There are still many buildings in Chemnitz that have been empty for years or even decades. From the street, it is often not possible to see in which condition the houses are in. Where regular inspections are not carried out and damage to the building shell is not repaired immediately, the decline usually begins with roof leaks. Typically, the process of deterioration begins slowly and gradually picks up speed; neighbours may wake in the night as another part of the floor collapses. If the dilapidation process is at an advanced stage, one must act quickly, or demolition may be inevitable.
After being empty for about 30 years, Gießerstraße 41 evoked memories of the morbid images in Tarkowski's film Stalker: the roof was perforated, several ceilings had already collapsed, damp had already made its way through every storey. A birch tree had taken root on the 2nd floor façade and ferns were already growing inside. Nevertheless, the house had a basically sound structure, so that a renovation still made sense. Given the leaking roof, some broken windows had probably even been an advantage. After all, the wind blowing through the house after a rainfall quickly dried off at least the superficial wetness. The characteristic Chemnitz stone staircase gave the house stability and was also an important fixed point during the renovation.
Defective floor structures over several storeys make refurbishment a complex design and construction task: How can dilapidated floors, together with the tiled stoves standing on them, be removed without risk to workers from falling building components? How, with justifiable effort, should decaying building components be supported when the floors are no longer able to bear their own weight? How best to secure a crumbling roof through which you are in danger of falling at any moment? And how can the building's structural integrity be guaranteed for all intermediate states, while load-bearing components are missing or have to be replaced?
The house was initially propped and secured from the cellar floor to the roof. After the house had been cleared and all components that could come loose in the event of vibrations had been removed or re-fastened, the structural floor replacement could begin. Only after the dilapidated timber beam structures had been replaced, room by room with new suspended brick floors, and the roof truss had been replaced could the actual renovation begin.