Settlement house 1954 - complete renovation possible?

If the will and the money are there, then once really completely. And then really go all out and not do things by halves. The statement is already correct that the biggest item is the labor and possibly scaffolding. IF I were to save, then on the facade. But something has to be done there anyway, so insulation can be added at the same time. Roof (in whatever form) and windows (if really old) are then mandatory. Unwanted ventilation through cracks, roller shutter boxes, etc. should definitely be avoided. Then you have to ventilate by full airing 3-4 times a day.

I think the overall approach is right. The money is there, the will as well. So why not make a big all-round strike and never have to deal with the topics of insulation, roof, facade, electricity, water, sewage again.

I bought a similar property, but energetically it’s a completely different approach than yours. I left the structure of the house as it was. Without extra insulation, etc. The money you invest in that probably won’t come back to you. So you don’t have any economic advantage.

If you just calculate the costs of insulation against the saved running costs, you might be right. But insulation also increases the value of the house, and not by a little... Uninsulated houses are becoming increasingly unpopular because living comfort suffers greatly. With proper insulation, life is noticeably more comfortable, both in winter and summer...

If the money is available, I would personally definitely insulate... Your comfort simply increases enormously, screw the money

The insulation also increases the value of the house, and not by a little...

Increasing is relative, and the substance here remains that of a house with a floor plan from the Adenauer era that probably cannot be significantly modernized. I see the value of this property much more closely tied to the number of well-paid jobs in the area than to the thermal transmittance of its exterior shell.

So a healthy amount of insulation should definitely be considered.

I agree. Those who install underfloor heating can also add insulation under the screed, those who replaster the facade can have the insulation installed at a comparatively small additional cost, and the roof or the top floor ceiling must be insulated anyway according to the Energy Saving Ordinance. If new windows are installed anyway, you already have an Efficiency House 100 with a €15,000 repayment bonus and a big chunk of the additional costs covered. To reach Efficiency House 55, all that is really missing is the appropriate heating system, i.e. a heat pump or pellets, and a few more centimeters of insulation. The ground-source heat pump considered here would then bring around €12,500 in further KFW repayment bonuses + ~€11,000 from BAFA (innovation funding + building efficiency bonus). You’d have to be really ripped off for it not to be worthwhile in the end.

Unfortunately, there is no file with structural analysis at the city, and the owners have nothing either.

Insulation should basically be light. Would photovoltaics already be overcritical? That would really be a shame.

Insulating the dormers is probably hardly possible without covering everything around, or am I seeing that wrong? The idea was basically to adapt the roof covering anew to the wider insulated facade.

Impressive performance! The economic assessment clearly speaks against such an action like ours. But we really want to reduce our footprint as much as possible. Completely without insulation would definitely be too hard for us in terms of comfort as well. Currently, we live in an uninsulated place (paying half as much heating costs as cold rent) and still soon have cold feet again.

One more question that arises for me: Since there is still a log boiler from 1999 in the basement: Is it possible to operate this in a bivalent mode with a heat pump (saving potential air-water heat pump)? Then to heat up during extreme cold phases? One disadvantage is that a water circuit with a high flow temperature is needed for the boiler so that no condensate forms. Are there people who do something like this?

Hello Galdreth,

Interesting that you have such enormous costs! And still cold feet on top...

I pay 65€ monthly heating costs. I have no underfloor heating but a crawl space. My house is never cold in winter! Well! The windbreak room on the north side has no heating. It is about 3 sqm. That gets colder. But since I only enter and leave it, it doesn’t bother me.

Maybe it’s due to the good construction here. We have a two-shell masonry without any insulation, just air in the middle.

New double-glazed windows, new doors, new radiators. Works.

I open my windows whenever and for however long I want, don’t have to watch anything, and I’m happy with it.

Honestly, I don’t understand your footprint thing. What do you mean by that? Because all the technology and insulation etc. also leaves quite a footprint. Or do I misunderstand you?

Regarding the value of the house, that’s also a naïve calculation. Because if I invest 200k beforehand, then (if at all) it’s only logical that it’s worth more afterward. After all, you’ve paid for it.

But you’re doing fine...

Sometimes I wonder how people managed before the insulation craze and all the KfWs... Poor guys, hey...

But hey, just throw the money out. Helps everyone!

It has nothing to do with delusion. In my experience, living in a well-insulated house is simply more comfortable. No cold walls/windows/floors in the house. No temperature fluctuations etc. Super comfortable. And using little energy is not necessarily great either. By the way, I would consider blown-in insulation. It lowers energy costs even more and costs almost nothing.