Old house renovations: they are surely the biggest challenge faced by the companies of integral reforms and at the same time the most exciting. Here we will analyze what to take into account to obtain an optimal result that meets the expectations generated by an investment that is not usually small. Read on to learn more about old house renovations!
Or what is the same, everything that is essential for the reform to ensure comfort and functionality, but at the same time retain the charm and personality of the house. Let’s see how to overcome the challenge with a good project and proper planning.
5 reasons that support old house renovations
There are many reasons why old house renovations are the order of the day. Let’s try to summarize them:
- Older homes tend to have an excellent location within urban centers.
- Many have construction elements that have disappeared from newly built homes, such as high ceilings and large balconies with wooden shutters. Or they are located in stately buildings, with unique elements in facades, doorways and elevator.
- It is often cheaper to renovate than to buy a new home in the same area.
- The renovation of old houses brings out elements of the interior architecture full of charm and personality, such as beams, plaster moldings, fireplaces…
- Refurbished older homes are a safe investment for the rental market or as tourist apartments.
Change the layout: open-plan spaces are in vogue
The distribution of housing has changed radically with new lifestyles. If before the very compartmentalized spaces were the norm to try to accommodate large families, today this distribution is increasingly obsolete, with an increasing percentage of homes inhabited by singles, couples or small families. Therefore, the trend in interior design is to prioritize open spaces that breathe, let in light and encourage communication between the inhabitants of the house.
As a result, the renovation of old houses demolish partitions to unify environments: kitchen open to the living room, disappearance of corridors and distributors to expand the spaces, and even in smaller apartments, elimination of the hall as a separate piece.
To visualize it more clearly, we could say that the result is multifunctional spaces, where people chat while preparing dinner, the dining room does not have a small-scale replica in the kitchen, but only one is used for formal and informal meals, the TV is not duplicated in both spaces and so on, and so on, a long list of changes that are imposed by the new routines in the home.
There is no doubt: the new transparency is also reflected in housing!
Intervene in the unseen: facilities and supplies
The renovation of old houses always involves intervening also in what is not seen, but on whose proper functioning will depend the comfort and functionality of the house. The renovation of the installations related to gas, electricity and water supplies is practically certain, and it is also the time to decide whether to change the heating system.
In this sense, radiant underfloor heatingwhich make it possible to dispense with unsightly radiators, are a very common work in the renovation of old apartments, as is the installation of air conditioning with heat pump in studios and apartments.
Improves thermal and sound insulation
The renovation of an old house is also an opportunity to improve the thermal and sound insulation of the house. Sometimes, simply replacing the windows with high quality ones is enough. The usual recommendation is to opt for PVC or aluminum tilt-and-turn windows and balcony doors with RPT with several sheets of glass and some intermediate insulating gas.
However, in other cases, especially when the façade does not offer many guarantees of being well waterproofed or insulated, the solution is to lose a little space and to make partition walls, that is, double partitions, that allow the installation of a good insulator, such as rock wool or expanded polystyrene, or to project insulating foams between them.
Choosing finishes and lighting: interior design trends
Finishes in old house renovations should always be chosen by the client, but there are more than a few who ask for recommendations on trends in materials and lighting. These are some of the trends on the rise:
- Plain walls in white, light or neutral tones are always a good choice. They are often combined with accent walls in a different color or with different cladding.
- Continuous surfaces, both in floors and in the finishes of kitchen furniture, are in fashion. For this reason, microcement has triumphed in industrial-style homes, and rectified ceramics in large formats for floors, bathrooms and kitchens are intended to give that appearance of continuity.
- At the same time, the presence of wood brings warmth to new homes, and in many renovations of old houses can not miss the floorboards, which can be authentic or imitation in the case of laminate or ceramic floors.
- A good lighting project that combines direct, ambient and decorative lighting provides that extra that a good renovation needs. LED technology can work wonders in this regard.
How to maintain the charm of old houses
One of the challenges of renovating old houses is to maintain their essence without detracting from their comfort. For this reason, old construction elements that add personality are often left in view: wooden beams or Catalan vaults in the ceiling; an uncovered beam; a wall without cladding that leaves the old brick exposed; plaster moldings on walls and ceilings or old rosettes of hanging lamps; old wooden shutters that replace the shutters…
In some spaces, even relics such as the oldhydraulic floor that appears under later floorings are left in view. This is a covering that was common in the houses of Mediterranean countries until the 1960s, and which is highly appreciated for its handmade manufacture piece by piece using a system of hydraulic presses that filled the entire thickness of the tile with the colors of the design.
How to choose renovation companies
If you are looking for old house renovation companies, you should know that there are several criteria that should guide you in your selection. These are trust factors, which you should take into account to make the right choice.
First of all, be wary of the typical figure of the “botched job” that has become so popular for minor renovations. In the integral reforms, it is essential to hire the services of serious and solvent companies, that know how to deal with works of great importance and complexity. To begin with, they are companies that present detailed budgets, that have complete professional teams, with profiles dedicated to each trade involved in a reform and, of course, have a fundamental figure: the technical architect, who becomes the sole interlocutor of the client and who coordinates the work, always taking control and verification of the work of the reform.
In addition, the signing of a contract, with a deadline for completion, the existence of a fast and reliable after-sales service, and the fact that the renovation company has a civil liability insurance are trust factors to be taken into account.
Finally, personal recommendations and reliable ratings on the Internet, as well as a good portfolio of work, can give you a very good idea of which companies are worth contacting for a free estimate.
In short, renovating an old house is a very interesting option if you are looking for a change, but you have to keep in mind all the factors that define this type of reforms and the possibilities that exist in order to obtain a good result. Now that you know everything that contemplate the reforms of old houses, you are sure to be able to make a smart choice!
