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When we are looking for housing on the secondary market, we often see the names of houses in ads – Khrushchev, Stalin, Brezhnevka. It is clear that these are not new buildings, but how do they differ and which are better and which are worse? We will talk about all the differences and problems of each group below.
Stalinki
Stalinki called all the houses built during the reign of Stalin. This is from the 30s to the late 50s. He died in 1953, but they built according to the same projects until 1958. In any case, the houses are all old. Pre-war – two-story – almost all have been demolished, and those that remain are better not to be considered for purchase. Too old housing. Repair will require many times more than the cost of the apartment. In addition, the Stalinist barrack-type houses. This means that the shared kitchen and bathrooms are on the floor. Not at all the level of comfort to which we are already accustomed.
Pros
After the war, it was necessary to solve the “housing problem”. First of all, they began to build houses for the “nomenklatura” – officials, party members and managers. These houses are distinguished by a more thoughtful layout, thick walls, and excellent sound insulation.
Those stalins that were built for “simpler” people can have good audibility. Not the same as in the panels, but also decent. And in general, it is rather difficult to talk about “characteristic” features with the Stalinists. Many projects, many differences, different implementation. Each house must be looked at personally and carefully, even if they stand side by side and were built at about the same time.
In general, all Stalinists can be recognized by their appearance, which is very recognizable – monumental walls, maybe stucco molding for decorating facades, high windows. They all have one thing in common – high ceilings. It is high ceilings that are one of the main advantages for which many of these apartments are bought despite the shortcomings.
The second plus is the layout. Usually these are large separate rooms, wide / high windows, a large corridor with an entrance hall, a spacious kitchen and a bathroom. From the merits – that’s all.
Cons of Stalin’s houses
The main and main drawback of stalins is that they are old. This means that you will have to invest in repairs, and not just repair everything. Not everything can be repaired. The main difficulty and a huge minus is wooden floors. To change them is cheaper to destroy everything and build a new house. Therefore, if the floors become unusable, the houses are demolished.
Even if the floor beams are in normal or good condition (there is such a thing, and this is after 70 years and more!), Then you still cannot make a concrete screed. The bearing capacity of the foundation and floor will not allow adding such weight. You will either have to lay wooden floors again, or use new flooring technologies.
So, if you are considering Stalin, keep in mind that your floors will creak. But, worse, they will also creak at the neighbors above you. And if the house is from the “simpler” category, then the chandelier can swing when someone walks in the apartment upstairs.
Note that not all stalinkas with wooden floors, there are also concrete ones. These are some houses built after 1950. Here problems with creaking floors are solved. The floors are still wooden, but you can remove them, and level the slab with self-leveling floors. It’s just that it’s impossible to fill in a thick layer – the bearing capacity of the foundation is still not so great. However, creaking in stalins with concrete floors is not a big problem.
Another disadvantage of Stalin-era houses is the crooked walls. The requirements for the quality of housing after the war were low, and no one tried to make perfectly even walls. In some houses, the partitions are not made of stone, but of shingles clogged with plaster. Sometimes you can’t even hang a shelf on such walls – nails don’t hold. And the plaster often just crumbles, you just need to press it a little. Sometimes it can even stick to the wallpaper. In this case, you will also have to carry out major repairs to the walls. But again, it is impossible to build brick partitions – they are too heavy. Can be plasterboard or lightweight wall foam blocks.
We advise you to read the article “Walls and partitions made of drywall”.
Another of the minuses is that there is no garbage chute, often there is no elevator, there is no centralized supply of hot water, there may be problems with the pressure of cold water, old wiring that needs to be changed from the shield. Nevertheless, all these shortcomings are compensated by the layout and height of the ceilings. If you are ready to invest in repairs, housing will be cozy and comfortable.
Khrushchevka
When Khrushchev came to power in 1953, he decided to provide housing for young Soviet families. For this, projects of prefabricated high-rise buildings were developed. There was even a series of houses that were built in 45 days – these are the worst of the panels. Nothing of high quality can be built in a month and a half, even if panel blocks are used.
Pros
Khrushchev has only two advantages:
- The first is the cheapest housing.
- The second is the absence of load-bearing partitions inside the apartment.
Bearing walls are the walls separating apartments from one another. Why is it good? The absence of load-bearing partitions inside Khrushchev facilitates redevelopment.
Unfortunately, the original plan can be so absurd that it’s impossible to reschedule properly. Some improvements can be made, but global ones will not work. The main rule that will have to be observed is that wet areas (kitchen and bathroom) should remain in place. You can swap the bath and kitchen (for example), but you won’t be able to move or move the wall of the bathroom or kitchen even a little bit into the corridor. No one will approve such a redevelopment.
Possible problems and cons
There are brick and panel Khrushchevs. Brick is slightly better in terms of sound insulation and heat saving. With panel usually things are worse. Some panels have disgusting soundproofing – you can record the conversations of your neighbors in detail. Soundproofing depends not only on the project, but also often on the quality/thickness of the panels.
Regardless of the materials, Khrushchevs have a very small kitchen and bathroom – these are the main problems. Khrushchev believed that the Soviet family could eat in canteens in order to relieve the Soviet woman from domestic work. And you can drink tea on 4-6 square meters. Kitchens are so small that refrigerators have to be taken out into the room or pantry (if any). Putting a washing machine somewhere is also a problem. They are trying to hang it over the toilet, moving it to the door, pushing it into the bathroom, replacing the bath with a shower. Everyone solves the typical problems of Khrushchev in his own way.
Layout features
Many Khrushchev projects have a disgusting layout: two-room trailers, a small corridor, a complete lack of an entrance hall. The rooms in most Khrushchev projects are scanty. If you put a bed in the bedroom, then the passage may remain only 30 centimeters. With the existing balcony, you can either go sideways – along the wall, or “jump” through the bed.
The height of the ceilings in Khrushchev is 2,2 – 2,4 meters. Khrushchev was tasked with building a lot of cheap housing. The cost per square meter was about 25 Soviet rubles. Hence the minimum dimensions, thin walls. For comparison, in stalinkas the cost of a square was 100-200 rubles, depending on the project.
There are options when the doors of the bathroom (usually it is combined, but even if it is separate) go into the corridor directly opposite the front door. Well, at least you can move the doors towards the kitchen – not ideal, but also a solution.
We advise you to read “Options for the alteration of Khrushchev: 1, 2, 3, 4 – x room, photos before and after.”
The next disadvantage is that the landings are very small. Those who tried to bring in furniture know exactly what is bad: it is simply impossible to turn around with something a little more than a chair.
As a rule, in houses of this type there is no centralized hot water supply, there are usually water heaters. With small dimensions of the kitchen / bathroom (where they are often installed), this takes away precious meters. Houses have long been “not new”, so plumbing, sewerage, heating, wiring – all this needs to be replaced. Moreover, replacements are not only local in the apartment, but also from entering the house. If at the entrance the risers or wiring from the shield have not changed in the past ten years, it is better not to buy housing.
To buy or not?
In general, Khrushchevs are not the best option for apartments. They are also called “Khrushchebs” – too small rooms with low ceilings. When they were built, people lived in barracks or wagons, they were extremely happy with separate housing. Even so small. Yes, and they “gave” apartments, you didn’t have to pay for them, you had to wait in line.
Today, apartments in Khrushchev houses are more often purchased by young families, as it is relatively cheap. As the first independent housing – it is tolerable. But if possible, it is better to choose from another category. Though the same brezhnevki.
Brezhnevki
People say that Brezhnevka is the same Khrushchev, but better. During the reign of Brezhnev (60-70 years), the implementation of the housing program continued. But the kitchens and bathrooms were made 1-2 meters larger, the rooms became more spacious. Apartments appeared in which all the rooms were separate, without a walk-through hall, for example. In some projects, there were quite decent hallways, and even the corridors became more comfortable. There were about 40 projects in total. Most of them were 5 and 9 floor panels. There are also higher ones – 12, 14 and 17 floors.
In the period from 1975 to 1985, even Brezhnevka houses with a good layout appeared. Basically, these are 3 and 4-room apartments. All rooms are separate and have a normal area. Among the people, apartments with an improved layout (UP) began to be called “improved”. But the kitchens and bathrooms are still small, although they are 2-3 meters larger than in Khrushchev.
Another difference between Brezhnevka and Khrushchev is higher ceilings. This is already 2,6 meters or even 2,7 meters, which is clearly better than 2,4. And more space. The bathroom began to be made separate, only in one-room apartments it remained combined. One-room, by the way, in Brezhnevka is smaller in area than in Khrushchev. Here is such a nuance.
The windows remained small, but the window sills were wider. The stairwells have also been enlarged. You can already bring in a table and a small sofa without any problems.
Cons, problems and solutions
In most Brezhnev houses, the problems are the same as in Khrushchev houses: a small area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe kitchen and bathroom, poor layout (walk-through rooms). There are also long narrow corridors that cannot be adapted to anything. Not happy with the lack of a hallway.
There are no elevators in the five-story Brezhnevka buildings. They are in nine-story buildings, but due to poor sound insulation, they are clearly audible when moving. Private conversations in the entrance is not worth it – everything is audible several floors up and down.
Centralized hot water supply is not available everywhere – in many houses there are columns. It seems not bad, but the houses are old, their plumbing is not designed for high water consumption. Due to insufficient water pressure, sometimes there are problems with the operation of the columns. Instead of warm water at the outlet of the mixer, you can get boiling water, or, conversely, the water goes cold.
Another problem is wiring. During the construction of Brezhnevka, there were two or three electrical appliances in the apartment. Therefore, the wiring is designed for meager consumption. And this problem cannot be bypassed. It must be addressed immediately, otherwise a fire is possible. Replacing the wires only in the apartment is a half measure, the wiring from the access panel must also be replaced. In general, investments are more than decent.
How to choose
When you buy a home, you get the environment as a load. No matter how good the apartment is, comfortable living largely depends on the neighbors. Therefore, before making a decision, carefully consider the entrance. Walk up and down, inspect the condition of the neighbors’ entrance doors, the general condition of the floor, walls, railings, flights of stairs. This is an indicator of the general level of residents.
Find time to walk around the house during the day and then in the evening. Look at the contingent living nearby. It is very good to talk to the grandmothers on the benches – they are an invaluable source of information. They will gladly lay out to you the “facts” that sellers and realtors are silent about. You need to ask about the following things:
- How well does the plumbing and sewerage work? When they were repaired/replaced.
- Find out about wiring, how often the electricity goes out.
- Are there foundation problems?
- Is it warm in winter?
- How big are the hearing problems?
- Are there problem neighbors?
- Is the roof leaking?
- Are there mold problems?
If the answers satisfy you, you can consider buying. But remember that if you buy an apartment on the secondary market without repair, you will have to invest a significant amount in reconstruction. Moreover, the cost with further sale will increase by hardly a third of the invested amount. So it’s more profitable to buy with a repair, but you should make sure that the repair is of high quality, and not a cheap cosmetic one, which only masks serious flaws.
Non-standard tips for a good choice
Tip # 1. When you look at the apartment, smell it. If there is a smell of dampness, mold, it’s better not to take it, no matter how good the price and layout are. The previous owners, too, most likely, tried to get rid of this trouble, but it did not work out. It’s not certain that you will succeed.
Tip # 2. In the cold season, pay attention to the number of open windows / vents for the residents of the house. The more of them, the more likely it is that the house is warm. The same is said by a large number of wooden windows. Not about the stinginess or low income of the owners, but about the fact that there is no urgent need to replace them with “sealed” windows.
Tip # 3. Go to the management company (UK). There are stored statements about all the global problems that arose in the house. These are roof leaks, plumbing problems, wiring problems, etc. At the same time, you will also learn about scandalous neighbors, if there are any.
Khrushchev, Stalin, Brezhnev – which is better
To be successful in buying a home on the secondary market, you will have to collect a lot of information. So, it seems clear that Stalinist-Khrushchev-Brezhnevka are all old apartments. Differences in years of construction. Although the “stalinkas” are the oldest, they usually cost more. And all because of the large areas, high ceilings and thick (usually) walls. And also because of the location. Stalin’s houses are now located in the central part of the cities.
Khrushchev-Brezhnevka – housing estates, but not too remote from the central part. In principle, they are almost the same in terms of comfort (discomfort). The difference in years is that the Khrushchevs are older. And they have a smaller area and very small kitchens and bathrooms. So, of these two categories, Brezhnevka is better. They are 20-30 years newer and more spacious.