Relocating a doorway in a curtain wall

A significant part of the housing stock consists of houses made of prefabricated reinforced concrete blocks. Modern house construction is gradually moving away from the technology of constructing panel buildings, switching to new technologies. But the owners of apartments in panel buildings do not want to lag behind progress and are actively engaged in the reconstruction of their homes. One of the most popular operations was redevelopment. Often it involves the transfer of the main structural elements of the apartment. This raises many questions that require clarification.

First steps when moving a doorway

Any change in the space of the apartment must be reflected in the housing plan and registered in the BTI department. Without completing the appropriate documents, serious troubles will arise in the future. The standard punishment for violators is a legally fixed obligation to restore the original layout. In exceptional cases, more severe measures are possible, up to and including a court decision to deprive the right to housing, if the changes made seriously threaten the life and health of the remaining residents.

You can save yourself from the troubles associated with the desire to rebuild an apartment at your own discretion only by completing the required documents with the relevant authorities.

The transfer of openings provides two options - work on a load-bearing and non-load-bearing wall. In both cases, registration of changes is required. Operations on a non-load-bearing wall are regulated relatively loosely. It is enough to coordinate the project with the service organization. If work is planned on a load-bearing wall, then resolving this issue may take months. Note that one of the points of agreement is an expert assessment of the project by the author of the building.

Openings in a non-load-bearing (foreground) and load-bearing wall, where the difference in thickness is visible

Contacting a construction company specializing in such work will speed up the procedure. Established contacts and experience of employees will help in promoting the project through the authorities. It will cost more, but you can save time and nerves.

What redevelopment can be done without permission?

1. Any cosmetic repairs: painting or wallpapering, replacing floors, ceilings, some external elements, if they do not affect the functionality of the building, for example, installing a new drain or installing an air conditioner, television dish, protective nets.
2. Rearrangement or removal of built-in furniture: cabinets and mezzanines, if they are not a separate room and are not specified in the technical passport. That is, it is impossible to remove the wall between the pantry and the room - it may turn out to be load-bearing.
3. Rearranging or replacing gas and water heating elements, if it is not necessary to lay additional networks, you can also rearrange the electric stove.
4. Replacing doors and windows, replacing the material of balconies and loggias: you can put a plastic window in place of an old one, but you can’t “cut through” a larger one. The same applies to glazing: it is discussed below.
5. Replacement of engineering equipment with something similar in all respects without rearranging it.

How to move the opening: on your own or by turning to professionals?

This work is labor-intensive; without experience, it should be undertaken with caution. The construction services market today offers a simple, but not cheap solution - calling professionals. However, this is often the only way out. The result of the operation directly depends on knowledge, experience and, importantly, the use of productive equipment. The last factor becomes decisive when working on a load-bearing wall. It is thicker and stronger than usual. It is unlikely that an ordinary home craftsman will have a professional tool for this type of work.

Do-it-yourself work on making an opening

Difficulties will not stop craftsmen who want to perform the operation with their own hands. In this situation, you need to be aware of all the difficulties. A person with experience acts consciously, knowing full well what he will have to overcome.

Without practice, the process can drag on for many days. And for professionals with good tools, a few hours are enough to make an opening in any wall of a panel house.

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• Expansion of the kitchen space and/or sanitary unit into the living space by more than 25% of the original living area;
• If the kitchen is equipped with a gas stove, when combining the kitchen and living space, according to fire regulations, the actual result is an expanded kitchen, which, according to sanitary rules, cannot be located above the living space (here we are talking about the layout of the adjacent room located below). However, if the neighbors below carry out a similar redevelopment with adjustments to the inventory plan, this problem disappears. Another option for owners of a gas stove, which allows you to dismantle the wall completely or partially: install a sliding partition that will separate two rooms, while leaving the opportunity to open the space if necessary. If the apartment is one-room, combining the living space and kitchen with a gas stove is prohibited, since in this case the living space simply ceases to exist;
• Elimination of load-bearing structures. The solution in this situation would be partial dismantling of the wall or an opening in the wall. You must first carry out a technical inspection of the house, develop strengthening schemes, coordinate the work and obtain permission from the authorities. In the case when legalization occurs after the fact, all finishing coverings of the opening are opened so that the engineer has the opportunity to examine the condition of the supporting structures, the presence of reinforcements, etc.
• Reduction, transfer or dismantling of common building communications. This may include: ventilation openings and ducts of ventilation systems, water pipes, and in some cases, radiators of the heating system;
• Increasing the balcony space due to the area of ​​the living room (however, it is allowed to construct an arch no more than 1 meter wide);
• Placing a kitchen or sanitary facilities (bathroom, toilet) above living spaces, placing bathrooms above kitchens. The only option that allows a bathroom to be placed above the kitchen is a two-level apartment;
• Equipment for heated floors powered from the general house network, placement of heating systems in cold rooms (balconies, loggias);
• Construction of a bathroom doorway (equipped with a toilet) leading directly to the living space. The exception is apartments where people with disabilities live;
• • Any work that entails difficulty in accessing general life support systems, deterioration of living conditions for citizens or violation of their rights, or reduction in the strength of the house structure.

We recommend reading: Lawsuit for deprivation of parental rights

Doorway transfer technologies

Having considered that the event of moving the doorway in the apartment is mandatory, the homeowner should find out about ways to achieve the goal. They are as follows:

• Forming an opening on a new wall. When erecting a partition, they mark the location of the door and plan the work in accordance with the plan. Most often, additional walls are erected from plasterboard, brick, wood or building blocks. There are no special features in the operation. All recommendations for working with the selected material are valid;
• Traditional machining. This method is becoming a thing of the past. There are not many people with a lot of free time. There are even fewer who are physically capable of cutting an opening in the wall of a panel house with a chisel, sledgehammer and hammer. This operation will require remarkable health, and the neighbors will not be happy;

• Working with a hammer drill. The device greatly facilitates and speeds up the process. However, even in this case, it is not easy to move the location of the doorway in the apartment. A powerful industrial tool is required. Household models last many times longer;
• Cutting with a diamond blade. Equipment to perform work using this technology is available exclusively to successful companies. Using this method, you can cut out the entire opening without splitting the part to be removed into separate pieces - this is the lot of highly qualified professionals.

Self-strengthening the wall of a panel house using large-diameter pipes
Relocating a door opening in a panel house is a time-consuming and financially consuming operation. Well-trained home craftsmen can master it on their own. Their competence extends mainly to working with non-load-bearing walls, the requirements for which are relatively mild. It's a different matter in the case of a load-bearing wall. Expert assessments often indicate the need to strengthen the opening with an additional metal structure.

Professional strengthening of a doorway in a panel house with a metal frame

Organizations that have authorized the implementation of the project are directly responsible for safety and try to guarantee themselves the absence of problems with the law in the event of emergency situations. For this reason, the requirements for redevelopment, where load-bearing walls are involved, are extremely stringent.

This work is carried out by specialized companies. The video shows the stages of making an opening using a modern method, reinforced with metal structures.

Timing for approval of an opening in a load-bearing wall

• 4.5 months
• Application for receipt of primary documents at the State Unitary Enterprise GUION (PIB) 10 days.
  10 working days is the average period for executing an application for receiving primary documents from State Unitary Enterprise GUION (PIB). There is a possibility of faster ordering of primary documents. Period – 3 days.
• Development of a scheme for strengthening an opening in a load-bearing wall 5 days.
  5 working days is the optimal period for developing a scheme for strengthening the opening of a load-bearing wall. It is possible to develop the scheme in a faster period, should such a need arise. Period – 1 day.
• Assessment of the scheme for strengthening the opening in the load-bearing wall 37 days.
  14 calendar days is the optimal period for assessing the scheme for strengthening an opening in a load-bearing wall.
• Development of a scheme for redesigning an apartment 5 days.
  5 working days is the optimal period for developing an apartment redesign scheme. It is possible to develop a scheme in a faster period, should such a need arise. Period – 1 day.
• Obtaining confirmation of the plan for the redesign of residential premises in the MVK 45 days.
  45 calendar days is the period established by law for receiving a response from the Interdepartmental Commission under the District Administration (IDC) regarding confirmation of the redesign plan. It is possible to compress the approval period to a range from 10 to 20 days. The period for confirmation of the plan in an accelerated mode depends on the region of St. Petersburg.
• Operational introduction of residential premises 45 days.
  45 calendar days is the period established by law for receiving a response on the commissioning of residential premises from the Interdepartmental Commission under the District Administration (IMC). The onset of the operational period is accompanied by the signing of the Facility Acceptance Certificate. It is possible to compress the commissioning period to a range of 10 to 20 days. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the duration of the accelerated period may vary depending on the location of the facility in St. Petersburg.
• Creation of a technical plan for a residential premises 5 days.
  5 working days is the established period for the creation of a technical plan for a residential premises by a certified cadastral engineer. It is possible to order a technical plan from State Unitary Enterprise GUION (PIB), with a longer period of 10 days.
• Registration of amendments in the USRN 7 days.
  7 working days is the period established by law for registering amendments in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. It is worth considering that the specified period does not include the deadlines for the provision of documentation by the Multifunctional Center to RosReestr, and vice versa. Taking into account the documentation delivery period, the time frame for making amendments to the Unified State Register varies from 7 to 14 days.

Total: 136 days.