How to choose an apartment in a new building - the main dangers of
In this article we will consider several important issues related to the topic of how to choose an apartment in the newly built .Most of the moments described below are important when buying any property - a private "freshly baked" house or cottage, as well as housing in the secondary market. It makes a special sense for all real estate buyers to read the "Payout" section of the transaction. "
When considering the various types of apartment houses when choosing an apartment, the lower price of square meters in a new building is accompanied by higher risks. Up to the possibility of losing all invested funds. Most often, you deposit money as a deposit - for the right to purchase an apartment in the future - after putting the house under construction. Before the signing of the state act of accepting the object of construction, the purchase and sale of apartments in it is impossible.
So, the first very real risk. Option number one. You contribute money to the Developer or his immediate representative. At this point, you sign a contract and receive a document about the payment. However, the data on the transaction is not recorded in any register. And nothing prevents an unscrupulous Developer or his "representative" from carrying out a similar operation several times with "your" real estate.
And if you find yourself on the list of future "buyers" is not the first, your rights to receive an apartment in a rented house will become more than illusory. The second option is that you buy a share in the house under construction. In this case, repeated sale is possible both from the side of the Developer and from the previous shareholder. Next, consider the choice of an apartment in a house put into operation.
When choosing a house in a suitable area with the apartments you need the square, try to find out:
- how long the developer of this house has been working;
- how qualified are its engineers and workers;
- environmental safety of the materials used;
- details of the progress of construction( in private order).
Nobody likes to advertise their "bloopers", so the details of the progress of construction can only be clarified in a private order. Nevertheless, something about the materials used can be learned without a thorough investigation. Granites and sandstones, lying over the dome of ore deposits, have an increased radiation background.
In addition, in our country there are many places artificially contaminated by radiation. Therefore, almost all basic building materials can sinuate with increased radioactivity:
- reinforced concrete slabs, including gravel and sand,
- leveling compounds,
- bricks,
- foam and aerated concrete blocks.
The norm of additional radiation radiation in our country is 3 microroentgen per hour. The natural background in the flat areas is 15-20 mc / h. Safe level - up to 50 mcd / hour. Those.it is better to go once to your future apartment with a dosimeter and make sure that the natural background is exceeded within the permissible limits and is 20-30 mc / hr than then accumulating unnecessary x-rays in your body for many years.
Types of construction of houses on the basis of applied materials
Very conditionally among new buildings can be the following house types:
- brick,
- panel,
- of foamed materials,
- monolithic.
This division is conditional, becauseIn any modern brick house, hollow-core reinforced concrete slabs are used. In addition, monolithic house sometimes turns out to be foam concrete. And in connection with the high thermal conductivity of reinforced concrete in a house with a monolithic reinforced concrete frame, the insulation of external walls can be made of bricks( often beautiful, finishing), panels made of heat-insulating material or foam concrete blocks. All types of construction of houses from these materials have their advantages and disadvantages.
Brick houses - pros and cons of such buildings
Traditional( from Peter's times) material for house building - brick .It can be:
- silicate, which is based on lime and sand;
- ceramic full-bodied, obtained by firing clay;
- ceramic hollow or porous, containing up to 50% of internal voids.
Silicate brick is cheaper, but it does not withstand long exposure to moisture, so it is used when laying walls above the base with mandatory waterproofing. It can not be porous, therefore its heat-insulating and weight indicators are worse than ceramic hollow bricks.
A well-burned ceramic brick made of properly aged clay can be used for making foundations and socles, and for laying walls and partitions of a building. Hollow ceramic block is much less heat-conductive and with less weight( keeping the same strength characteristics) exerts less pressure on the foundation and the ground.
Positive characteristics:
- is quite strong, with the use of high-quality bricks, binder and overlap material, with a properly calculated and equipped foundation can serve hundreds of years,
- by right of "fire-breathing birth" allow the laying inside the walls of ventilation and smoke ducts, seamlessly adjacent to stoves,
- have a high heat capacity, which allows tenants, who are occupied by brick houses, not to suffer from heat in the summer and to withstand short heating outageswinter.
Negative characteristics:
- high heat capacity of brick walls requires high heat costs with periodic use of heating,
- in cold weather in brick houses it is necessary to maintain a plus temperature,
- after construction for some time this house shrinks,
- because of its high weightwalls, for example, a 9-storey brick house requires the arrangement of reinforced foundations, for low-rise buildings( 2-3 floors), this can be a strip foundation deepened below the level of promenadezaniya soil,
- to provide sufficient insulation in our latitudes, it is necessary to equip the wall two bricks thick, and it is very significantly reduces the usable space - the walls of the house takes six total area of 200 m2.
Panel and foam foam houses - who causes trust?
Prefabricated panel houses are the cheapest, which led to their extensive construction in Soviet times, these are the most popular types of 9-storey houses. But now they are not erected because of their fragility and low strength. Therefore, we will not dwell on them.
Foamed building materials can be in the form of:
- foam blocks,
- monolithic surfaces,
- gas units.
Foam blocks are produced in atmospheric conditions by adding foaming agents to the cement-sand mortar. Therefore, the process of erection of foam concrete monolithic structures is possible. Gas blocks are made in special autoclaves at elevated pressure. They have several better physical and mechanical characteristics than foam blocks, but they can not be produced in the construction site, so erection of monolithic structures is impossible.
These materials, and therefore, the types of houses from them, have:
- low cost,
- light weight,
- ability to pass in small quantities of air, which qualitatively brings the houses from the gas unit closer to wooden,
- incombustibility,
- high heat and noise insulation properties,
Also:
- typical houses from foam blocks do not decay, they are easy to process, with accurate stacking of blocks require the use of small amounts of leveling mixtures,
- the construction process is accelerated,
- due to lessm weight of structures simplifies the construction of foundations.
At the same time they:
- can not withstand more load( more than 25 kg / sq. Cm), therefore it is impossible to build houses from foam blocks above two floors,
- absorb atmospheric moisture, losing their strength characteristics, for this reason, special attention is paid to their moisture insulation.
Advertising texts on "improving the properties of foams during their operation" weigh down the conscience of their authors and are not true. Foam materials are a good solution when building cottages. Foam and gas blocks are used fragmentarily, as wall elements in frame-monolithic skyscrapers. They also can insulate the monolithic reinforced concrete frame.
House type monolithic - a bit of its history
House type monolithic is a building in which all elements are made by pouring cement-sand-gravel mixture into the formwork onto the framework of metal reinforcement directly on the construction site. In this case, each next element continues the previous one without any docking seams. This applies to both vertical and horizontal elements. Those.a solid monolithic( single, continuously poured) reinforced concrete skeleton of the structure should be obtained.
Some elements of a similar technology( casting concrete on a metal frame in a pre-arranged formwork directly on the building site) appeared in Germany in the twenties of the last century. However, the concrete mixtures that existed at that time did not allow the builders of the whole world to advance in this direction.
For the sake of justice, we note that in Soviet Russia, shortly after 1917, the world's first monolithic buildings were built in a revolutionary rush. One of them - the Kharkov Gosprom - still impresses not only with its monumentality, but also with the fact that during the Second World War it was not possible to blow up German specialists three times( !), At that time they were one of the best in the world.
After the war, engineer Rigel suggested using precast reinforced concrete elements - crossbars, which made it possible to move to a discrete prefabricated reinforced concrete skeleton of construction. The next step was the pouring of solid bearing columns directly on the construction site.
The latest at the moment the point in the world-accepted developments of monolithic housing construction put the great architect Le Corbusier. He refused to carry monolithic columns. Each monolithic-filled reinforced concrete wall became a vertically-bearing element. From this decision half a step to completely monolithic structures. These half-steps were made by the same Le Corbusier.
Once again I repeat: now many frame-monolithic constructions "give out" as full-fledged monoliths. Such types of multi-storey houses still retain the point pressure of vertical supports on the foundation.
Advantages and disadvantages of monolithic houses
Monolithic types of residential buildings have quite tangible advantages:
- High strength of structures. In Soviet times, they were erected in seismically dangerous areas. However, cheaper prefabricated panel structures displaced monolithic types of houses in Moscow and, in general, from the practice of Soviet serial construction( this led to colossal victims during the Spitak earthquake in Armenia).
- Smaller( by 15-20%) weight of monoliths compared to brick buildings of the same dimensions.
- Load distribution along the entire perimeter of the support walls, avoiding point loads on the foundation.
- Facilitation of foundations.
- The type of monolithic house does not shrink after construction.
- Higher construction speed.
- No need to carry bulk structures to the construction site.
- Possibility of "free" planning of high-rise building characteristics and expansion of unsecured premises up to 150 m2.
- Seamless designs provide better insulation of the premises in the building.
- Monolithic types of multi-storey buildings - long-lived among the building structures. Their life span is from 100 years. Provided, of course, high quality materials and work in full compliance with the technological process.
Cons of monolithic houses can be reduced to the following list:
- High thermal conductivity( poor thermal insulation) of reinforced concrete walls. They have to be additionally insulated.
- Low sound insulation of rooms, especially in relation to impact noise.
- The need to provide channels for utility networks and chimneys, and already later re-planning in monolithic houses is almost impossible, especially without the permission of the housing service.
- Difficulties when working in winter conditions. The concreting process must be carried out at a temperature not lower than +5 ° С.At lower temperatures, the mixture is heated at the preparation stage( solid and loose fractions are heated) or at the stage of solidification( which leads to a deterioration in the quality of concrete and requires significant energy consumption).Most often used special additives, which allow concreting at low temperatures.
- The need to conduct a continuous process of pouring concrete, and in many directions at once.
- Obligation of very high-quality compaction of the filled mixture. Small deviations from this rule completely destroy all the advantages that the construction of monolithic multi-storey houses possesses.
Now there are two ways of monolithic construction:
- with removable formwork,
- with fixed formwork.
The first option allows you to use formwork many times. However, there is a need for additional thermal insulation of external walls and sound insulation of internal surfaces. Particular attention must be paid to the outside walls. They are insulated with special compounds, often leave an air layer and overlay a monolithic structure with brickwork or foam materials. Those. The advantages of monoliths in terms of high construction speed and cheapness are becoming less noticeable.
The second option can be considered as "two in one".Formwork made of expanded polystyrene allows you to lead the concreting process and then remains as a heat and sound insulation. Of course, its appearance does not allow to do without further finishing. But this is a much faster and less time consuming and expensive process compared to the previous version. After all, if we insulate the walls with cheaper walls, in comparison with the finishing brick, with foams, then they also need to be decorated and thoroughly waterproofed.
How to choose an apartment - define
floor consider this question with "yes" or "no" position to determine, how to choose an apartment in terms of floor.
1. The first floor is traditionally not loved by our fellow citizens. A damp cellar under it very often becomes a supplier of mosquitoes and fleas. It is not excluded and the option of collecting in the apartment of the first floor of the sewage of the whole entrance in case the sewer pipe is hammered. This almost always happens on sites with a small slope below the ground floor. There is, of course, a device called a "check valve", but to install and operate it is an extra hassle.
Yes, and rob such apartments more often than others, and they get the lion's share of external noise and dust. Accordingly, the prices of non-commercial square meters on the ground floor are 15-20% lower than on the other floors.
There is one more important point. Practically in any place from the ground radioactive gas - radon - is released. Very quickly it disintegrates, forming radioactive isotopes of lead, bismuth and polonium. The gas itself is seven times heavier than air, so it and the products of its decay are concentrated in the zone of the lower floors, most of all - precisely at the first. On the other hand, it is easiest to get to the first floor apartments( especially when elevators fail), and they are easiest to leave in the event of an emergency.
2. The second floor has some problems first in the "cut-down" form. Thus it is safer in terms of robbery, and can become a gathering place for waste water, only if the check valve will be on the first floor of the sewer pipe.
3. Up to the third floor mosquitoes and tenants easily get. It's not so difficult and running away in case of serious trouble.
4. The 4-6 floors are significantly better than the lower ones in terms of ecology. It is clear that if the elevator fails. .. Although some high-rise types of apartment buildings have two elevators. But, of course, these floors in this sense are better than the 16th, 30th, etc.
5. Select the 7th floor. Not so scary, and the noise with dust below. Those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, as well as mental imbalances, should not climb higher.
6. 8-16 floors - light and clean, if there are no smoking pipes nearby. The height of these floors is the optimal level for the flight of small, suspended in air particles. As for the elevator - it's understandable.
7. Above are the cleanest apartments. They are usually also the warmest, if the supply of the coolant does not come from below, and the lower apartments do not suit the additional substantial heat selection.
8. The last floor may have additional problems with the leakage of the roof. On the other hand, the availability of a technical floor makes it possible to organize a penthouse - an elite dwelling( often with a personal elevator).In case of fire, evacuation is possible with the help of an individual system of ropes and a cradle with a special lock. By the way, it is not uncommon to save people from emergency situations from the roofs of skyscrapers.
When is it better to buy an apartment and make repairs?
In the urban real estate market, in the residential sector, there are both long-term and seasonal fluctuations in prices, so it is necessary to decide when it is more profitable to buy an apartment, based on these phenomena, including. Making long-term forecasts is a thankless task. The collapse of property prices in the autumn of 2008 was held against the backdrop of joyful slogans "Real Estate - the most reliable investment of funds" and the forecasts "Real Estate NEVER will be cheaper."
Seasonal price fluctuations are akin to the trade winds - they are predictable, so you can guess how to choose an apartment at a lower price. Long-term observations in the apartment market show the regularity of the "dragonfly" from the famous fable. Summer "blows away" the majority of potential apartment buyers of northern latitudes to the south and to the suburbs, while the demand, and accordingly, the prices for apartments fall. In the fall, the reverse process begins: the rise in interest in apartments, and the rise in prices for them.
From this point of view, it makes sense to purchase an apartment in the summer. This is a general consideration as to when is better to buy an apartment .In fact, seasonal price fluctuations are insignificant - 1-2%.The price of a particular apartment depends much more on the seller's ambitions, his need for quick money or other factors( for example, a quick departure or the seller's ability to "just now" purchase another, more suitable real estate) than from the weather in the yard. Therefore, it is better to find a decent apartment at a suitable price, than to count on seasonal luck and wondering if it is worth buying an apartment now.
Usually, after buying an apartment, it should be repaired, more or less large-scale. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the state of the heating system and window openings. To change both that and another is better in the "non-heating" period. This is especially important for the heating system. These factors do affect the time, when you can repair .
The very replacement of window or balcony frames is a short process, and fixing the construction flaws along the perimeters of the openings can take a lot of time. Especially, given that no one is usually ready to see around the former window yawning empty streets, shyly covered with plaster on the outside.
Hardly anyone prepares bricks, cement and sand before replacing windows. All this has to be done in an emergency. And, of course, it is better that such an emergency occurred in the summer. It is possible to conduct a faster process - to fill the voids, but the strength of the bearing walls remains flawed.
For all other works in a city apartment with regularly working heating, it is practically unimportant when it is possible to do repairs. Unless after switching off the heating in the spring and before connecting it in the fall there may be moments of "braking" of repair processes due to the low temperature in the apartment.
There is one more important point in determining the period when it is better to do repairs. In the summer it can not be tracked. The quality of the thermal insulation of walls can only be verified in winter. Bought in the summer a wonderful apartment in the winter, and with a good wind, can prove not the best way. From windows, even metal-plastic ones, it can be unpleasant to blow, and walls can freeze. On them, as well as on windows, condensation can be formed and a fungus can be started. If the old apartment traces of the fungus can be found in the summer, then in a new building that was put into operation and bought in the summer, you will not notice anything bad at once.
You can start repair work immediately after putting the house into operation. Monolithic houses practically do not give shrinkage, and shrinkage of brick structures and structures from foamed materials is comparable with small operational changes. Large violations - the appearance and expansion of cracks in load-bearing structures - indicate a serious miscalculation in the design or construction of the structure.
It does not matter when they appear - just after putting the house or in the process of its operation. Of course, we are talking about a reasonable period of operation. However, Khrushchev's five-story brick house was built for 20-30 years, and it costs twice as long. And the prices for apartments in them are only slightly lower than the prices for apartments in new buildings.
Read more: Part 2. Saga about apartment choice 2. Checking the legal cleanliness of the apartment - we insure ourselves against surprises