Okal house from 1980 - what to pay attention to?

We looked at a used house from Okal Haus built in 1980, which we liked very much. The foundation with basement and basement ceiling is solid, and the house is built using so-called timber frame construction. Since I am not familiar with wooden houses: Can you tell me what to look out for in such a house? Does anyone have general experience regarding how long such houses last? During the viewing, I could not find any problems like moisture in the basement or on the walls, but I am concerned that there might be hidden issues.

The same question also arises for Lux houses built in the years 1986/87.

The condition is to be assessed just like with other houses; if the roof is watertight and the basement dry, no unusual problems are to be expected. It is different with regard to pollutant contamination. In early prefabricated houses, all kinds of things were installed that later turned out to be rather unhealthy. Among others, formaldehyde, lindane, and possibly PCP, TCP as well as PCB and phosphoric acid esters should be mentioned here.

With the house from 1980, it is quite certain that at least formaldehyde can still be expected, although usually not in high doses. Lindane / PCP is also still possible, but with some luck not.

The newer house should be largely free of pollutants; a new awareness emerged in the early 80s.

Some people also say that older prefabricated houses smell a bit 'musty,' which is then attributed to pollutant contamination. How was the smell test with your viewing objects?

And now, completely aside from the topic of prefabricated houses, the most important thing is still LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.

Thank you for the response, apokolok. We did not notice anything at the Okal house, the smell in the house was very pleasant and neither musty nor chemical-like in any way. I have not yet visited the Luxhaus. Are there perhaps any quick air testers for all these substances, or does it have to be done elaborately in a laboratory?

Are there perhaps any air rapid testers for all these substances,

Odor detectable concentrations would also be "seen" on affected residents. As the name rapid tester already suggests, the person is not exposed to the suspected contaminant for long. By the way, this is largely a "generation problem": within the variability range of manufacturers, it makes little difference how much less the "better" providers are affected – the model year is more typical for the likelihood of certain harmful substances. The wall constructions usually contain the same supplier products across the industry (wood preservatives, particle board binders, insulation and insulating materials, glues and adhesives).

There are air quality sensors that can be connected to a laptop via USB. This sensor measures the particles in the air.

Values between 0 and about 1500 ppm can be considered normal = clean air. Anything above that is not okay.

The sensor cannot say what exactly is not okay. But, for example, with new furniture, you can quickly determine if it is still emitting fumes (solvents, oil, ...).

Such a sensor is available, for example, from Velux, called the Velux room air sensor. It costs just under 20€. It comes with simple software to display the current air quality on Windows.

If I had such concerns when buying a house, I would connect the USB sensor to a laptop, walk through the house once, and see if the sensor goes crazy. Ideally, you should not have strong perfumes with you either. The sensor also alarms in that case.

For example, I measure the air quality inside the house with the sensor and use a second sensor at the intake of our ventilation system.

That way I can see live when the farmer is spreading slurry on the field and turn off the ventilation system at that moment.