[sushantr5]

I was looking for the answer for my makeover related question. And I am happy to find this thread on team-bhp.

Question: I want to remove some walls in my Flat which is on top floor(4th floor). Basically I wanted to remove one bathroom which will free up lot of space for my living room and kitchen. After removing I will be still having one toilet and one bathroom cum toilet. So Bathroom facility was overkill for my needs. Since long time I am thinking of removing this bathroom to liberate lot of space which will be shared by Kitchen and Living Room. Precisely speaking it will free more than 8x4 feet area.

Now questions related to this,

1. I want to remove two walls for this, how walls are removed? Are the cutters used? or more traditional way of using hammer is used?

2. I do not want to give shocks to roof by hammering so I would like to find effective way to remove walls. There will not be any columns interfering this makeover.

3. I do not want to disturb my neighbors, though they are nice people where they are ready to accept some noise for one or two days. So how much time will this activity need, in general from your experience?

4. While removing walls, we may have to deal with concrete overhead platform. Only small section of it needs to be removed. Concrete overhead platform which protrudes from walls to facilitate storage of things. I do not know correct technical word for this.
Is removal of these things difficult?

5. And flooring level in bathroom is below normal level by 3 inches, so I think matching flooring level will not be a problem. any problems which I may face?

Thank you in advance.

[keroo1099]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

1. I want to remove two walls for this, how walls are removed? Are the cutters used? or more traditional way of using hammer is used?

You will only get a small contractor to do something like this, so he will use the traditional method, a hammer.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

2. I do not want to give shocks to roof by hammering so I would like to find effective way to remove walls. There will not be any columns interfering this makeover.

I can't think of any other way to bring the walls down. The walls are just an infill so impact shocks will be felt but are not a cause for concern.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

3. I do not want to disturb my neighbors, though they are nice people where they are ready to accept some noise for one or two days. So how much time will this activity need, in general from your experience?

12 running feet of wall shouldn't take more than a day, but that depends on what's running inside the walls (water & electric lines, any fixtures, etc.)

Originally Posted by sushantr5

4. While removing walls, we may have to deal with concrete overhead platform. Only small section of it needs to be removed. Concrete overhead platform which protrudes from walls to facilitate storage of things. I do not know correct technical word for this.
Is removal of these things difficult?

The concrete loft slab needs to be broken first. You can rent a jackhammer to speed up work.

Originally Posted by sushantr5

5. And flooring level in bathroom is below normal level by 3 inches, so I think matching flooring level will not be a problem. any problems which I may face?

It's not only the floor, the plaster levels of the ceiling may be different + you will have to fill the gap where the wall used to be (floor & ceiling).

ADDITIONAL ISSUES:

1. If you are not re-doing the flooring in your apt. you need to protect the floor from getting damaged from the debris.

2. You are going to fine dust all over your apt., during demolition and also when rework happens.

Good luck.

[sushantr5]

Originally Posted by keroo1099

You will only get a...

Thank you for all your answers. I am currently not in India so could not really call contractor and get answers. I got answers from you which is really helpful.

[condor]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

I want to remove some walls in my Flat which is on top floor(4th floor).

Since it is the top floor, it makes things a little easy. Any idea how is the building built ? Is it on a frame of pillars and filled in walls like with taller buildings ? If yes, then another point to advantage.

Removing the walls - normally hammer it down. The impact is not directly on the roof, so should not be too much of a problem.

There are concrete cutters, but I doubt the person who you engage with will get that for your job.

I have had a small section removed in my under-construction flat, but this was a fill-in wall. And even that 2.5 x 1.5 long feet wall made a lot of difference in the space in the room.

[Aroy]

Normally each bathroom has a depressed floor to take care of the plumbing. The depression is usually 30cm. The depression of each floor is created by lowering the floor above, so that the ceiling of bathrooms are lower. So if you visualise the cross sectional view the ceiling is depressed and the floor is recessed. At times this is carried over to the top floor to accommodate a bathroom on the terrace.

Just check that the ceiling of the bathroom is not depressed. In case it is, be reconciled to that as you can not break/repair it, as it is a part of the roof slab.

There is no recourse but to use traditional hammer to break the partition wall. Just consult the neighbours and find which is the best time to break the wall(s). There will be a time span of at least 3 to 4 hours in a day, when people can tolerate the noise, so you may have to carry out breaking over a two or three days, instead of one - just to accommodate the neighbours.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

The main door of my house has teak wood veneer.
The Glossy Polish on it's surface has scratched at a few places.

Can I do some DIY to touch up the scratches? (Some thing like WoodKeeper)

If there is no PU / Melamine spray on it and your teak polish is in neutral colour you can simply buy Shalllac mix it in spirit and apply a thin coat.
The simple method is take few grains of shall-lac in a cotton cloth and make a small bundle , dip in spirit and dab and apply with light hand on the scratch.

However if suppose the door is polished in some other shade by colour mix then it is not a DIY job. Usually polishing workers give mixed dry powder for later touch-ups etc and if you have it then use above method else leave the scratch as is.

[scorpion_blore]

Need help with respect to veneer. I recently got the interiors done in my flat, and the living area has veneer for TV unit and wall mounts. The veneer has now started showing lot of scratches and the interiors now look ugly. Is there any cost effective way to get this fixed? Would switching over to laminate for these areas be an effective solution for future maintenance?

[condor]

Originally Posted by scorpion_blore

Need help with respect to veneer. ... Is there any cost effective way to get this fixed? Would switching over to laminate for these areas be an effective solution for future maintenance?

You can get it polished once more. Depending on quality of veneer, 2-3 rounds of polishing can be done. But each time, it will lose a little thickness.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by condor

You can get it polished once more. Depending on quality of veneer, 2-3 rounds of polishing can be done. But each time, it will lose a little thickness.

Depends on how thick the veneer is. Most are 0.3mm and some as much as 1mm thick. To get rid of scratches you have to sand it down. For 0.3mm it is not practical but for thicker varieties you can sand it with very fine sandpaper at least once.

[fine69]

I'm getting my apartment renovated and was thinking that for one of the rooms I'd want to get the bed handmade by the carpenter since the finishing of his work is top notch.

The thing is that I went out shopping for a queen sized bed and I'm getting sheesham wood beds for around 60-65k but the hydraulic system used in them just has a warranty of 1 year and I'd rather have Hettich hydraulic systems. Another thing was that the boards used inside don't ooze as much quality as the outside finishing.

With getting my own carpenter to do the job, I'd know that the wood used is pure sheesham and I'll use best hydraulic systems that'll serve me for life.

So I started looking on the net for design ideas and realized that since I'm getting everything handmade, I'd rather get the backside extended so that I have mini lights towards the headrest side which I can use as lamps. The lights can go within the wood, I could maybe have LED system act as puddle lamps also so that waking up in the night doesn't mean one has to switch on lights to look for slippers.

Any other ideas that you guys may have that would make my life more convenient & smarthome kind when in the bedroom?

[Aroy]

I also got a double bed made of solid wood, no ply. The thing is that getting good wood especially wider pieces is quite expensive. The only method I know of is to get a wide log, say 3 feet or more in diameter and cut it to size.

My bed has a 2 foot high backside. Instead of solid, it is made of 1"x1" battens with a 4" high top piece.

Instead of embedded lights, try slim necked table lamps. The advantage is that you can swivel the light in which ever direction you want. Useful in getting the light spot on while reading a book, but away from your partner's eyes.

Another thing is that I do not like box beds. Had a box less double bed, then got a box bed. After three decades of having it I now have box less beds. That gives an open space underneath, facilitating cleaning. Of course if space is at premium then a box bed is what you need.

[subraiyr]

Hi all

I am looking for an interior designing and development firm to do up a new property. I have spoken to a few people and most of them talk about Livspace, but with a sense of discomfort. Do any of you have an experience with Livspace

Also, are there any other good firms that i can approach in Bangalore to do up my house. Any suggestions would be welcome

[msdivy]

Any place in Bangalore to get steel wire door mat, like below?

[Prodigy07]

The taps in our bathrooms are covered with THICK scales. How do I get rid of them?

Any simple remedy? Please suggest!

[Ford_madhan]

Originally Posted by Prodigy07

The taps in our bathrooms are covered with THICK scales. How do I get rid of them?

Any simple remedy? Please suggest!

did you try Vinegar? pour it in a ziplog bag and tie it in the tap and leave it for sometime. Should work fine.