Stadthalle can't get rid of the moisture - "We have decided to accept it"
Created: 01/03/2023 12:02 p.m
By: Wolfgang Schorner
The listed town hall in Penzberg.
© Wolfgang Schörner
Wild parties used to be celebrated in the basement of the town hall.
That was decades ago.
Large parts of the basement are no longer used.
A big problem has always been the moisture, which did not disappear even after the renovation of the town hall.
The city building department has now submitted a report on the condition of the basement.
Penzberg – "Now I know what is meant by catacombs": That's what a city council member moaned 20 years ago.
At that time, representatives of the city council and town hall visited the narrow, winding and damp basement of the town hall, where even wild parties were once celebrated.
20 years ago it was considered making the basement usable again, i.e. draining it and creating a reasonable room height by lowering the floor.
Lower and drain: the plan was buried before the general renovation
However, before the general renovation, which took place from 2014 to 2016, the plan was buried.
It would have been too expensive.
The city probably saved several million euros.
The idea of filling in the basement area under the left wing was also not realized.
In the course of the general refurbishment from 2014 to 2016, the basement was only partially refurbished and a complete seal was dispensed with for cost reasons, city master builder Justus Klement recently reminded the building committee.
A pump was installed in the boiler room, where the water pressed out of the wall.
In principle, however, the moisture problem that has always existed in the listed town hall continues.
And it manifests itself in different ways.
According to him, last summer because of the humidity, which even triggered false alarms from smoke detectors,
an inspection with a building physicist takes place.
There is now a renovation concept for the entire basement.
Renovation concept shows problems in the basement
There are therefore problems in the basement areas under the stage, under the left side wing (formerly the Chillout youth club), where renovation work began in the autumn, and under the right side wing (restaurant).
The refurbishment concept revolves around removing damp plaster surfaces, sealing parts of downpipes from the outside, replacing the joints in the case of arched tile coverings, using dehumidification devices and planning mechanical ventilation for winter and dehumidification for summer.
According to the building physicist, there are no problems in the newly built basement under the small hall of the town hall.
Layer water from the nearby Schwadergraben
The moisture damage is not unexpected.
Before the general renovation, it was decided to accept the moisture, says Klement.
However, the problem is urgent in the basement rooms under the restaurant, which are actually intended as storage.
If the renovation does not bring anything there, he says, other measures would have to be considered.
The moisture in this area, the city master builder explains, may be due to layer water from the nearby swath ditch, which migrates horizontally under the surface to the side wing.
If the forecourt of the Stadthalle is redesigned, the idea is that the layer water could be prevented by clay aprons or other solutions.
No time-consuming, expensive renovation
According to Klement, the main focus at the moment is on building maintenance.
When asked by the building committee what the measures would cost, he explained that the 2023 budget had reserved EUR 250,000 for the town hall, but that the amount for repairing the damage was well below that.
Exact costs are not yet available.
You have to be careful about the moisture, but it is also important that there is no more moisture in the basement, says Klement.
However, he would not recommend any renovation with opening of the floor slab and other measures for a building that has existed for 100 years.
