ᐅ Cladding the Space Between Semi-Detached Houses – What Is the Best Approach?

Fuchur schrieb:
Ok, then I withdraw my professionally unqualified objection.

It is precisely the solid connection that defines a semi-detached house. We have lived in two different ones and never had issues with noise from the neighbor. I still don’t understand the purpose of the gap when a semi-detached house was intended.

For about 40 years, semi-detached houses have almost exclusively been built with a multi-layer separating wall with a separation joint; this extends continuously around the roof, exterior walls, floor slab, and foundations.
Although a semi-detached house looks like a single building from the outside, the load-bearing structures are almost always strictly separated, with a gap greater than 50mm (2 inches).
The absence of this separation joint negatively affects the quality of sound insulation. Quite a few owners of semi-detached or row houses have the units separated afterwards using a diamond wire saw or diamond chain saw if the planning and/or execution of the separation joint was inadequate.

MayrCh schrieb:
A semi-detached house may look like a single building from the outside, but the load-bearing structures are actually always strictly separated, with a gap of more than 50mm (2 inches).

That’s exactly what I mean! The gap is not visible from the outside. And that’s probably the point the original poster is trying to make.

Fuchur schrieb:
Exactly what I meant!

I probably misunderstood your "joint filling" as fully filling the expansion joint along the entire building depth. A technically correct, surface-level visual sealing of the joint is usually done using permanently elastic strips, mushroom-head profiles, or a permanently elastic, sprayable joint sealant. Mushroom-head profiles are out of the question due to the building offset, and it is also important to ensure any necessary ventilation behind the joint.

Yes, I was unclear in my wording. I understood the original poster’s suggestions of "ventilation grille" and "perforated sheet metal" to mean that they would remain visible in the end.

Consult a roofer. I would make sure to get something reliable for that spot.

What the site manager suggests, to stick sheet metal over it, is fine. PU adhesive is used as the glue. Brand name Sikaflex. If the joint were a bit narrower, it could be filled purely with Sika. That also holds well. However, here it’s a bit too wide for that. Karsten