Hello everyone,
I have already taken over the construction cost thread quite a bit with this potential project. I'll show you a few things and hope for your input because we are still unsure whether we want to buy the property or not.
About the property: The house comes with a 2500 m² (27,000 sq ft) plot made up of 3 parcels. It is located in an area with poor infrastructure (but that’s where my family lives, and I grew up there, so we want to move there) in Rheinland-Pfalz. Boris says building plots in the area go for around 50€ per m² (approx. $5 per sq ft). The land consists of 3 parcels and is partly in a residential zone and partly adjoining garden land. There are also many older fruit trees on the garden areas, which we like.
The house on the plot was built in 1928, with an extension from the 1960s. The total living area was given by our realtor as 207 m² (2,230 sq ft), although I don’t fully trust the calculation. The expert who showed us around said that the attic should not be counted because the ceiling height is below 2.30 m (7.5 ft). The house has a basement.
What we like about the property is the large living area, the possibility to renovate the floor plan to a relatively modern standard (ground floor), the huge plot with good distance from neighbors, and the existing old trees. What we don’t like is the current layout on the upper floor (little hallway, extension only accessible through room 7).
What we want to change (structurally possible according to the initial impression of our expert):
- Ground floor: Dining area will become the kitchen, the door between dining (which will be kitchen) and living room should be widened, possibly with a sliding door, the old kitchen will become a pantry.
- Bathroom on the upper floor, either room 5 or 7 would be suitable.
- Door breakthrough in the hallway upstairs next to the stairs leading to the extension.
- Old bathroom in the basement: This will be my husband’s home gym. The bathroom will be removed completely except for the shower so that one can shower downstairs after working out (or after coming in dirty from the garden).
We would probably use the attic for “less frequently used” rooms because of the low ceiling height. Maybe for storage and a nice guest room.
On the upper floor, there should be space for a bathroom, bedroom, two children’s rooms, and a utility room for washing and drying.
On the ground floor, living, dining, kitchen + pantry, office, and possibly a shower-gym area should fit.
Heating should go in the basement (energy consultant recommends pellet heating). I’m not sure how good that is; we currently have the THZ504 air-to-water heat pump with ventilation and really like it. I would like to have the same again but don’t know if it is suitable to heat a house that probably won’t get better than KfW 85 standard.
I have already taken over the construction cost thread quite a bit with this potential project. I'll show you a few things and hope for your input because we are still unsure whether we want to buy the property or not.
About the property: The house comes with a 2500 m² (27,000 sq ft) plot made up of 3 parcels. It is located in an area with poor infrastructure (but that’s where my family lives, and I grew up there, so we want to move there) in Rheinland-Pfalz. Boris says building plots in the area go for around 50€ per m² (approx. $5 per sq ft). The land consists of 3 parcels and is partly in a residential zone and partly adjoining garden land. There are also many older fruit trees on the garden areas, which we like.
The house on the plot was built in 1928, with an extension from the 1960s. The total living area was given by our realtor as 207 m² (2,230 sq ft), although I don’t fully trust the calculation. The expert who showed us around said that the attic should not be counted because the ceiling height is below 2.30 m (7.5 ft). The house has a basement.
What we like about the property is the large living area, the possibility to renovate the floor plan to a relatively modern standard (ground floor), the huge plot with good distance from neighbors, and the existing old trees. What we don’t like is the current layout on the upper floor (little hallway, extension only accessible through room 7).
What we want to change (structurally possible according to the initial impression of our expert):
- Ground floor: Dining area will become the kitchen, the door between dining (which will be kitchen) and living room should be widened, possibly with a sliding door, the old kitchen will become a pantry.
- Bathroom on the upper floor, either room 5 or 7 would be suitable.
- Door breakthrough in the hallway upstairs next to the stairs leading to the extension.
- Old bathroom in the basement: This will be my husband’s home gym. The bathroom will be removed completely except for the shower so that one can shower downstairs after working out (or after coming in dirty from the garden).
We would probably use the attic for “less frequently used” rooms because of the low ceiling height. Maybe for storage and a nice guest room.
On the upper floor, there should be space for a bathroom, bedroom, two children’s rooms, and a utility room for washing and drying.
On the ground floor, living, dining, kitchen + pantry, office, and possibly a shower-gym area should fit.
Heating should go in the basement (energy consultant recommends pellet heating). I’m not sure how good that is; we currently have the THZ504 air-to-water heat pump with ventilation and really like it. I would like to have the same again but don’t know if it is suitable to heat a house that probably won’t get better than KfW 85 standard.
In der Ruine26 Jan 2022 13:56kati1337 schrieb:
Edit: By the way, the extension doesn’t look as bad in real life as it does in the photos. The only issue is the roof, which unfortunately looks really unattractive, and the expert said that given the year it was built, it’s likely to contain asbestos. I would replace the roof and adapt it to the old building as a curved gable roof. You can even gain some additional attic space that way.
In der Ruine26 Jan 2022 14:03apokolok schrieb:
What I’m also wondering: There are three of you living there currently, right? What do you want to do with such a huge bunker? Even if you redesign it very generously, it’s still a lot of space to maintain and pay for.
This applies even more to the property. As @WilderSueden rightly says, maintaining it is a lifelong task. If you want to create a botanical garden, then certainly.
Considering the size, I would design it more like a park. High-stem trees, large shrubs, and lawn. Large greenery is low-maintenance, and the lawn can be mowed by a robotic mower. Maintenance effort close to zero.
If desired, you can create a small ornamental garden near the house. The maintenance effort there can be adjusted according to your preferences.
In der Ruine schrieb:
If you want to create a botanical garden, then certainly.
Given the size, I would design it like a park. High-stem trees, large shrubs, and meadow. Large greenery is low maintenance, and the lawn mower robot takes care of cutting the grass. Maintenance effort is close to zero.
If desired, you can create a small ornamental garden near the house. The level of maintenance can be customized according to your preference. Yes, that's exactly how we had planned it.
The parts of the plot further away from the house are meadows bordered by fruit trees and bushes/shrubs. There are already many there.
And I don’t need to mow those areas very often. Bees and insects are really happy when there are still some meadows where the mower robot doesn’t drive all the time.
J
JuliaMünchen26 Jan 2022 15:10I can really understand your enthusiasm for this old gem. I think these older houses have so much more character than the new build blocks, and I also felt a bit sad about having to demolish the tiny settlement house that stood on our property (it still had a wonderful old entrance with glass, a vintage curved wooden staircase, and beaver tail tiles).
However, this property would intimidate me a bit, especially if I didn’t a) have a very high budget and b) have some experts by my side who are familiar with energy-efficient renovations, conversions, and building damage.
In your area, the prices for tradespeople might not be as high as they generally are in Bavaria, but I would definitely do thorough research before any potential purchase—to understand the worst-case scenario costs and what subsidies or grants might be available (mold? hazardous material removal? unstable masonry and outdated wiring?). Also, if you are considering demolition, be sure to get a quote beforehand. We had a really tiny house to demolish, but just the asbestos disposal as hazardous waste quickly drove up the cost.
As for the plot itself with that beautiful garden, I think it’s wonderful regardless of the house (like you, I think of traditional orchards and, in my case, I would put some sheep there on so much space). But since I am as sensitive to noise as you described, I would reconsider that road—when my parents bought their house, the street looked similar, but now trucks pass every five minutes, and my mom is really stressed out.
However, this property would intimidate me a bit, especially if I didn’t a) have a very high budget and b) have some experts by my side who are familiar with energy-efficient renovations, conversions, and building damage.
In your area, the prices for tradespeople might not be as high as they generally are in Bavaria, but I would definitely do thorough research before any potential purchase—to understand the worst-case scenario costs and what subsidies or grants might be available (mold? hazardous material removal? unstable masonry and outdated wiring?). Also, if you are considering demolition, be sure to get a quote beforehand. We had a really tiny house to demolish, but just the asbestos disposal as hazardous waste quickly drove up the cost.
As for the plot itself with that beautiful garden, I think it’s wonderful regardless of the house (like you, I think of traditional orchards and, in my case, I would put some sheep there on so much space). But since I am as sensitive to noise as you described, I would reconsider that road—when my parents bought their house, the street looked similar, but now trucks pass every five minutes, and my mom is really stressed out.
JuliaMünchen schrieb:
I think these old houses have so much more character than the new block buildings, and I also felt a bit sorry having to demolish the small settlement house that was on our property (it still had a wonderfully old entrance with glass, an old curved wooden staircase, and beaver tail tiles). And yet you demolished it instead of dismantling it and reusing some parts?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
J
JuliaMünchen26 Jan 2022 20:3911ant schrieb:
And yet you tore it down instead of dismantling it and reusing some of the parts? I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. It’s difficult to incorporate an old staircase into a new floor plan, install a glass entrance, and attach it to a new building, or to integrate a few traditional clay tiles into a new roof made of wavy tiles because that would be unaffordable today. 🙂 But if you’re asking why we didn’t gut the house first: The little house was only 76m2 (818 sq ft) in total, and I don’t like extensions on old houses—they always look very mismatched to me. 🙂
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