(a) Except to the extent prohibited by the condominium instruments and subject to any restrictions and limitations specified therein, any unit owner may make any improvements or alterations within his unit that do not materially impair the structural integrity of any structure or otherwise materially lessen the support of any portion of the condominium. No unit owner shall do anything which would change the exterior appearance of his unit or of any other portion of the condominium except to such extent and subject to any conditions which the condominium instruments may specify.

(b) If a unit owner acquires an adjoining unit, the unit owner shall have the right to remove all or any part of any intervening partition or to create doorways or other apertures therein, notwithstanding the fact that the partition may in whole or in part be a common element, so long as no portion of any bearing wall or bearing column is materially weakened or removed and no portion of any common elements other than that partition, and other than any chutes, flues, ducts, conduits, wires, or other apparatus contained in the partition which must be relocated by the unit owner if they serve any other part of the condominium, is damaged, destroyed, or endangered. Alterations permitted by this Code section shall not be deemed an alteration of boundaries within the meaning of Code Section 44-3-91.