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.
Here’s a quick update from my side. Since yesterday, the topcoat plaster has been applied.
We spent an unbelievably long and frustrating three months staring at those protective sheets. You don’t really expect it, but it gets really oppressive over time. At night, you constantly feel like “someone’s at the window” because the sheets move in the wind. So annoying. But I can’t blame the workers either, since it has basically rained nonstop here since mid-October. I’ve rarely seen weather like this before.
When the first frost arrived, I took matters into my own hands and started cutting off some of the sheets because I thought there was no chance the work would continue this year. Not even two weeks later, the weather suddenly warmed up and finally got somewhat dry — and then, out of the blue, the plasterers showed up and taped everything back up. 🙄 😀
On one hand, I’m glad when this is all finished. On the other hand, I can think of a better time to have completely covered windows than the pre-Christmas season.
I warned them yesterday that we’re expecting visitors from Australia at the end of the week, and that we’ve hired an expensive photographer to come to our home the following week, so I’ll be cutting everything back open by the weekend at the latest. I offered to have them tape it back up if they let me know before they come. But I definitely don’t want to look at this over Christmas. Visitors like this come only once every few years, and I don’t want to see ugly plaster- and blood-stained sheets in the background of every photo.
The boss also said (besides “when is the visitor coming? Oh dear. You’re killing me...” 😀) that they might come as early as the end of this week to do the painting. Once that’s done, it’s finished, and that’s that. =)
Happy Christmas season to you all. =)
We spent an unbelievably long and frustrating three months staring at those protective sheets. You don’t really expect it, but it gets really oppressive over time. At night, you constantly feel like “someone’s at the window” because the sheets move in the wind. So annoying. But I can’t blame the workers either, since it has basically rained nonstop here since mid-October. I’ve rarely seen weather like this before.
When the first frost arrived, I took matters into my own hands and started cutting off some of the sheets because I thought there was no chance the work would continue this year. Not even two weeks later, the weather suddenly warmed up and finally got somewhat dry — and then, out of the blue, the plasterers showed up and taped everything back up. 🙄 😀
On one hand, I’m glad when this is all finished. On the other hand, I can think of a better time to have completely covered windows than the pre-Christmas season.
I warned them yesterday that we’re expecting visitors from Australia at the end of the week, and that we’ve hired an expensive photographer to come to our home the following week, so I’ll be cutting everything back open by the weekend at the latest. I offered to have them tape it back up if they let me know before they come. But I definitely don’t want to look at this over Christmas. Visitors like this come only once every few years, and I don’t want to see ugly plaster- and blood-stained sheets in the background of every photo.
The boss also said (besides “when is the visitor coming? Oh dear. You’re killing me...” 😀) that they might come as early as the end of this week to do the painting. Once that’s done, it’s finished, and that’s that. =)
Happy Christmas season to you all. =)
kati1337 schrieb:
Since yesterday, the top coat plaster has been applied.There is already a visible contrast in the paint finish – is that going to stay like this? What about my new color suggestions?https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
There’s already a visible change in the paint finish—should it stay like that? What about my fresh color suggestions?I can barely admit it, but I totally copied the façade color from @Steffi33. I just gave the exact color code straight to the façade contractor. I got overwhelmed choosing at some point, was too lazy to drive around residential areas, and honestly, I didn’t care much. 😀
So, we roughly knew we wanted something neutral like sand/taupe, and the shades all looked fine to me. Whenever I thought I liked something, the family said they didn’t. 🙄 I can’t really get excited about plaster anyway; visually, I miss my traditional Frisian house exterior. I’m hoping to enhance this one with green plants around the house.
That said, the topcoat looks pretty good up close.
The lower part is some kind of base coat plaster. Almost all houses here have that. It’s probably supposed to be a darker gray shade to contrast. “Something that looks good with your color,” said the plasterer.
kati1337 schrieb:
I hardly dare to admit it, but I completely copied the exterior paint color from @Steffi33. I had more or less suggested that in post #531 ...
kati1337 schrieb:
The lower section is some kind of base coat render. Almost all houses here have it. It’s probably applied in a darker shade of gray. “Something that looks good with your color,” said the plasterer. ... maybe — going back to post #526 — the gray from the front door in https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-selbst-geplant-verwirklichtes-efh.41378/?
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
I had basically suggested that in post #531...
... maybe – returning to post #526 – the gray of the front door from https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-selbst-geplant-verwirklichtes-efh.41378/?They even seem to have painted the base in the same color. That could be an option as well.Similar topics