While I was sleeping

I spent most of the day resting, and sleeping.  Joern, on the other hand, got to watch the progress and got to meet with the architect and the plumber.
Today, they worked on the exterior cellar walls.  It started this morning with a last minute change.  Joern contacted the architect yesterday, when he realized that there is a part of the cellar that is exposed in the front, and was a place we could install a window.  We didn't plan any window because earlier on, we had a few windows planned in the cellar, which turned out to be illegal because they were planned on walls that lay on the border.  But, Joern realized that this one portion of wall, between the cellar and the back part of my garage, was exposed wall, set 3 meters back from the property line, no problem for a window!
So, Joern quickly called Mr. B last night, who quickly okayed the change.  This morning, he contacted Mr. Builder to let him know about the change.  Time was important, because the builders were preparing the forms for the walls today.
It turns out it all worked out, and they framed in a floor-length window.

 By the end of the day, the majority of the forms for the concrete were completed.

Joern also met with Mr. B and our plumber, Mr. Haag.  Mr. Haag delivered the fabulous news that the air pump heat system he had planned in his original estimate was in fact, too small for our house.  Great.  The next size up does not have an integrated air-filtration system, which would leave us to need to buy an extra air-filtration system.  In total, it is about 4,000 Euro more than the original estimate.
They also discussed the toilets, etc. that were included in the estimate.  Mr. B suggested that we make an appointment with  a bathroom studio to look at different items.  I am thinking about going with some "plumber  basic" toilets at the beginning, and changing them out to nicer ones in time.  But we can also ask Mr. Haag for other items and see how much he would charge us for them.
Joern explained that they also discussed the gas stove issue.  I guess we had planned, very poorly, to put our propane tanks for our stove behind the house, rather close to the stove.  The problem is that this would put the tanks directly above the air-intake for the heat pump.  Since our heat pump uses air as its source, you don't want to have gas leak into the intake, it could lead to a very bad situation.   So, they will ask to build a box out of concrete for the propane tanks on the side of the house, underneath the dining room add-on.  The second problem with the stove is that we also have a fireplace.  Evidently, if the fireplace is on, and we use the stove, it could cause a problem with the gas, and increase the potential of a fire.  Mr. Haag explained that we need to use a ventilation hood that recycles air, instead of brings in air from the outside.  He also explained that we need to ensure that the ventilation hood has a good filter.  Since we have a air filtration for the house anyway, there should not be a problem with getting fresh air into the house while cooking.
A lot happened while I was sleeping on Wednesday!

Some pictures, as I promised

September 22, the forms have been removed.  We have our first free-standing wall!

Preparing for the concrete slab for the house.



September 23, laying insulation underneath the slab.



September 23, end of the day.  All ready for the slab.

September 24, pouring the slab!

September 27, pouring the concrete for the garage walls

For the first time, I can stand on the floor of my house!  Slab is finished!

Tuesday

Personally, today was a shit day.  I'm home on sick leave for the rest of the week, and well, just not happy.  
House-wise, today was awesome!  The house looks totally different today, because my garage walls were installed and they started installing the forms for the exterior cellar walls.
I never really explained the foundation, and I guess now is as good a time as any.  Our house is a bit of a special case, but I'm sure that you, dear readers, already knew this.  Since our house is being built into a hill, it requires a very special foundation in order to counteract the pressures of the hill, from many sides.  The decision was that the exterior walls of the cellar, or is it foundation (?) along the back and the sides will be made of pured concrete.  The walls for the front of the house, namely, my garage, do not need to be so strong, but need to look nice.  So, the walls for my garage were made of pre-fab pieces.  The cool thing about pre-fab parts for a garage?  The walls were up in one day! 

And a view of the forms that are soon-to-be filled, and soon-to-be the complete exeterior walls in the cellar our house!

And there you have it!  This construction site is slowly, but surely, becoming a true home!

Since Tuesday

A lot has happened since Tuesday.  Of course, we're building a house!  We had a small drama when I hurt my knee pretty badly on Tuesday evening. 
But, I don't have the camera here right now, its at my in-laws' house.  So for now, I'll just give a brief discription of each day.
Wednesday- the molds for the first wall were removed, which means we have our first standing wall!  It is the wall in between Joern's garage and the house.  Hooray!  They tried to set-up some more molds for the other garage walls, but there was a problem with steel, I guess they didn't have enough, so there was a lot of waiting on Wednesday.
Thursday-  the preparation for the slab for the house was completed.  Insulation was laid above the stones, and then the thin layer was laid on top, the steel grids were put in place. 
Friday- the concrete slab for the house was poured!  Molds were finalized for the other two walls in Joern's garage, which will be poured on Monday. 

Hopefully, we'll get to my in-laws' house later today to pick up the camera.  I'll post pictures soon!

I looooove our electrician!

We met with our electrician for the first time today.  I guess I was a little surprised when I found out that this was not the guy who kind of has a monopoly on all electrical work in our town, but instead, someone recommended to us by Mr. B.  The "town electrician," turns out to be good at his job, but not very reliable.  He has forced building sites to stop for days while the builders had to wait for electrical work.  Mr. B has worked with this electrician, Mr. Kübler, on a couple of projects, and Mr. B has been really impressed by not only his work, but by his affordability. 
 I didn't realize Mr. Kübler would be at our new house before 4, so I arrived about 15 minutes after he arrived, but at least Joern was there and able to start talking with him.  When I arrived, Mr. Kübler introduced himself, and then said that he and Joern were just talking about smoke detectors and security systems.  As any proud, flag-waving American, smoke detectors were a non-negotiable to me in our new house, and I have been having major discussions with Joern for years about how I would want a security system for our house as well.  He explained that for most of his customers, these are hard-sells for him, I told him my American opinions on both, which made him very happy.
Here is a bullet-list of everything we discussed:
-we will have a 400 watt outlet in Joern's garage, as we will need it to power the pump for the cistern, as well as the need to power Joern's power tools in the future.
-the circuit-breaker box will be located in the entryway along the staircase, an electrician's dream
- we discussed making a "lichtdecke" or illunated ceiling.  This will give us maximum light in our cellar space
  without compromising the terrace.
-we spent a long time discussing the TV, and Mr. Kübler had a fantastic idea!  He worked in a house where
  the fireplace constructor built a special insulated niche for the TV.  We're definately looking into this solution!
-3 pendant lights above the island in the kitchen
-on the top floor, we discussed further recessed lighting in the walk-in closet and the bathroom.
-the suggestion of illuminating a small section of the ceiling in the Master shower with LED lights, this would not only illuminate the shower, but would allow us to put in any type of shower-head, including a rain-shower.
-running LED lights along the top of the staircase
-the alarm will have sensors on all windows that can be accessed from the ground, a motion sensor in the cellar, and a video-speaker system at the door with a recorder
but, by far, the coolest idea:

- put a double 110-volt plug in the kitchen!!   This means I have a dual-voltage kitchen!  I can run all my US appliances in my kitchen without my dumb, boxy, heavy transformer!  I could have cried, or kissed Mr. Kübler, or maybe both!

Well, that's about all with electrics.  Pretty exciting. 

Here's a currrent view of the house, they're preparing the molds for the garage walls!

Not much today

Its Friday.  We've been officially involved in the house-building process for 3 weeks now.  It was the first day that the builders were not working from 7 am to 5 pm.  Really, there wasn't so, so much for them to do today, as they didn't want to walk on the slab too much.  They did remove a lot of the framing for the slab, and tomorrow, we'll probably go take some good pictures.
There is a lot of insulation up, and they did put gravel all around the entire house perimeter.
The guys worked from about 10 to 4.  I don't care.  They work damn hard, I have to say.  They deserve this one day, as long as they don't make it a habit :)

Thank you for listening, Mr. Weather!

Dear Weather,
Thank you so very much for cooperating today!  It was so kind of you to make the decision to keep the rain today, even though you did send by a few threating clouds.  The slab was poured this morning in our garages, and it looks beautiful! 
Thank you so much for your help.
Your friend,
Allison

As I drove to work this morning, I saw the concrete truck in the driveway.  Concrete truck in driveway could only mean one thing- concrete slab!  Joern called me a few seconds later to confirm my suspicion, that indeed the slab for the garages and foyer were being poured!  I have to admit, I am a little sad that I missed it, although seemingly boring, I would have loved to have witnessed the event.  But, it was exciting to come home and see my garage all finished.  By the time I got home, Joern's garage was not only completed, but also covered already. 

The finished garages.

A few pictures from earlier in the day.

Because the garages do not have any more covering over the floor, they were finished with a very smooth finish. 

Once the slabs were finished, they were covered with a plastic cover, and then sprayed with some water.  The cover not only protects the slab while it is curing, but it also keeps moisture in the concrete throughout the drying process.  If the slab dries too quickly, cracks can form really easily.