Redevelopment: a tribute to fashion or a rational solution?

Changes in the initial planning parameters during the repair of an apartment has become almost universal. Space transformations can be limited by minimal intervention (moving doorways or combining bathrooms) or result in large-scale work with the dismantling of most partitions and re-routing of utilities.

Pros and cons of the most common planning decisions

The ultimate goal of all efforts to redevelop the apartment is to obtain a more spacious living space, optimally adapted to the needs of a particular family. However, it should be borne in mind that any planning solution has its own advantages and certain disadvantages.

Association of bathrooms. The combination of a bathroom and a toilet is most often resorted to when repairing small-sized apartments in Soviet-built houses. This solution makes it possible to get a place in the room for installing additional varieties of plumbing equipment or necessary household appliances (for example, a washing machine). A combined bathroom is not the best layout option if the apartment has several generations, for example, adult children and elderly parents.
Joining the loggia. Joining the loggia will significantly increase the useful area of the kitchen or living room. Here you can create a visually separate functional area - a dining room, a work area or a place to relax. However, in order to attach the loggia to the living quarters, it is necessary to carry out a whole complex of quite expensive measures - to insulate walls and floors, to equip heating.
Open Space. The maximum possible combination of residential and non-residential premises of the apartment - kitchen, living room, corridors, halls. In many cases, only bathrooms are left as a closed private zone. The undoubted advantage of such a solution is the receipt of a large open space. In addition, there is a chance to save on decoration and furnishing. Significantly reduced the cost of buying door blocks, finishing materials for walls. The advantage of such a layout - open space - can turn into a disadvantage, because the life of all family members will take place in front of each other.

Redevelopment options are not limited to these cases. Moreover, each individual house may have its own characteristics and limitations associated with the architectural decisions of the building, the design and condition of the supporting elements.

Planning bans

A variety of new planning decisions is limited not only by the imagination and financial capabilities of the owner of the apartment. There are legislative prohibitions regarding certain actions when repairing apartments.

Bathrooms It is forbidden to increase the bathrooms due to living rooms or kitchens. To expand the bathroom or toilet is possible only at the expense of transit zones (corridor, hall) or utility rooms (pantry). You can also not transfer bathrooms if as a result they are above living quarters or a kitchen.
Kitchen. In houses with gas stoves, you can not demolish the partition between the kitchen and the living room.
Engineering equipment.The re-planning cannot be legalized if, as a result of the transformations, free access to the elements of common building engineering equipment located inside the apartment is blocked: shut-off valves, cranes, inspection hatches or the review of meters is closed.

In addition to general legislative prohibitions, there may also be local restrictions that are adopted at the city level. There are no directories with ready-made redevelopment solutions. Those who live in type houses can search for suitable projects in interior magazines or on specialized sites. When buying real estate in a new building, you need to find out about the possibilities of changing existing planning decisions from the representative of the developer, and to prepare project documentation in the negotiating instances, you should turn to professionals who have complete information about legislative standards in this area.