Theater begins with a hanger
In every apartment building there will be active citizens who want to take the initiative into their own hands. The activist will have to establish contact with other residents, find out through a survey what each of them would like to see in their entrance, and what can be done. But beautifying the front door, the appearance of which, to put it mildly, is unsightly, or even completely neglected, is a thankless and useless task. Therefore, in most cases, putting things in order involves organizing repair work.
It is not at all necessary to carry out a major overhaul - often cosmetic ones are enough (see the article on our website). All organized work related to repair activities, such as painting surfaces, restoring floors and replacing door and window units, is carried out by specialized organizations attracted by the owners or management company.
Decoration
After the renovation has been completed, when the room still smells of fresh paint, it’s time to take care of its design. Here, too, it is necessary to come to a common opinion, because the measures for decorating the front door, although they are approved by the majority of residents, must be agreed upon. Everyone has different tastes - some people like flowers and reproductions on the walls, but may not like graffiti.
One of the least expensive and budget-friendly ways to decorate an entryway is to invite residents to bring indoor plants or unwanted paintings at home. However, there are also restrictions on the design of the entrance. In particular, it is prohibited:
- clutter the room with cabinets;
- install large flower pots in them;
- lay out carpets.
It should be remembered that the entrance is not only a passage to residential premises, but also an emergency exit. If, in the event of danger, residents stumble and have difficulty running out of the front door, this can lead to irreversible consequences.
Rock painting
Designer imagination will help make the walls original and unique. Gone are the days when surfaces were painted in monochromatic colors. Now you can even make them striped at the entrance. Single lines across the entire surface, narrow or wide, vertical, horizontal - it all depends on the ideas of the residents of the apartment building. To make the edges smooth, use masking tape.
It happens that the walls are initially painted in poisonous green or blue colors. Today there is a special paint that completely covers the sad official tones imposed by the Soviet era. An important point: before painting, you should find out what the entrance walls are covered with, since acrylic and water-based paints will not lie on top of oil paints. The previous layers of paint will have to be removed or scored or primed with a primer over the old paint (or all three combined).
An interesting solution would be to paint using stencils. You can simply transform the walls with cheerful “polka dots” or come up with an interesting border along the flight of stairs. This will take a couple of hours and a can of spray paint.
Silhouette stickers that stick to any surface will add a decorative accent. Photo wallpapers look no less interesting in the entrance.
And no one has canceled hand-painted walls. Just do not do this without the knowledge of your neighbors and without their consent.
Cheerful steps
Stair steps can be painted in any life-affirming shade. Before painting, the stairs are primed with concrete contact so that the paint does not wear off after a few months. Work can be done once every two days, “jumping” over a step, so as not to interfere with residents’ walking.
Concrete painting specialists can help with painting the floor and stairs, who will apply any pattern according to the customer’s wishes and tastes, even a Persian carpet.
As an option, only the risers (vertical walls under the steps) are decorated, they are painted or laid out with colorful tiles. You can paint the steps themselves, and then you will get an interesting striped staircase.
Plants
Of course, decorative green spaces contribute to beauty and comfort, but there are also a number of limitations here. You cannot place cacti and other “thorns” on staircase landings; you should not send excess indoor plants out the door - overgrowths that block the passage.
A green corner is placed at the bottom at the entrance to the front door or near the elevator. For proper decoration of stairwells, it is worth highlighting shade-loving flowers that are patient with irregular watering and drafts: asparagus, fatshedera, monstera, ficus, fern, some dracaenas, scindapsus. On the windowsills you can place aspidistra, oxalis, coleus, begonia, sansevieria.
It is best to use wall-mounted pots as stands so that they do not interfere with the passage of a woman with a stroller or a child with a bicycle. It is advisable to hang the pots on the walls in such a way that they are not exposed to drafts and that they receive sunlight.
Convenient devices
If the entrance is reliably protected from the entry of strangers and suspicious individuals who could take something out or spoil it, you can safely bring the most incredible ideas to life. First of all, they take into account the comfort and convenience of the residents, arranging for them a variety of devices:
Bag hooks
They can be purchased inexpensively at a hardware store and screwed near apartment doors. This is very convenient - when you return with a bunch of packages and bags from the store, you can hang them on a hook and free your hands to search for the key.
Ashtray
It would be good for smokers to pour a tobacco odor absorber into it - then it will be comfortable not only for smokers, but also for opponents of this addiction.
Information Table
It can be fixed on the ground floor and notify neighbors about upcoming events, finds (for example, keys, phones, etc.), and congratulate each other on their birthday. This could be a simple piece of paper on a cork surface with a pencil attached, or a dry erase board so people have a chance to write and respond. It would be a good idea to attach a “spam” pocket under the notice board so that those who spoil the walls with pasted notices would put them in a certain place.
Suspended bike rack
A very convenient device that is easy to install. Special brackets are purchased or a beam with hooks is installed - and bicycles do not interfere with anyone.
Decoration of staircases
With a clean and tidy entrance, sooner or later thoughts arise about how to decorate the entrance to the house. To do this, you don’t need to invent something supernatural, everything is very simple: first you need to invite your neighbors and discuss with them the upcoming events to improve the entrance. A common cause brings people together, many interesting and unexpected ideas appear.
At a meeting of residents, the issue of decorating walls and placing flowers in the common area should have been raised. If flowers and paintings usually do not cause objections among the living, then graffiti on the walls can cause active protest among some conservative-minded people, and this issue must be discussed. It is advisable to keep minutes of the meeting, at which all those present will sign in agreement with the discussed design of the entrance.
We offer several ideas for decorating the entrance. Perhaps our readers will also like something: older people will prefer a cozy entrance with rugs and chairs on the platforms; those who are younger may like more stylish ideas.
We decorate the walls
If you have received the consent of your neighbors to decorate the walls, then you can start decorating them. There are several options. The first is for those who have artists, not necessarily professional ones, living in their building. The walls of the entrance, which have become an art gallery, will be cherished by both residents and guests.
For this purpose, you can also attract students from an art school or any folk art studio. If there are no residents who know how to draw, then the walls are decorated by drawing on cells or using stencils. Another option – posters – is ideal for those who prefer modern design styles.
Window
After decorating the walls, we will begin decorating the windows. After washing the glass and frames, you should, if necessary, touch up the peeling frames and window sills. Decorative curtains made of bright fabrics that are made independently are hung on the windows.
Flowers
Posters and flowers will become a laconic decoration. Flowers can be placed on window sills, on the floor, in flowerpots or on racks. Unpretentious flowers that can survive in artificial light and low temperatures will take root in the entrance. These can be small trees - hibiscus, ficus, dracaena, or small, compact plants - begonias, oxalis, chlorophytums, tradescantia, ivy.
Elevator
Let's not forget about the common area - the elevator. It must also be clean. Decorations include a practical mirror, lighting and posters.
Entrance-museum
In cities, people know little about their neighbors. Therefore, you may be surprised that special people live or lived next to us. Among the elderly neighbors there will be those who will willingly share stories from the life of the entrance. One of the design themes can be a museum, as in this video.
Holidays
On special days you want to transform everything around you. We will offer several ideas on how to decorate the entrance to your home for the New Year holidays.
Favorable microclimate
The front door does not always require repairs. Sometimes a little refreshing is enough to transform the room. First, through joint efforts, you can do a general cleaning of the entrance. Having cleaned and washed the room of dirt, they decorate it with the help of stencils and white paint. You can also involve children from neighboring apartments in the activity.
After polishing window glass to a shine, you can purchase inexpensive cornices and the simplest material (it is advisable that it be treated with an anti-flammable compound). The windows will immediately become cozy.
It is recommended to hide hanging wires in special boxes - cable channels (see article on our website).
Inter-apartment stairwells can be decorated together with neighbors living nearby, discussing the design and everything that can be done there. After renovation, some people still have excess paint, wallpaper, or decorative plaster that can be used. Such joint work not only decorates the interior of the front door, but also brings neighbors together.
While using the information board, you can offer an interesting thematic exhibition of children's drawings, which are attached here.
Apartment doors are designated by numbers. If people who oppose smoking live in the house, you can install special prohibition signs.
Angle of inclination and types of marches
Despite modern technologies and developing projects, the construction industry still relies on GOST and SNiP standards. They allow you to determine the necessary ratio of various parameters that will allow you to build a convenient and high-quality structure. The platform should be such that the average person can use it. The structure of staircases is as follows:
- straight;
- corner with a small platform;
- corner with circular steps.
Stairs with landings are often used in private and industrial construction, because the height is large and space is limited. In addition, in a private house you can organize a recreation area there. Staircase landings are not limited to square structures; there are many others:
- rectangular;
- in the shape of a trapezoid;
- semicircular;
- round;
- oval, etc.
It is worth noting that the marches should have a gap of 10-15 centimeters between each other, this allows for the formation of a small gap.
GOST standards describe almost all possible combinations of staircase elements. There are too many of these relationships, and therefore it is quite problematic to describe everything. It turns out that you need to determine the boundaries of the average flight of stairs. Let the base be a flight of stairs with straight steps.
The first step is to determine the angle of inclination of the structure. The optimal angle is considered to be between 35-40 degrees. Movement along such a structure is safe both when moving down and in the opposite direction. If the area of the room allows, then you can lower the degree to 30. But if the size of the room is compact, then you can increase the angle of inclination to 50 degrees. This indicator allows you to calculate the height of the march. You can use the Pythagorean theorem. There is a special scheme for determining the desired inclined angle:
The height of the standard march is one of the important parameters that need to be calculated. In general, the height of the stairs depends on two parameters. First you need to determine the distance from the lowest point (floor) to the highest (ceiling). This will allow you to understand what distance is between different levels.
Next you need to calculate the length of the march. To determine the exact number, you need to find out the location of the first step relative to the entrance to the desired floor. Then you need to take the distance from this step to the very first one. The sum of the legs will allow you to find out the value of the hypotenuse, which will be the ladder.
Professionals do not advise building marches more than 3 meters high. The final size is determined by the inclined angle and the number of steps. If the height to the desired floor is too high, then it is better to make several intermediate reinforced concrete or wooden platforms.
Another important indicator that characterizes a high-quality staircase is its width. The width is considered to be the length of the steps, from edge to edge. It is worth noting that this does not take into account the space that the fence occupies.
GOST states that the stairs must be comfortable to move and also safe. Its width can be at least 80 centimeters. This is enough for one person. If there is a flow of people moving along the stairs, then the distance is expanded to 100-150 centimeters. This applies to both straight stairs and spiral structures.
In public places and outdoors, landings larger than 2100 mm are built. However, there is an additional parameter - motion optimization. This means that you need to separate the direction of movement.
What does the law say?
Article 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation determines the list of common property, which, by right of common shared ownership, belongs to all owners and tenants of residential premises. This includes, among other things, the entrance area and staircase landings.
From this it follows that residents should monitor the cleanliness of these places. But, as a rule, the authority to clean common areas rests with the management company or HOA. Residents of apartment buildings can enter into an agreement with the management body, on the basis of which the maintenance of common areas will be carried out.
Employees of the management organization are required to perform cleaning based on accepted standards. This is stated in a number of regulations in force in 2020:
- GOST 51617-2000;
- RF PP No. 290;
- Rules approved by Gosstroy.
There are also municipal documents that set out standards for cleaning staircases in an apartment building.
