House for sale 7+1 • 131 m² without real estate, Baden-Württemberg

The house is freestanding, built in a solid, massive style. It was originally constructed in 1956, and in 1981 an extension was added, enlarging the living room to approximately 28 m² and attaching a balcony with a crawl space underneath. The balcony has a tiled floor and is glazed with single-pane safety glass. The windows on the south side can be slid open.

On the west side, three windows have been bricked up; on the south side, very large double-glazed insulating windows have been installed, and all the remaining windows have been renewed with insulated glazing. In the attic, a room was expanded with a “little house” built into the roof, and a balcony was added. The roof was completely renewed: it was entirely clad with planks, then overlapping transverse bitumen membranes were laid on top, and finally it was covered with roof tiles. On the inside, the roof was insulated with approximately 10 cm of glass wool and aluminum foil.

The house has a full basement, with the entire basement floor covered with tiles. There is a second toilet in the basement. The entire exterior of the house was insulated with 5 cm of styrofoam or 5 cm of glass wool. All exterior walls were insulated from the inside with about 3 cm of moisture-permeable insulation, so that the walls feel warm when you lean against them from the inside. The total thermal insulation amounts to approximately 8 cm.

Around 1996/1997, a very large, unheated conservatory was added to the rear of the house, so that now the entire north face of the house is protected by an attached structure, providing additional thermal protection.

On the ground floor, the living room and the bedroom feature 21 mm thick solid wood parquet flooring. The kitchen has a plastic floor, the hallway a high-quality laminate floor, and the bathroom and WC have tiled floors.

In the attic, the bedroom also has 21 mm thick solid wood parquet flooring; the hallway and one room have solid wood laminate flooring, and two rooms have carpeted floors. Both living rooms on the ground floor and in the attic feature a wooden ceiling with insulation behind it. Similarly, the bedroom in the attic has a wood cladding with insulation behind it. The balcony in the attic has a tiled floor.

The house is equipped with two fireplaces, which have always been heated exclusively with wood stoves. One or both of these fireplaces can serve as a supply channel for solar panels and solar thermal systems on the roof.

The house has a rainwater collection tank of approximately 8 cubic meters. The flushing of the toilets on the ground floor and in the basement is done with rainwater, alternatively also with drinking water.

The garage is very large; it has already accommodated three cars. In the rear area, there is a service pit with an outlet. The garage also has three large 380-volt outlets.

It is located in a quiet residential area, with a medical center featuring three general practitioners, an ophthalmologist, a bakery, a butcher, an elementary and a secondary school, evangelical and Catholic kindergartens, and a supermarket within a less than 10-minute walk.

The house is heated electrically with night storage heaters, now in their third generation. In my opinion, the night storage heating system is significantly better than its reputation and overall more cost-effective. All the “political” heating regulations have never targeted night storage heaters. Expensive investments had to be made in the past for better oil heating, environmentally friendly pellet heating, or now gas heating. As I heard from an insider, many homeowners are now being driven towards gas heating. In a few years, the gas price is supposed to increase significantly due to CO₂ taxes, and there will be no escape for years.

Electric power is converted 100% (i.e., without losses) into heat energy. The electricity price is a mixed rate derived from gas, oil, and coal power plants, as well as wind and solar energy.

Hot water is generated with a wood-fired bath stove in the basement, which supplies the bathroom and the living-kitchen on the ground floor, as well as a washbasin, two washing machine connections, and a makeshift kitchen in the basement’s utility room. I might consider replacing the wood-fired bath stove with an electric water heater, possibly powered by solar panels to be installed on the roof. In a few years, when heat pumps have been further developed, I might even equip each room with an air-to-air heat pump.

In the basement, in the utility room, there are three taps supplied with rainwater, and similarly, there is one tap on both the south and north sides in the outdoor area.