So, if you ever happened to renovate your home especially if you are doing it in an apartment? Then you know what I am talking about!
Hi everyone, this is my journal about the renovation I am doing in my apartment. I am in this mess for the last 4 months and I have decided to share with you my journey.

Whether you are looking to do renovations in your place, or you already did renovate your place, in that case, you know what I am talking about, you never know when you will need to do some changes to your home, you should read this, it might help you in the near or far future.

Why nightmare you are asking? Read all my episodes and you will understand what I am talking about.
I found out doing my research for a contractor, replacing contractors in the middle of the work, and talking to other apartment owners, that it doesn’t matter which contractor you are working with, there are some differences but all are very similar in what they do and how they do it.

Let’s start with getting a permit.
If you are renovating a house, you are one of the lucky ones, usually, you can get away with renovating without having to get a permit, unless you have a nasty neighbor that will complain about you.

If you are renovating an apartment, this is an entirely different story, you must have a permit for everything you are doing, starting with a permit for replacing floors, even if you are installing the floors on top of the old ones. Removing or adding walls, changing electricity outlets, or adding lights. Removing dropdown ceilings, changing plumbing, and in an old building you also need the permission of the building for changing a faucet, Yeah I know that sounds crazy but it’s true. In some of the old buildings, the valve for shooting down the water is for all the floors that are above each other and it’s not possible to shut down the water only for your apartment 😫. Also, some buildings will charge you $100 to shut down the water and you will have to fill out a request form at least a few days in advance. Why you are asking? becouse they can.

Getting a permit from your city will require you to go back and forth until you are exhausted, so get in shape before you start. They will request an architect plan for everything and for every change you want to make after submitting the project you will wait another week or 2 and pay extra.
Bottom line, for renovating the kitchen and the bathroom and replacing floors in my apartment it took me 4 months to get all the permits.
Finally, Last week we started the work.

Next episode, renovate your half-bath, joyful event, prepare your gas mask.