Partial renovation of a two-family house, half of the house, built in 1957 in the Nuremberg area

Hello everyone,

I am hoping to get some tips and suggestions here regarding our modernization project in the Nuremberg area.

The property is my grandparents' house with construction year 57. My parents added an extension in the 80s and expanded it into a two-family house. Currently, my grandparents' half of the house is vacant, but in the meantime, my sisters lived there for several years, so some things have been done in the last 10 years; my grandparents were also not entirely inactive when they were still alive. The bathroom (including water pipes), the kitchen (including electrical system), and the front door were modernized within the last 10 years. The roof was done about 15-20 years ago. However, the windows and interior doors are already 30-35 years old. Nothing has been done to the facade. Besides that, the rooms are relatively small.

We are considering removing 1-2 walls to combine rooms, possibly moving a wall, if possible. Furthermore, an energy-efficient renovation obviously makes sense, especially now while it is unoccupied.

At this point, I wonder who we should best turn to for advice? Architect, energy consultant, contractor? Ideally, we would like to get everything from as few sources as possible. We are not very knowledgeable and our craftsmanship skills are limited.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Best regards
Izuu

Architects are artists! Quite difficult when it comes to renovation. In general, an energy consultant is not the worst choice, especially if you need to renovate the facade, you will need one according to the energy saving ordinance anyway. In our region, the municipal utilities even offer this consultation for free. As for the conversion: a reputable local contractor, structural engineer, civil engineer. If you don’t have much experience with construction, you shouldn’t tear down walls too lightly. That often ends with an unwanted newspaper article.

The bathroom (incl. plumbing), the kitchen (incl. electrical system) and the front door have been modernized within the last 10 years. The roof was done about 15-20 years ago. However, the windows and interior doors are already 30-35 years old. Nothing has been done to the facade. Furthermore, the rooms are relatively small. We are considering removing 1-2 walls to combine rooms, possibly relocating a wall, if feasible.

These are all ideas for which you will gather much more useful opinions with pictures than with text alone.