Do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a new building step-by-step instructions

In detail: do-it-yourself apartment renovation in a new building step-by-step instructions from a real wizard for the site my.housecope.com.

When purchasing an apartment in a new building, many people tend to choose housing without finishing. This desire is due to the lower cost of the property and the excellent ability to carry out the necessary renovation work, taking into account taste preferences and the available budget.

Decorating and renovating an apartment in a new building from scratch has a number of nuances that must be taken into account in order for the result to satisfy the owners.

The main aspect that the owner of a living space in a new building should know is that the building will undergo a shrinkage process over time, so cracks can form on the surfaces. Walls, ceilings, and even floors will begin to crack in the early years. Experts recommend not using expensive materials or using high-quality materials that are not afraid of cracks.

In a new apartment initially it is necessary to perform the most noisy and dirty work:

installation of plumbing pipes;
electric installation work;
floor screed;
alignment of wall surfaces;
installation of stretch ceilings and underfloor heating.

These works are carried out immediately after receiving the keys. Almost no one lives in the new building, so repairs can be carried out around the clock, without disturbing neighbors and without fear of administrative responsibility.

Competent organization of the space in the apartment provides an opportunity to use the area more efficiently. The installation of all kinds of partitions and other elements, as well as the demolition of walls or the creation of additional doorways in them, must be coordinated with the regulatory and specialized authorities without fail.

Video (click to play).

Today, functional studio apartments are very popular, and many owners also combine a room with a loggia. Such rooms look stylish and spacious. When combining a living space with a balcony, a set of insulation measures should be carried out.

Only after obtaining official permission, you can proceed to the construction or destruction of walls and other elements.

At the initial stage, you should clearly formulate the basic requirements for the premises, determine the layout, the number of rooms and the functions assigned to them, as well as the design and color solution.

financial opportunities;
repair period;
shrinkage process of the building;
indicator of suitability for moving into the premises and living.

The list of additional works depends on the degree of suitability of the apartment for occupancy. In monolithic buildings, apartments are sold for free planning: there are no partitions and wiring of communication networks.

The preliminary stage includes rough work: screed floors, leveling surfaces, making partitions and other types, and creating soundproofing for an apartment if the owners do not want to hear noisy neighbors.

For the correct repair work in the apartment, it is recommended to adhere to certain step-by-step instructions. If any stage is not planned or there is no need for it, then you can simply skip this item on the list and move on to the next one.

Renovating an apartment in a new building from scratch requires certain knowledge, experience and skill, so it is recommended to contact a professional. You should not trust the work of non-professionals, trying to save money.This can lead to even greater costs that can arise in the event of unsuccessful and poor-quality repairs.

You should pay attention to the services of time-tested companies, consult with friends and colleagues who have resorted to such a service.

They buy an apartment from a developer, often conclude 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 with high quality. Although renovating an apartment from scratch in a new building is a long and costly business.

If you purchased a property from a developer without finishing, you will need a step-by-step work plan. To a person who is not particularly familiar with construction, the repair procedure is not at all obvious. And since renovating 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

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

Installed windows (usually double glazed windows) and entrance doors (cheap and not very reliable).
Unfinished walls (concrete or brick, building blocks), internal partitions - depending on the contract: they may or may not stand.

Renovation of an apartment from scratch in a new building: everything there is - entrance doors, walls, windows, heating, water supply, sewerage and gas

Only the kitchen can have one plastered wall - gas workers require a meter to be installed

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 have been brought up.

You should immediately 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 specifies what materials you can make them from. It is better to adhere to the recommendations, otherwise you can get penalties, and they are considerable.

Developing an apartment plan

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

Installation, transfer of partitions according to the approved project.

Apartment renovation technology in a new building: we put partitions

Cold and hot water pipes, sewerage

Wall plastering - quality is important

Putty is almost a fine finish

We level the floor with a screed. Renovation of an apartment from scratch in a new building is almost finished

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

Self-repair of an apartment from scratch in a new building will take a lot of time. If you have it in stock - not a 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 no consensus has been reached. Both options have their supporters. So that you can decide, briefly about the advantages and disadvantages of both solutions.

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Before starting work, first 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, in order 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 version of the toilet, 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 finishing - laying parquet, installing stretch ceilings, installing double-glazed windows or entrance doors in a new building, you will need the services of specialists.

Buying a new apartment is a joyful event for any person. It is especially pleasant to get ownership of an apartment in a new building, in which no one has lived before. As a rule, apartments in new buildings do not have any repairs. The owners can see the walls without any decoration, electrical wires and plumbing pipes. To turn rooms with bare walls into cozy and comfortable rooms for living, you need to make some effort, gradually completing a number of important activities.

DIY repair in a new building

This is what a newly built apartment looks like.

Bare walls - plenty of room for action

Do not buy expensive building and finishing materials for the first renovation in a new building. The building will shrink for several years, under the influence of which the finish can significantly deform and even completely collapse. In view of this, experts recommend giving preference to unpretentious and plastic materials.

New high-rise buildings will shrink for a few more years.

Plan your renovation carefully. It is not necessary to draw up many drawings detailing various sizes and important nuances. Simple sketches will suffice.Think about whether you will be redeveloping the apartment, what materials, in your opinion, will best fit into the interior of the premises, where lighting fixtures and sockets should be installed, etc.

Remember: proper preparation before starting work will save money, effort and time in the future.

It is best to start repairs in a new building with a rough surface preparation. Align the ceiling and walls. For these activities, you will need spatulas, a trowel, and different sized rules. Pre-clean surfaces from dirt and dust. Perform leveling with ordinary plaster mixture. Recommendations for the preparation and use of the formulations are usually given directly on the package.

Plastering walls on lighthouses

Throw in the solution along the markup

We do the markings, pull the guide threads and install a few more beacons

We throw the solution onto the new wall of your apartment

We rub the grooves with a solution

Before plastering, the walls must be impregnated with a primer. It will provide a better and more reliable adhesion of the plaster to the surface.

If the thickness of the plaster layer is more than 3 cm, it is recommended to carry out the work in two stages. At the first stage, the surfaces are simply leveled, at the second, they must be carefully ironed.

Apply the first layer of the mixture with a trowel. Thoroughly level the plaster and let it dry completely. Apply a primer to the dry layer of plaster, let it dry, and then apply a second layer of plaster. The application procedure remains the same, but this layer must be smoothed as efficiently as possible. Periodically check the evenness of the plaster with a spirit level.

Piping in a new building

Plumbing installation is a rather difficult stage of apartment renovation

After the surfaces are completely dry, you can proceed to the finishing decoration of the walls and ceiling. However, before that, it is recommended to install plumbing fixtures, and, if necessary, mount (replace) double-glazed windows and doors, so as not to damage the finish in the future.

The rough preparation of the walls has already been completed, therefore, in the future, new door frames and double-glazed windows will not be stained with plaster and putty. If there are doors, dismantle them together with the frame, because new canvases usually come with their own boxes.

Plumbing installation can also be done in-house. Domestic users most often prefer toilets with horizontal outlet. The installation of such a toilet bowl is reduced to its connection to the sewer pipe. The legs are usually rigidly screwed to the floor. Usually, installation instructions are included with the toilet, so there will be no special problems with this.

The installation of the remaining plumbing fixtures is at the discretion of the owner.

Installing an acrylic bathtub

Diagram of connecting the sink and bathtub to hot and cold water and sewerage pipelines

Choosing wallpaper for the room

In the previous steps, you leveled the surfaces and prepared them for finishing, so you don't have to carry out any additional preparatory measures.

For wall decoration in living rooms, wallpaper is usually used. Choose the finishing material for the ceiling yourself. During the first repairs in a new building, it is better to limit yourself to ordinary plastering or painting, because the building, as noted, will shrink, as a result of which the finish may collapse. It is better to use more expensive finishing options within a few years after buying an apartment.

The technology of applying paint to the surface in several layers

When painting walls, fantasize

Make the walls in the kitchen and bathroom at your discretion. Typically, such premises are decorated with ceramic tiles.

In the bathroom, we put tiles on the wall and floor

Laying tiles on the wall with your own hands

When choosing a ceiling finish, start from your preferences and available budget. Inexpensive finishes can be done using:

paints;
whitewash;
wallpaper;
foam tiles.

Styrofoam ceiling tiles

How to glue ceiling tiles

Ceiling tile gluing options

The surface must be leveled before using any of the above finishes. As a standard, putty and primer are used for leveling.
Among the more expensive and interesting options for decorating the ceiling, one should highlight:

installation of plasterboard structures. First, guide profiles are attached to the surfaces, after which drywall sheets are fixed to them. Using drywall, you can equip both simple single-tier and complex multi-tiered curly structures. Also, this finish allows you to hide the wiring, elements of the ventilation system and other communications, which is very convenient;
arrangement of stretch fabrics. The PVC film is stretched and secured to the pre-assembled frame. The installation procedure is more complicated than in the case of plasterboard structures, because when performing repairs, it becomes necessary to use a special heat gun;
plastic hinged structures. Also attached to the frame. The main advantages are: ease of installation, high assembly speed, low cost and beautiful appearance.

Stretch ceiling installation diagram

Scheme of a two-level plasterboard ceiling

As a rule, when a newly built house is delivered, there is wiring in it, but there are no electrical appliances, or their quality leaves much to be desired. After finishing the ceiling and walls, proceed with the installation of outlets, switches and lights. Remember the elementary precautions: you can work with an electrician only after the apartment is completely de-energized. Choose the location for the installation of sockets and lighting devices at your discretion.

Remember safety precautions!

Repair in a new building traditionally ends with the arrangement of the floor. As a rule, the condition of the floors in newly commissioned houses is poor. If the house is built of concrete panels and the apartments were handed over in a draft version, the screed must be poured.

Screed cracks (new building)

A screed is a layer of concrete mortar poured over the sub-floor and necessary to level the base. There are several types of this alignment. The most popular and easiest to do it yourself is a wet screed. All work comes down to eliminating irregularities and cracks with a concrete solution.