Apartment Repair: The Worst Solutions

There are no limits in renovation: if you have enough time and money, you can do everything. But from a common sense perspective, limitations should still be in place. We present ten types of work that you better not do. For example, these.

Increasing the bathroom area at the expense of the corridor

The designer placed a toilet, sink, washing machine and bathtub in your bathroom project. But you found it insufficient and decided to expand the bathroom area. The distance between the toilet and sink, and between the sink and washing machine increased, making it (a bit) more spacious, but you narrowed the corridor so much that you can't raise your arms. As a result, you had to narrow the door leading from this corridor to the room or kitchen. This is a mistake.

Sound Insulation of the Ceiling

You decided to protect yourself from neighbors' footsteps and planned sound insulation of the ceiling. The designer discouraged you from this decision, but you insisted. As a result, you complicated the process of electrical wiring, increased costs and time for renovation. But investing in your ceiling makes no sense — sound insulation does not work this way. If you don't want to hear footsteps from above, you need to invest in sound insulation of their floor. Only then will your money not be wasted. The correct phrase:

Hello. We would like to provide you with free sound insulation so that you can be comfortable at any time of day.

Restoring Old Flooring

Restoring old wooden floors to a beautiful appearance with brushing and staining under varnish will cost more than laying new flooring. Therefore, if we are not talking about the renovation of floors in Versailles, it's better to forget about this idea: too expensive. Restored planks will always creak slightly and have uneven joints.

Preserving an Old Bathroom

In old buildings, especially panel buildings, plumbing boxes must be removed: they were built very poorly. Removing the plumbing box and rebuilding the floor slabs is much cheaper than trying to 'level' the geometry of an old bathroom. In addition, removing these partitions will allow you to cut out a few extra centimeters of area.

Choosing a Studio for a Family with Children

If you have children, plan to have children or often have relatives or friends visiting, a combined kitchen and living room is not the best solution. The more people live (or have lived) in an apartment, the more separate rooms you'll need. A studio is a perfect solution for one person or a young couple without children.

Converting a One-Room Apartment to a Two-Room Apartment

If you need a two-room apartment and you're a happy owner of a one-room flat, simply sell it, add money and buy a two-room apartment. Otherwise, you'll spend the same funds on renovating an unnecessary (you need a two-room apartment!) one-room flat and end up with: a tiny bedroom for one bed, a living room without windows and a cramped kitchen.

Bathtub with Tile Shelf

Sometimes you want to choose a smaller bathtub to fit something else on the same wall, for example, a shelf. But no matter how carefully you take a shower, water will always splash onto the shelf and run off it onto the floor. Therefore, for storing soap, shampoo or children's toys, use built-in niches or special accessories instead of shelves attached to the bathtub — this is very impractical. In addition, a horizontal surface will always create an unattractive joint with the bathtub.

Laminate Laid Perpendicular to the Direction of Light

This can also be parquet or parquet boards. There are only two ways to lay floor coverings: in the direction of movement or along the direction of daylight. If you do it the other way around, wear marks will appear on the edges of the laminate quickly and due to the direction of light, these joints will be very visible. Don't do this!

Passage Switches You Later Disliked

You came home at night and were very tired, found a switch in total darkness, pressed it and went to the room, turned on the light there. Undressed and went to sleep. And now you have to get up to go back to the hallway and turn off the lights everywhere. This wouldn't have happened if you had provided passage switches.

Switches on the Wrong Side

Light switches should always be placed on the side of the door handle. Otherwise, you will have to go around the door every time to find the switch behind it.