Repair Tips for Beginners: Main Stages
At least once in life each of us is faced with the repair work. It is a long process including several stages, and you should have idea about it in advance.
For repair you need to choose the right time of the year. August-September is considered to be the season of rush construction. During this period all types of construction and finishing works, delivery and materials grow in prices. In winter full ventilation of premises under repair and the correct mode of installation of many coatings are not always possible. In this regard mid-spring period early summer is favorable.
Plan
Before starting the repair work you should have a clear idea of the final result. Armed with a collection of favorite interior ideas you can turn to a professional designer who will give an idea how your apartment will look like after repair. As a rule design projects are made in several ways in 3D graphics. Turning to a designer will shape a great many of your ideas.
You can create a simplified design-project yourself. On the Internet many on-line programs for this kind of design may be found, otherwise “a paper version” will always be available. For this purpose you need to make measurements of rooms, furniture and equipment. Then, according to this size, plan of the apartment and patterns of furniture are cut out of paper in the box on the scale (sofas, armchairs, sinks, tables, and so on). Moving the layout of furniture or plumbing facilities, you can see where sockets, lamps are necessary, what kind of furniture should be suitable.
Dismantling
The practical part of the repair starts with “dirty” work. This includes dismantling of everything that is subject to change (wiring, plumbing, windows, doors, partitions under redevelopment). If necessary, you need to remove the coating of plaster, paint and old wallpaper from the walls. To avoid accidental damage do not forget to cover the new window with film. At this stage punching of walls under the wiring and pipes is also implemented.
Installation of life-support systems
In ready trenches water pipes in the bathroom and kitchen are installed. Supply pipe is prepared under radiators, valves and brackets are installed.
In parallel, a project of power supply and low-voltage networks is elaborated. Wiring in the rooms can be laid along the walls and the ceiling. To enhance the security wiring is enclosed in special tubes. This solution will save you from re-dismantling wall and floor coverings in case wires are damaged. Plans of wiring and location of lights are usually a part of a professional design project. Apart from the main wiring antenna, telephone wires can also be routed.
Initial decoration
Following the installation of electrical communications, walls are levelled (through plastering or puttying). It is necessary to ensure that covers of the walls become completely dry before finishing.
Then levelling strainer of the floor is implemented. For this construction sand and concrete mix, and self-aligning floors will suit. The latter will become dry faster, though the price difference is quite big. At this stage you should create openings to the size of the selected door.
Finishing
Further work depends on the flooring. If this is linoleum, laminate or parquet board at first ceiling is made, then the walls, and the floor.
If the topcoat is block parquet, first of all, the floor is mounted, scraped, covered with one layer of varnish and then walls are decorated. This sequence is associated exclusively with the process of scraping, which creates very fine dust that is difficult to remove. After this, basic work can be considered to be completed. You will need to mount plinths, cornices, switches, sockets, lamps, install doors, plumbing and proceed with placement of furniture.