Eight years ago, Jan Pauly bought an almost dilapidated half-timbered house in Zell an der Mosel for just 7,000 euros. In around 20,000 hours of work, he transformed the house into a gem.

The listed half-timbered house dates back to 1545. With a lot of clay, love and passion, Jan Pauly renovated the house almost entirely on his own - across all trade boundaries.

Jan Pauly is actually a cultural manager. After 12 years in the Ruhr area, he returned to his home town of Zell an der Mosel. He has many childhood memories of the half-timbered house, and it quickly became clear that he wanted to live here in the future. The house is one of two historic houses in the Spay district of Zell. Jan gives it the name "House in Spay."

At the time, he had no idea what a mammoth project lay ahead of him. "If I had known the condition of this house and what was in store for me, I wouldn't have bought it," Jan says today with a twinkle in his eye. That makes him all the more proud and in awe of what he has created. The house has made him a kind of "craftsman artist," Jan says, because in order to preserve the original character of the house, he used only traditional craftsmanship techniques, all of which he taught himself.

Only natural materials from the region were used: clay, lime, sand, straw and wood. The result is impressive: There are the floorboards of marone in the living area or the all-wood kitchen made of ash and oak. Just like the Stucco Veneziano in the guest house or the Moroccan Tadelakt in the bathroom. Both special gloss plastering techniques that took some doing and stamina on the part of the homeowner. "You have to be willing to make mistakes all the time. That's the only way you become a good craftsman." Jan has meticulously logged all work steps, every color, every plaster was experimented with in detail. In the meantime, Jan even has his own recipe book with clay recipes.

But it's not just the look and aesthetics that are important to Jan in his 100-square-meter home. The topic of sustainability is also important. He has installed state-of-the-art technology throughout the house. A wall panel heating system driven by a heat pump ensures a pleasant indoor climate and energy-efficient heating. The whole thing is supported by very thorough insulation with ecological wood-fiber insulation boards. The heat pump is additionally fed by a photovoltaic system on the workshop roof.
To keep his lovingly designed home in good shape, Jan relies on a mix of traditional and modern. He cleans his surfaces exclusively with olive oil soap and maintains the floorboards with vegetable carnauba wax. For major cleaning, he likes to use a central vacuum cleaner. For this, he has laid a pipe system through the walls of the entire house. The powerful vacuum cleaner is located in the basement.
He won't reveal what Jan has invested in his house so far. Only this much: due to the use of natural materials and the high proportion of own work, the costs have remained moderate compared to the size of the house.
The last major investment was the restoration of the facade in the summer of 2022, where the original plaster is striking, interrupting the even picture of yellow stone and brown oak beams. What looks like a broken-out piece of wall is used by birds to collect lime. For Jan, this, too, is ecological and sustainable, and deliberately designed that way.
For Jan, the "House in Spay" is also an investment in his hometown. He regularly invites his friends and neighbors to private house concerts. Where life took place around the fire several hundred years ago, in the hallway kitchen, bands now perform. In the future, his guest house with sauna will also become a place of exchange and encounter. A new village culture is emerging around a historical heritage.

A film by Sarah Wilk (editor), Lars Reuther (camera), Paul Heydecke (sound) and Florian Daferner (editor).

00:00 historical half-timbered house
01:05 entrance area
02:09 Music and guest room
03:14 Bathroom
04:22 Staircase
05:45 Living room
06:36 Kitchen
07:55 Bedroom
08:50 Guest house
09:55 Attic
10:33 Exterior



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