Villa Raab: New life for a listed building

A historic building in Alsfeld has been given a new lease of life: The Villa Raab was renovated under the direction of the Weppler-Jungermann architectural office. System manufacturer SAKRET played a decisive role in the project.

Exemplary renovation of the Villa Raab in Alsfeld in the spirit of monument protection

After years of vacancy and incipient decay, the prestigious villa in French palace architecture from the Wilhelminian era was to be comprehensively renovated in line with its listed status – in retrospect an extraordinarily successful project by the entrepreneurial couple Ralf and Tanja Bohn. Under the direction of the Weppler-Jungermann architects’ office, the company Sachs Baudekoration from Lauterbach/Hesse and the monument protection authorities, partners from a wide range of fields were coordinated: SAKRET as a system manufacturer of the required building materials and partner for plastering, painting and tiling work, Scheerschmidt and Schneider (Stadtallendorf) for the tiling work and the specialist companies Golem (Sieversdorf) and Replicata from Freiburg recreated the historical decor and created reproductions of historical originals.

The common goal: to restore the original condition

The special value of the property lay in the numerous original interior and exterior details. For example, the magnificent exterior façades with their rich ornamentation of decorative elements and borders, the stucco cornices and friezes in the main rooms. The valuable, historic tiling in the corridors and stairwell was also completely preserved, apart from a few missing areas. SAKRET was able to offer product solutions as a system to meet the requirements for materials in the area of plaster and tiling, which – in accordance with the monument protection requirements – guarantee a long service life. For example, materials such as felt plaster, lime interior plaster or marble fine filler.

The exterior work

The overall condition of the building required extensive preparatory work: Cracks running through some of the brickwork had to be grouted and many of the stone balcony railings had to be taken down for restoration. After cleaning the entire façade, it was plastered with SAKRET KAM adhesive and reinforcing mortar.

SAKRET KAM felt plaster (0.8 mm grain) was then applied as a decorative finishing coat. For smooth surfaces such as building corners, walls, window surrounds etc., SAKRET Marble Finishing Filler MFS was used. This also made it possible to smooth out unevenness of up to 1 cm in a single application.

Renovation of the interior

Inside the villa, the entire wall plaster had to be removed due to the moisture that had penetrated over decades.
SAKRET KIP interior lime plaster was used as the base coat – awarded the Blue Angel for its environmental compatibility. To plaster the old brick walls, SAKRET KIP was applied wet-on-wet in two coats up to 7 cm thick using the G4 plastering machine.
After the drying time, the wall surfaces were completely finished with SAKRET Lime Plaster Multi interior KPM I, 6 mm thick, embedded with an alkali-resistant SAKRET mesh to prevent cracking. The final coat was applied with SAKRET Precious Felt Plaster EFP 0.5 mm.

Details on tiling work

SAKRET Universal Primer UG and SAKRET Special Primer SG were used as primers on mineral plasters, concrete and cement screeds and for priming cementitious building boards. SAKRET Alternative Waterproofing AA was recommended as a tested system component for waterproofing damp and wet rooms.
The SAKRET Flexible Tile Adhesive Fast FFKs and the multifunctional flexible mortar SAKRET Euroflex EF enabled efficient tiling. Finally, the fast-setting SAKRET FFM flexible joint grout was used to grout the tiles.

The round arches of the vaulted ceiling (approx. 120 cm wide) were plastered with SAKRET MAP-SL+ exterior machine plaster. This material could be applied and matted in one layer to the required thickness of up to 5 cm. SAKRET interior lime plaster KIP // interior lime plaster multi KPM I was also used in the basement rooms.

A successful team effort

Today, the renovation of Villa Raab can be seen as a prime example of cooperation between committed contractors and demanding monument protection. The lead architect, Jochen Weppler, was also impressed by the success of this collaboration: “A truly successful team effort, with which even the complex requirements of the listed building were solved in the best possible way.”