Often, updating the interior of an apartment stretches over many years, becoming boring, costly, difficult and nervous business. But this difficult task can be turned into a simple and even fascinating process. It is not so difficult to make a repair of a room with your own hands, if you follow the order and the intended sequence of work. It is important to plan everything in advance and conduct thorough preparation. So, how to make repairs in the room with your own hands so that for years you do not get bogged down in this?
Work order planning
All stages of repair in the apartment must be planned in advance and clearly adhere to the intended sequence. So you can not only save money, but also reduce work, as well as achieve a better result. It is necessary not only to determine the procedure for repairing a room with your own hands, but also to draw up a design project, to calculate the approximate cost.
A design project can, of course, be developed independently, but it is better to order it from a professional. Still, detailing the interior is a complex and creative matter, requiring appropriate experience.
To calculate the final cost, it is not necessary to go to a construction hypermarket or to the market. All prices for a specific city can be found on the World Wide Web. There are also contacts of companies that are engaged in both “turnkey” repairs and individual stages of construction work, such as plastering, installing plastic double-glazed windows or suspended ceilings.
If you choose a comprehensive repair, that is, turnkey work, you can get a discount, since this is already considered a bulk order in the construction industry. But repairing a room with your own hands is a way to save on the remuneration of builders.
In general, repair is performed step by step as follows:
- Dismantling work.
- Replacement of double-glazed windows.
- Plaster.
- Conducting communications.
- Floor preparation.
- Fine finish.
Dismantling
The second stage of work is dismantling. Here you need to consider which result you need to get. Cosmetic repairs are the easiest, fastest and most economical option. In this case, you just need to refresh the surface (for example, glue the wallpaper and put the laminate in place of the old linoleum) and change the plumbing in some cases.
Overhaul and renovation are much more complicated. Such a repair of a room with your own hands requires a complete change in space, which should begin with a comprehensive dismantling. What should be done:
- remove old wallpaper;
- dismantle skirting boards and flooring;
- remove plumbing;
- dismantle old wiring.
After these works, it is necessary to clean the room and take out the construction waste. As a result, the room should literally remain “bare”.
Replacement of double-glazed windows
The next step is the replacement of double-glazed windows. You can exclude this stage if you do your own bathroom repair (a step-by-step listing of the necessary work was given above). As a rule, apartment buildings rarely have bathrooms with windows. In other cases, you can order replacement glass from the masters or do it yourself.
First you need to order a new window. To do this, determine its size. Particular attention should be paid to thickness - this parameter of the new double-glazed window should be the same as that of the old. Otherwise, you will have to make new glazing beads. If a double-glazed window of a non-standard shape (rhombus, triangle), a template must also be attached to the measurements.
When the new window is ready, you can begin to work. First you need to dismantle the old double-glazed window. Next, a new window is installed on the plastic plates. The last - glazing beads, first mounted short, then long.
When replacing double-glazed windows in windows with wooden frames, it is necessary to additionally process the docking points with silicone. It is most difficult to replace in facade systems, since the glazing is fixed on the outside. In this case, it is better to use the help of professionals.
Plastering work
Plastering work with more or less even walls can be done independently. Firstly, it is necessary to outline the installation sites for lighthouse profiles, secondly, to ground the walls, thirdly, to install lighthouses, fourthly, to plaster the walls and make slopes. Plasterboard does not need to be plastered; plastering works are carried out only on concrete walls.
If the bathroom is being repaired with do-it-yourself panels, plastering the walls is necessary only if they are not very even in places where the battens will be fixed. In other cases, you can limit yourself to removing the old coating and immediately begin to mount the panels on the planks of the battens or liquid nails.
If you plan to use ceramic tiles or paint the walls in the bathroom, then plastering is necessary. The cement-based plaster is used: for concrete - cement-lime or polymer-cement, for brick walls, you can also take a sand-lime mixture.
Replacing communications and plumbing
This is followed by one of the most important stages of repairing a room with one's own hands - installing electrical wiring, installing or replacing batteries, laying telephone, Internet, television or alarm cables, installing or replacing switches and sockets.
First you need to draw up a wiring plan, determine the power needed for all household appliances and lighting. If an electric tank for heating water, an electric stove or an electric oven is installed, it is advisable to connect them to a separate wire. The marking needs to be transferred to the plastered walls, and only then start gating holes for outlets and grooves for wires.
Before starting work, it is important to perform pipe routing and other related work.
Floor preparation
It is necessary to make a screed, leveling, arrange a warm floor. The latter will be very useful when repairing a combined bathroom with your own hands. In a room with a warm floor there is no dampness, and, therefore, the fungus does not develop, it will always be warm. Do not rush to lay tiles or other flooring. The next step is finishing work, but it is better to install the flooring when the walls and ceiling are completely ready.
Finishing work
The most important stage is the finishing. This is the final stage of any repair. There are a lot of options for finishing.
You can arrange a stretch ceiling, make the effect of "starry sky" or the so-called soaring ceiling. In this case, it is necessary to attract specialists. The ceiling can be repaired the old fashioned way: whitewash, wallpaper, decorate with special tiles. These types of work can be done independently. However, for the bathroom they are not relevant. The ceiling in this room is best made of PVC (stretch or panel) or ceramic.
Finishing materials for the walls are much more. It all depends on the budget and personal preferences of the owner. You can do the repair of the bathroom with your own hands with plastic panels (the most budgetary option), or you can use the classic option: tiled. Another common type of finishing material is paint. In the room you can paste wallpaper, make decorative plaster or cover the surface of the walls with artificial stone.
The most popular floor coverings are laminate, linoleum, carpet, parquet, decorative tiles. Each material has its advantages and disadvantages. So, parquet is a natural coating, which is considered more durable, but requires special care. Linoleum is cheaper than other materials, but it doesn’t always look good enough, it pushes through, swells or fades over time.
Do-it-yourself installation of doors can also be attributed to this stage of step-by-step repair of a room. True, in this matter it is better to trust the professionals. The operational characteristics of the door will depend on the quality of work.
Repair Cost
The repair cost depends on many variables: everything will be done independently or with the involvement of professionals, at what stages the wage workers will help, what quality building materials will be used, what is the size of the apartment or room, what will be the design and so on. The cost of repair "turnkey" one room (excluding building materials) in Moscow is 5-15 thousand rubles. Of course, there are a lot of expenses, plus everything else you need to buy furniture, household appliances, plumbing, and so on.
It would be nice to calculate the cost of work and materials separately, then the most expensive stages will become known. Next, you can determine which work is best entrusted to professionals, and which can be done independently. After that, the final picture with the cost and sequence of repairs will be clear.