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.
J
Jurassic1353 Mar 2023 10:02I always imagine children hitting their heads or myself bumping my body against that sharp glass corner.
Is glass like that actually strong enough to withstand a toddler crashing into it full force with a ride-on car?
Is glass like that actually strong enough to withstand a toddler crashing into it full force with a ride-on car?
Jurassic135 schrieb:
Is a glass like that really strong enough to withstand a toddler crashing into it full force with a ride-on car?Of course, that is safety glass.
I’m less concerned about the kids’ safety in this case. Our upstairs hallway has never been like a playground, and we’ve always had a good handle on that. It worked well in our first house too, where the balustrade was a solid brick wall—no foam padding and no injuries. Besides, the kids aren’t blind. 🙂
My main concern is more about how easy it will be to keep clean; I think handprints are probably unavoidable.
Otherwise, it’s safety glass. Of course, it’s not unbreakable, but if a pane should break, it wouldn’t shatter into sharp pieces. Our builder mentioned that it would take a lot to actually break these types of glass. They are fully polished for safety, so you can’t cut yourself on them, and they don’t splinter. You often see this kind of glass in shopping centers, which I imagine face much harsher conditions than our single-family home.
My main concern is more about how easy it will be to keep clean; I think handprints are probably unavoidable.
Otherwise, it’s safety glass. Of course, it’s not unbreakable, but if a pane should break, it wouldn’t shatter into sharp pieces. Our builder mentioned that it would take a lot to actually break these types of glass. They are fully polished for safety, so you can’t cut yourself on them, and they don’t splinter. You often see this kind of glass in shopping centers, which I imagine face much harsher conditions than our single-family home.
C
Costruttrice3 Mar 2023 10:36That’s exactly right, @kati1337.
We had glass along the stairs over three floors—smaller panes with posts in between—and we also had glass balustrades in front of floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper and top floors. No one ever got injured. It’s thick safety glass that wouldn’t even shatter. Our edges were polished rounded, but you can decide how you want them in the end. The glass coffee table in the living room was definitely more hazardous when it came to edges.
It also doesn’t have to mean the glass element stays completely “naked.” You can add a strip on top, which could be wood instead of stainless steel like in the photo, for example.
However, the fingerprints of little hands are really unavoidable. If that annoys you or triggers a constant cleaning reflex, then glass might not be the right choice. But maybe the light is forgiving and it’s not that noticeable 😉…
We had glass along the stairs over three floors—smaller panes with posts in between—and we also had glass balustrades in front of floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper and top floors. No one ever got injured. It’s thick safety glass that wouldn’t even shatter. Our edges were polished rounded, but you can decide how you want them in the end. The glass coffee table in the living room was definitely more hazardous when it came to edges.
It also doesn’t have to mean the glass element stays completely “naked.” You can add a strip on top, which could be wood instead of stainless steel like in the photo, for example.
However, the fingerprints of little hands are really unavoidable. If that annoys you or triggers a constant cleaning reflex, then glass might not be the right choice. But maybe the light is forgiving and it’s not that noticeable 😉…
J
Jurassic1353 Mar 2023 11:19I was more thinking about whether the glass, which is only fixed at the bottom in the track and just at the back end on the wall (like in the photo a few pages earlier), might break out as a whole. But I guess there is probably some kind of standard, like the DIN norm for gaps in stair railings, to prevent that from happening 🙂
