Whether you bought an old home or inherited one there is a good chance that you want to do some sort of renovations. Usually the kitchen and the bathroom are the first to taste the sledge hammer as they were built small in the old days and, in the case of kitchens, with one doorway.

Planning

The key to any interior remodel is the planning. It's good to visualize but trying to relate your thoughts to a contractor is frustrating on both sides. Having a drawn layout, no matter how rough, is the best first attack. It let's you know what can moved into which space.

The best way is to get graph paper. Then meaure out the rooms and, using 1 space per foot, get a diagram to scale so that you know how much space you have. You can increase the scale later for deatiled work.

Walls

Older homes were compartmentalized, usually with doors on all the openings to the rooms. This gave the homeowner control of which rooms to heat because many of the homes built in the first half of the 20century never had central heating. When the central heating boom came into being the doors were taken off and the air could flow more freely. However, to enlarge spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms usually a wall into another space has to be removed. If you are lucky this may not be a load-bearing wall.

Load-Bearing Walls: A load-bearing wall is crucial to holding up the roof trusses. They can also be in the basement to support the floorboards. These walls are perpendicular to the joists above so that the joists rest directly on the wall header. To remove this wall without supporting the roof would result in the roof sagging and, if there was a heavy load like wet snow placed upon it, a collapse.

To properly move a load-bearing wall first a supporting structure like a beam or jack-post must be put in to support the weight. Then, after a permanent support has been put in place these can be taken out. Your contractor will know how to do this and will probably get an engineer involved. In other cases a wall will just have to be moved a few feet. A new wall will be built in the selected spot and then the old one can be taken out because the new one is now supporting the beam.

Kitchen

In most cases a galley kitchen needs to be enlarged or at least opened up to allow access to the kitchen through a space carved out of the wall. Usually the dining room is parallel so if you don't want to open up into that space a portal will allow access For an open kitchen this wall may have to be moved or taken out to accommodate the new cabinets and appliances.

Plumbing: Another consideration when the old kitchen cabinets are taken out is to look for any leaks. Sometimes imperfections in the plumbing can drip water completely out of sight. If there is mold and the walls are wet you'll have to case the moisture. If there is then there is a good chance that the studs behind are soft and will have to be cut out and replaced. This goes for the flooring. (Make sure that any leaks behind the cabinets are contained and do not go under the flooring.) Your plumber will be able to clear this up.

Flooring: Sometimes the flooring people can use your existing floor as a base for a new floor. If the floor is sound (doesn't squeak), and doesn't need too much leveling, then this is possible. Otherwise a new subfloor may have to be put down.

A "hump" or depression in the floor means that the supports below have to be addressed. The raised area may mean that the supports below have been raised upward during the steeling of the home years before. The sub flooring may have to taken off and the offending beams may need to be planed down. A depression means that the floor is not supported properly and an extra beam may have to be put in downstairs.

Bathroom

As in the case of the kitchen, the same applies in the bathroom. However, the moisture problem here may be more acute because this is a closed off area with plenty of moving water. Most contractors will gut a bathroom if new fixtures are going in so these problems will come out and can easily be fixed. It is imperative to check the bathroom floor for moisture problems.

Livingroom

Unless a wall has to be removed a livingroom is a pretty straight forward remodel. You may want a built-in bookcase, or the wall to the staircase opened up, but there is no water involved. In addition, the floorboards may have to be quieted.

Electrician

In any remodel there is always a change in outlets and switches. The electrician can evaluate the power needed for these changes, especially in the kitchen.

A general contractor will be able to sort out all these concerns and make whatever remodel you may require. For more information on interior remodeling