Flat renovation order of works: what to do first

Demolition and stripping out come before anything else

Before anything new goes in, everything that is coming out needs to come out: old flooring, skirting boards, tired kitchen units, wallpaper down to the plaster, and any partition walls you are removing. Doing this first means every trade afterwards is working with the real shape and condition of the flat, not guessing what is behind a cupboard.

This is the stage to check what you are actually dealing with. In older Tallinn buildings, especially wooden houses in Kalamaja or Nõmme, stripping a wall can reveal rot, old wiring routed in unexpected places, or a floor structure that needs more than cosmetic work. In Soviet-era panel flats it more often reveals concrete panel walls that cannot be chased as freely as plasterboard.

One point worth stating plainly: load-bearing walls are not something to open up or remove on your own judgement, and we do not touch them either. If a wall you want gone looks structural, or you are not sure, that is a question for a structural specialist before any hammer comes out.

Plumbing and electrical work happen before the walls are closed up

Once the space is stripped back, this is the point to move or add pipework and wiring, while the walls and floor are still open. Bathroom and kitchen plumbing — new pipe runs, moved drains, a relocated boiler connection — needs to go in and be pressure tested before any wall covering goes back over it.

Electrics follow the same logic: new circuits, sockets moved to sensible places, additional lighting points, all done and inspected before plasterboard or plaster closes the wall. Getting this wrong is expensive to fix later, because it means opening a finished wall to reach a cable or a pipe joint.

This is also the stage where it pays to actually decide where furniture, appliances and light fittings will sit, since sockets and switches are far cheaper to place correctly now than to add afterwards. Plumbing work from us starts at 45 € per hour, and electrical work, done by a qualified electrician, from 49 € per hour — both worth booking before the plasterer arrives, not after.

Plastering and levelling come before flooring and paint

With services in and tested, walls get plastered or skimmed and the floor gets levelled. This is unglamorous work but it decides how everything after it looks: a wall that is not flat will show every flaw once it is painted, and a floor that is not level will cause problems with tiles, laminate or parquet later.

Self-levelling compound on the floor needs the right drying time before anything goes down on top of it, and that time is easy to underestimate. Rushing this step because you want to see flooring going in is one of the most common ways a renovation timeline slips.

Dust from plastering gets everywhere, including into places you have already cleaned, so it makes sense to finish all of it — walls and floor — before moving on to anything that needs a clean surface to bond to, such as tile adhesive or paint.

Flooring, then tiling, then final surfaces

Once walls and floor are level and dry, flooring goes down first in the rooms that will have it: laminate, parquet, vinyl. In wet rooms, tiling comes next, and only after any underfloor heating cables or mats are laid, tested and signed off — tiling over an untested heating element is a costly mistake to discover later.

Skirting boards and door architraves go on after the flooring, not before, since they need to sit against the finished floor level. This is also the point to fit the bathroom's fixed fittings, such as a shower tray or a bath, before the final wall tiles go around them.

• Flooring laid in dry rooms before wet-room tiling begins
• Underfloor heating tested before tiles go down over it
• Skirting and architraves fitted after flooring, not before
• Bath or shower tray positioned before surrounding tiles are set
• Grout left to cure fully before the room is used

Painting and finishing touches come right at the end

Paint is the last trade in, once every dust-producing job is finished. Sanding plaster, cutting tiles and fitting flooring all throw up dust that settles on wet paint and ruins a finish, so painting before those jobs are done means painting twice.

This is also when skirting gets its final coat if it was primed earlier, switch plates and socket covers go back on, and any sealant around the bath, worktop or window reveals gets applied. Curtain rails, shelving and other fixings that go into a finished wall come after painting, not before.

A full flat renovation coordinated end to end, from stripping out to final finishes, is something we quote as a fixed job from 180 €, once we have seen the flat or photos of it — useful if you would rather one team followed this order than manage several trades yourself.

When to call a specialist and when to manage it yourself

Demolition of non-structural partitions, stripping old surfaces, painting and fitting skirting are all within reach of a competent DIYer with time and the right tools. What tends to go wrong is sequencing and patience: skipping drying times, painting before dust work is finished, or tiling before pipework is confirmed sound.

Plumbing and electrical work are where it is worth calling someone in even if you are doing the rest yourself, both because mistakes there are hidden behind walls until they cause damage, and because electrical work needs a qualified electrician regardless. Gas work and anything touching a load-bearing wall are outside what we do at all, and need a specialist from the start.

If you are coordinating several contractors rather than doing the work yourself, the sequence in this guide is still the one to hold them to: services before closing walls, plastering before flooring, and painting last. A contractor working out of order is usually a sign to ask questions before they go further.