Swedish Element House / AB-Elementhus Renovation vs Demolition

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Since access to the documents at the building authority is taking a bit longer for us, we have meanwhile moved into the renovated and solid garden floor. The renovation of the ground floor and the roof – all of the Visby type by SEH – is still pending. Like the thread opener, I am going through all scenarios before construction begins. The cleanest but also the most expensive option: demolition and building the same floor plan on the solid floor with, for example, solid wood walls (no timber frame construction, because I don’t want any plastic vapor barrier in the wall, which in the end some idiot (maybe even myself) might drill into or damage, causing a long-term mold problem). Plan B is to work with the wall construction described by HarvSpec. However, I have quite a few questions here and maybe you can give me advice and suggestions.

Question 1: Improvement of the insulation of the exterior walls. Here, the aluminum layer is, in my opinion, a problem on the outside. Can it be removed with tolerable effort? Internal insulation is nonsense in my opinion and eats into the living space inside the house.

Question 2: The entire exterior wall construction, consisting of the 20 cm wide vertical elements lined up side by side, forms the basis of the entire structural stability of the house as far as I understand. Can I add window openings here, replace existing windows with floor-to-ceiling and ceiling-height windows?

I have many more questions, but these two are the most urgent and I would be grateful for your advice and also for creative (sensible and affordable) suggestions, tips and ideas.

Best regards

I could not find out the type of our house. We have on the basement floor a ground floor as SEH with an unfinished cold roof. We decided to leave it as it is. I actually find the structure very good and wonderful rooms could be created for us. We are replacing all the windows, partly in the same size, partly floor-to-ceiling. As you can see in my previous post, we have installed lintels that were calculated for us by the structural engineer, whom I would definitely involve again. There we can now install floor-to-ceiling windows/sliding door systems. Installing new windows in the walls is not rocket science, you just have to be careful that you don’t get wood chips everywhere, which can be prevented by a previously inserted foil. To your question 1, I would specifically speak to an architect who is knowledgeable in timber construction or a building physicist. You can remove the aluminum layer, but it is a hell of a job. It is still an open issue for me how it will be implemented concretely.

Here is an update with new windows

Removed and new balcony installed:

And a few before and after pictures.

Hello HarvSpec,

may I ask how your project is progressing? And what the wood test for pollutants revealed? Do you perhaps also know how it looks with asbestos in these houses?
Best regards