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.

Special Message!

After three weekends sweating and suffering under the sun (a little) and rain (a lot), and with the invaluable assistance of our favorite son (we have only one son, it's easy for him to be our favorite!), our "wall" is finished!
Thank you, Sonny!

If you refer to the previous picture, the wall was then at the white birch.

A tender thought to Sylvie, who has toiled without complaint, carrying uncountable buckets of earth to fill-in the "things", and who relentlessly tamped the hill.
She also acted as our steward, going to the small supermarket next street to feed us with a few simple sardine in olive oil on fresh bread (sooooo delicious!)
Kisses, my love!

Interior work and watertight roof

After the spectacular moments of July, construction is now entering a phase more measured but of no less importance: the "details".
Details?
We shall not reduce the value to what is being done, quite the contrary!
For it is all these "details" that will make our home comfortable and give it its soul ...
 
But there is now a multitude of works going on, all orchestrated by Wolfgang from Renken, for the main structural work (to summarize crudely), in close cooperation with the peoples from Macken & Sonhs, responsible now for the "technical" stuff (sanitary, plumbing and heating/ventilation systems).

Today, images of the fellow who came to smooth our brick walls with a beautiful, compact and smooth coat of facing, here in the first floor.

Meanwhile, it dries quietly on the ground floor:

Thanks to him for his great work!

Great news: our house now has a really waterproof roof!
The large red tarp did not prevented a little water to sneak-in between the house and the container (it rained soooooo much in August!...) , but this is past memory now.
 
Er ... well, I confess I was a bit surprised when I discovered this beautiful (?) asphalt surface:

 
Indeed, being covered with a crude oil by-product is not to seduce me ...
But (again a problem of comprehension!) I had only half of the "thing": a high-tech gray membrane (the real one, this time) will cover this black thing and will not pose any pollution problem to my rainwater with oil released by the asphalt simmering slowly under the sun.
This layer of asphalt layer will be the glue of the membrane onto the roof.
Ok, let's go for a bit of squeezed oil, then.

After the rain ...

... a few days without too much rain (finally) !

And the activity starts over again.

Today, we discovered that our top, gray container had lost its two doors!

No panic ! It is planned so: soon, a large bay window will replace them. 
As for the doors, we will keep them carefully, as we should find a new use to them for ... well, we'll find something !

But if our container has lost two doors, its flanks are being covered with a structure that will support the insulation and wood siding.

Some detailed views of the assembly:

The house also include now such structures, it will be covered with an extra layer of insulation (wood wool) and roughcast.

Richtfest

Richtfest !?

For our non-germanophone readers, this is the traditional celebration which marks the end of the structural work.

We therefore invited the major players in this adventure, our courageous neighbors and some friends to celebrate together this event.

Of course, we had not forgotten Madam Rain, who scored her presence by her incessant wet hugs and rain drops as big as my thumb !
But as a French saying goes (adapted for the occasion): "Rainy Richtfest, Happy Home"!

Our bravest carpenter, perched at the top of the scaffolding, recited us a beautiful poem, while "rincing his tongue" (was it really appropriate, with all this water falling from the sky ?...) with the traditional and necessary gulps of schnapps, right from the bottle !

The speech ended with the equally traditional and necessary "breaking of the glass", sacrificing a glass cup on the metal of his carpenter hammer, bringing luck and happiness onto this house.

The crowd was delirious under the umbrellas, fighting against the rain that seemed to fill their eyes with tears of emotion.

Sylvie's gave a little speech to thank the architects, carpenters, masons, the bank, neighbors and friends, all the people who made this project possible, who are giving it shape, and who supported us until now.
Makeshift tables offered the traditional and necessary agappes, while our secret recipe of "soupe de champagne " was ... very popular among the guests!

Thanks again to all those present for their nice gifts and kind wishes of happiness in this house!

Gardening work (???)

We are becoming impatient !

Well, a lots of people are active building our house, and we're here just watching (which is already wonderful) but not really able to "put our hands in dirt" (which may be better ;-)

But as we are active people, and wanting to take part into the construction of our world, we decided to ... do something.

Well, why not to strengthen the wall of earth along the railroad to avoid that the rains of this month and the future ones (we are in the Grand North ! ;-) turn it into a vague and muddy earth-blob dripping and spilling itself on the territory of the AKN?

To an innocent question, an easy decision: we will install these concretes "bins" that hold flowers and from which small walls are made of (no idea how it's called, we were never interested in such things before!. ..).

A passage to the local "thing" (?) store, followed by the delivery of ... 150 "things", 45 kg each, on 12 pallets and a half!

Your bloggers are smiling a little less brightly  ...

But the show must go on !

We hired our son (he had not the choice !…), grabed the shovels and elbow grease cans, spit in our hands, and let's go for a mere 25-meter of hearth-wall to strengthen, with 3 "things" per meter on two rows high.

We discovered that ... it is not easy for us office-rats (ouch!), but despite everything, we survived our first 10 meters of "things"!

It's simple: we "just" have to clear the brambles, to cut (thread after thread ...) the old fence that is completely blocked by roots, to shovel the earth aside (fortunately, it is really "light"!) to make room for the "things", to bring these "things" as heavy as anvils, to position and level them carefully, and to fill them with the earth we just shoveled away.

We cannot resist the joy and pride to show you our first "thing" in place (isn't he proud, our lil'boy, eh?)

... our first pallet emptied of its 12 "things":

... and the uncertain result of two days of intense fighting against muscular pain and threatening lumbago, definitely not spectacular (the result, not the back pain!), but nevertheless the sweet fruit of the sweat (per liter) from our foreheads:

The Great Wall of China? No, just our little personnel anti-landslide device!

We still have to plant bamboos (no flowers in these planters: we cannot do ANYTHING like everyone else, as usual!), But this will come later ...

For now, we shall position the remaining "things" during the next weekend, and probably the one after that ...

Still a good fifteen meters to go !

Counting time

Looking back quickly on this past period, we would just do a quick count (not really fair, but these figures are a pleasure to be displayed !...) of the total time of assembling the structure of our house (walls, roof, floor, and we are even counting the containers in):

- Positioning of the containers: 2 hours

- Assembly of the ground floor walls and floor: 8:00

- Assembly of the first floor walls: 4:00

- Installation of roof boxes and beams: 4:00.

Ok, to round off: three days, and here is a house that has walls and a roof.

3 days!

We said "not really fair" ... 

There is still a LOT of work, of finishing details ...

This "pile of wood", even if it gives us a fairly accurate idea of the volumes of our future homes, is nonetheless ... a (nice) wood pile!

But we were promised that we could move-in late October.

Two more good month to transform the pile of wood into a comfortable "Home, Sweet Home".

Will the planning be kept?

We are hoping so.

A roof over our house

After missing the assembly of the walls on the first floor, I planned to take Friday off for the installation of the roof. 

But ... 

The rain having invited itself during this week (August rains of tropical kind ... after the heatwave of July!), Wolfgang, our engineer from Renken, choose to move this step forward to Thursday, in order to protect the wooden structure as quickly as possible from this celestial water, so good for snails and frogs, these two pillars of gastronomy for we Frenchies (kidding!), but not really recommended for our wood walls and floors ... 

So the roof was done, between showers, without our presence. 

No film, no photos, this blog now starts to be of no interest ... ;-D  

Ok, here you do not really see it, but above these walls have been raised the big boxes which were stored in front of the house, and above it a whole set of beams that are still waiting to receive the waterproof membrane ( no tiles ... we really do not make things like everyone!) 

Viewed from inside, after a climb via our Grand Staircase (the ladder, which is graciously made available by yet another wonderful neighbor, so that we can visit our house when the carpenters are home with their tools and ladders !) 

The celing is quite high here, with a slope downward toward the container. 

The door to the second bathroom is visible, and you still have to imagine that a light wall will be built (at 2/3 of the block) to create the bedroom. 

One can distinguish a few traces of water that still wets the floor. It has resisted the Flood, like the rest, and is now drying slowly, protected from the still falling rain by the gray plastic foil covering the window openings and the large red  tarp (clearly visible from the sky, so that the planes, birds and UFOs can go and land elsewhere!) which was placed over the  brand new beams and roof boxes.

The first floor

In a show of good will and and for your outmost pleasure, we had of course planned to attend the assembly of the first floor and the installation of the roof, and to immortalize the event with a small movie ... but the demands of work and the bad weather are depriving you of it forever ...

I was unable to free myself to be present when the walls of the first floor were delivered and assembled.

But the men of Renken did not need me and my camera to do what they had to do, and to do it quickly and well!

Check  by yourself:

And they took this opportunity to install the scaffoldings !

Now our house is behind the bars ... in jail ?

If you come to visit us soon, expect to have to climb to the brand new first floor with this Grand-style Staircase, waiting for the definitive one, made of natural wood from real tree (!)

Note the beautiful Ionic column, which supports, also temporarily, the "notch" of the stairwell.

A steel tube column (and definitely more design ;-) will replace this thing in due time.