In my last article I wrote about renovations in Brazilian apartments, removing old tiles, how tiles and other waste are disposed of, and the LED lighting people are using nowadays. During the break after the noisy work of removing tiles and demolishing a concrete wall or two, the tradesmen start checking the electrical wiring and the plumbing. After that, the walls and floors are leveled with concrete and they start laying the new tiles. You might think there will be no noise, but then they start using a tile and marble cutter to cut the tiles into various sizes, so the space quickly fills with white dust, plus noise. You might worry about seeing if it would be better to open the windows to let the air circulate, or if the breeze would raise the white dust more. In Brazilian apartments, the kitchen, of course, as well as the bathroom and laundry, are all lined with tiles, porcelain, or marble. People usually use wooden boards or laminate flooring for the living room and bedrooms.



Something that Japanese houses have but Brazilian houses don’t is a step up between the entryway and the rest of the house. In Brazil, people wear their outdoor shoes inside their homes. There are no shoe boxes in the entryway either. You change into indoor shoes after you have gone inside wearing your outdoor shoes. It isn’t polite to get visitors to take off their shoes. But some households are making changes to this custom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are getting tradesmen to wear disposable shoe covers to prevent indoor contamination.
Once tiling the floors and walls is finished, they install the sink, cabinets, and so on in the kitchen. You will have to make a lot of decisions about the kitchen as work on the project progresses. These decisions include the colors in the kitchen, the size and quality of the countertops and sink, the sizes and arrangement of the cabinets, and where to put the oven and microwave. If you are installing made-to-order cabinets built by a cabinetmaker, you will have to keep in mind the time it takes to make them when you put in your order.


Something that the architects have been using a lot recently is stainless steel dish drainers installed in the sink. They have drainage at the bottom so water doesn’t pool, and it makes doing dishes a lot easier.


If you have a meals counter, the conversation can take off after you’ve eaten without having to move somewhere else, and something you will need there is a power strip tower. A tower with USB ports is even handier. The advantage of a tower is it doesn’t take up much space and the outlets don’t interfere with each other. And when you’re not using it, you push the tower down under the counter. They’re really handy!



After you’ve painted the walls, doors, and so on, and installed the lighting, you just have to put your furniture in place. In Brazil they build walls by laying the bricks, coating them with concrete then spackling paste, and then painting them. Cement-based Mortex has been popular recently because its finish has a really impressive look and a modern feel.


They don’t use wallpaper much in Brazil because painting walls is cheaper, but they do use it where they want to create a feature wall or decorate a child's bedroom.
A problem that people often have with renovations is hitting a pipe and getting a water leak when hammering a nail into a wall to install shelving! With an apartment, when water leaks inside a wall, the water seeps down to the apartment on the floor below and causes trouble for your neighbor downstairs.
With renovations you get all kinds of tradesmen to come to your apartment, but they can cause you a headache by not showing up on the agreed day. There will be all kinds of reasons why they couldn’t come. They got stuck in a big traffic jam. They went to get their COVID-19 vaccine early in the morning, but there was a long queue and it took a long time. Their phone died and they could not contact you. Their car broke down. It's like, "typical Brazil," but I always end up getting irritated.
Every renovation will have its problems, and it will take more time and money than you planned for, but in the end, it’s nice that you get a home you like living in.