Remodeling a kitchen in a Khrushchev-era building or any other house cannot begin without obtaining permission if you decide to move walls or utility systems. First, you need to obtain a technical passport for your apartment and house; it is issued by the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI). Plus, you will have to collect a package of documents: those that confirm that you are the owner, the consent of the owners, as well as a ready-made project for a new redevelopment. Afterwards, all this needs to be submitted to the State Housing Inspectorate of your city, which as a result may issue you permission for future changes or, conversely, refuse them. What exactly can be approved and what cannot be discussed in our article.
How to legalize kitchen remodeling?
How to legalize redevelopment with moving the kitchen into the living room? Having decided at the family council to remodel the apartment, it is quite possible to try to do this, if the rules allow this in principle.
You should start by collecting approvals and calling a BTI technician to inspect the home (before and after) to clarify the existing layout for issuing a new registration certificate . At the same time, you can do the following:
- visit the BTI to get the go-ahead for redevelopment, and if technical capabilities are available, production of the project;
- if BTI does not have the opportunity to make a project, pay a visit to a design company that has an SRO and order a redevelopment project;
- obtain approval from interested organizations - management company, gas service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc.
BTI specialists must, based on the available drawings for a residential building, clarify which walls are load-bearing
Submission of documents
Where do they arrange for redevelopment, where to apply?
The Housing Inspectorate is entrusted with the registration of redevelopment , and you need to go there when everything is ready.
In large settlements there is an option to contact the MFC.
What documents are required? It is necessary following package of documents
- redevelopment project;
- fresh technical passport;
- statement;
- applicant's passport;
- approvals from interested organizations;
- title papers for the apartment.
In each specific case, there may be various variations in the package of papers, for example, if the house is of historical or architectural value , then the reconstruction will need to be coordinated with the company in charge of such values.
To speed up the process and make it more convenient for visitors, the Housing Inspectorate has set up a single window where you need to submit the prepared documents.
Here the application will be registered, that is, dated and assigned a number.
Processing time, cost and results
Employees lived to work with the applicant's papers. inspections are no more than 45 days.
When applying to the BTI for an updated registration certificate, you need to pay a state fee in the amount of 900 rubles . The total cost, including preparation of the project and obtaining approvals, without the involvement of intermediaries, will be 40-60 thousand rubles.
What documents are issued after registration?
Based on the results of the work, the specialists lived. inspection is issued one of two documents:
- permission for redevelopment;
- refusal in writing.
The refusal must be motivated.
In what cases can they refuse?
They may refuse under the following circumstances:
- the proposed option violates compliance with SNiP and other regulations;
- the concerned services refused to allow the apartment to be remodeled, etc.
It may also turn out that some important document is missing , or the title papers for the home are not in order.
Options for rearranging space
The main problem of kitchen space in typical apartments is its small size and inconvenient location . To solve this problem, there are several options that do not contradict existing standards.
Read our articles about how to coordinate the redevelopment of a balcony, loggia or bathroom.
Expansion with a cabinet or storage room
This option is ideal if there is a pantry or built-in closet . The partitions between these rooms are most often non-load-bearing, so dismantling them does not cause problems and combining them with a storage room is possible.
Kitchen in the hallway or room
Redevelopment of housing: moving the kitchen into the living room - is it possible? How to legalize the transfer process?
This is only possible if you live on the ground floor , since there are non-residential premises below you. Such redevelopment above the living room is prohibited.
In addition, transfer is allowed if the kitchen equipment is located above or below the non-residential area of neighboring apartments (corridor, hallway, pantry, built-in closet).
Is it possible to move it to the corridor? If you wanted to move it to the corridor, then there should be a window . It is not allowed to place it in rooms with various types of lighting without natural light.
Alternatively, instead of completely moving it into the hallway, you can use the technique of expanding the size of the kitchen at the expense of the corridor . Part of the equipment is transferred into it and due to this, part of the space is freed up.
You just have to take into account that the partition can only be demolished if it is not a load-bearing wall .
When transferring, you must take into account the need to transfer ventilation, gas and water pipes, and sewerage.
The ventilation duct must be connected to the former kitchen ventilation. Moving it to the bathroom ventilation is prohibited.
Particular attention should be paid to the gas supply. Moving gas pipes can only be done with the permission of the Gas Service , otherwise this organization may prohibit your changes.
If you decide to place a room on the site of a former kitchen, the kitchen of your neighbors should not be located under it, otherwise the commission will not allow .
Although in order to coordinate the transfer of a room in this case, it is necessary to designate this room as an office in the project. Having received approval, you can subsequently equip it with any furniture at your discretion.
Merging with another room
Is such a combination possible in a house - combining a kitchen and a room? Demolition of the wall and consolidation is one of the popular solutions nowadays.
It has become quite fashionable to combine it with the living room. And this option is quite acceptable if the home is equipped with an electric stove .
The exception is when the partition is a load-bearing wall .
By law, the dismantling of load-bearing walls, as well as the installation of arches and niches in them, is prohibited. The only option is to install an opening in such a wall, provided that it is reinforced with metal structures .
If the housing is equipped with gas, it will also be possible to combine the space, but provided that a movable partition or blinds .
In new houses, you can replace the gas stove with an electric one , then unification will become possible. In old houses, this option is not possible due to the fact that the electrical wiring will not withstand the increased load. In addition, electricity tariffs in such houses will not be discounted, so electricity costs will immediately increase.
You can combine a kitchen with a living space if the apartment has two or more rooms. In a one-room apartment, this option is impossible, since the room will become non-residential, and there cannot be an apartment without residential areas.
This ban can be circumvented by installing a partial or movable partition that zones the space.
Attaching a balcony
Standard apartments often have access from the kitchen to a balcony or loggia, and the option of combining them is very successful if you want to change something . This makes it possible to expand the space by moving furniture or other items to the balcony, as well as make the kitchen space brighter.
An ordinary balcony or loggia will become a bay window or panoramic window, which will add some zest to the whole room. You can organize a dining area on the loggia, which will significantly increase your work space .
The only downside is some restrictions :
- impossibility of dismantling the window sill block or partitions of load-bearing walls;
- moving heating radiators to the balcony;
- installation of heated floors on the balcony with connection to general house communications.
A window sill block that cannot be demolished can be turned into a bar counter or a kind of dining table. This technique will add originality to this area and the entire housing in general.
Complete transfer of equipment to the loggia , and the loggia becomes a working area. In this case, the space in the same place will only be in the dining area, in which you can also equip a seating area.
It is impossible to move the equipment to the remote balcony, due to the increased load on its floors.
Expansion due to the bathroom
Expanding the kitchen at the expense of the bathroom - this option for remodeling the space is possible if part of this room is located above the neighbors’ bathroom . You cannot place your bathroom above your neighbor’s kitchen. It is also impossible if your kitchen is located under the neighbor’s bathroom.
When expanding due to the bathroom, it is possible by moving one of them to another. The bathroom will become smaller and combined , and the kitchen will be slightly larger. Of course, its size will not become much larger, but in small-sized housing, even such a slight increase can be useful.
The process of legalizing an expansion at the expense of a bathroom is one of the most difficult; it is not always possible to obtain permission for such a change from specialists. A 100% option for such a conversion is only to locate the housing on the top floor.
Read on our website about where to start remodeling an apartment, where to order a project and obtain permission for redevelopment.
Situation 1 - Load-bearing wall between the kitchen and living area
Indeed, there is nothing complicated in combining two small rooms to create one spacious one; you just need to tear down the interior wall and start renovations. However, there is one caveat. The fact is that not all walls can be demolished without permission; for example, this will not work with a load-bearing wall. By law, it is strictly prohibited to move or otherwise modify load-bearing walls; this is stipulated in SNiP and is punishable by a serious fine.
This is explained by the fact that such redevelopment can damage (or completely destroy) the structure of the building, and endanger you and the lives of your neighbors.
Moving the kitchen into a room with all communications
How to move the kitchen into the living room and turn the kitchen into a bedroom? Is this a difficult process?
Having decided to move the kitchen to another room, many owners do not think about the fact that they will have to move various communications. But this issue is acute, since the safety and prosperous life of the apartment owner, as well as his neighbors, depend on it.
How to move the kitchen into the room along with communications? The question is difficult, but solvable:
- water supply pipes can be placed both under the ceiling and under the floor covering;
- You should definitely take care of ventilation so that there is no smoke and humidity in the new kitchen. Ventilation must be connected to the exhaust ventilation duct. The ventilation duct must pass through the duct of the old kitchen, that is, the owner will have to pull the duct through the apartment;
- The sewer pipes must be laid correctly in the new kitchen - at a certain angle. If it is not possible to lay pipes on a slope, then you can use special water pumps;
- you should not move the kitchen if you have to move the ventilation pipe to a distance that will exceed 10 m. Otherwise, the draft will decrease, and there will be a need to install additional fans;
- a new kitchen must have a window that should not be blocked by anything;
- If the new kitchen will contain various household appliances, which during operation will cause additional load on the electrical networks, then you should think in advance about installing a separate machine.
