What finishing materials need to be bought with a margin

The purchase of finishing materials is a very large expense item for any repair. And nobody wants to overpay for an extra piece of wallpaper or a square of tiles. Our site of advice decided to figure out which finishing materials exactly need to be taken with a margin, how to store it and get rid of excess.

Is there a universal formula for calculating the amount of finishing materials? According to the designers, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that the number of wallpapers, plaster tiles, paints, and so on must be calculated separately for each room by taking measurements. And then add another 5% to the resulting figure. For example, for each room add at least one, and preferably two strips of wallpaper..

The plan of preliminary layout of materials, including tiles, helps a lot, so that waste, scraps are as small as possible. Always remember that force majeure is possible! For example, someone dropped and broke a tile, spilled paint, a strip of wallpaper broke … In such a case, a small margin is needed – 5%, recall.

Now let’s list the materials that definitely need to be taken with a large margin, by 10%:

• Self-tapping screws, nails, drills. These small consumables just fly away during repairs and are inexpensive. And their lack can stop work. So take it for future use;
• Everything that is bought to order. For example, you ordered tiles or porcelain stoneware in Italy and waited three months for delivery. Is there a guarantee that not a single tile will burst during transportation? Not. Therefore, in any case, order with a margin, so that later you do not wait for delivery again, delaying the repair time.

Important! Batches may differ in shade, collections are constantly changing, they may be completely discontinued. Therefore, such custom finishing materials should always be purchased in a larger batch than you need. In case of force majeure, finding exactly the same tile or roll of wallpaper will be very problematic.

• Stock for pruning. For example, laminate and parquet. In this case, experts advise making a margin of 8-10%. And if you want to lay your flooring diagonally, the amount of trim will increase. That is, the stock should also be larger..

Experts do not advise buying with a margin all materials that are poorly stored and require special conditions. For example, dry mixes for plaster and putty. A little moisture and your open bag of mixture may become unusable. It is better to buy in addition, if such a need arises, after all, there is no talk about choosing a shade or pattern – everything is standard, it will not be difficult to find a mixture.

An important question is whether to store finishing materials in case of minor repairs? For example, a child painted a strip of wallpaper. Or the cat sharpened its claws against the wall. And you just have half a roll of such wallpaper left – re-pasted this particular strip and no problems.

Important! Until the end of the repair, you definitely should not get rid of the remnants of finishing materials! There is always a risk of damage to wallpaper, tiles and other finishes during the installation of furniture, installation of lamps and other finishing works.

Experts advise leaving several strips of wallpaper for each room, as well as a small amount of each type of tile, parquet, porcelain stoneware and decorative brick. Such a stock will be useful to you in case of mechanical damage to the coating, flood, replacement of communications.

No need to leave paint with a short shelf life, plaster, putty, trim moldings and skirting boards. That is, leave only what in the case of a small repair will be problematic to get.

Where to store such stocks? For wallpaper, you need a dry place, protected from sunlight. The mezzanine or the top shelf of the wardrobe will fit perfectly. And the remnants of the tile can be taken out to the balcony or garage, this material is not afraid of moisture.

If you turned out to be a very thrifty person and obviously bought more finishing materials than you need, you can do the following with them:

• Return to the store, for example, for samples. Many stores accept materials back if it is a whole pack or roll;
• Use in the country. The portal wrote in detail how to make a mosaic from broken tiles. A lot of useful things can also be done from scraps of HDPE and PP pipes. And let the rest of the wallpaper to update the country kitchen or bedroom in the patchwork style;
• Sell ​​online classifieds. Maybe someone needs just such a wallpaper or there is not enough “square” of tiles. Set the price, of course, below the market price, otherwise you will not find buyers;
• Give away for free. For example, friends who have not yet finished the repair. Or ennoble the dacha. You can advertise: “Leftover building materials free of charge, self-pickup.” Those who want to pick up something for free will definitely be found;
• Just throw it away. As the simplest, but not economical option.

We state: a stock of finishing materials is needed! At least 5% for pruning. And a little more in case of force majeure. But you should not make too large stocks – waste the money that is needed to complete the repair.