Do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a monolithic house

In detail: do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a monolithic house from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Almost always, new housing is acquired by a happy newcomer from the developer's company without interior decoration and repair, but with communications brought into the apartment. Firstly, such housing in a new building will be cheaper, and secondly, almost always the repair and arrangement of an apartment by the developer is carried out extremely carelessly, using cheap materials. Thirdly, there is a desire to complete some stages of apartment renovation with your own hands or with the hands of good craftsmen.

First, you need to make an audit and inspection of the apartment, to establish problem areas of walls, ceilings and floors. Then we proceed in the following order. We determine what requires repair and finishing in the first place. If the time and money for a complete renovation of the apartment is not enough, it is necessary to put in order first of all:

Front door and windows, apartment ventilation;
Perform full and highest quality electrical wiring and wiring of sockets around the apartment. This stage must be thought out in as much detail as possible, draw up a connection diagram and a circuit for laying wires into walls;
Connect the water and collect the sewerage system in the bathroom and toilet, install a toilet bowl, washbasin and shower cabin;
If the start time of the renovation of an apartment in a new building coincided with the heating season, be sure to check the degree of heating of the aluminum registers with a remote thermometer.

In the process of carrying out the listed preparatory work, you can calculate the sequence of repairs in a new building.

Much in the repair of housing in a new building depends on the availability of time and money resources. Having bought a "bare" apartment and having completed the necessary documents for the right of ownership, you automatically start paying rent and housekeeping, for using the adjacent territory, for the removal of household waste and construction waste. After connecting electricity and water, a new apartment in a new building began to bring you a loss in the form of costs for its maintenance and decoration. The longer the repair time for an apartment in a new building, the more it will cost you.

Video (click to play).

There are two main options for approaching the issue of finishing a new apartment in a new building:

Planned renovation and decoration of the apartment. In this case, the owners draw up a detailed map and a schedule for finishing work, in which all the main types of finishing and installation of devices are prescribed in stages. Such repairs, as a rule, are carried out from scratch to completion by one team of craftsmen. The completion date of a repaired object may take several weeks or months. The disadvantages of this approach include the constantly growing price and cost of work, sometimes exceeding the cost of the estimate by more than two times. As a result, if due to unforeseen circumstances there are not enough funds, the repair can be delayed for an indefinite period.
Fast renovation from scratch. In this case, all of the above stages of repair in a new building are carried out by the hands of hired craftsmen with direct control of the quality of work on your part. An apartment in a new building within a week will be prepared for further decoration of the rooms. In addition to communications, the smallest room of the apartment is finished and equipped with temporary linoleum and wallpaper. In such a room there are still no amenities, but it can be used as housing - a temporary hut and a warehouse for building materials. All other work is performed as free funds and time become available.

The first option is well suited if the family has small children or elderly people who need to provide some comfort and convenience. The second option is considered more economical and quicker, especially if, after finishing the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and one room, the housing is rented, with the consecutive bringing the remaining rooms of the new building to condition.

Among the most popular horror stories for new buildings, it is customary to consider stories about the shrinkage of the walls of the house and its foundation. In reality, a similar process for a multi-storey building should finally be completed by the time the building is put into operation. This period is on average no more than 18 months. If, after 1.5 years, cracks form in the corners, the ceiling or at the joints and in the masonry of the walls, the tiles in the bathroom fall off, and the doors are deformed with skewed doors, this means that the new building has certain problems with the stability of the foundation. With the repair, you should wait until the main thing is clarified - what is happening with the new building.

Before starting work, first of all, inspect the lock on the front door. The model and standard equipment of the door can be subject to separate agreement. Indicate in the addendum to the contract which model of door and lock you want to install. If it becomes necessary to take additional security measures, first of all, change the lock supplied when the new building was handed over.

At the next stage, it is necessary to resolve the issue of installing an electrical switchboard, connecting an electric meter. This will make it possible to start using a power tool when renovating an apartment. To get rid of the need to use a large number of carriers and extension cords, plan the layout of the electrical wiring in the apartment. When doing this, consider the following:

For kitchens and bathrooms, wiring must be laid in sealed hoses and sleeves;
Lay a separate wire cable to the bathroom for connecting a boiler or washing machine. The cable cross-section must be rated for a current of at least 25 A;
An additional wire must be laid to the place where the air conditioner is installed;
It is necessary to lead a wire to the bathroom, to the kitchen, to the hall, which will be connected and used in the future when organizing additional grounding.

In addition to electricity, to create more or less normal conditions, it is necessary to connect hot and cold water meters and collect sewage in the bathroom and toilet. It is necessary to start work with the installation of a toilet and a washbasin.

Considering that good plumbing is expensive, for the first time you can install an inexpensive toilet bowl, assemble and connect plastic sewer pipes, a bellows and a washbasin sink. During the renovation of an apartment, plumbing can be replaced at any time. The installation of expensive plumbing increases the risk of damage to it during the repair; it must be installed at the final stage of the renovation of a new building.

To lay a plastic water supply using a perforator, we pierce channels in the walls of the bathroom, toilet, kitchen with a depth of 2.5-3 cm. Next, you need to solder the water pipes and connect the leads to the cistern and washbasin. Finally, we will install and connect cold and hot water meters to the domestic water supply system.

Before starting work, you will need to perform a large amount of cleaning the remnants of concrete and mortar. The main part will be for rough cleaning of walls, floor, ceiling, their chasing, alignment and trimming of seams. Such work gives a large amount of dirt and dust, so it will be necessary to organize good ventilation and wet cleaning inside the new building.

A separate point is to highlight the preparation of floors in each of the rooms for finishing.During the repairs in the apartment, it will be necessary to close up all the cracks, holes in the seams between the slabs, in the floor, in the interior walls of the new building. The most difficult thing will be leveling the floor with a cement mortar screed and reinforcing mesh. This procedure will need to be performed upon completion of the preparation of the walls and ceiling for finishing.

We will perform similar work in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.

After rough cleaning, it will be necessary to prepare the walls in the kitchen and toilet for laying tiles on the walls and floors. Facing tiles can be laid with your own hands, but it is troublesome and takes a lot of time. Therefore, it is better to entrust the laying of tiles to masters specializing in this kind of finish. While the tiles are being laid, you can do your own repairs in one of the rooms of the apartment. The best option would be to lay decorative plaster or liquid wallpaper on the walls. If at the time of the start of repairs in the apartment of the new building, the double-glazed windows in the windows were in a satisfactory condition, then you can start applying plaster on the walls of the room immediately.

Upon completion of the laying of tiles on the floor and walls in the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, you need to lay inexpensive linoleum in the corridor connecting these three rooms and the room in which the renovation was carried out using decorative plaster. This will reduce the amount of dust being raised and make cleaning the apartment easier.

Before finishing the walls in the apartment, it is necessary to align, and if a defect is found, to repair the interior doors. If your future plans include wallpapering, normally closing doors are essential for high-quality wallpapering. After the wall decoration is completed, we proceed to laying linoleum, laminate or carpet on the floor of the apartment. The most practical is considered to be a laminate for living rooms; for a corridor, an office version of linoleum with increased abrasion resistance. This type of work does not require special qualifications and is easily done with your own hands during the renovation of a new building apartment.

The final stage of the renovation is the connection of lamps and the installation of furniture in the apartment. Approximately 70% of the volume of work during repairs in a new building is quite available for doing it yourself. And only when performing special types of finishes - laying parquet, installing stretch ceilings, installing double-glazed windows or entrance doors in a new building, you will need the services of specialists.

Not so long ago, those who received a warrant for an apartment in a new building could move in and live in peace. Today, before moving into a new home, the owners will need to make repairs. Most housing is rented out without finishing. This is a way to reduce the cost of an apartment. Residents are given the opportunity to acquire their own corner at an affordable cost. The result is an economy option. The most popular type of housing is studio. The owners buy the walls without finishing, partitions. You will need to paint the walls, install plumbing, level floors, surfaces. The new settlers carry out a complete roughing and finishing work. The owners should not forget about the pre-finishing work. The correct procedure for repairs in a new building without finishing is described below.

When starting to renovate a new building, keep in mind that the finishing will be done from scratch. This is especially true for a studio apartment. Many people plan to make expensive repairs using expensive materials, which is unacceptable. The reasons for this are as follows:

the structure undergoes shrinkage for the first year, due to which cracks appear on the surface for the first time;
cracks are formed on the walls, ceiling, floor;
due to deformations, the decoration and repair of the apartment in a year will have to be done again, which will cause numerous problems.

Result of building shrinkage

Image - Do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a monolithic house

Cracks in plaster due to building shrinkage

It is necessary to start repairs with the following processes:

distribution of sanitary pipes;
wiring bookmark;
underfloor heating installation, screed filling;
leveling the surface of the walls;
construction of suspended ceilings.

The procedure for performing repair work in a new building cannot be changed.

Wall alignment

Wiring bookmark

Laying of sanitary pipes

Floor screed

In the first year, you need to do the rough, dusty work with your own hands, go to the pre-finishing work, then the finishing work is done. It is recommended that you do the dirty work after you receive your keychain. This is not done by chance, new settlers who have received the keys to the apartment pay for a container for collecting construction waste. The whole house will be serviced.

The management company gets rid of the garbage within six months. If you do not start repairs right away with all the tenants, then you will have to take out the garbage, then you will have to yourself. Further export is no longer included in the cost of services.

Another important plus when performing rough, preparatory work after receiving a bunch of keys in a new building - no one lives in the house, which means that it is allowed to boldly make noise, work with a puncher, knock with a hammer at night and in the morning, which cannot be done later. After the completion of the main work, a fine finish is performed, you can stick inexpensive wallpaper, lay ordinary linoleum and for the first year after delivery you can be content with this for now. This economy option is suitable for young families starting from scratch.

The main work has been done, the house has become clean, comfortable, you can take a break. There are a number of works that tenants in a new building want to do, but experts strongly recommend giving up, otherwise then you will have to redo it again, both from the preliminary and all subsequent work, that is, to start from scratch.

It is not recommended to engage in the first year in a new building:

ceilings, make the walls in a studio apartment out of plasterboard, putty on finishing, take advice not as an economical option, take into account that at first all the seams are cracking;
laying tiles for the bathroom, any fine finish will do, poor tightness will lead to water flowing to neighbors, mold will appear from high humidity.

The tiled bathroom floor will be a barrier to other renovations.

The phrase that the miser pays twice is incorrect. The first year, such an economical solution will help save finances, especially for those who start from scratch.

If you still want to live immediately in normal conditions, then any repair work should be done by professionals. You can do it yourself if you are confident in your skill. It should be borne in mind that cracks may appear over time, but you can reassure yourself that they will be visible only when a person is resting on the couch.

In order not to have to redo something, it is necessary that any rough, fine repair work is carried out in a new building, and it does not matter whether it is a studio apartment or not, in a certain sequence. Seeing the bare walls of their home, each owner immediately has a question: "Where to start?" The repair procedure is as follows:

planning the space is simple to do. Even before the rough work is done, you need to draw a plan of your apartment on a piece of paper (or using a computer program). Decide immediately on the place of plumbing. It is necessary to outline the place of the bath or shower stall, toilet. The photo on the left shows exactly how you can install plumbing. Outline the kitchen, corridor. Especially accurately, everything needs to be planned in a studio-type housing;

Read also: DIY electric furnace repair

But this statement is not indisputable. Modern panel buildings are also based on a monolithic frame.Internal corners in them do not cause much concern, but the joints in the area of adjoining external wall panels to the frame can "walk" indefinitely.And special attention is required by the walls, "weighed down" with balconies. Here the corners can "open up" all the time.If the seams "walk", and you do not want to postpone the repair of a new building for two years, you should use plastic plasters that are resistant to cracking, and in some cases (for example, when it comes to a movable thin-walled outer panel), finishers recommend closing the problem wall from the inside with plasterboard sheathing on a metal frame.The volume of the room in this case will be "eaten" slightly, but it will be possible to put a wide window sill and hide the heating radiator in a niche. A wall thickened in this way will give the impression of being more reliable and massive. Interior designers use this effect quite often.The most common defect in modern monolithic construction is curved walls resulting from improperly installed formwork.Finishers say that they had to deal with such walls, where at 2.5 m in height from floor to ceiling, the distortions reached 7 cm.The deflections and distortions of the formwork also affect the pouring of interfloor floors. Although, as a rule, these distortions are not so critical, they can lead to a distortion of the ceiling surfaces of the apartment.The next problem arises when a house is rented out without interior decoration, the owners themselves bring their apartments “to mind”, but when pouring the floor screed they forget to make soundproofing. The result of the "forgetfulness" of the neighbors on top is constant stomping over your head, voices, music and other unwanted noise.A meticulous inspection is required by the walls of monolithic-brick "long-term construction", which stood for a long time and without owner in the open air, accumulated dampness and in an emergency mode were completed by various contractors, as well as houses from the period of active construction experiments in the 1990s. Also, in modern new buildings there are ill-conceived ventilation systems.In winter, such houses are warm, but the humidity is high, and the air can hardly be called fresh.In the new "monoliths" there are different types of interior partitions - from the actual monolithic to all kinds of walls made of plasterboard, aerated concrete, brick and cement blocks.If the previous tenants installed the partitions themselves, it is possible that they "edited" the plan of the designers. When comparing their amendments with the documents of title, remember about the “golden rules” of redevelopment and what is allowed and what is not.If the boundaries between living rooms are violated, the redevelopment will most likely be legalized. But if the kitchen or the bathroom at least "run over" to the neighbor's room downstairs - there will be problems.You will also not be allowed to make a living room without windows, dismantle ventilation, carry out heating in a glazed loggia (even additionally insulated), and also transfer risers of water, sewerage and gas supply pipes.The prefabricated partitions can be disassembled without any problems. As for the arched openings in monolithic walls, everything is not so simple here. On the one hand, there are no prohibitions on alteration of load-bearing structures, on the other hand, such modernization is dusty, noisy and troublesome.It will require additional expertise and strengthening measures.With an ill-conceived approach to renovation, the arrangement of a new apartment begins with the purchase of the wallpaper, tiles or plumbing that you like. As a result, these acquisitions can gather dust for months without finding any use. Consider this and when purchasing finishing materials ahead of time (if this temptation cannot be avoided), pack them securely.Having a design project before starting repairs in a new building will greatly facilitate your communication with contractors and the choice of materials, and having estimated the arrangement of furniture in advance, you will insure yourself against placing electrical outlets behind cabinets or under beds.For a small apartment and economical renovation, a draft design will be enough. But when it comes to apartments and redevelopment, a complete package of working documentation is desirable. It will allow you to accurately calculate the required amount of required materials, as well as legalize the redevelopment in the MVK.The first thing you have to do when starting a renovation is to deal with an electrician, especially if the new building was rented out with minimal finishing. If the new apartment is equipped with sockets at a minimum, you will have to install additional ones. It's the same with switches.But if you can decide on the wiring once and for all, then with all kinds of low-current cables (telephone lines, the Internet, wires to alarm sensors, cables for audio systems), the matter is more complicated: in an age of rapid technological development, they are constantly being modernized and need to be replaced.Experienced craftsmen recommend providing backup cable channels through which, if necessary, you can pull the necessary "laces". To make such a channel, it is not at all necessary to hammer in monolithic walls.This can be a plastic corrugated pipe laid along the perimeter of the wall when pouring the floor screed. Or a channel under a suspended plasterboard ceiling.As for plumbing, there are no special tricks here. But if you decide to hide pipes in the walls, then make sure that there are no threaded connections in unattended areas: breaking tiles to get to a leaking pipe is still a pleasure.Nowadays, piping in an apartment is usually more complicated than in old Khrushchev houses, and a collector cabinet is now provided in the bathroom, in which water supply meters and main water purification filters are located.When screed the floor, be sure to make sure that workers put in an extra layer of soundproofing made of extruded polystyrene foam. If you are going to make warm floors, then when laying the thermomats, make sure that they do not end up under the furniture.Ceilings in new houses are usually poorly aligned, but from the point of view of specialists, they are repairable.All modern houses, as a rule, are already equipped with double-glazed windows in metal-plastic frames, but they are installed at the construction stage, that is, often in an emergency mode and at a time when the house is still drying up and "walking".The consequence of this is foam skipping during installation, skewed frames and jammed sashes.It is simple to check the tightness of the window: you need to walk along all the cracks and seals with a lighter - the deflection of the flame will show where it is "blowing". Adjustable sash opening mechanisms allow you to compensate for only very slight distortions and gaps - up to 2-3 mm. Therefore, crooked frames will most likely have to be reinstalled.So, we have dealt with the most difficult stages of renovation of a new building. Painting the walls and choosing wallpaper, in comparison with all of the above, is already a matter of taste and pleasant little things. And we will not argue about tastes.Catalog of subject articles. Useful information on repair, decoration, design.Share linkWe recommend using the services of specialized repair and construction companies or private repair teams for the repair of new buildings of free planning and complex major overhauls of secondary apartments.

Buying an apartment is definitely an important event in the life of every person. How can you reduce the cost of repairing it if you don't have enough money for all your wishes? To do this, you need to remember how the repair budget is formed.I'm getting ready to make repairs in a monolithic new building. While the project is being developed, a lot of repair questions have appeared.

What is the best way to start with the construction of interior walls, or with filling the screed, provided that I plan to make a "floating" floor?

What materials are best used for interior walls for better sound insulation: drywall with min. cotton wool or expanded clay / foam concrete?

Initially, the floor slab is flat and has no height differences, what should be the minimum thickness of the screed and insulating material?

Is it worth bothering with a floating floor in a monolith at all, given the absence of risers and any communicating slots?

a year ago I was faced with the same questions (and many others).ValidON wrote:
What is the best way to start with the construction of interior walls, or with filling the screed, provided that I plan to make a "floating" floor?from interior partitions. otherwise, since the floor is “floating”, it must be “floating” and the joint between the partition and the monolithic ceiling. how do you imagine it?
one more disadvantage - vibration from walking will instantly spread not only to partitions (and objects attached to them), but also to other rooms. friends have come to hang out with you, and a child is sleeping in the next room.ValidON wrote:
What materials are best used for interior walls for better sound insulation: drywall with min. cotton wool or expanded clay / foam concrete?with the same thickness of the named materials, foam concrete has the best sound insulation. only you need to use not foam concrete, but aerated concrete, it is stronger. strict name: block made of autoclaved cellular concrete. in general, the topic of soundproofing on this forum is devoted to kilometers of discussions. and the point here is far from the material, but rather the constructiveValidON wrote:
Initially, the floor slab is flat and has no height differencesI will not believe. even the finished screed has irregularities. what was measured?ValidON wrote:
what should be the minimum thickness of the screed and insulating material?for screeds on an insulating layer (your case), manufacturers of even high-strength mixtures do not recommend making the screed thinner than 35-40 mm. As for the insulating material, it all depends on the specific material (its density, elasticity, and other properties), the specific gravity and thickness of the screed, as well as the size of the room. manufacturers of good screed substrates indicate recommended thicknesses in their product specifications (based on their own tests). in most cases it is from 6 mm (expanded polypropylene) to 40 mm or more (mineral boards). not the last criterion in choosing thicknesses is the desired ceiling height in the apartmentValidON wrote:
Should I bother with a floating floor at all?regardless of whether it is a monolith or not, a floating floor is not only the maximum achievable level of sound insulation, but also a base that is useful for the human musculoskeletal system (as opposed to, for example, a rigid concrete base, which is harmful to health)ValidON wrote:
taking into account the absence of risers and any communicating slots?did not understand what I mean Image - Do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a monolithic house

sabano wrote:
for screeds on an insulating layer (your case), manufacturers of even high-strength mixtures do not recommend making the screed thinner than 35-40 mm. As for the insulating material, it all depends on the specific material (its density, elasticity, and other properties), the specific gravity and thickness of the screed, as well as the size of the room. manufacturers of good screed substrates indicate recommended thicknesses in their product specifications (based on their own tests). in most cases it is from 6 mm (expanded polypropylene) to 40 mm or more (mineral boards). not the last criterion in choosing thicknesses is the desired ceiling height in the apartment

The ceiling height is 2.75, so you need to keep the height as much as possible, which means we will put in expanded polypropylene. Here another question arises: there are heating and water pipes on the floor slab, i.e. all communications should be under the screed, how to bypass the pipes with an insulating layer? Just cover the pipes with PENTERM and pour concrete? Is it necessary to reinforce the screed?

sabano wrote:
I will not believe. even the finished screed has irregularities. what was measured?

Measured in neighboring apartments, I think that if there are differences, then they are minimal.

sabano wrote:
regardless of whether it is a monolith or not, a floating floor is not only the maximum achievable level of sound insulation, but also a base that is useful for the human musculoskeletal system (as opposed to, for example, a rigid concrete base, which is harmful to health)

Now this is already interesting, i.e. concrete will spring? Will it crumble over time?

sabano wrote:
a floating floor is not only the maximum achievable level of sound insulation, but also a base that is useful for the human musculoskeletal system (as opposed to, for example, a rigid concrete base, which is unhealthy)

What is useful and what is harmful? And here and there .. concrete.

If you fall headfirst on the concrete floor, you will immediately feel what the harm is!

It's clear. And you can dive into the floating one, swim. good for your health.
Or knock on the drum ”>

ValidON wrote:
or from screed filling

Do not forget to lay the electrical wiring on the subfloor before screed.

Yuri-Electr wrote:
Do not forget to lay the electrical wiring on the subfloor before screed.

By floor.

In my opinion, this is not very convenient, I planned to do the wiring along the ceiling (drywall-tension), along with the wiring, twisted pair will go to all rooms. What are the benefits of installing floor wiring?

ValidON wrote:
What are the benefits of installing floor wiring?

the cable is on the floor - this is the # 1 advantage.

Will you make sockets closer to the ceiling or to the floor? if, nevertheless, closer to the floor, then strobe less.

andrewkhv wrote:
the cable is on the floor - this is the # 1 advantage.

Will you make sockets closer to the ceiling or to the floor? if, nevertheless, closer to the floor, then strobe less.

And what is the difference whether the cable is lying or hanging? Most of the sockets will be closer to the floor, but there will be a large number of lighting fixtures, so you will still have to chisel up to the ceiling.

Regarding the floor: I talked with one builder, he said that if the finish is a parquet board, then there is no special sense in a floating floor, you can put the board on the same PENOTHERM LE and the effect will be the same.