ᐅ House Photos Discussion Corner – Share Your Home Pictures!

Pinkiponk schrieb:

Now comes the last part of my photo collection for today, with the two promised "What is this?" questions. Thanks. 🙂 [ATTACH alt="Room Husband Photo 1.jpg"]72196[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="Room Husband Photo 2.jpg"]72197[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="What is this 1.jpg"]72198[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="What is this 2.jpg"]72199[/ATTACH]

Is this your finished floor or the screed?

Malunga schrieb:

Is that your finished floor or screed?

This is screed. In a few weeks, light wood-patterned tiles will be installed on top.

Our outdoor landscaping is now complete, at least in the area around the house. We did everything ourselves.
My son installed the curbstones, and we bought gravel for splash protection from a company in the next town, which we transported with a trailer and spread out. We paved together.
Most of the bushes were bought cheaply through online classifieds, some were even given to us, the bamboo was dug up from our own hedge, and I had to buy the photinia at the garden center.
The granite stones for the platform and flower beds were also acquired through classifieds, while the ones for the path were given to us.
We installed the chain-link fence and the small gate ourselves.
Today, a trailer full of topsoil will be spread over the path outside the property, and grass will be seeded.
The worst part was that our construction access road was in that area, and the concrete recycling material, which the general contractor had piled up, had to be partially removed. A digger would have been really helpful 😉 At least we got rid of it at a company in the neighboring town.
In total, we moved, transported, collected, and spread around 15 tons (33,000 pounds) of material.

The whole project cost us less than 1000 €.

And we like how it turned out.

We are just about to reach the next milestone: installing the underfloor heating, and then in two weeks, the screed.
For that, we had to cover and board everything up. And clear out the house.
It was really exhausting, but now we finally have a forced break (yay!).

My room:

Sepp’s room

Main bathroom

Guest WC

Site manager inspecting the quality of the insulation mats

It was quite late downstairs, so the picture is a bit dark 😉

I’m still waiting for my wildlife hedge, which should arrive this week. Oh, and the house still needs to be finished painting so that the old scaffolding can finally come down.

But a lot is blooming here too, and I’m happy about (almost) every insect (yes, except the tiger mosquitoes).

motorradsilke schrieb:

Our outdoor area around the house is now finished, at least. We did all the work ourselves.
My son installed the curbstones, we bought gravel for splash protection from a company in the next town, picked it up with a trailer and spread it, and we paved together.
We mostly got bushes cheaply through classified ads, some were even given to us, the bamboo was taken from our own hedge, and I had to buy the photinia at the hardware store.
Granite stones for the platform and the flower beds were also found via classified ads, and the stones for the pathway were given to us.
We installed the wire mesh fence and the small gate ourselves.
Today, a trailer full of topsoil will be spread on the path outside the property and grass will be seeded.
The worse part was that this area used to be our construction access road, and the concrete recycling material that the general contractor had dumped there had to be removed, at least partially. A digger would have been great 😉 At least we managed to get rid of it at the company in the neighboring town.
Altogether, we moved, hauled away, picked up, and spread about 15 tons of material.

In total, the whole thing cost us less than €1000.

And we like it.

I don’t mean to offend you at all, but if you want to compare costs of more than €25,000 for the outdoor area, your example isn’t really suitable.

When we calculated what it would have cost to do everything ourselves, since we had neither the equipment nor the right budget prices, we decided to have everything done professionally. Besides, it would have taken us about six years or who knows how long.

So it mainly depends on the property… ours drops 2 meters (6.5 feet) over 30 meters (98 feet), the path to the front door is 15 meters (50 feet) alone, and so on… That’s what makes it expensive. Our neighbor diagonally across the street has an almost flat property with a north-facing entrance. He avoids a lot of paving and filling towards the street and can do everything himself without much machinery.

Snowy36 schrieb:

I don’t mean to offend you at all. But using your example to compare costs of more than 25,000 euros for the landscaping isn’t really suitable.

Back then, we calculated how much money we would have needed to do everything ourselves, and since we neither had the equipment nor the necessary equity, we decided to have everything done... On top of that, it would have taken us about six years or so to complete the same work.

That’s why the biggest factor really depends on the plot itself... ours slopes 2 meters (6.5 feet) over 30 meters (98 feet), and the path to the front door alone is 15 meters (49 feet)... That’s what makes it expensive. The neighbor diagonally across has an almost flat plot with a north-facing entrance. He saves on a lot of paving, filling up to the road, and can do everything himself without many machines.

I never intended to compare myself to anyone.

Of course, you can’t do everything yourself, and as you said, it depends on the plot. Ours is quite level, with about a 15 cm (6 inch) slope over 14 meters (46 feet).
But you can manage quite a bit if you want.
With a sloped plot, you can have the major groundwork done professionally and do the rest yourself.

I created the breakdown to show that you don’t necessarily have to spend a high five-figure amount on landscaping if you don’t have the budget or want to spend the money elsewhere.
Anyone who wants to have it done professionally should definitely do so.

By the way, the path in front of our house is also 14 meters (46 feet) long. For that, you need a concrete mixer and a plate compactor, which you can rent.
We took about eight weeks for this, but we didn’t work on it every day.