Renovation of a two-family house from 1936 experiences?

When I saw it for the first time, there was still something about a diary ;)

I also felt like I had chosen the title accordingly :)

OK, then I'll throw in my tenant's apartment. Same conditions, but (33-type) radiators. Slightly higher flow temperature, otherwise the same result.

The heating engineer also said that he would estimate that it could work well with slightly enlarged radiators. But first we need the thermal protection certificate. I'm just unsure because, for example, 150kwh/m2 is the absolute maximum you can set, and with that, a seasonal performance factor of 2.8 for an air-to-air heat pump results in about 10,000 kwh pure heating costs annually (without photovoltaics), which isn't really more economical than a gas heating system... of course, a 10kWp photovoltaic system would make up for a good part of that, but probably at the wrong time?

By the way, if anyone has ideas about the planned floor plan, feel free to share. Especially anything that can be done without further changes to the statics. What I’m not quite happy with, for example, is that there is no really good place for the wardrobe.
- Right behind the front door doesn't work because then you are directly on the stairs to the ground floor (right) or basement (left).
- At the top of the stairwell landing the things would be in the way if you want to go upstairs.
- In the ground floor hallway there is probably the most space, but even there the things are somehow always in the way.

The most plausible idea I have is to take 1 sqm from the top right of the study and put a wardrobe there. Then it would be out of the way on all routes except directly exiting the study, but I’m not yet sure how that could be done without changing the statics.

As promised in the original post, here are now some before pictures from the inside:

Ground floor:

Living room looking towards the future dining room. The sliding door between the two rooms will be retained, as well as the interior doors.



Current ground floor bathroom -> will be moved to the other side of the building as a guest WC.



Kitchen:



Upper floor:

Children’s room with wood paneling at the top. You can also already see that there are several layers of flooring, but with very few exceptions everything is just laid on top of each other and not glued.



Bathroom -> will be relocated to the other side of the building.



Staircase - here the carpet is to be removed, the wood sanded down and painted:



Attic:

The rooms all actually look like this - very high knee wall and ceiling height (2.65m) - thus virtually full living space. Underneath the "floor" there is also well-preserved floorboards everywhere. Because nothing is glued down, we were already able to look under a lot of it together with the floor restorer - looks good so far!

Slowly but surely, progress is being made. First step: gutting. Here we still want to save some money through our own work/self-disposal. We've already removed about 30 bags of wallpaper, each 120L. As expected: every wall is different :o

Here in the hallway, where there was fiberglass wallpaper that peeled off very easily, but caused various superficial damages to the top plaster:



On the ground floor, the plaster was hidden behind two layers of wood-chip wallpaper and 5mm of polystyrene internal insulation; everything had to be scraped off here (example living room). The walls look terrible, but this is by far the worst room in terms of holes in the top plaster:



There is also polystyrene in the attic, but the plaster there is in much better condition and there is practically no damage.

In the kitchen on the ground floor there was this nice built-in pantry:



You can already see the sledgehammer in the picture; that's what we used to get to work:



Problem: Apparently, a thermal bridge was intentionally built in here back then. While the house is generally built with a double shell, the cupboard is only single-shell, meaning we now have a small hole in the wall and can see between the two rows of bricks. So this will have to be rebuilt...



In the upper floor, the first ceiling coverings have also had to give way:



On the tradesmen front, some progress has also been made: We are waiting for offers from the painter and the parquet floor fitter who is supposed to refurbish the floor. However, progress here is, as it could hardly be any different, rather slow. For example, the architect has not found anyone among the preferred window manufacturers who can/wants to make offers at the moment because gas prices fluctuate so much. Therefore, she will now put the contract out to tender. Well... we’ll see.

We have also already started thinking about the kitchen. That may not be very urgent yet, but since we expect child #2 in December, we want to arrange as much as possible now. We can already order the appliances and have the seller store them.

These are two versions quickly assembled in 30 minutes with the Ikea planner. The white column is the chimney, which is to remain to route heating pipes and electrics through the house.





The top one is obviously more symmetrical in terms of appearance, but the bottom one is probably more practical (more light—there’s also a balcony above the door that blocks light, less obstruction by the door leading outside). The island here is 1.2 x 2.1m (minus 80cm stove width on the side without the chimney), the workspace on the wall side is about 2.1m long (minus the sink). However, we have quite a few appliances that have to go somewhere (large Kenwood kitchen machine (50x35cm), Sodastream, coffee machine (small), kettle, large bread box (40x40cm), bread slicer). The bread slicer should disappear into a drawer; we might be able to replace the kettle with induction? Other than that, the space should be sufficient to place the appliances properly.

What do you think—does this make sense? :)

Problem: Apparently, a thermal bridge was deliberately built in here back then. While the house is generally built with a double wall, the closet is only single-walled, meaning we currently have a small hole in the wall and can look between the two rows of bricks. So this needs to be reconstructed...

A typical case of inaccurate information, I would say. However, the system as a "powerless half-refrigerator" ;-) was basically intended that way.

Interesting project. I already notice that for such an old house it is relatively bright there. I like that.

Interesting project. I already notice that it is relatively bright there for such an old house. I like that.

Yes - and it will get a bit brighter still. The new windows will be (if the price is reasonable) a bit larger (downwards, so with a lower but still code-compliant railing).

Not much is really happening at the moment. The structural engineer was here two weeks ago and basically gave the green light, but only has time in November to calculate the structural engineering (the price fits the budget). Our architect also has to go to the city archives again (appointment next week) to get the missing documents. We already have the old structural engineering (quote: That’s the shortest structural engineering I’ve ever seen), but apparently there is more. We didn’t get much from the previous owners. Only once we know the structural requirements can we talk to the shell builder (which steel beams where etc.).

Then we visited a second heating installer who would probably also do it. But for an offer, we first need the thermal protection certificate, which is supposed to be prepared next week.

The first painter’s quote really shocked us: for all floors (including basement and door refinishing) he wants a gross €36,000, which is almost twice as much as budgeted. The architect thinks it’s more of a defensive offer; for a previous client, for example, the plastering should have cost half that. Well, I’m quite relaxed about the painter since we have good contacts. Hopefully, the offer for heating and co won’t deviate from the cost estimate in the same way.

Do you have any assessments regarding the following prices (per sqm)?

Plastering work: smooth plastering, sanding and priming -> €15
Plastering work: rough re-plastering, sanding and priming -> €11
Wallpapering with smooth fleece: €9
Painting: €7
Sanding doors, priming and white painting: €36

The offer for floor preparation has not arrived yet... but of course there is still time.