How to Quickly and Cheaply Repair a Damaged Apartment: Tips from Professionals

When the task in repair is “given” - an apartment in old housing with worn-out communications, a semi-destroyed bathroom, squeaky and hollow parquet, wooden windows with gaps, torn wallpaper, and cracked tiles, and “conditions” - to bring the apartment in order without inflating the budget, solutions must be found through constant compromise, says our expert Andrei Lyamin-Borodin.

Andrei Lyamin-Borodin, Expert General Director of the Online Repair Service Rewedo
Preserve only what is valuable

If the apartment and building are ordinary, not a historical monument or your family nest, if the main surfaces are in poor condition, the electrical wiring has never been changed, and the pipes leak - full demolition is implied.

You can preserve cornices - if the ceilings will be covered with plaster and paint, and ceiling cornice outlets, if there is no plan to relocate ceiling lights.

The shock of demolition cost - the first thing a homeowner in old housing, planning to do repairs, encounters. This part of the repair together with renting garbage containers and loading work really takes up a significant share of the total budget.

Expenses can be reduced by doing demolition yourself (understanding that this is not an easy job), or hiring less qualified workers than the master finishers who will do the main volume.

Design: Loven Skold Determine your budget

Create a full list of works, dividing it into categories “what needs to be done necessarily” (this includes window replacement, floor, electrical wiring, pipes) and “if possible” (for example, radiator replacement) - that which theoretically can be done later.

Identify budget items on which you can influence (by choosing economical alternatives) and those on which you cannot. Based on your current and future financial capabilities, determine the final budget.

Do not give up on the design project

To avoid forgetting important details, all must be planned before starting work or at the earliest stage. Those who aim for the most budget-friendly repair often save on the design project. From a cost-saving perspective, this is not always justified - its share in the total repair budget will be small, but unplanned expenses due to rework can be significant.

The key to successful repair is a clear vision of the final interior by the client. This directly affects the “invisible front” of engineering systems, electrical wiring, low-voltage systems, and placement of sanitary and electrical appliances. It is necessary to know in advance, down to specific item numbers: what, what dimensions, and where it will be located.

Do not create additional work

This applies to global issues - such as reconfiguration (if doing, then coordinate independently and try to limit interventions that do not require a project or inspection of hidden works), and local ones (a “warm” floor is pleasant, but adds cost to the estimate).

Prepare for surprises

Floors - an important stage in repair in old housing. The scale of upcoming repair work and, accordingly, the budget become known only after their exposure. The condition of floors is examined, in the worst case, it is established that floor repair or reinforcement is necessary.

This particularly concerns houses with wooden floors, which may have sagged in some places, then the floor joists are locally or fully replaced with new ones, possibly reinforced with metal structures. Such work is done according to a project. It should be noted that changing the floor structure is considered reconfiguration.

Design: Galina Arabaskaya Choose not the most expensive materials

When purchasing any materials, there is a temptation to choose a better option, then an even better one and so on. These thoughts must be pushed away as they lead to budget inflation at every stage. Cheap does not mean bad. If the repaired apartment is needed right now, it is better to choose materials that suit your budget.

If you have to use simple materials, let them remain simple. Do not buy cheap imitation of natural stone or wood. It is better if the tiles are monochrome - it's harder to calculate cost on them.

Design: Cloud Studios

Exception - engineering and electrical equipment. Do not economize and buy only original products from well-known brands. But the choice between good and better exists here too. When planning electrical systems and protective devices, there may be a question of choosing between an automatic switch + Residual Current Device or a differential circuit breaker. Calculations show that automatic switch + Residual Current Device is slightly more budget-friendly. For water supply system installation, it is cheaper to choose polypropylene pipes instead of metal-plastic ones.

Design: Roden Home

Do not buy tile trims and borders - their price even from brands nullifies all savings. Refrain from “custom” materials. These are not budget items, as their delivery is long and expensive.

Do not buy in excess - a reasonable amount of materials is needed. Later, there may be no stock of the required item or delivery will cost more.

Limit visual wall leveling. Leveling to 90 degrees leads to a large material consumption, increases work duration due to long plaster drying time and is not justified throughout the apartment area, except for a few corners near sanitary fixtures and built-in furniture, zone of skirting boards and door frames.

Design: Galina Arabaskaya

Give up on complex tile layouts - diagonal, offset. First, with such layout, the amount of waste increases and, accordingly, more material needs to be purchased. Second, the cost of such installation is higher for most builders.

Start repairs in off-season - winter, when even good craftsmen may be free from orders and more willing to take on a budget project.

Higher labor costs can arise with too large or too small tile format, work with mosaic and ceramic granite. Even simple tiles can be handled without additional cost by combining different tiles of the same size or identical tiles of different sizes but multiples in length or width.

Do not use expensive material on large surfaces. In the bathroom, tiles can only be laid in the “wet” zone, other surfaces painted with moisture-resistant paint. In some cases, tiles can be completely avoided. Consider alternative materials - for example, wide-format mirrors and glass.

In a brick house, you can save slightly on finish decoration by exposing and cleaning brick walls. This technique can also be used on window sills.

If the stylistic and planning solution allows leaving some door openings without doors - this can be a significant saving. Where doors are needed, it is preferable to prepare openings according to specific manufacturer requirements to avoid “non-standard” options.

Design: Tatiana Pichugina