Many people dream of their own home in the lap of nature. Unfortunately, not all Russians have the means to build a country house on the site. However, an expensive new building has a very good alternative. On a country allotment for permanent residence, you can adapt the old country house, just reconstructing it.
What may include refitting
The step-by-step reconstruction of a summer residence in most cases is as follows:
- The house is being rebuilt (the foundation is being repaired, the roof and other structures are changing).
- Redevelopment in progress.
- Completion is being made.
- The house has additional communications.
Your garden house may need to be expanded. After all, summer cottages in most cases are small. By increasing the useful area of the building, in the future it will be possible to make its redevelopment. In this case, part of the partitions is usually dismantled in the house to make some rooms more spacious.
Sometimes the owners of garden buildings when converting them into residential buildings have to perform their reconstruction. For example, often during the reconstruction of cottages, the foundation is changed or strengthened. In very old houses, in some cases, it is necessary to disassemble and assemble new roofs and ceilings.
Gas in summer cottages (since this procedure is currently very expensive) is rarely carried out in our country. In a residential building, gas can be dispensed with if replaced with electricity. It will also be difficult to live without hot and cold water.
The main ways to restore the foundation
Reconstruction and completion of a country house should begin precisely with the repair of its foundation. Most often in the suburban areas you can see the following types of destruction of the foundation of cottages:
- Leaching and shedding of concrete.
- Layering of masonry.
- The gap in height.
The leaching of foundations occurs when salt solutions act on them for a long time. The first thing that the owner of the cottage will need to do in this case is to divert water from its base with aggressive substances present in them.
Leaching itself is corrected as follows:
- They take out the soil around the foundation to the very bottom with 0.8 m zones.
- Cleans affected areas.
- Recesses are filled with cement mortar.
- At the same time, brickwork is being erected parallel to the foundation.
- The masonry is subsequently waterproofed and the space between it and the base of the house is filled with clay.
The separation of the foundation during the reconstruction of the old cottage is restored by filling the cracks with a solution. With a vertical gap around the base of the building, the soil is removed. Next, fill the crack with a solution. At the final stage, they fill the ditch around the house with earth.
Remaking the roof
The owner of the garden building, who decided to reconstruct the cottage into a residential building, may have to solve such problems:
If there are leaks, only the roofing material itself or part of it will need to be changed. If the roof is rotten, it will have to be dismantled and a new one erected.
To convert a summer house into a house, the roof can also be insulated. This will allow you to equip a residential attic or attic in the building. The roof is insulated in the event that its replacement is not required. You will have to do this from the inside. This procedure is usually performed as follows:
- Under the roof waterproofing between the rafters in the attic, mineral wool slabs are installed abruptly.
- Roof slopes are covered with vapor barrier material.
- Sheathing of skates with plywood, OSB and so on.
Floor and floor reconstruction
Very often in old country houses there is such a problem as sagging beams. In this case, you will first need to most likely dismantle the ceiling boards. Then, the beams themselves actually change in the overlap. If it is not supposed to insulate the roof of the cottage, mineral wool slabs will need to be inserted into the ceiling. The best method of reconstruction of a country house in this case is the following technology:
- After replacing the beams, a new ceiling is hemmed from the bottom.
- A vapor insulator is placed on the ceiling boards from the attic side.
- Between the beams, slabs of mineral wool are installed.
- Mounted waterproofing.
- The floors of the attic are laid.
In the country (if you want to convert it into a residential building) you will probably have to insulate the floors in the rooms. To do this, they will first need to be dismantled. Further, the earth in the underground space is closed by roofing material. This is necessary to prevent impregnation of the insulator in subsequent groundwater.
Underground spaces under houses often have rather great depth. Filling them, for example, with mineral wool alone can be very expensive. Therefore, when insulating floors in cottages, heat-insulating boards are combined with other, cheaper materials. Underfloor cottages can be filled to the required height during reconstruction, for example, with inexpensive slag. Then cotton wool is laid on top of this material. Also in the underground space can be expanded clay or sawdust. In the latter case, the material must first be impregnated with a composition that increases fire resistance, and lay mineral wool on top.
Reconstruction of a summer house into a residential building: walls
Of course, in terms of aesthetics, there are more requirements for residential buildings than for dachas. Therefore, the owner of a suburban area during the conversion may have to deal with the facades of the building. To give the old building a presentable appearance, it is easiest to use hinged structures. In this case, the reconstruction of the summer cottage is required as follows:
- The walls of the building are covered with a vapor insulator.
- The crate from the timber is attached.
- If you want to insulate the building, slabs of mineral wool or expanded polystyrene are mounted.
- Mounted waterproofing.
- Finishing is carried out by block house or clapboard.
Also, to finish the walls of the cottage, you can use siding or professional sheet. In this case, the work will be carried out in the same way, but instead of a beam, a special metal profile will have to be used to assemble the frame.
Demolition of partitions
The technology for dismantling such structures depends on what material they are built from. For the demolition of drywall and panel walls, you just need to remove the skin and disassemble the frame. More thorough brick and block structures are removed as follows:
- Remove the baseboard.
- Gradually, bricks or blocks are knocked up from the bottom and the rows are dismantled.
The floors when dismantling heavy partitions are pre-covered with plywood. Begin to disassemble the masonry over the doorway.
Extension building
By assembling such a structure, it will be easiest to expand the useful area of the cottage. For the construction of outbuildings usually use the same material that was used in the construction of the house itself. Under such a construction, you will first need to build a foundation:
- For the shield extension - columnar.
- For brick - block.
- For chopped - tape.
It is supposed to deepen the foundation of such a structure to the level of the base. The roof of the structure is usually brought under the eaves of the roof of the house. The walls and the foundation of the dacha are not rigidly attached to the annex (to avoid their destruction during shrinkage). The cracks between the structures are filled with mounting foam or laid with a tarred board.
Communications: water
Reconstruction and repair of wooden cottages, brick or block - the procedure in most cases is quite expensive. If even the elements of the building do not require replacement or repair, and it itself has a large area, for conversion into a residential building it will have to conduct all kinds of communications.
You may need to drill a well near the former summer cottage. This work is usually entrusted to specialists. But with close occurrence of water, you can try to make a well yourself. For this, a drill of special design and a water pump are used.
To supply water to the house, you will need to perform the following work:
- Arrange a caisson around the well.
- Install a pump station in the pit or use downhole equipment.
- Lead the highway to the house.
- Make internal wiring for plumbing fixtures.
Home heating
Heating in a residential building is best done with gas. In this case, during the reconstruction of the old country house, the following works are carried out:
- A boiler is installed and radiators are hung on the walls.
- Routing of highways is in progress.
- Radiator insertion is made.
- Mounted circulation pump and expansion tank.
The insertion into the centralized highway in this case will have to be entrusted to a specialist. You can’t do such work yourself according to the rules.
Installation of gas heating for residential premises is the best way to reconstruct a country house. Reviews from the owners of the suburban area such heating systems deserved simply excellent. However, centralized highways today are far from all the small towns of the country. In such villages and towns, when converting a summer house, you can use, for example, a gas holder or a battery of cylinders for heating rooms with liquefied gas. You can also install a boiler in the house, working on wood, coal or diesel fuel.
Disposal of used water
The sewerage system in cottages is usually equipped in the following ways:
- Assembling an external drain pipe.
- Assembly of the internal system with the installation of a riser and deckchair.
To receive wastewater discharged from the house in cottages, septic tanks are usually used. Such containers are dug into the ground at a distance of at least 5 meters from a residential building.
Is it worth it to carry out the reconstruction: reviews
Of course, it is worth rebuilding the cottage in a residential building if necessary. Especially mature and old people respond well to this procedure. In the reviews, they report that you can leave the city apartment for matured children, and themselves to move out of town. After all, not all Russians have the opportunity to purchase new housing today. Reconstruction of the cottage will cost much cheaper than buying an apartment. The advantages of re-equipping garden houses, many homeowners attribute the ability to live in an ecologically clean, quiet area, away from noise, emissions of enterprises and dust.
Some disadvantage of living in a converted cottage, according to the owners of suburban areas, can only be the lack of nearby various kinds of infrastructure elements. A polyclinic and a hospital are unlikely to be located near the dacha. And snow drifts in winter can cause inconvenience to those living in the former cottage. Roads outside the city in Russia are often cleaned irregularly. Also, many note that in winter to live in a converted cottage is too lonely.