Surprise!

I called Joern during my lunch break today to ask him for a house status update.  This has become a lunch break ritual since the beginning of this school year, it provides me a little "pick-me-up" during the school day, plus, it helps calm my deep desire to be home watching the house change daily.  At 12:00 today, Joern told me that the builders were working today, installing steel mesh.  We discussed that this stage could last a few days, and we both hoped that the weather stay above freezing until the ceiling could be poured.  I hung up the phone satisfied that the house just may be completed by the end of the week.
Imagine my surprise when my phone rang just as we started "quiet time," with the kids around 1:15, and Joern told me that the concrete for the ceiling was on it's way to the house!
The builders started pouring around 1:30 this afternoon, and were finished by 3:30.

Mr. Builder arrived to take some photos.  You can also see the orange air filtrationon tubes under his feet.

Joern got a little "artistic" with the photography.

                                         

                                                              

                                                             

The last batch of concrete.

And now, the exterior of our house stands, completed. 

Obviously, we had quite a reason to celebrate today!  Mr. B also called Joern to tell him that the carpenter, who will do the roof, will be coming in 2 weeks!

The ceiling!

Today was not necessarily the smoothest of all days.  First of all, this is what we woke up to this morning. 

Yup, that's snow.  Just a little, but enough to make me feel bad for those poor builders, outside in the cold. 
And then, well no big suprise,  my car is in the shop again.  So, Joern had to drive me to work, which meant that he missed the arrival of the ceiling.  He also missed the first half hour of installation.  Fortunately though, Joern was able to see a good portion of the installation of the ceiling.
Here, the builders are lowering the portion above the back bedroom.

To help keep up the morale of the builders, Joern bought some food for break-time, and brought them some tea.  During break-time, Joern ran in and snapped a few pictures.  Here is the house at 9:30 this morning:

After the builders returned from their break, they got to work cutting out the hole for the attic stairs. 

By the afternoon, the entire ceiling was completed.  The house definitely looks more like a house now, and of course, we are thrilled!  We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the weather holds out until they can get the concrete poured.  Then, it looks like time to wait for the spring thaw. 

Tomorrow morning at 8 am

Tomorrow morning at 8 am, our second floor will no longer look like this:



Because, the pre-fab portion of the ceiling is being delivered tomorrow morning!  Of course, we're both a little sad at how much darker our upstairs will be with the ceiling on top, but we are so much closer to completion than we were three weeks ago!

I really need to get back into the daily blogging routine, since December was pretty much a bust in terms of house building.  I should have posted yesterday though, because this week, just like last, the builders again made great progress!

Yesterday, the builders continued working on the load bearing walls.  They completed the wall that makes up the border between the stair well and bedroom #2.

Silly poses come pretty natural when your house progresses along so nicely!

The builders also continued working on the wall for the master shower, which is now above my head.  

They also completed the entire wall for the master suite!













Standing to the doorway to our bedroom!

We also noticed how different our view to our neighbor's house is now

 Compared to the same view from September:

 

We also had

We also had a surprise visit from our architect / project manager yesterday.  Normally, he visits the house on Wednesday, but he was in the neighborhood yesterday afternoon, so he decided to stop by.  It worked out well because it was right as Joern and I were coming home from work.  It has been a long time since we both were able to meet with our architect, so it was nice to do a walk-through with him.  Of course, it all started off rather strange, when Mr. B entered the house and seemed a little surprised that we had not yet cleaned the floors.  Really?  Germans sweep out their houses during construction.  Wow, I never expected that one!  Obviously, we are a little upset and embarassed that no one told us earlier that we were in charge of sweeping out the cellar.  Okay, we are quite embarassed.  I am starting to think that there should be a book about building that all people building a home receive when they sign with a builder.  It would cover things like home builder etiquette, Richtfest "rules," etc. 
But once we got past that, the walk-through went quite well.  Mr. B was satisfied with our new stairs.  We clarified the repositioning of the wall in the mechanical room.  Upstairs, Joern said that he would like to push back the living room wall 40 cm. into the guest room.  Then, Joern and Mr. B both laughed at me about wanting a guest room, to be a guest room, complete with a bed.  I think it is a cultural thing, but sheesh, what is so bad about a guest room?  Afterwards, we went up to the second floor.  Everything looks great, except as of yesterday, the builders had no clue where the cut-out was going for the attic door and stairs.  It was good that Mr. B was there, he was able to clarify it with the builders.  Since the pre-fab concrete ceiling has already been ordered and made, it is too late to have it cut before installation.  But, if it is in fact, not in the ceiling, the builders can cut it out before adding the steel mesh and pouring the rest of the concrete.  We also discussed with Mr. B our experience with the bath showroom.  He also gave us some money saving tips and hints. 
Despite the few "jabs," it was overall a very worthwile visit.  We were able to clear up quite a few items, and were happy to hear that he was pleased too.

The builders worked hard today, completing all the interior walls that need to be completed before the ceiling is installed.  They also put up tons of metal supports in anticipation of tomorrow's big event.  Sadly, I am having trouble uploading any more pictures.  So, maybe tomorrow I will post pictures of the before and after shots of the second floor!

Well, that's all for now.  The word for the day is anticipation.

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!