Renovation of a two-family house from 1936 experiences?

Glad to hear that something is happening with you.

Regarding the roof: The external rafter insulation meets the KfW requirements. And with that, the roof should also be very airtight. Why are you reconsidering? Cost reasons, I assume? How big is the difference?

Yes, exactly. For the ceiling/furring insulation, €20,000 is budgeted, the offer is still pending, but the drywall contractor has quoted a price per square meter, which will probably be a bit cheaper.

We are now waiting for the offer for the external rafter insulation. The architect said definitely not under €60,000 (with new tiles). We would go for €60,000. €80,000 would be borderline... we’ll see :)

Yes, exactly. €20,000 are planned for the ceiling/floor insulation in the attic, the offer is still pending, but the drywall contractor has quoted a price per square meter, which will probably make it somewhat cheaper.

We are now waiting for the offer for the over-rafter insulation. The architect said definitely not less than €60,000 (with new tiles). We would do €60,000. €80,000 would be borderline... we'll see :)

Can you tell me your location? I have a very good, reliable roofer who completely renovates 120 sqm of roof area with two dormers, including new roofing/slating. With enlarged roof overhangs and all the trimmings. 160 mm over-rafter insulation. For €32,000. Maybe I can connect you.

I also had offers around €50,000. Most here in the region (South Westphalia) were around €35,000 - €40,000. It's really worth comparing offers. Definitely get 5-6 of them.

Will you tell me your location? I have a very good, reliable roofer who completely renovates 120 sqm of roof area with two dormers, including new covering / slating. With enlarged roof overhangs and everything. 160mm sarking insulation. For €32,000. Maybe I can arrange something for you.

I also had offers around €50,000. Most here in the region (South Westphalia) were around €35,000 - €40,000. Comparing offers is really worth it. Definitely get 5-6 of them.

We are in southern Lower Saxony, which is probably a bit far away :)

The offer is there and cheaper than expected. We have 160 sqm of roof area, a large (134x160cm) roof window planned, 180mm sarking and 120mm between-rafter insulation, also new gutters etc., and additionally the renovation of the balcony roof for about €4,000 is included in the total price of €50,000 gross. The roof itself is therefore about €46,000. I personally find that okay for now - we have about 1/3 more roof area than you and end up with 1/3 more price :p

The photovoltaic system with 11.6 kWp and 10.2 kW battery costs €28,500. We will probably do it without the battery then (which presumably (?) comes to about €1,600/kW). We'll see.

The kitchen offer from the carpenter is also here and fits the cost estimate. :)

Now we only "lack" the windows as an offer.

So, things are progressing diligently! The first breakthroughs have been made and steel beams installed. The chimney will be removed tomorrow... we are very curious. There is a certain potential for conflict with the bathroom in the attic, which we actually didn’t want to touch. It will become clear whether it will survive completely or if we will need a new wall + tiles.

The window offer is here and about €4,000 more expensive than the cost estimate, but still within our budget (€31,000 including disposal, window sills, etc.), especially since we ultimately decided on a lift-and-slide door to the terrace.

Currently, the heating engineers, electricians, and shell builders are on site.

However, further additional costs are emerging. The window reveals are currently uninsulated. On the sides we can probably just have them cut off, but at the top in the lintel there are apparently steel beams. This means if left as is, there would be an uninsulated thermal bridge. If you go ahead and "redo" the lintel with new beams, you could also make the lintel smaller and thus get a bit more light. Costs would be roughly €5,000 for all relevant windows. We’ll see...

The thing with the attacks sounds like a place where they are now cutting costs and end up catching mold

So, an update again.

We have actually decided against removing the wall posts. Both the structural engineer, the window installer, and the architect were against it, as it would have become very expensive and the cost-benefit ratio was simply not given. The windows will now get a rebate ventilation to prevent any potential issues.

The structural engineer is almost finished and the house already looks quite different. Here is our bedroom:

Window removed and wall to the future dressing room removed:



A pile of stones:



"Finished":



And downstairs in the ground floor, it looked quite wild at times. But now you can already see where it’s heading:



Only the breakthrough to the garden for the sliding door is missing. There were several surprises regarding the wall structure and where the thickest steel beam now lies, a wooden beam was revealed, which thankfully the structural engineer had removed for us. Otherwise, we would have lost 10cm of window height. The wooden beams of the ceiling, however, are all intact as far as they were visible.

The chimney was also successfully removed without collateral damage and the electrician has finished in the attic. The windows are supposed to arrive next week or the week after (except for the front door and sliding door, the former comes last, the latter has a somewhat longer delivery time).

Finally, there is also a heating load calculation and we can order the heat pump. Its delivery date will determine our move-in date.