Full renovation in Tarifa
- Where
- Tarifa (Cádiz)
- Size
- 80 m²
- Type
- Full home renovation
An 80 m² home being renovated end to end: kitchen opened up to the living room, bathroom rebuilt from the pipes up, complete rewiring, all new flooring and one bedroom split into two. Every milestone is filmed so the owners — and anyone considering it — can see the real pace of a renovation.
This project is in Tarifa (Cádiz), outside our usual working area. We publish it because it is the job we currently have running and because it shows how we work day by day. Our service area is Marbella and the Costa del Sol within a 35 km radius.
Scope
What this project involves.
- Complete new kitchen, opened to the living room with a divider
- Bathroom rebuilt: pipework, tiling, units and lighting
- Full rewiring of the property and a new consumer unit
- New flooring throughout
- One bedroom split into two rooms
- Skimmed walls and ceilings, and new door frames
Site diary
Day by day.
Day 1
Day 1: how the property looks before we touch anything
A room-by-room walkthrough explaining what will be done in each one and why. It is the reference the finished result will be compared against: same route, same order.
- Kitchen: stripped out entirely and opened to the living room
- Living room: one wall comes down and all the flooring is replaced
- L-shaped bathroom: a wall is moved to gain a metre and a half
- Bedroom: split into two rooms
This day was only recorded in Spanish.
Read what is said in the video
Video transcript
Estamos en Tarifa. Vení que te muestro qué es lo que vamos a hacer acá. Empezamos por la cocina: toda afuera, va a quedar completamente nueva. La vitrocerámica queda aquí en su lugar con campana, el fregadero va a ir aquí, ventana nueva de doble capa. Este panel que se ve lo vamos a tirar: vamos a dejar una cocina diáfana con un separador justo aquí, que va a quedar espectacular. Atrás tuyo tenemos una columna y una despensa que se van a integrar con un mueble completo. Aquí mismo va a ir la nevera, el horno abajo y el microondas arriba. Los azulejos también van a caer. Y esto que hay aquí se va a cambiar: se va a hacer cuadro eléctrico y electricidad completa de la casa, nueva. En el salón, esa pared que se ve aquí también va a caer. El suelo se cambia completo en toda la casa. El ventanal, obviamente, también se va a cambiar. Los propietarios nos dijeron que los muebles se hagan a medida. Aquí donde teníamos uno de los mayores dilemas es en el baño: fíjense que tiene forma de L y queda un poco pequeño con esa L. Baño completo nuevo: tuberías nuevas, revestimientos completos nuevos, los muebles y las luces. En los dormitorios vamos a dividir esta habitación en dos. Ventanas nuevas, alisado de paredes y techo. Nos vemos en dos meses, cuando terminemos.
Day 2
Day 2: the kitchen is already gone
In two days the kitchen and the partition wall are gone, and every chase and light point is marked out. Four skips of rubble, and the plasterboard lifted in through the window because the access was too tight.
- Kitchen demolished and partition wall removed in two days
- Chases and light points marked: washing machine, extractor, hob, oven and microwave
- Plasterboard false ceiling to run the cables and water
- Four skips of rubble taken away
- Five people working on site
Read what is said in the video
Video transcript
Our second day in Tarifa. Only two days, and all the kitchen has gone into the trash. We had a wall here — also gone. We have started with the plumbing for the new washing area, for the new washing machine. Here we have marked all the places for the electricity: the fridge will be here, the oven and the microwave. And then this will be for lunch, dinner, the living room. The TV will be here; everything we will do for the electricity is already marked. About the ceiling, we talked about it in the previous video: we will do another ceiling with a wall panel. It will come down about ten centimetres, maybe a little low, but we are able to pass all the cables and everything through it, and the owners of the property were happy with it. We also made the room division, for a new room for the owners' daughter. And the bathroom is one of the most important things of the house.
Day 10
Day 10: what you don't see behind the walls
Electrics and plumbing finished and run through the ceiling, with the water below the electrical conduit in case there is ever a leak. The kitchen already skimmed, and the bathroom ready to tile.
- Cabling and water run through the ceiling; water below the electrics in case of a leak
- Kitchen wall skimmed and smooth
- Plumbing, drains and light points finished
- 72.5 door frames fitted and a sliding door
- Bathroom partition removed and ready to tile
Read what is said in the video
Video transcript
Hello family, we're in Tarifa. It's been 10 days since we started and I want to show you all the improvements we have done so far in this property. The kitchen wall is already skimmed. We have got all the electrical and plumbing done, as you can see here. We'll have the washing machine, the dishwasher — everything is connected, everything is ready. All the electricity is going through the ceiling, same as the water. That's the choice the owners made, because we're a bit faster like that. All the electrical points are done and we are going to start with the bathroom this week, as well as this division. The plasterboard walls are also done, so I think we're going pretty fast on this one. We are actually three people working, so you can see the progress. In this room we're still debating whether we're going to make the window bigger or not — we have to check with the community of owners whether they let us. The bathroom: maybe you don't see much, but we have opened it up here. This will be the shower, and the layout will be about the same, so not a lot of changes. The last room is pretty much the same as it was before: new electrics, new window, arriving this week.
Timelapse
A whole wall base-coated start to finish, in 50 seconds
A fixed camera on one of the walls being base-coated: the render goes over the original wall and is screeded until the surface is flat, ready for the fine skim and the paint. This is the step that decides whether a wall will look right when the light hits it sideways.
- Perlite render applied by hand over the original wall
- Screeded until the surface is flat
- The wall is left ready for the fine skim and the paint
Timelapse
Fitting one of the new windows
A fixed camera on one of the new windows going in: the frame is offered into the opening, levelled and plumbed, and the perimeter is finished with mortar so it is sealed against water and wind. That finishing is what separates a well-fitted window from one that whistles all winter.
- Frame offered into the opening, levelled and plumbed
- Frame fixed to the structure
- Perimeter finished with mortar and sealed
Timelapse
The living-room false ceiling, fitted in 70 seconds
A fixed camera on the living-room false ceiling going in: first the metal framing, levelled and fixed, then the boards screwed on top. The whole flat's wiring and water run through that gap — the water below the electrics, so a leak can never touch the wiring — which is why this ceiling goes up before anything is closed.
- Framing levelled and fixed to the original ceiling
- Plasterboard cut and screwed to the structure
- Wiring and plumbing run through the gap, accessible from below
Day 25
Day 25: walls plastered, new windows and the ceiling halfway in
After a pause for an injury — the walkthrough is on crutches — the site shows a big jump: every kitchen wall plastered, two windows already replaced, the living-room ceiling halfway in, all five door frames fitted and the bathroom ready to start as soon as the tiles arrive.
- Every kitchen wall plastered and a new window fitted
- Living-room ceiling halfway in, at 2.35–2.38 m (the owners' choice)
- All five door frames fitted
- Bathroom ready to start: floor chases, soil pipe and trap in place, waiting on the tiles
- Hot and cold water shut-off valves added
- Aim: finished in about a month
Read what is said in the video
Video transcript
Hello guys, we're back in Tarifa — it's about day 25. We couldn't come before, I had a little injury, but everything is fine and as you can see we have advanced quite a lot. We have applied what we call in Spanish 'perlita' to the walls to make them straight — in English I think you call it wall plaster. We have also changed a couple of windows and already started with the ceiling, as you can see above you. I like the stick: I can point at everything. All this part of the living room is wall-plastered as well; it's not finished, we still have to apply a very, very thin coat, the one that keeps the wall perfectly straight. We started with the ceiling today, we have advanced quite a lot and will probably finish next week; the floor is for the upcoming weeks. We have already installed the door frames — 'marcos', we say in Spanish. In this little room we haven't done anything yet. And on the main room, if you come behind me — careful with the traps — we have also done the wall plaster, started with the ceiling, which we'll finish next week, and changed the window as well; it was a pretty quick one. If you want to see how we work on the windows and how we did all this wall plaster, you can check our website — we have a couple of timelapses there, and on our Instagram too. Next week we're going into the bathroom. We haven't touched it much since the last video — have a quick look — we've been busy with the other things, but everything is ready and set: when the tiles and the shower plate arrive, we'll install them and it will be ready for next week or the week after. And in the secondary room we are ready to apply the wall plaster. In the timelapse you'll see the wall didn't have this coat, because we started recording afterwards: this is what you apply first — it's called 'puente de unión', a bonding primer, it's sticky — so the plaster grips properly. So far so good: the owners are really happy with this, and we aim to finish in about a month.
Free visit and quote
Tell us what you want to renovate.
Message us on WhatsApp with the area, what you want to do and when. We reply within minutes between 9am and 8pm and propose a day for the visit.