is usually a lot of dirt here and everything needs to be done before the finishing work begins in the rest of the apartment.

  

• Finishing: paint / whiten the ceiling, glue the wallpaper (install). We lay floors, platbands, plinths. We install sockets, switches, connect household appliances.
• We bring furniture and decorative elements.

This is the procedure for repairing an apartment from scratch in a new building in the general case. There are particulars, but they are individual. Then, depending on the situation, shift or swap the stages.

Team or individuals

Self-renovation of an apartment from scratch in a new building will take a lot of time. If you have it in stock - no problem. If you want to move into new housing faster, you will have to hire builders. This is where questions often arise. Whom to hire for repairs in a new building - a team that promises to do everything on a turnkey basis or individual specialists for each type of work? This issue has already been discussed hundreds of times, but it has not been possible to reach a consensus. Both options have their supporters. So that you can decide, briefly about the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions.

Full construction?

If you hire a team that will do all the work from start to finish, it is not a fact that you will be satisfied with the quality of their work. Everyone promises quality and speed, but few really do all the work up to the mark. Very often you have to terminate the contract and look for someone who will finish / redo it. This task is even more difficult than the search for the first brigade: no one wants to correct other people's mistakes. It's long and troublesome. These are the cons.

The advantage of this solution is that hired people are responsible for all stages of work, up to finishing (if you have agreed so). If you don’t like something, you can try to force it to be redone, but it’s better to control each stage of the work. The second positive point: the repair is moving faster, since there is no need to look for performers for each new job. These are pluses.

Another moment of the organizational plan. When drawing up a contract, prescribe the cost of each stage of work. Then when you terminate, you will know exactly how much to pay. Otherwise, they will begin to prove to you that most of it has been done, and nonsense remains.

Specialists for the performance of certain types of work

If you decide to hire separate specialists for each stage of the work, it is difficult to predict final result. Since you have to do a certain amount of work and leave, there is a chance that workers will not try too hard. And each subsequent specialist can say (and usually say) that mistakes have been made before him and require additional payment for their correction. There is only one way out: constant and strict control at all stages of work, clear execution of agreements with clarification of what you want to have after they are completed.

If some work is not done independently, then the total cost of paying for the work by individual specialists will be higher. But the advantage of such a solution is that you can “stretch” the waste over time. There was money - they did a certain amount of work.

Finishing materials

Renovation of an apartment from scratch in a new building has its own characteristics. new house over the course of several years it will “shrink”, there will be a movement of the foundation, walls, ceilings. All these movements lead to the appearance of cracks, and they can damage the finish. Therefore, there is advice: use not the most expensive finishing materials, which it will not be a pity to replace in three or four years with new, better ones.

The choice of materials is a difficult task

Most questions arise with tiles laid on walls and screed. The cracks are the most noticeable in them, and the pleasure is not cheap - both in terms of the cost of materials and the price of work. Therefore, the screed is made floating - without connection with the walls, and instead of tiles on the walls in the bathroom and bathroom, they are finished with vinyl wall panels.

Tiles on walls and floors are often placed in the kitchen, and they try to choose the most attractive collections that cost a lot. There are two exits. The first is to use plastic or furniture board, and lay linoleum on the floor for now. The second is to lay tiles, but have some in reserve to replace broken tiles. After all, it is not a fact that in three or four years the same collection will still be produced. Yes, even if so, it is unlikely that it will be possible to pick up a color one to one.

The need for soundproofing

Many of the owners of new apartments simply do not think about how quiet it will be in their home. Until then. But by the time you get there it will be too late. Modern tendencies in multi-story construction - to make the building as light as possible in order to save on the foundation. Lightweight materials are great, but the problem is that they conduct sound well.

Noise isolation in the apartment is an important point

As a result, it turns out that the repair is completed, and you, if you wish, can take notes of the conversations of your neighbors, and they - yours. Far from a bright prospect. Therefore, it is worth thinking about soundproofing. Yes, these are additional costs and considerable, but silence is more important.