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.

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.
Y
ypg
9 Nov 2022 23:04
WilderSueden schrieb:

Lift-and-slide doors are great, of course, because they don’t take up any space inside the room.

Maybe the forum should encourage distinguishing between lift-and-slide doors and parallel sliding doors. Only the latter can be tilted open. I really dislike those… you end up holding the entire window unit in your hand…
Tolentino schrieb:

I don’t really understand the appeal of (lift-and-) sliding doors.

Me neither. I hate them. As a guest, I tend to break them everywhere (unless the homeowner quickly runs over to tell me “sorry, I’ll handle it”… haha 😀)
In the ’70s and ’80s, they had great sliding doors… no idea what they were called 😉
kati13379 Nov 2022 23:28
Modern aluminum window with two sashes; left side operable, right side fixed.

So, when we talk about a lift-and-slide door, this is the kind of door we mean 😀

And the one below would be a tilt window:

Two-sash wooden window frame with glass, handle on the left side, against a white background.
kati13379 Nov 2022 23:30
ypg schrieb:

Me neither. I hate them. Whenever I’m a guest, I end up breaking them everywhere (unless the homeowner quickly comes over and says, “Sorry, I’ll take care of it”… haha 😀)

A lift-and-slide door? Those are practically indestructible, and since you just have to reverse the handle, you can’t really do anything wrong, can you?
K
kbt09
9 Nov 2022 23:47
I think Yvonne means a parallel sliding door, which I also find really awful 😉

Perspective of door frame with glass window next to tiled floor and metal frame.

Modern glass door with dark frame, multi-leaf, light tiles indoors.


Parallel sliding-tilt door (PSK door) open next to a window.
kati13379 Nov 2022 23:53
Yes, PSK is exactly that tilt-and-slide part that you can lock yourself out with, and that we will get if we don’t want to pay an extra charge 😀
M
motorradsilke
10 Nov 2022 00:16
kbt09 schrieb:

I think Yvonne means a parallel sliding door, which I also find really awful 😉
hanghaus-in-der-suedwestpfalz-unser-hausbau-20-604496-2.png
hanghaus-in-der-suedwestpfalz-unser-hausbau-20-604496-3.png

I agree that this is probably what she means. But once you’ve opened it, you know how it works. What exactly is so awful about it?