Apartment renovation in Imanta - for grey five-storey and white nine-storey buildings

Grey five-storey buildings, white nine-storey buildings and brick towers

A Riga neighbourhood portal writes that the buildings of Imanta are dominated by grey 464 and 467 series buildings and white nine-storey 602 series panel buildings with balconies outside the plane of the facade. The multi-storey development between Kurzemes prospekts and Anniņmuižas bulvāris occupies about 153 ha. The portal also mentions 16-storey red brick buildings built at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, while Wikipedia mentions 104 series and Czech-project buildings in Imanta.

The 464 series is built of grey reinforced concrete panels with gypsum concrete partition walls, and its kitchens are small. According to nopo.lv, typical problems are waterproofing, worn risers and electrical wiring, and the panel walls are hard to replan. In the 602 series the load-bearing walls are expanded clay concrete panels, and all the internal walls are usually load-bearing. So moving walls must be assessed against the building's design, and the renovation work can touch what is in the walls and the floor.

If your apartment is in a 16-storey brick building or a Czech-project building, check the walls and bathroom against the apartment plan or the building's documents, and describe the layout in the request. The same applies to the new projects built in Imanta next to the Soviet estates.

Kurzemes prospekts, Jūrmalas gatve and the request

Kurzemes prospekts crosses Imanta, Jūrmalas gatve and the railway pass by it, and Kārļa Ulmaņa gatve is nearby. The inner courtyards are wide, and the railway affects which street a particular building can be reached from, so write from which side the entrance is and where materials can be unloaded near the building.

• series (464, 467, 602, 104, Czech project or brick high-rise);
• the floor and the size of the lift, if there is one;
• the area in m², the number of rooms and which rooms you will renovate;
• whether the bathroom and toilet are combined and whether you will change the risers;
• whether you will renovate a balcony or a loggia;
• a short description of the condition of the rooms; you can send photos or a plan to the specialist when they contact you.

If you will choose the materials yourself, write that too. If you will live in the apartment during the renovation, mention which rooms must stay usable.

Bathroom in a panel building: order of work and common property

A bathroom renovation in an Imanta panel building goes in this order: demolition down to the wall and floor, pipes from the riser to the plumbing fixtures, floor levelling with a slope, waterproofing, tiles and fitting the plumbing. The riser is the common property of the apartment owners, so if it is changed, the work is agreed with the building manager. A hatch is left for the riser, because the building manager's specialists must be allowed access to it.

For waterproofing the manufacturer Ceresit recommends at least two coats of CL 51 up to a dry layer of 0.5 mm; tiling can start about 2 hours after the second coat, if the temperature and humidity allow. For CM 17 tile adhesive the manufacturer requires it to cover at least 65% of the underside of the tile. See bathroom renovation in Imanta and bathroom waterproofing.

602 and 467 series: what changes in a full renovation

The kitchen in the 602 series is about 7–8 m², while the bathroom layout differs by apartment. For the 467 series nopo.lv mentions a separate bathroom and a layout similar to the 602 series, as well as worn water pipes and wiring. In a full renovation in such apartments you can replace the whole installation, the pipes, the screed and the finish. If the installation is reconstructed, from 01.07.2025 it must be fitted with residual current protection, so the apartment's distribution board is planned together with the wiring.

If you nevertheless need an opening in a load-bearing wall, approval of reconstruction in Imanta is handled by the City Development Department of the Riga municipality (formerly the Riga City Building Board). An explanatory memorandum, an architect, a structural engineer and the consent of more than half of the apartment owners are also needed. See 602 series apartment renovation, 467 series apartment renovation and full renovation in Imanta.

A balcony outside the facade and a loggia

For the white 602 series buildings in Imanta the balconies are outside the plane of the facade. The external structures of balconies are common property, so repairing the slab and the railings is a decision of the owners' association, while the floor covering and the interior finish are apartment renovation. The annex to Riga's Territory Use Regulations has standard loggia glazing solutions for the 464, 467, 602 and 104 series; if you use them, no building design is needed.

Before glazing a balcony, consult the building board and the building manager. If you want to join a balcony or a loggia to a room, it affects common property, because the external structures belong to all the owners. So the consent of the owners' association is needed, and the other requirements are found out from the building board. In the request, write the dimensions of the balcony and whether the door unit will stay. See balcony renovation in Imanta and loggia renovation.

What renovation costs in Imanta

• Bathroom renovation (all the work): from €3,000
• Full renovation: from €280/m² of apartment area
• Tiling: from €24/m²
• Electrical wiring replacement in an apartment: from €20/m² of apartment area

Prices are for labour, and materials are in a separate part of the estimate. Example: a 3-room apartment of 60 m², full renovation: 60 × €280 = from €16,800 (labour). If you replace only the wiring in a 2-room apartment of 50 m²: 50 × €20 = from €1,000. The price of a bathroom is changed by its area, the tile size and whether the riser is changed. An exact estimate can be made after seeing the apartment. All prices: renovation prices.