Split-level from 1967 - experiences?

An interesting property. If it is a completely unrenovated house from 1967, your estimated budget of gross €400k-500k including ancillary construction costs is not unrealistic. More precise information can—of course only with reservation—be given after an on-site inspection. An appropriate measure will be a (energetic) comprehensive renovation including renewal of all building services. Any existing or still functional building waterproofing on a hillside location, including a possible requirement for drainage, must be checked on site.

I do not see any blown-in insulation here. It will be a year-of-construction typical 36.5 cm pumice block masonry, which can be energetically upgraded with an ETICS. The granny flat could be planned in the basement; however, this must be checked legally. Possibly the garage/play cellar and other basement rooms can be repurposed for this, if there is an option to arrange 2 parking spaces elsewhere. For cost reasons, I would initially refrain from an extension.

A real estate purchase consultation will not cost €2,000, but will be available for approx. gross €650-700, depending on travel costs. A serious moisture measurement—if required—is not part of a purchase consultation, as it would be too complex. Possible moisture issues can usually also be recognized visually; their causes are mostly related to construction and building age.

If interested and for further information, you are welcome to contact me.

In my opinion, this is not a split-level. This is basement and ground floor, right? But I find the floor plans quite practical. I also noticed yesterday that you can do without the extension and instead use the playroom and the left cellar.

before commissioning an expert for almost €2000

If it is about moisture or building damage, you might still need additional services. If it is about the costs (and later savings) for an energy-efficient renovation, an individual renovation roadmap (iSFP) via an EEE also makes sense. It is heavily subsidized and should cost between €350-600 in personal contribution, and you get more output regarding the costs.

If everything is going to be done anyway, I would also include the whole KfW thing (program 261).

Insulation of the exterior wall (blown-in insulation, due to clinker facade)

Blown-in insulation will not work there, as there will be no air layer in that construction year. It was only installed until the 1950s, generally more in northern Germany than as a cavity wall.

Otherwise, nice apartment, a renovation will surely provide a great living experience.

MMn ist das kein Split-Level. Das ist doch UG und EG?

No, the bedrooms and the main bathroom are on the "landing level". But we won’t tell anyone.

Thanks to you all already for the feedback and the helpful hints! I will address some points:

I am simply thrilled as well. Split level, always modern look, great expandable floor plan!

Thank you! We are blown away too. We have been searching for years and there are few properties that we liked as much as this one. We would take the door to today’s workroom/utility room behind the kitchen as a new main entrance and turn the room into a hallway in order to realize two separate entrances. Access to the main apartment would then be via an existing outdoor staircase. Do you have any ideas regarding the placement of a guest WC on the main level?

And leave out the extension. It unnecessarily eats up money. Make a small apartment out of the two left rooms in the basement. Otherwise, the budget will be tight – just the extension with only one room can easily cost €60k or more.

Unfortunately not possible, since multi-generational living is a “must have” criterion for us. We would turn the entrance, hallway, and the two lower left rooms in the plan into the apartment, but we need more space than they can offer. My mother is still fairly young and definitely needs more than one room. We lack the imagination how to conjure up an adequately sized apartment from about 45 sqm. But wow, €60k is quite a sum. We’ll have to see, maybe we find a different solution than the extension...

I read the stairlift, among other things, as an indication that the house is or was still occupied by the builder.

Correct! Everything is correspondingly very well maintained. These people really took care of their property.

At first glance, I couldn’t spot any indication of cavity construction (especially with an air layer). Maybe the underfloor heating can be milled in; that’s a bit tricky due to construction height at the stairs.

Two good observations! I already took a shot at the cavity wall myself; although it appears to be brick-faced, it is apparently not cavity construction. A real pity, because I like the look of the facade as it is, and external insulation with render (WDVS) drives the budget up. Plus, the roof overhang is not present everywhere, and if you had to start extending the roof... I lack the imagination how that could be done within the budget.

I don’t see any blown insulation here. It will be a typical building year 36.5 cm bims masonry that can be energetically upgraded with an external thermal insulation composite system.

Unfortunately, that is correctly assumed. It is 36.5 cm calcium silicate brick. We had been misled by the brick facing. And without facade insulation, I guess achieving the efficiency house standard 85 won’t work, right?

The granny flat could be planned in the basement; however, this must be checked legally. Possibly the garage/play cellar and other basement rooms can be repurposed for this if there is an option to provide 2 parking spaces elsewhere. I would initially forgo an extension for cost reasons.

That’s a good idea! Locating a new garage on the property will, however, be a challenge. That would have to be clarified in detail with the building authority... The other basement rooms are on the next higher split level; at some point, to create barrier-free access, a stairlift would have to be installed.

A real estate purchase consultation will not cost €2,000 but can be had for about €650-700 gross, depending on travel costs. A serious moisture measurement – if required – is not part of such a consultation as it would be too complex. Possible moisture issues can usually also be recognized visually; their causes are mostly construction- and building-age-related.

Thank you for your hint! I was only speaking from our experience regarding another property we had on our radar last year. It was measured with a device for surface moisture of the floor slab and basement walls, and based on this, a recommendation for drying, drainage, etc. was included in the report. The costs were in the stated range.

If everything is going to be done anyway, I would also take advantage of the whole KfW thing (program 261).

That is also our favored option!

We lack the imagination how we could conjure a sufficiently large apartment out of about 45 sqm.

As it sometimes is... While reading my answer I thought: 1. There are professionals for that, to conjure something like this 2. My first apartment also had just under 50 sqm and still 2 rooms, kitchen, bathroom.