Renovating a private house: the order from roof to facade

How a house differs from an apartment

In an apartment, the roof, risers and power supply are building management's responsibility. In a private house they're your stages, and everything else depends on them. That's why the “House” route adds its own stages to the usual finishing stages:

• “House inspection” - instead of the apartment handover;
• “Roof”;
• “Windows and entrance door replacement”;
• “Water, sewerage and power supply”;
• “Heating and boiler room”;
• “Facade and insulation”.

The order of stages

This is how the “House” route is laid out in the app:

1. House inspection.
2. Planning.
3. Demolition - if needed.
4. Roof - if needed.
5. Windows and entrance door replacement - if needed.
6. Water, sewerage and power supply.
7. Partitions - if needed.
8. Heating and boiler room.
9. Plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, ventilation.
10. Rough finishing, floor preparation and screed, waterproofing.
11. Facade and insulation - in parallel with the work inside.
12. Ceilings, tiling, wall finishing, stretch ceiling, flooring.
13. Final installation, furniture and appliances.
14. Final acceptance and move-in.

The house's own stages are currently a draft: a builder is reviewing them, and the items may change.

Inspection: where to start

The first stage is ten inspection items. It answers the question of what must be done before interior finishing.

• House and land documents. Compare the Unified State Register (EGRN) extract, the technical plan and the plot boundaries, and find out whether extensions are registered. An unregistered extension complicates a gas connection, a mortgage and a sale.
• Foundation and apron. Look for cracks, subsidence and signs of flooding. Mark the cracks with tell-tales and photograph them: in a month you'll see whether they're growing.
• Roof and attic. Dark stains on the rafters are traces of old leaks - find their source.
• Walls, floor structure and beams. Check wooden beams where they rest on the walls: rot starts there.
• Basement and damp. Closed and forgotten vents are a common cause of rotten floors.
• Water. Find out where it comes from - mains, borehole or well - and have it tested: the test decides what water treatment you need.
• Sewage. Where the waste goes - mains, septic tank or treatment plant - and what state it's in. A neglected septic tank is the top unexpected expense.
• Power supply. Check the allocated capacity, the state of the entry and panel, and whether there's grounding. The route's guide: an electric boiler needs 9-15 kW - see whether your limit is enough.
• Heating and gas. The boiler, chimney, pipework, the gas contract and the gas equipment servicing.

The stage ends with a list of priority work: roof, foundation, utilities.

What to start during planning

Some things for a house take months, so the route moves them into “Planning”:

• applications for power capacity, a borehole and a septic tank - they depend on the season, and the house is sometimes ready before the power and water are;
• gas connection - if the boiler is gas, you need technical conditions and a gas supply design: a gas boiler won't be connected without the design and a certificate;
• reconstruction permits - check whether you need them before work starts.

Only the gas service, under contract, works on gas equipment. Where to apply and which documents are needed will be explained by your local gas and power grid companies.

Roof and windows: closing the house from above

If the roof needs repair, it's done among the first jobs. The items of the “Roof” stage:

• rafters and battens are replaced where damaged and treated with preservative - before the roofing goes on, as you can't reach the wood afterwards;
• the water and wind barrier membrane is laid with overlaps and taped joints and photographed before the roofing - it's concealed work;
• flashings at chimneys and walls are checked separately: most leaks start there;
• gutters carry water away from the foundation;
• the insulation's vapour barrier goes on the inside only.

The best test of a roof is looking at the attic after heavy rain.

Water, sewerage, power supply

This stage makes the house fit for work and for living:

• the pump station goes in a heated room;
• the water pipe into the house is laid below the frost line or with a heating cable: a frozen water entry is the most common winter failure in a private house;
• filters are chosen from the water test;
• the septic tank or treatment plant is installed at the regulatory distances from the water source, the house and the plot boundary. The exact distances for your plot come from the design and local rules;
• for the main panel and the ground loop, ask for a resistance measurement report;
• at acceptance, get a plan of the utility lines on the plot - it saves the pipes during future digging.

Heating before wet work

Plaster and screed aren't done below +5 °C, so the house needs heat before them. The order of the “Heating and boiler room” stage: output calculation, boiler choice, boiler room and chimney, boiler installation, pipework, pressure test, start-up. A boiler with too much headroom cycles on and off often and wears out faster. Pipes that will go into the screed are photographed with a tape measure before pouring, and after the pressure test ask for a certificate with the pressure and hold time.

How to check pipes before they're covered is in Plumbing: pressure testing and checks before boxing in.

The facade - in the warm season

Facade insulation and finishing run in parallel with the finishing inside. Wet facade work isn't done in frost or rain. Insulation changes the reveal depth, so the windows are settled before work starts. The plinth is insulated and the apron is laid with a fall away from the house. At acceptance, check the sills and the joints with the windows, and get a warranty on the facade system.

Finishing - as in an apartment

From here on, the house route matches the apartment one: rough finishing, screed, waterproofing, tiling, walls, floors, final installation. How this work goes is in Rough finishing in an apartment: the order of work and Apartment renovation stages in order.

Checklist before finishing a house

• The inspection is done and the list of priority work is drawn up.
• The roof doesn't leak: the attic has been checked after rain.
• Gutters carry water away from the foundation.
• Windows and the entrance door are in.
• Water, sewerage and power work, and you have the utility line plan.
• Heating is running and you have the pressure test certificate.
• Photos of the concealed work are saved in the app.

When creating a property in the app, choose the “House” type - the route will be built from these stages.