Renovating older buildings in Mönchengladbach The survey first, the measure second.

What renovation means here

Renovating an older building is not one trade, it is a sequence. We build the part that sits inside and say plainly where another trade takes over.

01Record

We look at how the house was built: wall construction, floors, moisture, junctions. Without this step every figure is a guess.

02Order

Not everything at once. The measures are put in a sequence so that the second does not tear open what the first closed.

03Carry out

Insulation, drylining, decorating, floor coverings and internal doors we do ourselves, and we coordinate the remaining trades around them.

NoteStructural work, hazardous materials, electrics, plumbing, heating, windows and planning consent belong in other hands. We tell you at which point.

Six items we check first

It starts with a survey, not with a quotation. In an older building these six items decide what is worth doing and what costs money without having any effect.

01External wall

Single or twin leaf? A twin leaf wall has a cavity between the leaves that can be filled without changing the facade. Whether it is suitable depends on the condition of the wall, the depth of the cavity and how damp it is.

02Top floor ceiling

A great deal is lost above the last heated level, and that is where it is put right fastest. Whether the roof or the ceiling gets insulated depends on whether the space above is to be used.

03Floors and ceilings

Timber joist floors often carry a heavy fill. It looks like rubble and it is sound insulation. Replace it with light wool and the floor turns into a drum.

04Moisture

Before any insulation we measure rather than estimate. A damp wall does not get drier under an insulating layer, it gets colder, and that only moves the problem inwards.

05Airtightness

Joints, junctions and penetrations decide whether insulation works at all. A vapour control layer fitted wrongly does more damage than none at all.

06Surfaces

How smooth a wall should end up is agreed beforehand. Q1 to Q4 are not a matter of taste but quality levels under leaflet no. 2 of the German gypsum industry association.

NoteWe give figures after the site visit. Before that, any figure would be an estimate you cannot plan with.

What to expect in Mönchengladbach

The way a house was built shows where the reserves are. These four pictures are the ones most often met on the Lower Rhine.

01Before 1950

Solid masonry, timber joist floors, render on brick. The fabric is often better than its reputation, the building physics more demanding: moisture and sound have to be thought about together.

021950 to 1970

The rebuilding years, frequently twin leaf masonry with no insulation at all in the cavity. That is exactly where the shortest route to a noticeably warmer wall lies.

031970 to 1990

Twin leaf masonry with facing brick, first insulation, plenty of area. What is missing is usually not the wall but the ceiling above it.

04After 1990

Built with insulation but rarely built airtight. Here it is less about insulating material and more about junctions, joints and surfaces.

NoteThis grouping does not replace a survey on site. Houses of the same year have been altered differently, and that is what decides.

What we carry out in an older building

Six trades from one firm, in the order in which they fit together.

01Insulation

From blown insulation in twin leaf masonry through the top floor ceiling to natural insulating materials. Which material fits is decided by the element, not by the catalogue.

02Drylining and acoustic work

Independent linings, partitions, suspended ceilings and casings. In an existing building often the only way to get crooked surfaces straight and loud rooms quiet.

03Decorating

Preparing the substrate, filling, papering, painting, up to the agreed quality level. Raking light shows whether this step was done cleanly.

04Floor coverings

Vinyl, laminate, parquet, tiles and carpet, on a substrate that has been checked and prepared first.

05Internal doors

Frames and door leaves in an existing building, where one dimension rarely matches the next and the wall is seldom plumb.

06Seamless PU floors

A jointless coating with digital printing, where a continuous surface that is easy to clean is wanted.

NoteSeveral trades in one enquiry are the normal case. The site gets shorter, because it is planned once instead of four times.

From site visit to handover

Five steps, always in this order. Dates and duration are agreed together once the scope is settled.

01Enquiry

You describe the project, ideally with two to five photographs. An overall view and a detail save most of the follow up questions.

02Site visit

We look at the building, take measurements and record what needs doing and what can wait.

03Quotation

You receive a breakdown by item, with what is included and what is expressly not included.

04Execution

We work through the trades in the agreed sequence and keep the site in a state you are happy to walk into.

05Handover

A joint walk through, open points are recorded and dealt with before the invoice is sent.

Where renovation gets expensive

Rarely because of the material. Almost always because of what nobody opened up beforehand.

01Hidden backlog

What can be seen goes in the quotation. What sits behind the lining decides the contingency. That is why we open up whatever can be opened with little damage before we quote.

02The wrong sequence

A new floor before the insulation, paint before the windows are replaced: double the work, double the cost. The right order costs nothing if it is settled at the start.

03Old building materials

In older properties the question of what was built in belongs at the beginning, not at the end. Testing and disposal are done by firms licensed for it, and our work stops until they are finished.

04The downgraded ceiling

Swapping a heavy old fill for light wool improves the warmth and worsens the sound. What counts in the end is both together.

NoteWe do not quote a price per square metre before we have seen the building. A figure that does not hold once things are opened up helps nobody.

Plates

Four photographs from the firm: material and craft as they occur in a renovation.

NoteThese photographs are from MK-AUSBAU and show material and craft, not a particular customer project. The title picture and the photograph in the fabric section are views of existing buildings and document no project of the firm.

Who keeps the file

MK-AUSBAU is a finishing trades business based in Heinsberg. Maxim Kelm started out as a dryliner in 2016; today the firm carries out interior fit out and renovation as one continuous piece of work.

I started out as a dryliner in 2016.

01Drylining and acoustic work

Partitions, independent linings, suspended ceilings and casings, filled to the agreed surface quality.

02Insulation

Blown insulation, top floor ceiling insulation, internal insulation and natural materials from straw to glass wool.

03Decorating

Filling, papering and painting on walls, ceilings and woodwork.

04Floor coverings

Vinyl, laminate, parquet, tiles, carpet and seamless PU design floors.

05Internal doors

Measuring and fitting frames and door leaves in existing buildings.

06Coordination

On request we bring the trades involved together, so the site has one point of contact.

What we do not doStructural engineering, hazardous material removal, electrics, plumbing, heating, shell construction, windows and planning consent are other trades. We coordinate our work with them and say early when they are needed.

Area covered: Mönchengladbach

The firm is based in Heinsberg and works in Mönchengladbach regularly. For work that hangs together the journey is a matter of course; for one small item on its own we will tell you honestly whether it is worth it.

Survey location

Mönchengladbach

City area

• Mönchengladbach
• Rheydt
• Odenkirchen
• Wickrath
• Giesenkirchen
• Rheindahlen
• Hardt
• Neuwerk
• Eicken
• Holt

Beyond that

• Korschenbroich
• Jüchen
• Viersen
• Erkelenz
• Neuss
• Düsseldorf

NoteIf your building lies outside these places, just ask. We will tell you directly whether the journey makes sense.

Common questions about renovating older buildings

What owners in Mönchengladbach most often want to know before a renovation.

Request a site visit

Describe your project briefly. We will get in touch and arrange a visit.