Twiddling our thumbs AGAIN!

Well, we were supposed to have our plumbers start two days ago.  No plumbers.  Joern called the plumber with a question yesterday, and spoke with the master plumber.  He confirmed my translation of the whole last meeting with Mr. Plumber, that indeed, they had planned on beginning our house on Monday.  But, he then explained that they have become really backlogged with "emergencies," and that they hope to start on the house real soon. 
I hate to sound bitchy, but I cannot wait for the plumbers to get started!  I mean really, can't you hang out witout a working toilet for a week or so, just so that we can get going?  The nerve of some people!  (Okay, really, that is a joke- most plumbing emergencies are of the unpleasant sort, and I would not want people to have to live uncomfortably because of me.)  But, I would love to see the plumbers get started.

In electrical news, we have a walk-through date set with our electrician!  On Monday at 4:00 pm, Joern, Mr. Electrician, and myself with walk through the entire house discussing the location of our outlets and our Homeway boxes. As you can imagine, this means that Joern and I have quite an exciting weekend already planned out.

So, that's really all the news for now.  Hope to be able to update more quite soon!

Cleaning House

Yesterday was the first day that we actually worked in our house.  We cleaned!  So, not only was it our first day working in our house, but it was our first day cleaning our house!
All this came as a result of Mr. B's sly comment the other day that the house was really messy.  Of course, we had no clue that we should have swept out the house.  So, we even asked one of the builders last week.  He said that usually the builders clean, but that they were working really hard pushing through the second floor, and didn't really have time to clean this week.  But yes, he said that often the home owners come in and sweep up.  Huh.
But the builders did not only sweep up the second floor on Friday, but they cleaned out the first floor as well.  This left us just the cellar to clean out yesterday.
Of course though, we had to start off with our daily walk-through.

                                                           Joern inspecting the monster.

                                                        Looking up at the attic.

It was also during this walk through that we noticed that the elecricians were there on Friday, or maybe yesterday morning. 

And we saw that the plumbers installed the pipes for the air filtration system (the ones in each room.)

 We also saw that the plumbers installed the connection for the rain showerhead.

 But then we realized that the bath showroom, those people responsible for designing our bathrooms, neglected to inform our plumbers that we are installing two rain showerheads.  So, Joern had to call Mr. H, the plumber, to clarifly the situation.

The situation was easily solved, we need to mark out where we want the second showerhead, and it will be installed on Monday.

Then, we headed downstairs to the first floor.
We found new insulation waiting in the living room.

 
And we found many, many more cables- again!

 We finally made our way to the cellar.  It was a lot of dust, but so worth it!

                                                        

Afterwards, we went home to celebrate with some sparkling wine :)

How do you decide?

Our house is a custom build and not a builder's design.  That being said, the perks of  a custom home are exactly that, the house is completely custom.  We choose everything!  We get to pick out whatever flooring we please, whichever windows we want, any doors, any roofing tiles, the world is ours. 
Yet, our plumber recently provided us an offer that inclued fixtures.  I know we should purchase our fixtures, well most of them through the plumber.  Although his prices may be a little higher than what we could get from an internet company, we get peace of mind that our fixtures will arrive in good shape, come with a warranty, and that the plumber's price will not increase for installation. We already have sinks for the master bath, children's bath and cellar, but otherwise, toilets, showers, the guest bath sink, all will come from the plumber.  The plumber offered us his version of "builder basic," Keramag's series, Renova Nr. 1. 
I know its a little ridiculous, but I had different views and ideas for my toilets.  Mr. B always brings up the fact that a toilet is a toilet, and well, you know how we use toilets, they're not furniture pieces.  On the one hand I see the practicality of this argument.  Maybe its because my dad is a plumber, or maybe its because I am attempting to recreate a New England colonial in my little house, but I'm not so happy with the practical approach.  
I really like Villeroy and Boch's Hommage collection, and Kohler's Portrait collection. 
The problem is that we're starting to reach the edge of our budget, something which makes me a little uncomfortable.  I think these are the decisions that are also difficult.  Should we go with the more expensive Villeroy and Boch fixtures, or stick with the more basic fixtures, accepting that we will change them out in the future.  Will we get around to changing them out, as dogs and children expand our lives, and our focus shifts away from our house as time passes? 
We are going to ask Mr. Haag for the prices of both the basic fixtures and the Villeroy and Boch Hommage fixtures.  But in the end, how do you decide?

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!

Excavation, Day 5

Thursday, or Day 5 on the timeline, was quite an exciting day in our excavation experience.
The walls were made quite smooth and a lot of dirt was removed.  The result was a transformation from a hole in my in-laws' front yard to a very clear area perfect for a house.

The walls were smoothed down.

Day 4 rear corner of Joern's garage                            Day 5, rear corner of Joern's garage

And most excitingly, the entrance to the driveway was brought down to the level of the street!  Meaning, once the excavator moves, we could drive into our driveway!

Photos from day 2 (left) and day 5 (right).  The entrance to the driveway remained 3 feet above the street from day 2 to the afternoon of day 5.

Mr. Wolfram (the operator of the excavator,) and another driver also measured out the ground ensuring that it was level. 

As they checked, they marked areas that needed a little extra dirt, or digging, to ensure that the entire building lot was indeed level.

In other news, Mr. B also stopped by today, wearing his two hats, architect and project manager.  He dropped off the official, completed plans.  Mr. B also called the plumber, Mr. Haag, to meet with Joern at the building lot. Sadly, I wasn't there to meet with Mr. B and Mr. Haag, but Joern was. They discussed the placement of the pipes underneath the house, which were to be marked out the next day. They decided against solar panels, because the air pump is very efficient, and because we have a special situation with solar panels and our low-pitched roof. Also because when we would need the solar panels to help support the warm water (in the snowy,cold winter,) the solar panels are often covered with snow, or there is not enough sunlight to support the solar panels. Joern also gave Mr. Haag the plans from Joern's cousin, the structural engineer.  It turns out that the air pump Mr. Haag had planned will be at its limits for our house size.  So now, its back to the drawing board, Mr. Haag will offer a few options to make up for this problem.  They also decided that we will indeed tie the fireplace into the hot water system, this way, we will use the fireplace to help support the production of hot water on chilly winter days.  This does mean that will have to be a little more serious in our search for a fireplace, but that doesn't really bother me at all.

A very busy day

Three accomplishments yesterday! Visiting the plumber, buying our refrigerator, and selecting possible tiles. Wow!
The plumber was relatively easy. When we first went to the plumber, Joern had really wanted propane for heat and hot water. The plumber gave us a quote which included propane. After some discussion though, we realized that propane may not be the best choice, and we now need a quote for a air pump heating system. We also informed him of the changes to the insulation. So now, he is working on a new estimate, which will be completed at the beginning of next week.
In the afternoon, Joern and I stopped at an electronics store called Media Markt. We had seen our Haier french door refrigerator in this location a few months ago, but it was overpriced compared to some internet sellers. To our surprise, the refrigerator was on sale as a floor sample! Turns out that most German kitchens do not fit these refrigerators, and Germans are down on their electiricy useage. Honestly, they don't use that much electricity compared to what we are paying now in our apartment for electricity! Side-by-sides are growing in popularity here, but are still considered a luxury, and you need a fairly large kitchen for these. I was completely ready to get a side-by-side, having never had one myself, until I started reading that they aren't so great. When I looked at the side-by-side with a less "dream-like" eye, I realized they aren't the best design. But the french door with a bottom freezer seems like a wonderful solution. We knew we would buy this Haier french door, no matter what, and were so excited to find it as a floor sample.

We will be picking it up today! Now, we are finished purchasing all the appliances for our kitchen!

There is a very small hardware store in our town that Joern would like to use in as many ways possible as we build our house. I love that Joern wants to keep it as local as possible. They work with a tile store in Reutlingen, so they recommended we go there to look at tiles. We stopped there last Saturday, but were told to make an appointment. Our appointment was yesterday afternoon. It was another crazy two hours of looking at their relatively small assortment, but we found some really interesting tiles!
What made the process difficult of course were my very American inspirations. A lot of tile here is very efficient, large plates with high-gloss that are easy to clean. But, they are also very modern, and do not fit in my house. I also am not a big tile fan, and in a perfect world, if wood were waterproof and dent-proof, I would have no tile in my home. Alas, the world is slightly imperfect, and we need tile in our bathrooms and in our cellar. Bleh!
We started with the master bath, which turned into a fight, and took about an hour to find something that we both liked. Actually, we fell in love with! I guess I didn't have a strong idea of what I liked. I wanted something natural, but not too natural, beige or grey. The tile had to go with our espresso vanity. Not too easy, I must admit.
After about 45 minutes, we found these, and said, "this is it!"

These tiles are from Villeroy and Boch. Honestly, I was not expecting to use such a high end tile in our bathroom.
Just as our tile designer went to write down the tile name on our form, Joern turned around and saw THE tile. Polished light beige travertine rectangular tiles. Beautiful!
As our designer realized that we were falling for a higher end look, she brought over some mosiac tiles that would go well as the floor in the shower. The ones she brought over, while ridiculously cool, were too much, lots of glass mixed in with stone. I went back to the display of mosaic tile, and found two natural stone mosiacs that were much more me.
Here are the three mosiac choices with the tile:

Here's a close-up of the designer's suggestion:


Yes, it is beautiful, and so very rich looking. But, the glass was just too glitzy for me.
Here is my suggestion, and our final decision:


This is the final decision for the master bath. We will incorporate the mosaic also into the top of the shower, but we're both really happy. I think that with the dark wood, the bathroom will have an extremely rich look.

An hour working on the master bathroom was exhausting. But, we're so excited.

The children's bathroom was pretty quick, because I am planning on wainscoting, so we only need floors. Joern loves wood-look tile, and there was wood in my inspiration picture. But, I chose instead an off-white rectangular tile, that well, almost looks like wood if you really imagine, but is clearly not imitation wood.

We chose a dark grey polished marble-esque tile for the guest bath on the first floor:

I hope it will look good against a white subway tile, and then a dark grey paint on the top half of the walls.



I really loved this blue glass mosaic too. Thinking of how to incorporate this into the house- somewhere.

Oh, and here's the cellar tile. I told Joern he could chose anything he wanted for the cellar. This will be in our entry foyer, bathroom, hobby room, and storage room. Its okay, but since Joern is so happy, I won't complain:

Well, there you have it. We are going to another tile place soon, to have another appointment. I am hoping to find something a little nicer for the children's bath. I am also hoping for a subway tile for the kitchen backsplash.