Revisitng the bath showroom

So, even though the construction is waiting for better weather, there are still things to be done, and decisions to be made.  In early November, we received the estimate from the plumber with the plumbing fixtures.  I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but lets just say, we didn't quite expect such a large sum.  Of course, the estimate was about 20 pages long and included up to five alternatives for each item chosen, like five alternatives to a drain.  Oy!  Sadly, in all our enthusiasm, or lack thereof in this case, we simply filed the estimate away, and said that we would get back to it.  I guess almost two months has really flown by, because we got a call from the plumber this morning.  He wanted to remind us that we should make up our minds soon about what items we will chose for the house.  Huh.  I think we're both embarassed and frustrated.  Sticking our heads in the sand obviously was a poor choice.
So this afternoon, we headed back out to the bath showroom, estimate in hand, wanting to re-evaluate our options.  We found out that the man in charge of our account is on vacation.  So instead, we booked an appointment for next week, and decided to look around on our own.  There is real value in looking around a bath showroom without your plumber and sales representative following you around.  We found a few interesting ideas for the shower that might save a little.  We are also considering ordering our faucets from home.  Unfortunately, we haven't found another way to save like 10,000 Euro, but tonight, my job is to put the estimate into an Excel file so that we can start to tackle this project!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours

Since Christmas is celebrated over two days here, it is still Christmas.  With that, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas from our home to yours.

Our two year Blogiversary!

Hard to believe that two years ago today, I began this blog!  We've really come so far in the past two years.  From chosing our best option to actually building a home. 
After seven hundred and thirty days of pouring over countless decisions about our home, tonight the first floor of our home sits underneath a blanket of snow, and beneath that a blanket of insulation, that is protecting the concrete ceiling.
We've come so very far, to reach a slight snag in the timeline:

This is what it has looked like in our town for the past week and a half.  And while our builders are hardy and work in most any weather, snow and ice are not proper working conditions. 

The good news though is that the day before the big snow, the builders managed to pour the ceiling of the first floor.  They came on Friday morning to put a "blanket" over the house, which helps to keep the house dry and warmer, in order to help the concrete dry properly.  I am just happy for the house that it is all snuggled under a cuddly blanket. I'd love to leave a thermos of hot chocolate for the house to enjoy when it gets really cold. 

Of course, as it we are now two weeks out from Chirstmas, it looks like we won't see our builders again until January now.  I'm not upset.  As I was telling my friend Mandy today, I feel so guilty when the guys are working in cold weather.  I know its their job, but I don't want to be the reason our builders are out there freezing their butts off.  We'll get our house built, I don't mind.

As soon as we find the battery charger for our camera, I will post some new pictures.  In the past week, the house has looked really Christmassey all covered in snow.  Sadly, today, it is totally rainy.  But, the forecasters are predicting a white Christmas, so it looks like its time to get decorating!

What is very cool and very unplannable, is that on this two year Blogiversary, we met with the Notary Public this afternoon.  We signed the contract in which Joern's parents gifted us 100 sq. meters of their land.  We are now the owners of all of the land upon which our home sits!  Amazing!  Plus, this was the final step necessary before we were able to secure our mortgage.  So, pretty soon, we should be able to receive our money from the bank.  Scary, but also very necessary!

It is so much fun to look back on the journey that is long behind us.  It seems like another world ago when we were looking at existing homes and considering pre-fabs.  Somehow, through it all, we managed to find our best fit.  I cannot believe that so much has happened, and that we have two-thirds of the exterior now completed.  So much of our heart and souls have been poured into this home already.  It is a part of us.  It is also amazing to think that we will be living in our custom-build on our third blogiversary.  I can't wait to watch this upcoming year unfold!
Thank you to all the readers who have gone through this process with us.  Many of you have left fantastic comments which have helped us wade through all the decisions.  I look forward to one day welcoming many of you into our home!

Just keep working, working, working

Okay, don't call me Dorry.  The builders just keep working.
Today, continued work on the ceiling of the first floor.  Steel mesh was installed over the entire ceiling, and they worked on the forms for the poured concrete sub-floor. 
We also received our second set of builder's steps (aka, Freaky Scary Wooden Ladders.)  Sadly, no picture,  but it will come soon.
A few plumbers were there today to lay the lovely orange pipes for the air filtration system for the first floor.

They should be pouring the sub-floor in the next few days, officially ending the shell of the first floor!

A few other exciting and weird things of which I sadly have no picture include the cut-outs for the recessed lights and the freaky tentacle looking creation climbing down the wall in the pantry.  No worries, pictures will follow in the upcoming few days!

All covered up!

Today the pre-fab sections of the ceiling arrived. The sections were installed above the walls of the first floor, and then steel mesh was installed.   We're kind of in a race with the weather, as the sub-floor needs to be poured quickly.  It would be a mess if it snowed, the weight of the snow could break supports holding up the pre-fab sections.

But, for right now, we'll rejoyce in the fact that the first floor is almost complete!

Friday's progress and NEWS!

The builders completed the load-bearing walls along the stairwell on the first floor on Thursday. 
Surprisngly, they were ready on Friday to put up the beams to support the ceiling.
Because the kitchen window is wide but rather short, the cut-out for the window required special support.  The builders also installed two steel beams that will be supported by the wall underneath. 

And here is what the window cut-out looked like when the supports were finished.

The builders also prepared the insulation above the back door.

And here is what the completed first floor skeleton looks like today:

Joern may be deciding what he is going to cook here in our kitchen.

And this is what it looks like when you stand in the pantry area and look through the doorway to the powder room, and into the guest room/ office.

And this is what it looks like when you stand in the dining room and look into the living room.

 But the most amazing picture, this is what our stairwell looks like now:

Hard to believe this was just one week ago:

But the big news is- tomorrow the ceiling is going to be installed!  Here is the steel mesh that will go between the ceiling plates and the poured concrete second floor sub-floor.

I'm not the biggest fan of Mondays, but I can't wait to come home tomorrow!

Progress again!

It is amazing to see how quickly the walls are going up.
Here is what has been going on during the past couple of days.

Sunday



Monday

The little green block with the black is the insulated area for the pull cords for our manual security shutters.

Tuesday

                                                       

                                   The greenish blocks are actually insulated boxes for the security shutters.

Today (Wednesday)



The kitchen wall is the last exterior wall to complete in the first floor!                       

Joern talked with the builders today and they think that we will be ready for the ceiling next week!

I feel so sad that we forgot the camera today!

With the shortening days, its getting really difficult for me to take pictures when I get home from work.  I'm sure part of it is also due to the really crappy weather we've had for the past couple of days, but by 4:30 this afternoon, it was almost dark, and the builders headed home.
Its sad though that I left the camera with all of the pictures that Joern took, at Joern's parent's house.  Because I would love to show how quickly our house is becoming our home. 
By yesterday afternoon, the walls in the back were almost taller than me.  Tonight when we came home, I was surprised that the back walls of the first floor are pretty much completed.  The boxes for the security shutters have already been installed.  In the front, the walls are about halfway complete!
I simply have to bring home the camera card tomorrow, otherwise, it would seriously be a tragedy. 
I'm certain that things will slow down again, but I absolutely cannot believe how quickly the exterior walls of the first floor are growing!

Familie and Heim Messe 2010

Yesterday, Joern and I received a letter in the mail from a pool company.  Included in the letter were two free passes for this year's Familie and Heim Messe (Family and Home Fair.)  Last year, we attended the fair, and walked away with a contract for a kitchen.  I was very interested to see what today would bring. 
Before heading out to the fair, we stopped by the house this morning.   It wasn't raining, and well, it was nice to have the time just to walk around the house. 

We spent about an hour at the house.  Now that the house is standing, we have a few thoughts on how to improve on our plan.  Whoever it was that said everything changes once you see the house standing was totally right.  Fortunately, there is a lot that still isn't standing, so we still have time to make changes.

The fair was okay.  It felt so strange and exciting to think back on last November.  As of November last year, the house was  in the early planning stages.  We were collecting offers from builders and pre-fab companies.  A year later, our builders are working on our first floor.  Wow!
A few highlights from this years' fair included speaking with a company that builds fireplaces and another company that installs balcony and terrace railing systems.  We also spoke with a representative from Stiebel Eltron, the company that  makes the air heat pump we will install.  Joern was also excited to speak with a representative from the pool company that invited us to the fair.  He is trying to justify putting a pool in our back yard.  As I said a few months ago, if Joern could marry a pool, he'd leave me.  We also stopped by our kitchen showroom.   We spoke with the owner, who really impressed us by welcoming us by our name to their stand.  He also told us that our kitchen designer will be retiring in January, and advised us to set up an appointment with our current designer and the person who will take over our project, within the coming weeks.
Overall, it was a good day.  I am glad we didn't pay for tickets, as we didn't actually get anything very useful out of the fair.  But I am happy that we went!

After 11 weeks

Yesterday marked the end of the 11th week of the building process.  Sometimes, it feels like so much has gone on so quickly.  Other times, it feels like this process is really slow.  In reality, eleven weeks is like nothing.  So, we are really very excited about all that has happened.
In honor of the end of week eleven, the builders began the exterior walls of the first floor.   

Joern even got to try his hand at being a builder.

By noon, the house looked like this:

 And after lunch, the builders were hard at work again.

By the end of the day, two rows had been completed on all walls, and three rows were completed in the corner where the pantry will be.  Now, you can clearly see where all the windows will be placed- since they are all floor-length windows, all the spaces between rows of blocks are windows.  It is looking so very great!

Thursday's Happenings

The completion of the cellar on Wednesday brought with it the end of yet another phase in our building process.  Thursday marked the beginning of the first floor of the house.  Of course, beginning a new floor meant that Thursday's job was moving a lot of stuff on top of the cellar.  The crane was busy moving lots and lots of palettes of blocks on top of  the cellar. 

Sadly, we also had our first injury.  The foreman, Oliver, hurt his hand pretty badly in the afternoon, and had to be taken to the hospital.  He didn't return to work on Friday, and another builder explained that he might not be back at work for a few weeks.  Any good thoughts that you could send Oliver's way would be greatly appreciated :)

Our cellar is finished!

Obviously, the cellar is not completely finished, but the Rohbau (the skeleton) of the cellar is now complete!
Over the past few days, the builders were working hard on covering the pre-fab concrete panels for the ceiling of the cellar with steel mesh.

On Monday, the house looked like this:

 On Monday, Joern and his father also spoke with the driver of the excavator, who had returned to our building site last week in order to completely fill in the trench around the cellar.  They asked the excavator driver to remove some of the hill next to Joern's parents' house.  It was a good idea to take advantage of the presence of the excavator, and by removing some of the hill, it allows us to actually have a back yard. 

This is a good picture of the hill to be removed.

The excavator was also used to place large amounts of drainage stone around the house.

The builders worked on the add-on, drainage stones were placed on the ground and the add-on was insulated.

On Tuesday morning, the builders continued to work on the ceiling slab.  And this morning, final preparations were made for the concrete to be poured.  Mr. Builder's son (who is also a Mr. Builder,) came to work on the house too.

Steel mesh was applied on top of the add-on and on top of the pipes for the air-filtration system.

More steel mesh arriving.

All preparations complete.  Waiting for the cement truck.

 

 

The cement truck arrived around 1:00 pm today.  The builders worked pouring the concrete for the ceiling slab for about 4 hours. 

The builders left at 4:45 this evening, by climbing down from our now completed cellar ceiling slab.  The exciting thing is that with the completion of the cellar, the sub-floor for the first living floor of the house is also completed.  Tomorrow, we enter the next phase of building!

We also met with the plumber tonight.  He received the price list from the fixtures Joern picked out at the bathroom showroom.  Although their final price was quite expensive, it also included the price of the alternatives that they offered.  Our big homework this weekend is to work through the price list, and probably visit the supplier again to figure out what fixtures are a must, and which fixtures can be replaced with less expensive alternatives.

We're really rolling along all of a sudden.  It is so exciting lately to see what each new day brings with it!

Just go away for a week, the progress is amazing!

While we were here:

Seeing this:

And drinking this:

This is what the builders did:

The pre-fab portion of the ceiling of the cellar was installed, the first pipes for the air filtration unit (in orange,) were laid, our first temporary stairs were installed, and preparation for the poured concrete floor were completed.

The trench around the house was completely filled in.

Our light wells were installed, the add-on was placed above the completed concrete box for our gas tanks.

We are absolutely shocked that so much happened last week, both in Ireland and in Neckartailfingen.  It is huge!  We're looking forward towhat this week will bring!