Renovation of a 1960s house: Questionable expert recommendations?

I would first look for an experienced architect, they already know the suitable craftsmen.

Yes, we have one in hand. She is currently working on drafting a first concept.

Then show an inventory, what do the building files have in terms of plans?

[ATTACH alt="EG.PNG" type="full"]62915[/ATTACH] Ground floor: The guest WC is to become a wardrobe. To create a separate entrance to the second (upper) dwelling unit, we are thinking of locking the door from the hallway to the bathroom (if that is sufficient, otherwise bricking it up) and creating a connection from the living room to the bathroom. However, there is also a Swedish stove in the living room corner (see fireplace in bathroom corner), so this could firstly look a bit cramped and secondly, of course, is extremely impractical. The kitchen door to the hallway could theoretically also be locked and the kitchen accessed through the dining room. We’ll see. Taking advantage of the double subsidy would of course be nice, but on the other hand, the idea of an additional, unused door just for the sake of the subsidy is also a bit odd. Possibly it could be built and later torn down/"hidden"... [ATTACH alt="1.OG.PNG" type="full"]62913[/ATTACH] 1st floor: "Room 3" is the bathroom. In the master bedroom we would move the door about 1m into the room in order to install a (steep) staircase in the gained space leading up to the already developed attic. It is currently accessible via a folding staircase in the hallway (dashed area), which is in the way. [ATTACH alt="2.OG.PNG" type="full"]62914[/ATTACH] Attic

That already looks like a slightly upscale standard, wall thickness 30 was still somewhat avant-garde back then, and all the interior walls except for the knee walls are at least one brick thick. The gable-parallel interior wall of the bedroom even suggests the possibility of a concrete ceiling above the ground floor. Is there also a basement floor plan and sections?

Yes, we were also told that for the year of construction this was quite good build quality, the term "Architekenhaus" was mentioned... I also really like the large windows especially in the living and dining rooms and haven’t really seen that in such old boxes before:



What do you mean by "masoned one head thick"? Sorry, I’m not familiar with the construction jargon :)

Here is the basement floor plan and the only section drawing that exists. So you basically have all the documents we have regarding the house ;)
The section mentions a wooden beam ceiling above the ground floor. But that doesn’t have to mean anything since the drawings don’t match 1:1 (for example, the pantry wasn’t built, upstairs there’s a bathroom instead of a third room...)

[ATTACH width="305px" type="full"]62924[/ATTACH][ATTACH width="308px" type="full"]62923[/ATTACH]

But turning it into 2 separate living units is a bit of a hassle, isn’t it? Otherwise, turn room 3 into a bathroom and it’s a nice, still contemporary layout today.

Second bathrooms were often retrofitted, just as partition walls between kitchens and pantries were frequently removed. Kopf means the same by stone as by table: the narrow side. Houses from this period often still had walls between the toilet and bathroom made of vertically placed bricks (5 or 7 cm thick) or Rabitz walls. A concrete ceiling above the ground floor would be untypical for this time and house size, although I may be mistaken and the drawing might be correct. I concluded this from the wall between the parents' room and room 2, which seems to be masonry. However, it would not be supported by the beam ceiling. Presumably, it then rests on a steel beam, spanned between the load-bearing interior wall and the section of wall next to the terrace door.

Congratulations on buying a house, Schwalbe! I am also quite new here and have been following this thread for a few weeks because we are planning a similar project. Our purchase property (semi-detached house, currently firmly reserved) is still far from being up to date in terms of energy and equipment technology. For a viewing, we also had to quickly pull an expert out of a hat, who was also more or less like yours. We don’t want to forcibly beam the house into the future quickly, but we also have little desire for a permanent construction site over many years. So rather, if possible, a larger, KFW-funded comprehensive overhaul. At least we have already found an energy consultant who has done something like this quite often. However, I wonder – on a current occasion ;) – how you managed to get the project financed? Because it really makes a difference whether you ask the bank for an additional 150K or 300K for the renovation when it is not yet completely clear how you actually want to renovate. Or what the house can handle with what effort... Everything to the maximum?