Handyman in Pankow – from Prenzlauer Berg to Niederschönhausen

Prenzlauer Berg is an almost unbroken Gründerzeit neighbourhood, much of it renovated after 1990. Flats that had been heated with coal stoves until then got gas boilers or central heating, new bathrooms and new wiring. Weißensee mixes Altbau, post-war buildings and the Komponistenviertel around Antonplatz. In Pankow and Niederschönhausen there are many villas and family houses with gardens between the apartment blocks.

Those 1990s renovations are now around thirty years old, and that generation of fittings is reaching its limits: sticking thermostatic valves, dripping taps and cisterns, tired silicone, gas boilers that keep losing pressure. Radiators, valves and taps are ours; the boiler itself goes to a firm registered for gas work.

Kitchens get replaced a lot in these flats too – with a new cooker connection, sink and appliances. In Altbau walls, where one plug sits in brick and the next in plaster, we check first how the wall cabinets will hold. In the houses of Niederschönhausen and Pankow it’s more often wiring that has grown over the years, outdoor connections and cellars.

Parking around Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz is tight. For moves and kitchen deliveries we can apply for a no-parking zone from the Pankow borough traffic authority. Many façades here have been carefully restored; anything that changes the outside of the building should be cleared with your landlord or owners’ association first.

Pankow is one of the further trips for us: from our office at Landhausstraße 31 in Wilmersdorf we cross the city centre to the north-east. Kollwitzplatz is about 8 km in a straight line, Pankow town hall about 10 km, Antonplatz in Weißensee about 10.5 km. Travel within Berlin is included in the fixed price, and we allow for traffic when we set the appointment.