Citeste articolul in romana → Renovare completa apartament de bloc: ce include si ce schimba
A full renovation of a bloc apartment takes everything back to the concrete. The old plaster, screed, installations, windows and doors all come out, and everything goes back in new. Only the structure, the shared risers and the façade stay. A partial renovation keeps whatever is in good condition and still fits the plan for the whole flat. Either way, a designed renovation changes more than the finishes: storage, light and a flat that works, for roughly the same budget.
In short
Full renovation: everything back to the concrete, every system new up to the shared risers. You start from a clean, known base.
Partial renovation: you keep what's sound and fits the plan, like good screed or a recent window, and replace the rest.
What always stays: the structural walls, the shared risers, the façade and the ceiling height.
Design decides the furniture first. Sockets, switches, lights and pipes follow it, not the other way round.
Spend on what you touch every day and can't easily change later: installations, waterproofing, windows, floors, kitchen hardware. Save on what you can change later.
Most of a full renovation needs no approval. Moving a wet room, touching the riser, closing the balcony or removing a wall does.
What does "full renovation" mean in a bloc apartment?
Back to the concrete. Everything that isn't structure, riser or façade comes out and is rebuilt new.
What comes out:
old plaster and wall finishes, down to the concrete or brick;
the floor build-up: old screed, parquet, linoleum, tiles;
all electrical wiring, the panel, sockets and switches;
all supply and drain pipes inside the flat, up to the connection to the riser;
the bathroom and kitchen, entirely;
interior doors and, in most cases, the windows;
non-structural partitions you're replacing, once an engineer has confirmed they really are non-structural.
What stays:
the structural walls and slabs;
the shared risers (coloanele), which are common property (Law 196/2018, art. 35 alin. (1) lit. e));
the façade and the window openings;
the ceiling height. Every centimetre of new floor build-up comes off it.
Why go back to the concrete? In a flat decades old, you don't know what's behind the old finishes: patched wiring, cracked screed, damp in the plaster. Taking it all out turns unknowns into a known base, so the crew prices one clear job instead of discovering surprises halfway through.
Full or partial: which do you need?
Full when the systems are old or unknown. Partial when parts of the flat are recent, sound and fit the plan.
Go full if: the wiring is original, the pipes are old steel, the screed is cracked or uneven, or you're changing the layout of more than one room.
Go partial if: the installations were replaced recently and documented, the windows are new and sound, or the floors are level and fit the new design.
What partial is not: keeping things because they're there. Every element you keep has to pass two tests: it's in good condition, and it fits the plan for the whole flat. A good parquet in the wrong colour for the rest of the flat fails the second.
What gets replaced, system by system?
Seven systems. Decide each one before demolition, because each shapes the next.
Electrical: a new panel with circuit breakers and RCD protection, copper wiring with earthing, and separate circuits for the kitchen, the bathroom, the oven or hob and the AC. If you add an induction hob, AC or an electric boiler, check the approved power (puterea aprobata) on your electricity supply contract.
Plumbing: new supply and drain pipes from the fixtures to the riser connection, with shut-off valves. The riser itself belongs to the association.
Heating: decide early whether you stay on district heating or switch to your own boiler. It changes where pipes and radiators go, and a boiler needs a gas project by an authorised designer.
Windows: new windows with trickle vents. Keep the frame colour and divisions the building uses, and check the association's rules.
Ventilation: an extractor fan in the bathroom into the existing duct, with a non-return valve, and a kitchen hood. Airtight new windows without ventilation bring condensation and mould.
Screed and plaster: a new levelled screed with an acoustic layer under it for the neighbours below, and new plaster or plasterboard on the walls.
Doors: new interior doors and, usually, a new entrance door.
What changes room by room?
Each room has one decision that matters more than the finishes.
Hallway: full-height built-in storage for coats, shoes, the vacuum and the things that otherwise end up in the living room. Decide where the electrical panel goes.
Kitchen: the order of work (fridge, sink, hob) along the counter, units up to the ceiling, enough worktop between the sink and the hob, and sockets where you'll actually use them. A hood ducted to the outside, where possible.
Bathroom: fixtures placed within the existing wet zone, waterproofing under the tiles, and a decision on where the washing machine goes.
Living room: the furniture plan comes first. It decides where the TV, sockets, switches and light points go. Plan lighting in layers (ceiling, task, accent), not one central fitting.
Bedrooms: a built-in wardrobe wall, floor to ceiling. The bed position decides the sockets, switches and reading lights on each side.
Balcony: open or closed, and if closed, insulated or not. It decides whether the balcony is a room or storage.
Planning a full renovation and not sure where to start? Book a free 45-minute Office Hours session, send us your floor plan and photos, and we'll help you turn them into a scope you can take to contractors: what to strip, what to keep, and what needs design or approval first.
What does design change for the same budget?
Not the price of the tiles. The order of decisions, and what they add up to.
Decisions made on paper, before demolition. Moving a socket on a drawing costs nothing. Moving it after the walls are plastered costs a crew day and a repair.
Storage built in, not added later. Full-height wardrobes and kitchen units use the wall up to the ceiling. Loose furniture leaves the top 60 cm empty and fills the floor.
Light where you spend time. Light wall and floor finishes, glass panels in interior doors, and lighting planned around the furniture, not centred on the ceiling.
Fewer materials, chosen once. One floor finish throughout with no thresholds, one family of wall colours, one wood. It reads as one flat, not six rooms done at different times.
A plan that works without moving walls. Clear walking routes, doors that don't hit furniture, a place for everything you own.
One coherent look. Calm, practical and built to last, rather than a collection of trends with a visible date stamp.
What can't design change in a bloc?
Four things. A good design works with them instead of fighting them.
The structural walls. In a panel bloc, many interior walls are structural. Any opening needs a structural engineer, a design and approval.
The riser position. Bathrooms and kitchens stay close to it. Moving them far needs space under the floor for the drain to fall, and a notification.
The façade and the windows. You can replace the windows, not move them.
The ceiling height. Every layer of floor build-up and every suspended ceiling takes from it.
Where should you spend more, and where can you save?
Spend on what you touch every day and what's hard to change later. Save on what you can change in a weekend.
Worth spending on:
installations and waterproofing, which end up hidden in walls and floors;
windows, for heat, noise and condensation;
floors, which you walk on every day and which are hard to replace;
kitchen hardware (hinges, drawer runners) and taps, which you use dozens of times a day;
built-in storage, which you can't add later without redoing walls and sockets.
Where you can save, at first:
paint, which is easy to redo;
decorative light fittings, as long as the light points are in the right places;
loose furniture and textiles, which can come later.
Standard versus better finish is mostly about durability and detail: thicker parquet that can be sanded again, better door hardware, tiles laid with narrow joints, worktops that don't stain. The installations and waterproofing should be the same standard at every level.
In what order does a full renovation happen?
Ten stages. Getting the order wrong is the most expensive mistake.
Survey and design: the flat measured, the furniture plan, installations and finishes decided.
Approvals, if any work needs them (a moved wet room, the riser, the balcony, a wall).
Strip-out: everything back to the concrete, with the debris taken away legally.
First fix: new pipes and cable routes, before the walls are closed.
Tests: a pressure test on the pipes and checks on the electrical circuits, before anything is covered.
Screed and plaster.
Windows, if not done earlier.
Waterproofing and tiling in the bathroom and kitchen.
Second fix: the kitchen, doors, sockets, fittings, sanitaryware, floors, paint.
Snagging and handover: a list of defects fixed, as-built drawings of the installations, and the handover record (proces-verbal de receptie), which is mandatory for every building work (Law 169/2026, art. 299 alin. (5)).
In what order does a full renovation happen?
Ten stages. Getting the order wrong is the most expensive mistake.
Survey and design: the flat measured, the furniture plan, installations and finishes decided.
Approvals, if any work needs them (a moved wet room, the riser, the balcony, a wall).
Strip-out: everything back to the concrete, with the debris taken away legally.
First fix: new pipes and cable routes, before the walls are closed.
Tests: a pressure test on the pipes and checks on the electrical circuits, before anything is covered.
Screed and plaster.
Windows, if not done earlier.
Waterproofing and tiling in the bathroom and kitchen.
Second fix: the kitchen, doors, sockets, fittings, sanitaryware, floors, paint.
Snagging and handover: a list of defects fixed, as-built drawings of the installations, and the handover record (proces-verbal de receptie), which is mandatory for every building work (Law 169/2026, art. 299 alin. (5)).
Example: a two-room panel-bloc flat, same walls, designed
An illustrative composite, not a single project.
The flat: about 50 m², a 1970s panel bloc, semidecomandat: the bedroom is reached through the living room. A narrow hallway, a small closed kitchen, a bathroom with no window, the original installations.
What was wrong: nowhere to put coats, the fridge in the hallway, the living room crossed diagonally on the way to the bedroom, one light in the middle of each ceiling, three floor finishes and two door heights.
What changed, with no wall moved:
Hallway: a full-height built-in wardrobe along one wall for coats, shoes and cleaning things. The electrical panel moved inside it.
Kitchen: re-planned in an L, with tall units to the ceiling. The fridge is integrated in the kitchen, out of the hallway. A ducted hood and sockets along the worktop.
Bathroom: fixtures rearranged within the wet zone. The washing machine went under a worktop, with the extractor fan into the existing duct.
Living room:
the route to the bedroom kept as a clear strip along one side;
a storage wall with the TV on the other side;
lighting in three zones.
Bedroom: a wardrobe wall, the bed placed first, and the sockets and reading lights placed from it.
Throughout: one floor finish with no thresholds, an acoustic layer under the screed, doors at one height with glass panels toward the hallway, and one family of colours.
The result: the same walls and the same square metres, but every room has storage, the hallway gets light, and the flat reads as one place instead of six rooms.
Turn your flat into a scope you can price
In a free, 45-minute Office Hours call, an architect goes through your flat with you: what to strip and what to keep, what each room needs, which works need design, an engineer or approval, and how to write a scope contractors can price the same way.
Bring: the cadastral plan or any floor plan, photos of every room, the electrical panel and the bathroom, a list of what bothers you about the flat now, and your timeline.
No pitch, no obligation. Pick a time below; it shows in your local time.
Renovating in Romania: all articles
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