Historic buildings are not always easy to maintain and have their pitfalls.
But the oldest house in Fürstenfeldbruck is hit particularly hard.
Water penetrates there again and again.
Tenants and owners are fighting an almost hopeless battle - but maybe it will end soon.
Fürstenfeldbruck
- If you stroll across Leonhardsplatz, along the narrow sidewalk behind the church, the black sandbags immediately catch your eye.
One is amazed.
They are piled up in front of the door of house number 4.
A music school has its domicile there.
Should the barrier prevent water from flowing from the nearby Amper into the historic building with the green shutters?
However, none of the neighboring houses is secured in this way.
Surface water
Well, it's actually about water.
But not about that from the river - but about surface water.
When it rains heavily, the sewage system cannot fully absorb the water from Hauptstrasse, Leonhardsplatz and the church roof.
It flows to the lowest point in the area - precisely to the oldest house in town.
“We always have soup in it,” says Peter Braun, owner of the music school who rented the building.
Homeowner Johanna Neumaier explains that the problem has been around for a few years.
The house is mentioned for the first time in the house chronicle in 1588.
Johanna Neumaier herself grew up there.
"There used to be no water running in," says the senior citizen.
The Amper flood can be estimated and acted in good time.
Not so the heavy rain.
That is why tenant Peter Braun often piles up the sandbags as a precaution.
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Construction dryers should dry the building.
The moisture damages the walls and the musical instruments.
© Weber
It was that time again four and a half weeks ago.
Hurricane-like storms swept over the district during the night.
Despite the sandbags, the next morning there was water on the first floor.
“If it really pours down, the sewer outside won't make it,” says Braun.
That is why the Brucker continues to build up the sandbag barrier every evening as a precaution - from the inside as well as from the outside.
After that, Braun can only leave the building through a back door.
“When the students come, I will of course put away the sandbags.” But he also had to break off the lesson because the students were standing in the water.
Tropical air
If you currently step inside the historic building, tropical warm and humid air flows towards you, accompanied by a roaring noise.
“These are the construction dryers,” explains Braun.
The landlord Neumaier got them to get the rooms dry again after the recent water ingress.
"The basic humidity is bad for the old house and also for the musical instruments," says Braun.
That's what the town hall says
The problem is well known in Fürstenfeldbruck town hall. But the tenant and owner of the old house have so far felt left alone by the city administration. Town hall spokeswoman Tina Rodermund-Vogl now expects an improvement in the situation through construction work. These start at the beginning of August and are related to extensive renovations to the water pipes throughout the city. "First of all, the rainwater in front of house number 4 is to be drained off in the direction of a street inlet by creating a targeted water flow," says the spokeswoman. In addition, the connections of the gutter and the inlets of the street drainage in the urban sewer are to be renewed.
"Nevertheless, extreme events can lead to a build-up of water in front of the building," explains Tina Rodermund-Vogl. The problem is, and remains, that the historic building has ground level access without a threshold or stairs. Your suggestion: Owners or tenants could get a portable flood barrier for extreme cases.
