I am currently eyeing an interesting house in Rheinhessen from 1968.
According to the exposé, it is "on a hillside." How does that affect the masonry or something like that? Is it noticeable?
Or can you give me tips on what to consider in this regard?
At the word "hillside location," many people in the forum immediately sound the alarm bells – as you probably know from reading along and why you are asking this question. However, in my observation, this only applies to new builds and not to existing buildings.
New builds on a hillside are (today probably more than before) associated with significantly higher costs, among other things due to the "basement obligation" – there is a very good thread on this, which I can't quickly find right now. If someone has it handy, they can link it.
If you are buying an existing hillside house, this big hurdle is already overcome. There are still some special features to consider, but compared to the hardships of new builds, these are rather minor. I'll put together a few points:
a) On a hillside, there is a higher likelihood of water pressure than in an ordinary basement, typically on the "buried" side. For the construction year 1968, I would not have too high expectations regarding waterproofing – which means that no moisture-sensitive items should be stored in the basements located there. You can have the wall moisture measured.
b) A hillside house always has usable and living space side by side in the "hillside floor" (partial basement), which, however, actually have different requirements for heating and thermal insulation. Since no insulation is installed between living and utility space on one floor, this always involves compromises: Either the entire hillside floor is insulated in all directions (perimeter insulation, insulation toward the base plate) – or it is poorly or not insulated at all. In the first case (at least the less bad one), you have unnecessarily high temperatures in the utility rooms; in the latter case, you will waste a lot of money heating the living areas. For a 1968 build, expect the latter. Simple energy-saving measures for old buildings like "insulating the basement ceiling" are logically not available here.
c) The floor plan is always a challenge, especially if the street side is uphill and the garden is downhill. Then the living room and kitchen are usually at street level, and the way to the garden terrace leads down through the staircase. If you are sitting in the garden, you have to climb the stairs for every kitchen trip.
If the street is downhill and the garden uphill, you do not have the above problem, but the rooms at street level usually have lower living quality (suitable, for example, as guest rooms or for a modest tenant apartment).
Despite all this, hillside houses also have many advantages – but that was not asked about.