Apartment and house renovation in Mangaļsala - for summer houses converted for living

From the summer houses of Mangaļi parish to year-round homes

Because of its closeness to Riga, the former Mangaļi parish essentially became a summer house area, but Mangaļsala was incorporated into Riga only on 7 September 1960; a 1938 description mentions the village's houses as old, with reed roofs. In Soviet times there was a village of the “9. maijs” fishermen's collective farm here, with a fish processing complex, a ship repair base and a fishing port. Today Mangaļsala has detached houses, summer house and low-rise development, as well as port and military heritage sites in a setting of coastal forests and dunes.

For a renovation this means that one street can have both a long-inhabited detached house and a summer house in which people previously lived only in summer. In the first, the work can be renovating the interior and fitting out a bathroom or a kitchen. In the second, you first need to understand whether the building can be warm and dry in winter, and only then choose the finishing. If a building is older than 50 years, the City Development Department of Riga, when reviewing a construction intention, can assign it a cultural and historical value.

The village's central street is formed by Albatrosu iela, Veiksmes iela and Traleru iela, and on the even-numbered side of Albatrosu iela there are four- and five-storey apartment buildings. If your apartment is in such a building, the renovation is an apartment renovation with common property: the riser is common property, so replacing it needs a decision of the apartment owners' association, and the work is organised by the building manager. See riser replacement in Mangaļsala and full renovation.

Converting a summer house for living: the order of work

Turning a summer house into a year-round home is not one job but a sequence of several jobs. If one of them is skipped, the next may have to be redone.

1. Structure and floor The floor base, walls and roof are assessed; if the floor is on timber joists, you decide whether to restore it or build it anew.
2. Electricity The service entry and wiring are checked. A reconstructed installation needs residual current protection.
3. Water, sewage and bathroom A bathroom is fitted out or reconstructed with waterproofing and ventilation.
4. Heat The heating is chosen, possibly underfloor heating, and insulation is added where it is needed.
5. Finishing Only then are the walls painted, the floor coverings laid and the doors installed.

More on this work: summer house renovation and private house renovation.

Access to the house: what to write

In a coastal neighbourhood the streets can be sandy. In the request, describe how to reach the house and whether materials can be unloaded at the gate. If you use the house seasonally, write whether it has electricity and water in winter too.

• The building: a summer house, a detached house or an apartment in a low-rise house.
• The time of construction and the material (wooden, masonry, frame).
• Area in m² and the number of floors.
• The heating now and the planned heating.
• Whether you plan an extension or building out a roof storey.
• The condition of the rooms, floors and the outside of the building.

An extension or a roof storey: a question of documents

If rooms are added to a summer house or a roof storey is built out, the volume of the building changes, and under the Construction Law it is a reconstruction. Technical improvements without changing load-bearing structures, the volume, the type of use or the facade are a simplified renovation. The regulations have no separate type called “room replanning”, so the type of document is chosen according to the content of the work, and a designer can recommend the most suitable one.

Approval of a reconstruction in Mangaļsala goes through the Riga municipality's City Development Department (formerly the Riga City Building Board), with documents submitted in the Construction Information System. If an explanatory memorandum or a building permit is needed, work may be started only after the building board's mark that the starting conditions have been met. For interior finishing without reconstruction, such as painting walls or changing the floor covering, no documents are needed. If the building's type of use changes from a summer house to a residential house, the designer will recommend the type of document. See attic renovation.

Floor and underfloor heating in a coastal house

If a floor is built anew on a concrete base, the screed must dry before the covering. The manufacturer Quick-Step states that a new concrete floor takes a long time to dry and that under laminate the moisture must be below 2.5%, and with floor heating below 1.5% (CM method); Ceresit gives different figures for its levelling compound, so follow the manufacturer of the chosen covering.

The groundwater in Mangaļsala is mostly shallower than 1.5 m, so before a covering on a ground-floor slab resting on the ground, the moisture of the base must be known.

Underfloor heating in a private house is the owner's decision, with no common property questions. Electric heating needs residual current protection, and if there is floor heating under laminate, Quick-Step states that the surface of the base must not be warmer than 28.8 °C. See underfloor heating and floor screed.

A bathroom in a house that is not heated in winter

If a bathroom is fitted out in a summer house that is not yet heated, the working time must be matched to the temperature. The manufacturer states that Ceresit CL 51 waterproofing is applied at +5 to +30 °C, in at least two coats, with tape fitted in the joints; collars are used for pipes and drains. For paint, Tikkurila requires a surface no cooler than +5 °C and air humidity no higher than 80%.

In a residential building the bathroom and toilet are ventilated through natural exhaust ducts, so ventilation must also be provided in a summer house. The wiring is checked before finishing: the Fire Safety Regulations currently in force require a check of the wiring once every 10 years. See bathroom renovation and bathroom waterproofing.

Prices in Mangaļsala

• Cosmetic renovation: from €100/m² of apartment area.
• Full renovation: from €280/m² of apartment area.
• Laying underfloor heating: from €16/m².
• Laying laminate: from €6.50/m².

Prices are for labour. Materials are calculated separately in the estimate. For a house the price is by estimate; an example: laminate in an 18 m² room, 18 × €6.50 = from €117 (labour). For converting a summer house, the total is determined more by the condition of the structure and by whether wiring and pipes are changed than by the finishing. An exact estimate can be made after seeing the house.

Work: summer house renovation in Mangaļsala, underfloor heating in Mangaļsala, laminate laying in Mangaļsala, bathroom renovation in Mangaļsala.