Materials for finishing an apartment: types, features, recommendations

assets/from_origin/upload/resize_cache/iblock/4d1/600_450_2/4d1322023f5234f4db27da86d38045b6.jpg From this article you will learn:

• How to choose materials for wall decoration in an apartment
• What modern materials exist for decorating walls in an apartment?
• What materials are there for finishing the floor of an apartment?
• What materials are used to decorate the ceiling of an apartment?
• What materials are needed for rough finishing of an apartment?
• What materials should be used for finishing?
• What materials are suitable for finishing walls in the hallway of an apartment?

The renovation of any residential premises consists of three important stages: finishing the walls, floors and ceilings. Therefore, it is necessary to select materials for finishing an apartment, not just relying on your own intuition, but also in order to stay within the budget and at the same time achieve a good result. Read further our article to understand the main pros and cons of various finishing materials.

How to choose materials for wall decoration in an apartment

What criteria are used to evaluate the decoration of walls in a room?

1. The material must be environmentally friendly, non-toxic and non-hazardous to the health of household members.
2. Therefore, only hypoallergenic materials can be used.
3. Choose materials depending on your wallet: everyone has a different budget for repairs.
4. Installation technology. Some materials are difficult to apply, so the cost of repair work will be much higher than the price of material for finishing the apartment.

1. Specifics of the finishing material: resistance to moisture and sudden temperature changes, ease of cleaning, and so on. The materials for finishing the apartment should be selected taking into account the characteristics of the room where the facing work is planned.
2. The material must match the interior design and furniture in shade and texture.

Plastic materials

No renovation can be imagined without the use of plastic materials, such as concrete and plaster. However, now there are completely new, well-proven plastic materials, characterized by high consumer properties, durability, quality and ease of use:

The photo shows terrazzo

• Self-leveling floors are a special material that must be spread over a flat, seamless surface. After hardening, self-leveling floors have a smooth, durable surface, can withstand loads and moisture, and retain their color and attractive appearance for a long time;
• Polypropylene is an excellent option for forming durable surfaces. The material is applied on a flat base, on top of concrete. It hardens from several hours to several days.
• Terrazzo is a type of self-leveling floor that is suitable for use in conjunction with heated floor technology. Requires periodic polishing.

All the finishing materials considered will help you make the perfect renovation, in which living will be pleasant and comfortable. Do not forget about environmental friendliness and try to select environmentally friendly finishing materials , this will preserve the health of you and your loved ones.

Modern materials for finishing walls in an apartment

Wallpaper

Are you looking for materials to decorate an apartment in a loft style or another modern design? Pay attention to the wallpaper (note that for the loft style, wallpaper that imitates brickwork may be suitable). In general, wallpaper is a popular material for wall decoration due to its extensive color range, many types and textures, as well as the low cost of products. A wide range and ease of use are why most buyers choose this material. Even a beginner can paste wallpaper on his own without the help of repair specialists.

What criteria should be used to choose such materials for finishing an apartment? First of all, wallpaper should not be afraid of moisture. It is also worth paying attention to their composition.

As for the resistance of wallpaper to moisture, they are divided into the following types:

• Classic paper wallpaper that is resistant to moisture. They can be used to decorate walls in the living room, bedroom or hallway. Such wallpaper is not suitable for renovating a bathroom or kitchen area.
• Moisture-resistant wallpaper coated with a special protective compound. However, they cannot be washed, you can only wipe them gently. Also cannot be used in the bathroom or kitchen.
• Washable wallpaper is quite suitable for rooms where humidity is high. They can be cleaned using a special detergent and sponge.

What innovations have appeared among wallpapers in the 21st century?

• Thermal wallpaper (“live” wallpaper)

An ultra-modern material whose name reflects its properties. “Live” wallpaper changes its color as the temperature changes, and a new pattern appears on the canvas. This unusual process occurs thanks to thermal ink applied to the paper web. Thermal wallpaper is suitable if you want to create an extraordinary design in the room.

In addition, covering walls with “live” wallpaper is easy. But do not forget that changing the color or developing a pattern on thermal wallpaper will require a change in temperature. Therefore, it is necessary to place heat sources in close proximity to walls with such a coating. Of course, using modern materials to decorate an apartment is not a cheap pleasure.

• Liquid wallpaper

When a completely natural and environmentally friendly material is needed, then liquid wallpaper is the best option to carry out renovations in a modern style. Using a spatula, liquid wallpaper is applied to the surface. To restore an area damaged during operation, you simply need to remove the area with the defect and then apply the compound again. Mold and mildew do not grow in this coating; it can be used even if you have allergies.

Another undeniable advantage is that you do not need to specially prepare the walls before applying liquid wallpaper. This material can be used for interior decoration in any style.

• Flexible stone

This type of modern wallpaper looks like an imitation of natural stone. The flexible stone is a thin textile fabric onto which polished sandstone has been glued. This technology is used to produce not only wallpaper, but also tiles. Liquid stone looks luxurious, does not react to ultraviolet radiation, and is durable.

Materials for finishing an apartment: list for the floor

When creating a design project for an apartment, floor finishing plays a special role in it. Floor coverings are divided into piece, sheet, monolithic and seamless. The specificity of floor repair is that it must look good and be warm, resistant to mechanical damage, and fit perfectly into the created interior design.

Each flooring has its own advantages:

• Parquet is an environmentally friendly, durable material. This finishing coating can be restored by scraping. Parquet will fit perfectly into any interior style.

• Ceramic tiles are most often used to finish the floor in the bathroom, kitchen, hallway, balcony or loggia. Resistant to sudden temperature changes, it is permissible to lay it on top of a warm floor.

• Laminate is an artificial finish that is somewhat similar to parquet, but at a lower cost. Please note that laminate flooring must be laid correctly, and the appropriate class must be selected, otherwise the coating will quickly become unusable.

• Tongue and groove boards are used for finishing floors in apartments and studios in a classic style.

• Linoleum is a budget-friendly finishing coating that can be used to renovate any home thanks to its wide range of colors and many patterns.

• The carpet can also be chosen in any color, it is pleasant to walk on, it will make your home more comfortable. However, maintaining such a coating will not be easy.

Requirements for finishing materials

There are several requirements that must be applied to materials used during finishing work.

The main ones among them are the following:

1. Environmental Safety.
2. High degree of hypoallergenicity.
3. Installation technology.
4. Technical and operational characteristics.

High-quality materials should not release toxic materials into the environment during use. The finishing should not provoke allergic reactions, especially in cases where one of the residents has a predisposition to this.

If you have a limited budget, you should consider using not only environmentally friendly and hypoallergenic materials, but also those that can be easily used for finishing yourself, without the involvement of specialists.

Among the technical and operational characteristics, you need to take into account:

• hygroscopicity;
• abrasion;
• resistance to temperature changes;
• resistance to sunlight;
• ease of maintenance of the finish.

For a bathroom, toilet, combined bathroom and kitchen, you need to choose materials that have increased moisture and bacteria resistance, as well as the ability to carry out regular wet cleaning.

When decorating a bedroom and children's room, you should give preference to environmentally friendly and breathable wall coverings that do not attract dust.

When choosing colors in the bedroom, you should give preference to pastel colors. In rooms with a minimum amount of natural light, walls are decorated with light-colored materials

It is recommended to decorate the walls of the hallway, corridor and living room with wear-resistant and durable material, which is due to the high traffic of these rooms and their high traffic.

Despite the large number of different materials on the market, the most popular are:

1. Traditional wallpaper.
2. Different types of plaster.
3. Dye.
4. Wooden lining.
5. Ceramic tile.

Among the cladding that has recently come into fashion, we can highlight laminated or plastic lining and artificial stone.

Materials for rough finishing of an apartment

During renovations, the most money is spent on purchasing materials for rough finishing. Professionals recommend not skimping on the quality of purchased materials. Otherwise, this may lead to unexpected expenses: redoing the repair due to the appearance of cracks, irregularities, and gaps. What to buy:

• Communications. This includes the electrical cable, everything required to connect the electrics to the panel, and the corrugation with which the wire is insulated. Despite the fact that the walls can be plastered, we recommend buying high-quality corrugation. You will also need water and sewer pipes and fittings so that you can connect them.

• Materials for leveling and cosmetic repairs of walls, floors, ceilings. This includes sand concrete, expanded clay, waterproofing, beacons, primer, and a composition for plastering surfaces.

• Consumables, which include: plastic film, drills, drills, diamond discs for grinders, screws, staplers, corners, rollers, brushes, sealant, tape for painting.

To buy materials for finishing an apartment, you will need to calculate their exact quantity, focusing on the final version of the design project. If you find it difficult to perform the calculations yourself, contact a construction company. Specialists will calculate the exact amount, dividing the repair work into stages.

You can begin cosmetic repairs strictly after completing all the rough work associated with the use of drywall. Turnkey finishing of an apartment, the material for which was plasterboard, has the following advantages:

• the surface of the walls will be smooth at a low cost of materials;
• installation of plasterboard sheets on a frame made of wood or metal occurs quickly, even a beginner can do such work;
• you can hide all communications behind a plasterboard structure;

• the opportunity to save on repair work, because you do not need to hire a team of professionals;
• you can decorate the walls and ceilings yourself.

Important! For each room you should use a specific type of drywall:

• standard material is suitable for use in warm rooms with normal humidity;
• for kitchen and bathroom renovations, plasterboard that is resistant to moisture is suitable;
• In rooms with high fire safety requirements, fire-resistant material should be used.

Modern flooring

When choosing finishing materials for flooring, you should take into account the purpose of the rooms of the apartment or house. For example, wooden flooring looks especially authentic in the kitchen, but it requires special care there. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that some synthetic materials can cause allergies in people living in the house.

Significant indicators include the appearance of the material, its moisture resistance, as well as the base on which the material will be installed.

Unusual types of tiles

For a long time, tiles have been the leader among floor coverings for bathrooms and kitchens; however, this is a rather “conservative” material that is difficult to improve. Only relatively recently have such variations of the usual surfaces appeared, such as volumetric, liquid and pebble tiles.

The volumetric tile has bizarre shapes: it is concave on one edge and convex on the other. Such tiles look especially impressive on the wall, giving the room a stylish and status look. It should be noted that installation of the material is complicated and therefore an expensive service.

Liquid tiles allow you to create a unique room design: they change color and image under mechanical influences. Liquid tiles are laid mainly on the floor - there their properties can be fully revealed.

Pebble tiles are used to decorate bathroom walls. It consists of many stones glued to a tile base.

Floor array

High-quality flooring is made from solid wood. This material replaces parquet. Production is simplified by the fact that technological processes such as sanding and varnishing are carried out in the factory. The solid board is laid in the same way as parquet - by gluing it to the base.

Artistic parquet

Modern technologies have also affected the production of parquet. Thus, artistic parquet is an expensive floor covering made from various types of wood. To create a pattern, panel parquet is used or decorative elements are combined with strips of piece parquet.

Marmoleum

An innovative flooring material is improved linoleum. This is an environmentally friendly coating made from natural raw materials.

Marmoleum does not warp or fade, has good thermal insulation properties, is non-toxic, and can withstand heavy loads without loss of performance.

Due to its low cost, this material will soon be able to replace the usual laminate.

Innovative finishing materials that have emerged fit harmoniously into any interior. The advantages of such materials are obvious: safety for the health of those living in the house, environmental friendliness, high wear resistance, original appearance. Innovative materials are expensive, but these costs are worth it.

Finishing the apartment: materials

What are the prices for finishing apartments with materials?

To answer this question, let’s figure out what the next stage of repair is – finishing. This term can be understood as different repair processes. To summarize, let’s say that this includes all finishing work, which is easier to perform and not as large-scale as compared to rough repairs. After finishing the apartment, you can move in and live.

Determining how much it costs to decorate an apartment and materials can be quite difficult. The reason is that repairs can be divided into the following stages: roughing, pre-finishing and direct finishing. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between stages of work, so there is some blur between them.

Refer to this plate to understand what materials are needed to carry out final repairs.

Materials for finishing walls in the hallway of an apartment

When selecting materials for finishing the hallway, do not forget that this is where the finishing coating often gets water and dirt (from umbrellas and boots), and it also experiences mechanical stress (pet claws, sled runners, and so on). As a result, the finishing material quickly becomes unusable. If you don't want to redecorate your hallway every year, choose a high-quality finish for the floors and walls that is easy to clean.

Dye

The most practical and budget option for finishing walls is to paint them. What paint should I use? The ideal option for the hallway is latex, silicate, silicone or acrylic paints. They dry instantly and you can choose any color. The painted surface is easy to clean from dirt, this is the main advantage of the paint.

Decorative plaster

If you need an unusual and beautiful coating, choose decorative plaster. A variety of compositions and fillers allow you to create a glossy coating. In addition to its excellent decorative properties, plaster is suitable for use in the hallway for the following reasons:

• the finishing coating is monolithic;
• the material is environmentally friendly, breathable;
• the coating is strong, will last for many years, and is not afraid of mechanical stress (pet claws);

• has antistatic properties, such a surface is easy to clean;
• the rough surface should not be perfectly smooth and even (compared to painting): the solution will fill all the unevenness and hide small imperfections.

Wallpaper

Different in price and durability, they differ significantly in cost. The paper version now costs at least 600 rubles/roll. This is a traditional option, eco-friendly and simple. But their service life is short. And textile ones - from 1900 rubles/roll. This type of wallpaper uses silk, wool and linen thread with an admixture of artificial materials.

Liquid wallpaper (from 55 rub/m2) may also be interesting. They are applied with a roller or spray gun. Diluted with paint (water-based). Their composition is based on cotton, cellulose and textile fibers. Therefore, they adhere perfectly to any surface, have no seams and can be either smooth or textured.

Screen printing has a silk thread in the surface of the material. They are created dark or contrasting. Then the drawing catches the eye and creates a special comfort at home. Refers to vinyl wallpaper. The uniqueness of this type is its tendency to “wash itself” (the average cost is from 950 rubles, but there are cheaper and more expensive ones). As well as wear resistance and antifungal resistance.