If you find yourself in the difficult task of buying a flat, turning to a second-hand property is a good way to find a candidate with an interesting price, after renovation. However, not all flats are equally interesting: in addition to issues such as location or available area, Architecture plays a crucial role when it comes to buying a flat right.
Because although you can undertake reforms, there are things that cannot be changed. In fact, there are issues that only experience or training can reveal, and as an example, what Edu Saz says, an architect with a YouTube channel who has created a guide where he reveals three types of flats that are not recommended for purchase in order to renovate.
Homes with access from a corner
As Saz explains, the first type of housing not recommended for purchase for renovation is that which ‘It is accessed through a corner, especially if the houses are quite long.‘. According to the architect, it is likely that Let’s only have windows on one side (this is a chore if we want to cool the house using the current) since on the other side there will be another house or building and we will also have a large hallway to reach the other side of the house.
This type of distribution occurs in very old homes and requires a major reform to bring the rooms for daily use at the beginning and the bedrooms at the end.
Small-sized homes with load-bearing walls in the centre
The second unfavorable architecture for a renovation is the small one with a load-bearing wall in the central area. The problem is precisely in that wallas it will prevent the modification of the layout of the flat, so the options are limited.
What if it has a load-bearing wall in the center but it is not that small? In this case there is a solution: the architect explains that he could ‘knock down part of the load-bearing wall and make a loading platform’. However, this would be a more expensive project and would require a more detailed study.
Tube type housing
Here both the elongated houses like those shaped like a boot where upon entering the apartment we come across two clearly differentiated subdivisions.
Saz explains that the challenge of this distribution is that they are usually floors integrated between other floors or buildings, so that we will hardly have any windows to the outsideleading us to ‘place a kitchen that will give onto an interior patio and a blind bathroom‘. Also, having a long hallway with odd shapes is a handicap when renovating in search of a more modern architecture, since altering the structure so much will make the project more expensive.
Cover | Photo by Karolina Kaboompics
Via | Eduardo Saz, YouTube
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