ᐅ Hillside House in the Southwest Palatinate – Our Home Construction 2.0
Created on: 9 Sep 2022 18:13
K
kati1337
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.
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.
Hello everyone!
Thank you for your feedback and the many compliments. We are also thrilled with the entrance area and how well the craftsmen managed to make it look so harmonious. The 45° miters on the corners must have been quite challenging to execute. But it looks truly top quality. Even the general contractor likes it.
The first shower in the new bathroom was amazing after living for a year in a damp 60-year-old bathroom. From the shower, I can see the entire village. 😱
The photovoltaic system is up and running. Despite cloudy skies and a rather awkward roof shape, we have had a good yield so far. On the first day, we fully charged the car right away. On the second day, we were already thinking about what else we could turn on so we wouldn’t “give away” too much of our precious electricity to the utility. Car full, home battery fully charged, washing machine running.
We were initially skeptical about the home battery. In most photovoltaic communities, it’s said that these are rarely cost-effective. But we got ours quite cheaply, it has a long warranty, and I think we will get more cycles out of it than an average household. During the first two nights, we completely drained it each time. However, I took two baths in the evenings (I am in seventh heaven now that I have a bathtub again), and afterwards, the heating system used the heating element to generate hot water. I need to discuss this with the plumber. In principle, we shouldn’t be wasting so much electricity to have hot water sitting in the tank overnight. Especially not with the heating element. But the sanitary briefing is still pending, and we also haven’t set up the app yet. That’s coming.
But I think with our base load and evening activities, we will almost empty it even without the hot water. And it would be nice to have a few percent left in the morning so we don’t have to draw power from the grid before the sun rises. That’s what happened yesterday. We drew 3.8 kWh from the grid. We generated nearly 50 kWh, mostly self-consumed. That’s how it should work.
Now that we have moved in, we can also enjoy the surroundings at all times of day and night. This photo was taken on the second morning at the breakfast table. The sun was rising, it was foggy, and it looks stunning as the fog slowly lifts over the landscape but still hangs above the forests.
More pictures of the house will follow throughout the week once we are better furnished. Unpacking always creates complete chaos for me until everything has found its place.
Thank you for your feedback and the many compliments. We are also thrilled with the entrance area and how well the craftsmen managed to make it look so harmonious. The 45° miters on the corners must have been quite challenging to execute. But it looks truly top quality. Even the general contractor likes it.
The first shower in the new bathroom was amazing after living for a year in a damp 60-year-old bathroom. From the shower, I can see the entire village. 😱
The photovoltaic system is up and running. Despite cloudy skies and a rather awkward roof shape, we have had a good yield so far. On the first day, we fully charged the car right away. On the second day, we were already thinking about what else we could turn on so we wouldn’t “give away” too much of our precious electricity to the utility. Car full, home battery fully charged, washing machine running.
We were initially skeptical about the home battery. In most photovoltaic communities, it’s said that these are rarely cost-effective. But we got ours quite cheaply, it has a long warranty, and I think we will get more cycles out of it than an average household. During the first two nights, we completely drained it each time. However, I took two baths in the evenings (I am in seventh heaven now that I have a bathtub again), and afterwards, the heating system used the heating element to generate hot water. I need to discuss this with the plumber. In principle, we shouldn’t be wasting so much electricity to have hot water sitting in the tank overnight. Especially not with the heating element. But the sanitary briefing is still pending, and we also haven’t set up the app yet. That’s coming.
But I think with our base load and evening activities, we will almost empty it even without the hot water. And it would be nice to have a few percent left in the morning so we don’t have to draw power from the grid before the sun rises. That’s what happened yesterday. We drew 3.8 kWh from the grid. We generated nearly 50 kWh, mostly self-consumed. That’s how it should work.
Now that we have moved in, we can also enjoy the surroundings at all times of day and night. This photo was taken on the second morning at the breakfast table. The sun was rising, it was foggy, and it looks stunning as the fog slowly lifts over the landscape but still hangs above the forests.
More pictures of the house will follow throughout the week once we are better furnished. Unpacking always creates complete chaos for me until everything has found its place.
B
Benutzer 10014 Sep 2023 10:11kati1337 schrieb:
From the shower, I have a view of the entire village. And the whole village can see you showering 🙂
Good luck in your new home, and thank you for letting us be part of your journey.
H
hanghaus20234 Sep 2023 10:57How much did you pay for the attic?
hanghaus2023 schrieb:
How much did you pay for the storage system?If I subtract it from the total offer, about 6800, for 12 kWh Offtopic schrieb:
And the whole village watching you shower 🙂
Good luck in your new home, and thank you for letting us be part of it.Thanks for being with us. <3The village would actually need binoculars for that, since we are at a higher elevation. So the immediate neighbors can’t see into the shower angle-wise (and I can’t see them either), and those on the hill across the valley would need good binoculars 😀
schubert794 Sep 2023 16:44All our neighbors can watch us while we shower. I didn’t notice this in the first few months. It was only in the evening, while having a beer, that they jokingly pointed it out to me. So what. We live in a dead-end street and everyone is busy enjoying their sauna. My wife says… she just looked away.
schubert79 schrieb:
All our neighbors can watch us shower. I didn’t even notice it the first few months. Only one evening over a beer did they jokingly point it out to me. So what. We live in a dead-end street and everyone’s busy enjoying their sauna. My wife says… she just looked away.I also think, if someone really wants to go through the trouble of watching me shower – have fun. It’s their problem, not mine. 😀
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