Most Popular Redevelopments

The apartments in which we live are mostly of a typical layout. And although there are many types, it is not always possible to choose the one that corresponds to our idea of ​​beauty. As the experience of Moscow builders shows, in recent years, citizens increasingly order, together with the repair and redevelopment of an apartment.

Before doing the redevelopment themselves, many would be interested to know what and how others are doing.

We decided to find out what options for redeveloping apartments in Moscow are the most popular now, and for this purpose we interviewed several construction companies.

It is now popular to combine the kitchen and living room in panel houses into a spacious room for cooking and receiving guests. However, in new brick houses of the 90s (hereinafter referred to as simply “brick houses”) this turns out to be unrealistic, since the room and the kitchen in them, as a rule, are separated by a load-bearing wall, which is not recommended to be demolished.

The maximum that a resident of such a brick house can count on in such a situation is a new doorway, specially reinforced.

But the inhabitants of Stalinist buildings were lucky – their architecture allows you to demolish all the walls in the apartment and make a real “studio” (which is now considered fashionable in Moscow).

The higher your apartment is located, the more wall area can be demolished and the more exotic structures can be inserted into doorways instead of ordinary doors. For example, an ordinary handyman doing apartment renovation is ready to close a doorway and cut a new one for $ 500, and for $ 100 to make a drywall arch. In construction companies, for similar work, they will take approximately the same amount, however, provided that you already have an empty opening, a design project, consumables and everything else necessary for work.

“The worse the designer, the longer his corridors”, – we were told in one of the Moscow design studios.

Indeed, most of the companies surveyed declare in unison that most often, regardless of the type of house, clients want to get rid of the corridor.

For the sake of what – it already varies. Give some a bathroom for half an apartment, others – a bigger living room. Especially the demolition of the walls of the corridor is relevant in khrushchev, where the corridor stretches almost across the entire apartment.
According to representatives of the companies we interviewed, an apartment without a corridor has 25-30% more living space than a similar one, but before redevelopment. In brick houses, the demolition of walls is complicated due to the peculiarities of the architecture, so, alas, one can only dream of removing the corridor.

The cost of dismantling walls depends on what they are made of. Plasterboard and brick walls are the cheapest to demolish – around $ 10 per square meter. Removing reinforced concrete walls – three times more expensive.

In block houses, it is now very popular to combine a room with a balcony or loggia..

However, in the latter case, there are two serious problems that stop many comers. The first problem is sanitary norms and rules that prohibit leaving a room and a balcony room not separated in any way. In one of the companies, for example, they propose to solve this problem by installing stained-glass windows..

The second problem is heating. The fact is that in most houses with a typical layout, the batteries are installed in such a way that if you try to combine a room with a balcony, you will have to change the configuration of the heating system. Here one cannot do without agreeing with various authorities, at least on the issue of shutting down the riser during the operation. Therefore, it is better to carry out such events during the warm season. In khrushchobs, brick houses and houses of Stalinist buildings, such redevelopment is almost impossible..

As a rule, a well-designed redevelopment project does not imply a violation of communications, but in some cases this cannot be avoided. The first case – if design is above all for you, the second case – if you want to have a combined or extended bathroom.

Moreover, in the latter case, both electricity and water supply are affected. In both situations, you should first discuss with the executing company whether they can work well with communications, since not all of them offer their clients qualified electricity and water supply. On average, the cost of electrifying a redesigned bathroom and re-supplying water to a relocated bathtub, toilet, and washbasin is $ 500-800. The cost of an engineering project for the electrification of an apartment after redevelopment is $ 4 per square meter, which is the average price in Moscow.

The implementation of this project will cost an absolutely arbitrary amount, since it depends entirely on the wishes of the customer regarding the number and type of sockets, lamps, chandeliers and other devices.

Many construction companies offer to acquire residents of the last floors with a special chic – a fireplace in the apartment.

The average price for this pleasure is $ 5000. This exotic form of redevelopment (in this case, the ceiling and roof) has been gaining in popularity lately..

Speaking of rare situations and extreme floors, one cannot fail to mention the prerogative of the inhabitants of the first floors – only they are legally allowed to cut an air duct under the root, thereby increasing their living space by far not an extra two square meters.

In addition to these two square meters, residents of the first floors theoretically have the opportunity to attach a basement to their apartment. True, this requires additional agreement on the transfer of non-residential premises to the status of residential ones. The same applies to residents of the upper floors, who decided to acquire an attic or a piece of roof. In principle, this is possible, and there are such examples in Moscow, especially in old houses in the center..

Companies take no less than $ 3,000 to coordinate such complex cases. And this is not counting the costs of bringing the attached premises into a divine form and the construction of the stairs.

One of the strangest and most difficult types of redevelopment is the joining of a common corridor. In terms of harmonization, most companies consider this to be almost unrealistic and meaningless. We are talking about an extra one and a half square meters, and there is a lot of running around the authorities. But, oddly enough, the manager of one of the Moscow companies noted, most often such redevelopment is initiated by the inhabitants of quite impressive apartments..

In total, according to the most conservative estimates, the total redevelopment of an apartment will cost more than 2 thousand dollars if the “minimum program” is implemented – and somewhere to “plus infinity”. Small items like demolishing individual walls – up to $ 1000.
Most of the companies involved in the repair and design of apartments also offer redevelopment services: demolition of walls, unification of a bathroom, etc..

The average price in Moscow is 30-50 (sometimes much more) conventional units per square meter of living space, depending on the complexity of the work, the sophistication of the design and the pathos of the company.

At the same time, a significant part of the requested money is spent on coordinating complex redevelopment with various authorities. In principle, you can go through all these instances yourself, and pay only for specific repair work – then redevelopment will be cheaper..

Finally – a list of the most popular redevelopments in relation to the most common types of houses:

1. Demolition of the corridor walls: Khrushchev, panel, Stalinist – yes; brick – no.
2. Combining kitchen and living room: Khrushchev, panel, Stalinist – yes; brick – no.
3. Combination of a bathroom: it is possible almost everywhere.
4. Combining the balcony and the room: panel – yes; Khrushchev, brick, Stalinist – no.
5. Arrangement of a passage between the kitchen and the living room: it is possible almost everywhere.