ᐅ Hillside House in the Southwest Palatinate – Our Home Construction 2.0

Created on: 9 Sep 2022 18:13

Good evening everyone

I’m starting a small collection thread here for photos and progress updates on our second building project.
We’ve already moved to the Palatinate region to be closer to the construction site. Now we’re watching eagerly and happily as our (hopefully final) dream home takes shape near family.

One big challenge still ahead of us is the facade design. I really love the Nordic style with brickwork and mullioned windows. That won’t be possible here for two reasons: firstly, no one here can do bricklaying, and secondly, it would stand out too much. We will be going with a rendered facade. How to design the colors of the facade and windows to still create some country house / cottage charm is currently still a work in progress mentally.

Otherwise, I’m sharing our plans here and how it will eventually be built.
The support pillar marked near the kitchen island could be removed for a small extra cost, so that will be gone.

The room for “garden equipment” under the garage will get a partition wall for structural reasons.
It won’t be fully finished living space like in the house, but underfloor heating will be installed, along with a lockable door and a window. It’s meant to store garden tools but also some of the building services equipment, since the utility room (HAR) is quite small, and maybe be used as a party room.

We had three construction companies in the final selection. In the end, we chose the “doer” – a builder recommended to us here by friends and family. No website, no smartphone, but he is on site every day himself working in overalls. He has a very good reputation in this area and now rarely builds single-family homes. We were a bit lucky through personal connections and a very friendly initial phone call to get our foot in the door. So far we are very satisfied with this choice.

Two-story house with garage, window fronts and trees; northeast and southwest views.

Site plan of a house with roof areas, measurements and property boundary (1020.25 m² (11,000 sq ft)).

Floor plan of a single-family home: garage, hallway, entrance area, bathroom, utility room, bedroom, kids 1/2, guest room.

Southeast view of a house on a hillside with terrace steps, windows and human figures.

Floor plan of a house with kitchen, living/dining area, hallway, bathroom, utility room, fitness room, office and garden.

netuser20 Sep 2022 09:43

#61

I am definitely in the "pro-parquet camp" and would never choose tiles for living areas. We even went to the extreme and installed parquet continuously everywhere except for utility rooms and bathrooms. This includes the kitchen and entrance area as well. At least after one year living in the house, we have not regretted this decision, and ALL family members enjoy the pleasant natural flooring every day.

kati133720 Sep 2022 10:04

#62

haydee schrieb:

The Tut Tuts thrown as projectiles break everything. Our bathtub has scratches in the coating from those parts.

But aren’t those just made of plastic? Well, maybe that’s the price to pay for how amazingly durable these things are.

i_b_n_a_n schrieb:

I wouldn’t want your two little ones crawling around on “plastic” either. You’ll find many supporters of hardwood flooring here in the forum, as well as plenty of tile fans. With my youngest daughter and her three little ones, I’m always a bit worried. The stairs and ground floor are fully tiled, which really hurts if you fall down. Tiles are definitely more durable and easier to maintain, but in terms of feel, smell, and appearance, I personally find hardwood much nicer. Mine is oak, very resilient, and I like the natural look it “radiates” compared to the somewhat “cold” feeling that tiles give off. I’m clearly pro-hardwood. One of my nephews built his house two years ago with glued-down vinyl everywhere, and another nephew (just finished) has light oak hardwood. It’s worlds better both visually and to the touch, as I mentioned above. Of all the flooring types I know, the “best” are either solid plank floors (my brother has oak throughout his entire house) or hardwood parquet. Hopefully, this plastic flooring trend will end soon ;-) (Unfortunately, I was tempted to install that stuff in my rental apartment :-( ... )

Solid planks must be quite expensive though? Parquet would probably be financially manageable. My husband is just very skeptical about the maintenance effort and the dents we experienced with the wooden staircase in our first house. However, the parquet I’m looking at wouldn’t be perfectly smooth; I prefer it a bit more rustic. That way, signs of wear wouldn’t be so noticeable.

i_b_n_a_n schrieb:

My ex used to occasionally throw dishes, which left marks on the light-colored tiles. On wood, “natural” signs of wear would be much less noticeable visually (my humble opinion).

Oh dear... I hope I don’t have to judge flooring by those standards. Well, kids do like to throw things around. 🙂

Sunshine387 schrieb:

Definitely go for hardwood! It feels really nice and cozy. And my tip: pay attention to whether you want “live” (characterful) parquet or not. We have that in one room and didn’t really understand what it meant. There are lots of knots and varying wood tones right next to each other.

Are those two different quality grades? Or how do you differentiate between “live” (characterful) parquet and “not live”?

Ypsi aus NI schrieb:

I think laminate and vinyl floors get a pretty bad reputation here... In our current apartment, we’ve had laminate for 11 years (we live on the ground floor of a house), including the entrance area. We walk around with street shoes on and guests never have to take off their shoes. The floor still looks as good as new and I still love it!
For our future house, we chose Modular One. We have about 25 different floor samples here: laminate, vinyl, design flooring, hardwood. The floor feels good, has the Blue Angel eco-label, and – which is important to me – the decor color fits perfectly. For those who go with black, white, and gray minimalism, the search for the right wood color may not be so hard, but for us it is. We don’t have white furniture, walls, or doors. Instead, there are lots of wood tones, bold tiles, and very striking kitchen cabinets, so we’re really thankful for the variety of designs available in design floors, even if they are only printed. But before crawling around on the floor or licking it 🙂 the first thing I notice is how it looks.
So in our case: design floor.

I’m not someone who demonizes vinyl. We had it glued down all over our first house wherever there were no tiles, and it’s certainly not a bad floor. I just always had a certain “plastic” feeling about it that I didn’t fully like. It’s hard to explain rationally. Under light it had an unnatural shine, you could somehow see the coating, and I found it noticeable that it wasn’t real wood. Otherwise, it was of course easy to maintain. It’s really a “luxury problem”; I just find real wood much cozier.

11ant schrieb:

Check out https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/bau-eines-144-qm-bungalows-in-fichtenwalde-naehe-potsdam.39228/page-178#post-593201 – objectively, it’s probably just a matter of personal preference that I don’t quite like this “material combination.”

I agree with you. Sure, the photos look beautiful, but it somehow doesn’t feel homey or cozy? It seems cooler than wood.

WilderSueden schrieb:

Me too. Especially since the topic came up unexpectedly for us, but also because it’s not just a question of price and taste, it’s also about maintenance. And as a lazy person, I don’t really want to regularly oil hardwood. How often you actually have to do it is still a mystery to me. Manufacturers say yearly, but apparently hardly anyone actually does that...

I feel the same way. You often hear here that the maintenance effort isn’t that much. It probably depends on the hardwood. I’m not so worried about complete disasters like tipping over a bucket of water and leaving it for an hour.
But what if, for example, tomato sauce drips onto the wood and isn’t removed right away, or something similar?

ypg20 Sep 2022 10:10

#63

WilderSueden schrieb:

Since you need to place the staircase right in front of the bedroom door (not ideal),

This is actually well solved, as the staircase goes down from the entrance. On the right side of the plan is the private area.

kati1337 schrieb:

But I tend to prefer hardwood flooring in the new house because I can never quite get rid of that "plastic" feeling from the texture, appearance, and the way it feels underfoot.

I just looked up Modular One because of the mention and did some research since we also want something new upstairs eventually.
And I read that hardwood flooring isn’t ideal with underfloor heating systems that include cooling functions.
If I remember correctly, you have a cooling function, don’t you?
Caution is advised with air-source heat pumps that include cooling functions, which are becoming increasingly common. If the floor is cooled too much during summer, condensation and cupping of the flooring may occur due to moisture problems. Please consult your air-source heat pump manufacturer for more detailed information. Source: mein boden.at

Pinkiponk20 Sep 2022 10:13

#64

kati1337 schrieb:

But I’m leaning towards hardwood flooring in the new house because ...

Hardwood flooring is, in my taste and opinion, the most beautiful of all options. I hope your concerns can be eased.

Would it be an option for you, if you haven’t already done so, to search extensively online for tips on how to repair small and large scratches or dents in hardwood floors, in case they bother you too much? There must be many solutions available. In castles that are visited every day by hundreds of people wearing street shoes (without protective covers), the hardwood floors still look good despite signs of use.

WilderSueden20 Sep 2022 10:15

#65

ypg schrieb:

This is already ideally designed since the staircase goes down from the entrance. The right side of the plan is private.

That's right, I misread that. In this case, I would make the transition from tiles to X next to the staircase.

ypg schrieb:

And I read that parquet flooring is not ideal with underfloor heating that also has a cooling function.

I already asked this question in another thread as well: https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/welchen-bodenbelag-im-neubau-bei-fbh.43671/page-8#post-594857
I think Kati had an air conditioning system, right?

i_b_n_a_n20 Sep 2022 10:28

#66

Pinkiponk schrieb:

Parquet flooring is, in my taste and opinion, the most beautiful of finishes. I hope your concerns can be eased.

I fully agree. Although some don’t trust my! taste 😳

Pinkiponk schrieb:

.... In the castles that are visited daily by hundreds of people wearing street shoes (without shoe covers), the parquet still looks good despite signs of wear.

Here it’s more likely not parquet but "castle boards" made of solid oak, aged for a long time. The name probably even comes from that 😉

ᐅ Hillside House in the Southwest Palatinate – Our Home Construction 2.0

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