Full Renovation of an Old Apartment

How a full renovation of a flat in an older building unfolds: initial survey, strip-out, complete replacement of services, surface repair and final finishes.

Flats in buildings put up decades ago often win buyers over with a good location, thick walls and generous ceiling heights. Refreshing the surface in such a flat, however, is rarely enough. Old pipework, tired wiring and layer upon layer of plaster will keep causing trouble underneath any new decoration. A full renovation means opening up those hidden layers and rebuilding them properly.

Diagnose the apartment before you start

The first job in an older flat is to measure it and record its condition. Note how plumb the walls are, how much the floor level varies, and where there are cracks or damp stains on the ceiling. It is worth opening the plaster in a few test spots: if a wall sounds hollow when tapped, the plaster has come away from its base and keeping it would be risky.

Pay particular attention to:

the material and condition of the shared water and drainage risers;
whether the wiring is aluminium or copper, and whether there is an earth;
signs of mould under windows and in corners;
the condition of timber floor joists or the concrete slab;
which walls are load-bearing (from the technical passport or a specialist's assessment).

The results of this survey define the scope of the work. Some flats need the floor stripped right down; in others a new screed and finish are enough.

At the end of the survey it helps to draw up a simple table: for each room, what stays, what is repaired and what is replaced entirely. That table becomes the basis both for talks with the contractor and for ordering materials. Speaking to the owners of neighbouring flats can also turn up useful information, such as whether the same riser has leaked before or which works have already been done in the building.

Strip-out: what to keep and what to remove

Demolition takes more planning than it appears. Water and power are made safe first; then old sanitary ware, doors, floor coverings, wallpaper and weak plaster are removed. If there are features worth keeping, such as old panelled doors or cornices, they should be wrapped and taken out beforehand.

Older buildings tend to reveal surprises during strip-out: partitions moved without approval by previous owners, forgotten pipes inside walls, plaster whose thickness changes from one spot to the next. So leave some slack in the budget and add spare weeks to the schedule. No openings are cut into load-bearing walls or floor slabs without an engineer's opinion.

The volume of demolition waste in an older flat is usually larger than expected, because thick plaster and old screed are heavy. How and when the bags will be taken out, the rules for using the lift and protecting the stairwell should be agreed with the building management before work starts.

Rebuilding the services from scratch

The real point of a full renovation is renewing the building services. Old steel water pipes corrode on the inside and narrow over time, so inside the flat they are best replaced with a modern plastic or multilayer system. If the shared riser is in poor condition, replacing it has to be agreed with the building management.

The electrical installation is rewired completely: a new consumer unit, circuit breakers, residual current devices and earthing. Socket positions should follow the furniture plan; otherwise you end up living with extension leads. Heating, ventilation ducts and air-conditioning lines are also prepared at this stage, before the walls are closed.

An issue often overlooked in older buildings is the electrical capacity allocated to the flat. Modern kitchen appliances, air conditioners and a water heater can overload an old building's incoming supply. Before the new circuits are designed, it is worth calculating total consumption and, if necessary, contacting the power supply company.

Restoring walls, ceilings and floors

Once the services are in place, the surfaces are corrected. Walls in older flats can be out of true by several centimetres, so the choice is between plastering to guide beads and lining the walls with plasterboard. Plaster takes less space out of the room; plasterboard goes up faster and leaves room for an extra insulation layer.

With the old floor covering lifted, the strength of the base is checked. Rotten joists are repaired or replaced before anything else. A levelling screed is then poured and left to dry fully. In bathrooms and kitchens the waterproofing is turned up the walls so that a leak does not reach the neighbours below.

Final finishes and records for the future

Finishing work — filler, paint, tiles, flooring, doors — starts only when the wet trades are complete and humidity in the rooms has settled. If you want to preserve the character of an older building, avoid lowering tall ceilings with suspended systems unnecessarily and keep the proportions of the window openings.

When the job is done, keep photos and diagrams of everything that ended up inside the walls. In an old building, these records save time and frustration whenever someone needs to open things up again.

The schedule for a full renovation of an old flat also has to be realistic. Trying to compress stages such as screed drying, plaster curing and the inspection of concealed work comes back later as cracks and deformation. If the programme allows a proper pause after each wet process, the final result is far more reliable.

Zaferoğlu İnşaat carries out apartment renovation across the full range, from the first measurements to the finishing work. To assess the condition of your older flat and the scope it needs, you are welcome to visit our office at Babək Plaza.

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