The last run !

Too many days (weeks?) passed-by, and we have not given you any news!

Blame the 24-hour days ...

You must know that our choice to have a single bedroom in our new house had a direct consequence: our children, who still lived with us in our previous home, had to ... pack their bags.

What awfull parents we are! ;-D
But, well, at 23 and 25, each independent financially and each with their boy/girl friend, was it not time they fly with their own wings?

In short, and as a "punishment" for this decision, we gladly helped them to settle down in their own "home, sweet home."
Since September, paintings, wood flooring, kitchen installation, moving furnitures in, fixing lights, curtains and other accessories that make a home worthy of the name ... do this twice ... and not much time for you, dear readers.

Finaly, since nearly two weeks, we started to make our own move!

In prevision of this days, we informed the owner of the rental house 4 months ago now, while construction proceeded like clockwork, and we even planed an extra month, to be "comfortable".
The planned date for the houose delivery was end of October, everything should have happened as a the many previous moves we made, and we can rely on a long experience in this matter!

There is just a small glitch: the house is not finished ...
How to get the furniture while the workers are still laying tile and painting walls and ceilings ... and working on everything else: electricity, heating, sanitary ...

Due to all these "small things" which we have talked about, and with the constraints inherent and unavoidable for a new construction, we have seen with horror inexorably approaching the deadline to which we must give back our current home to its new renter.
Will we find ouselves "in the street" with all our bazaar? ...

Fortunately, fortunately, we had the absurd idea a few years ago to use containers in our project!
As the bottom one was not involved in any such finishing works (we remind you: planned use is storage and my workshop), at least we could load these areas closed by two secure doors.

Since two weeks, we played the dockers: we filled a container!

But even if we can not present pictures yet (damn days 24 hours ...), please know that the changes since the previous post have been HUGE!

Status on November 25th: tiling of the ground floor done, finishing and painting walls and ceilings done, stairs set up (forget the ladder!), laying of the support OSB floor (I will put the final parket later) on the first floor, finishing the upper container and the area of the large bay window, electrical power and functional heating system (all plumbing, tank, pumps), the stove and chimney are in place, the two main door are set, the lower bathroom being finished.

The workers of Renken and Macken are there every day and are doing a great job for minimizing the time until we get the keys and enter our house.

This is just a few sentences to tell you that the project is not stopped, on the contrary, it even seems to give us all hope of taking possession of our house very soon.

We would like to end this post with this image that we had an afternoon, bringing another load of furniture and boxes: the smoking chimney ...
The pellet stove had been lit for the first time, to put the system into "test": a small flame was burning in the hearth of the house.

Our house was born this day.

The small details

Oops ... We have neglected to keep you up to date these last weeks, despite the previous announcement of works that were going to go forward at high speed (like one French high-speed train, the TGV).

But to be honest, after a good start ... the “machine” has suddenly stalled for a few days, due to the holiday period in northern Germany, during which not much notable have happened ...

We took advantage, Sylvie and me, for a short break of three days on the Baltic Sea, it was sooooo good after a year without a vacation!

Well, we're back in the thick of things, the end of October approaches, we have started filling up the card-boxes to prepare for the move-in, and the progress of the “train” is now monitored with a great deal of attention ...
Good news: it is on track again!


Let's see that, and start from the outside.


The top container has received its insulation, now covered with the black water barrier. The final wood siding has been delivered (it's in the container already, I saw it with my own eyes!) and should be installed soon, giving its final appearance on this side of the house.

 

Also, now, the last window, the large bay at the end of the container, is installed.

 

In the lower container, the two partitions of the entrance are being installed and finished.

The installation of the electrical grid is also progressing apace, as seen in this view where we see the cables running between the two floors.

The insulation, our famous "cellulose wool," was blown between the beams (for its acoustic capacity, this time: how many advantages this material has!), and cleats are ready to receive the ceiling plasterboard plates.

On the first floor, the ceiling is also insulated by the cellulose wool (again!) blown between the beams that were screwed under the coffered roof, plus a layer of rockwool blocks and plasterboard ...
We are still surprised with the level of insulation in this house! ...

So much for the work of Renken, our carpentry company.

But we've not really talked about Macken & Sohn, who is responsible for the sanitary, heating and ventilation systems.

A little bit "in the dark" until now, their work begins to take a shape that I can show to you ...
Pipes, tubes, ducts are mainly located in small rooms of the house (bathrooms, mechanical room), and only my very wide angle lens could capture these images of tight spaces.

But let visit first the roof, where are now laying the tubes transporting the fluid from the solar panels that will heat our hot water tank on sunny days.

These pipes pass through the (multiple and thick!) layers of insulation, down through the the laundry, and will be connected to hot water tank located in the technical room ... which starts to look like a jungle, with hanging vines and mysterious creatures in the dark corners!

Drinking water, rainwater, heating fluids ... there are also the air circuits!
Here, one of the "muffler" or silencer, and the pre-heating box (with the red label) to warm air before blowing it into the house, on days where it gets really cold outside, so that my Sylvie keeps confortable!

On this view of the "cellar" next to the kitchen, you see the suction tube extracting air from the ground floor, and, along the wall, the inlet pipe of "fresh" air from outside, which will go through the heat-exchanger of the double-flux ventilation.
Lot of electrical cables there, here will be located the main electrical box.

Up under the roof, it's even worse! Air hoses, water pipes, heating pipes to the radiator of the container...

Well.

What else?
The exterior plaster finishing and framing of the windows are in progress, an insulator (guess what? Cellulose wool!) was blown between the two containers (the upper container is now completely surrounded by insulation), and plenty of little things I do not detail here (I hope you do not mind...)

Ha, I almost forgot: our stairwell now proudly wears his final column!

What does not change is the way to go upstairs, this simple ladder is still a bit rough (and so frightening for the ladies!...)

The staircase itself will be installed at the very end of the work, to avoid being damaged.

A few more frights for our gentle sex visitors on this awful ladder, then!

And it starts again (very, very fast ...)!

After this little (!) administrative interruption, work was officially authorized to resume from Monday.

As promised by Wolfgang, things should go fast ...

How fast?

Judge by yourself.

Back from my two days in Hanover, Sylvie and I did our usual evening visit.

And what changes we discovered on this Tuesday evening, after only two days of work:

- Windows installed (except the large bay at the end of the container, but that is planned by the schedule),
- Roof membrane installed, finishings underway,
- Exterior insulation underway.

Let's see all this in pictures.

A panoramic view (you can do a lot of funny stuff with a camera!) of the house from the south.
Note that the southeast corner and the part around the windows of the kitchen and bedroom will be covered with the same Douglas wood siding as the container, and will be carried out (soon!) during installation of this cladding:

North facade (with its 2 small windows, to limit heat loss through this facade without sun):

Details of the outer insulation system and of a window.
The layer of rockwool between the wood pieces bolted to the caisson wall is now covered by the layer of wood-wool nailed to the battens, and this wood-wool (hardboard) is already coated with the bonding layer to receive the final plaster layer.
Windows (triple glazing) are mounted in their frames, we see here the exterior dark gray aluminum finish, which will protects against external aggressions (UV, rain, ...) the wooden structure of these "composite" windows.
And again and again, the green tape which ensures airtightness of the building ...

View of structure for the large bay of the container:

The first floor, from inside, with windows:

And here is our roof, covered his the final membrane, over the fabric-bitumen layer.
Note the "through-the-roof outlets" for the different ventilation exits, and the finishing framing around the roof being installed:

Administration ...

Well, we must confess it to you: nothing was done during the last 2 weeks ...

Nothing ...

The cause? Ho, small things to correct at the administrative level, paperwork ...

A document that I have not signed and returned after the issuance of the building permits (more than 3 month ago ...), a difference of 18 cm between the dimensions of the plan and the actual width of the house after construction, and the "police of contruction sites" has come to forbide further work on our house until all these are corrected !

Two weeks, the time to figure out which document did I failed to return (I'm French, I did not know !...), the time that our architect corrects the plans and submit it to the approval of the authority, and this Monday, workers were able to resume work.

Nothing really serious, "just" a few days lost.

Status of the situation: the house is supposed to be finished Oct. 31, which makes less than a month to finish all the remaining operations.
Possible or not?
Wolfgang and I met on the site this Saturday.
He is confident, he will put everything in its power to meet this tight deadlines!

We trust him!

Dear readers, we're certain you will follow with interest the next posts, to discover with us  all the progresses until completion of our house.

Holes in the containers!

It had to happen one day (bis) ...

These rascals of workers have again taken advantage of our absence to get the disk-grinder out and to cut BIG HOLES in the containers !

Sniff, my beautiful, brand new containers! ...

;-D

According to the blueprint, the two entrance doors with their frames and reinforcements (supporting the walls to come, between the entry sas and the storage area on one side, and my workroom on the other, but also to avoid an improbable collapse of the container ... it's Germany and its high safety standards that make the famous "German Quality" !...)

Same brutal treatment for the upper gray container, but with a single gateway (and the same reinforcements !), the small window, and the frame that will receive the large bay window.

As usual (?), double-click an image for a "full size" view and better see the small details.
... Ho really? ... Yeah, it's so convenient ;-)

Wall covering

The walls now fully stuffed with the cellulose wool, Renken's men began to lay the "gypsum" plates, an additional layer on the walls ... which are becoming thicker and thicker !

Ground floor:

Upper floor:

Note the wooden structure (with the blue plastic, and on the floor), on which will be mounted the wall separating Sylvie's paint shop from our bedroom.

Newspapers in the walls

It had to happen one day ...

To discover during one of our end-of-afternoon visit that the house has evolved from a "pile of planks" to the isolated envelope, able to ensure the comfort of its future inhabitants against the rigors of the climate!

In great secrecy, hidden from our eyes by our days busy with our professional duties, some skilled workers have worked to fill the cavities of our walls (and ceilings) ... with some m3 of the now famous "cellulose wool".

A short reminder for those who are not following my explanations ;-): it is made of recycled paper, crushed, mixed with a pinch of boron salt (harmless natural salts, which acts as flame suppressants, anti-insect and -rodent), and which is blown into the walls.

Very good insulating ability, very good "thermal storage" capability , really green, carbon neutral, ... I have not found better stuff for our home.

A small hole at the top of the cavity, a machine to blow this kind of foam, a density control to to prevent that it packs too much over time, the wood washer is put back in position, a big tappet to maintain it pending the final layer of  "gyps-board", ... and voila.

On this view, you see the multiple injection points, behind the green tape at the top of each wall cavities.