Nothing is eternal. In any house, the porch is the most loaded, and all the more it is not surprising that even the solid concrete structure of the porch of a multi-storey building will require restoration over time.
How to organize a porch renovation in an apartment building
There are three main ways to repair a concrete porch:
- Contact a company or organization serving a specific house and write a statement providing a documentary basis;
- Collect funds from the residents of the entrance and conclude an agreement on the repair and restoration work;
- Repair the porch on a voluntary basis on your own.
Important! Try to establish the reasons due to which there was a partial destruction of the porch. In addition to normal wear and tear, it can be a subsidence of the foundation or problems with drainage of rainwater.
As a result, repairing the porch at the entrance of an apartment building may require significantly more resources than previously planned.
We repair the porch
Before turning to repairs, you should carefully study the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 491 of 2006. It defines what is common property for all residents of an apartment building. Without going into the legal background of the case, we can say that the repair of minor damage to the porch of a residential building and its steps should be carried out at the expense of residents. All other types of problems at the entrance of an apartment building are eliminated by the owner of the house or the housing office.
We contact the housing office
Before you write an application for the repair of the porch, you must complete a number of mandatory procedures:
- Draw up a competent and detailed description of the problems with the porch, take photographs and preliminary roughly estimate the approximate amount of work and the cost of materials needed to repair the porch at the entrance of an apartment building;
- Conduct a meeting of residents and draw up a protocol that will be signed by all participants. By the decision of the meeting, it is necessary to draw up an estimate and collect funds with a statement;
- Next, you need to write a collective appeal to the owner or to the housing office serving the apartment building to make an application and carry out the repair itself by the employees of the communal enterprise.
After submitting the application with the attached copies of the documents, we expect 10 days, and after that we will contact again for clarification. If there is no reaction, no one is going to repair the entrance to the entrance, it is necessary to reassemble people and offer to write a complaint to the municipality about the failure to take measures to repair the porch. The complaint must be objective and explain in detail the situation with the repair of the porch. It is emphasized that failure to take action can lead to injury to people on the porch.
If the fight against bureaucrats drags on, and the porch at the entrance of an apartment building threatens health, the best option would be to do it yourself.
Do-it-yourself porch repair
In order to remove possible claims or accusations about the waste of the collected money, it is better to offer the tenants of the house to decide collectively and choose: buy materials and repair with their own hands or contact a specialized company. The second option will be twice as expensive as the first, but the choice must be made legally competently, with the registration of the decision protocol for the residents of the apartment building. This is necessary to eliminate possible claims from lazy clever guys after the porch is repaired.
If all the formalities are settled, we purchase the material according to the estimate and proceed with the repair.
Advice! When buying, you need to take receipts for the goods and photograph all materials, indicating the information for which work they are intended.
Failure of a porch at the entrance of an apartment building usually has a large amount of concrete spalling and failure of facing tiles. At the time of the repair work, a wooden ladder must be installed on the porch, which residents can use until the concrete sets.
For porch renovation, it is better to choose a warm, but not hot day, because most of the work will have to be done during the day, when most of the residents are either at home or at work. We begin work with the fence of the repair site. Take pictures of as many operations as possible, the pictures will be useful to you later.
At the first stage of the repair, it will be necessary to remove part of the upper layer of concrete so that the upper reinforcement is exposed. It is easier and faster to do this with an electric hammer drill and a grinder with a cutting disc for concrete.
After the debris and concrete chips have been cleared, the reinforcing sheaf must be opened along the entire width of the steps, while a sample of concrete is made at least 40-50 mm under the metal rods.
In those places where the reinforcement has been lost or deformed, steel rods must be laid and tied to the remains of the old structure using steel wire or electric welding.
At the next stage, it will be necessary to assemble formwork from wooden planks for pouring the concrete mixture and the formation of new steps from the concrete mass. This work is time-consuming, so it is better to use ready-made panel assemblies than to knock down the frame from scratch.
On the entire surface of the steps of the porch, it is necessary to lay a steel mesh and attach it to the surface of the porch of an apartment building using dowels. Before pouring the concrete, the remains of the steps are intensively moistened with water with the addition of a small amount of liquid soap. To improve the process, the water can be rubbed with a brush or an old broom.
We prepare the solution for the steps according to the old recipe: for one measure of cement No. 400, three measures of sand and three measures of washed crushed stone, of different fractions. Depending on the volume of filling, a steel container or a trough of 40-50 liters will be required for the preparation of the solution. Each step must be filled completely, moving from the bottom to the top.
If the project of repairing the porch provides for the laying of tiles, then it is better to use clinker material, it is stronger and holds on to concrete much better than paving. Flooded steps must be in place for at least a month before treading can be started. If you do not have experience in laying tiles, it is better to hire a craftsman with experience, but the payment for his services should be agreed upon earlier at a meeting of the tenants of the apartment building.
Conclusion
Do not forget to record the tile laying process on your camera. After the completion of the renovated entrance, you need to show the tenants and once again clarify your costs for repairing the porch, usually they go beyond the preliminary estimate. Send information about the repairs carried out to the municipality, the housing office and the control and audit department, so that the specialists from the housing office are not tempted to write off your work at their own expense.
Today, housing maintenance offices that serve residential buildings in our country are far from ideally coping with their direct responsibilities. This is especially true for the maintenance of the state of the entrances. It is known that for the long-term operation of a dwelling, it is necessary to carry out regular cosmetic and major repairs.
Conducting restoration work often falls on the shoulders of the residents themselves. In order to professionally and rationally carry out all the restoration work, an estimate for the repair of the entrance is needed, which can reflect the real amount of material costs.
Estimates for repairing the entrance
If all tenants have decided on a crucial step - to repair the entrance, you need to know how the estimate is made correctly. This document allows you to avoid problems with repairs in the future.
The first step is to find a reliable construction company that can perform all the work at an affordable price. For this, it is necessary to conduct a small monitoring of the offers on the service market. There are many companies in this industry offering their services at a variety of prices. Still, it is not worth focusing only on cost, since the low price hides unsatisfactory quality and negligence.
It is best to trust the reviews of your friends who carried out similar work, or read information on the Internet. Companies with over 5 years of experience value their reputation and try to complete the assigned tasks as efficiently as possible.
As a result, about 3-4 companies are selected and an analysis of previously completed work is carried out. For more detailed information and a repair organization, you can use information from the Internet. Only after that you can start drawing up estimates for each company, which will allow you to choose the most optimal option for your budget.
The estimate documentation can also be drawn up by the joint efforts of the residents of the entrance. This requires knowledge and skills in the industry. For maximum accuracy of calculations for all stages of repair work, it is worth using the services of a professional estimator independent of any construction companies. It is the specialist who is not interested in the money wrap who will be able to display the real cost of all work and materials. In addition, he can give practical advice on how and on what to save the allocated budget.
One of the most important points in the repair is the conclusion of a contract with a contractor. This document will guarantee the quality of work performed on time. The estimate acts as an addition to the main contract.
How is the repair of the entrance carried out according to the compiled estimate?
All restoration work is carried out in stages. Initially, it is necessary to carry out dismantling work, which consists of removing old paint, worn coatings on the ceiling and walls, as well as dismantling windows and protective grilles. Of course, such manipulations will bring temporary inconvenience to residents, since there will be construction debris and dust.
Painting works will be the most extended in time. Large surfaces require a rough coat and finish with further painting. All work must be supervised by the house manager in order to prevent defects or deficiencies.
What kind of work can be included in the estimate for the repair of the entrance?
- Ceiling.
After plastering the ceilings, the restoration work does not end, since then it is necessary to whitewash or wallpaper. More modern repair options are also possible, namely, the installation of suspended ceilings with built-in lighting devices. Quite often, decorative molding or ceiling tiles are used as decorations. At the request of the residents, additional lamps and chandeliers can be installed.
- Walls.
The standard painting of whitewashed walls is a thing of the past. At the moment, professional builders use in their work a wide range of decoration elements that will make cosmetic repairs a unique work of art. Wallpaper for painting or ceramic tiles is used as a material for the walls.
More expensive, but elegant, is the cladding with plastic and wood panels. Embossed plaster or applied mosaic will create an amazing atmosphere of coziness and comfort.
Of course, the choice of material remains with the customer, leaving material possibilities. If necessary, additional partitions can be erected for zoning the space.
The construction market has a huge number of different floor coverings that can be safely used for the entrance. The most popular are ceramic tiles, durable laminate, linoleum, natural parquet and even carpet.
- Windows and doors.
Depending on the collective desire of the residents of the entrance, modern plastic windows and reliable entrance armored doors can be installed.
Depending on the type of repair (major or cosmetic), the list of works in the estimate may differ significantly. Moreover, each type of restoration work is subdivided into: planned, emergency and extraordinary.
To carry out an accurate calculation, it is worth taking advantage of the offers of professional estimators with extensive experience in this industry. They will carry out the necessary research and measurements, which will allow them to obtain the following estimate documentation:
- visual inspection and accurate measurement of all dimensions of the entrance will make it possible to find out and fix the entire scope of work;
- based on the data received, a list of all necessary repairs is compiled;
- then a table of the necessary building materials and their prices is compiled;
- workers' wages are also calculated.
The finished estimate for the repair of the entrance is put up for general review and approval of the tenants. At the same time, everyone can make their own adjustments and offer the best options. After approval, a contract will be concluded with a contractor who will carry out all the work.
A competently drawn up estimate allows you to take into account almost all the nuances and costs, which in the future will be able to protect the customer from additional costs or deception.
Sooner or later, in a multi-storey building, you have to repair the porches of the entrances. Although most structures are equipped with canopies, they do not completely protect the concrete from the effects of harmful weather conditions.
Over time, the porch begins to lose its attractiveness, and pieces of lining falling off can cause a person to fall and, as a result, get injured. Therefore, it is required not to delay the repair of the structure, which will be discussed in the article.
The porch of the entrance of an apartment building, like any structure, requires periodic or major repairs.
The reasons for its wear can be:
- Washing out concrete with rainwater;
- The appearance of microcracks under the influence of temperature fluctuations. When moisture enters them, which expands when freezing, an increase in the crack occurs, and the porch begins to gradually deteriorate;
- Often, the repair of a porch in an apartment building is brought closer by the residents themselves: with constant physical impact, a gradual abrasion of the facing material occurs, which significantly accelerates the destructive effect of natural factors;
- Natural aging of materials;
- Mechanical damage that occurs from the fall of heavy objects, as well as the shrinkage of the building.
At first glance, small damage to the steps seems to be insignificant defects that do not lead to complete destruction of the structure. But their repair in this case is simply necessary.
- Due to the increase in the area of cracks, chips and other defects, the time will come when it will be impossible to operate the staircase of the main administrative building, or the porch in the house - and especially at the school, due to safety measures.
- Timely maintenance of concrete steps, carried out at the initial stage of cracks, chips and potholes, will help to avoid such problems. Moreover, its price will be significantly lower than a major overhaul - and even more so, a complete replacement of the structure.
- When ordering the repair of steps immediately after the discovery of even minor damage, the owner of the building, simultaneously with the restoration of the flight of stairs, receives a complete survey of the structure, which makes it possible to reveal the defects hidden in it.
Repair estimates are drawn up by contractors, and all work must be performed by experienced, qualified specialists.
Features of repairing a porch at the entrance of a house
The choice of the type of repair: major or local, depends on the characteristics of the object or that part of it that needs restoration.
This requires:
- Pay special attention to foundation defects;
- Eliminate various cracks and deformations;
- To carry out the reconstruction of the facing of the surfaces adjacent to the porch of the walls;
- Sometimes it is necessary to carry out additional renewal of ventilation ducts and waterproofing, which regulate the level of moisture in the base of the house, and prevent the accumulation of fungi and premature destruction of the entire building.
Due to the large throughput capacity of the entrance group of a multi-storey building, repairs may require local or complete replacement of the ceiling over the porch made of wood.
Tip: Wood is most susceptible to deformation. When installing wooden structures, fire-retardant impregnations should be used to maximize their service life.
To repair reinforced concrete treads, it is necessary to make a notch up the step, and apply a cement solution to this area. Sulfur or liquid lead can be used. A similar procedure is carried out with brick treads.
The completion of the work is painting and other operations for decorating the porch, so that in the end it will be in harmony with the facade of the entire building and have a pleasant appearance.
When choosing materials for restoration, it is necessary that they be:
- Durable;
- They were distinguished by their resistance to weather factors and abrasion;
- Safe for people... For example, sometimes you can find a porch that is tiled with tiles that become very slippery in the cold, even if they are dry. This is due to the unprofessional approach of contractors to the repair of the porch and the wrong selection of materials;
- Attractive for decorating the entrance to the staircase.
Organization of porch repair
Typically, the construction of an apartment building porch consists of a landing and a concrete staircase.
You can repair it in one of three ways:
- Contact an organization or company that serves a particular house, write an application for repairs;
- Collect funds from the residents of the entrance, and conclude an agreement on the implementation of repair and restoration work directly with the contractor;
- Do-it-yourself porch repair on a voluntary basis.