Building a House in Germany Blog
Viebrockhaus Maxime 300 with a Cellar
Today, we finished building the racking for our walk-in wardrobe.
Originally we wanted to go with Ikea’s Algot range because you can cut the height to size to match the angle of the ceiling, but in the end decided to go with their Elvarli range instead. Since it is available in two different heights, it fits in very nicely (and also looks better)!
On Saturday and Sunday we were busy with the skirting board upstairs. The Stanley 1-20-800 Dynagrip Adjustable Mechanical Mitre Saw that we bought last week is really good, and all of the angles were easy to cut.
We’re pleased with how it looks.
Since we were cutting outside to have enough space, we enjoyed the warm sunshine, especially on Sunday which was completely free of clouds from dawn until dusk.
The solar panels exceeded their previous record, with a total of 20.45 kWh produced on Sunday.
It’s not yet been a week since the solar panels were connected up, and already (as of Monday evening), the system has generated 78 kWh.
Friday again, and after further visits by the electricians, the decorators and the interior door guy over the past couple of days, we can now say that all work has effectively been completed.
Over this weekend, we are hoping get all of the skirting boards done on the first floor, and to install some temporary light bulbs in the rooms where the electricians haven’t already done so.
There are still a couple of very minor things to be done. Silicone is not yet done in a couple of places, there is a little bit of painting to be finished here and there and the electricians still have not managed to correctly align the satellite dish, but that should all hopefully be done in the next few days, ahead of our ‘pre-delivery inspection meeting’ on Wednesday.
Also during that meeting, the blower-door test will be carried out for our energy efficiency certificate, and the heating will be switched to heat-pump mode.
Solar Power: We still haven’t had a really sunny day, but already the solar panels seem to be performing well compared to the assumptions we made some months back based on another installation in the area.
We have now started a snag list of all the things that need to be finished / improved, but really up to now are impressed with the quality of most the work that Viebrockhaus and their contractors have done. We are also very impressed that they have pretty much kept on time throughout – as many things have been early as have been done late (which was anyway mostly due to icy weather).
The dust sheets that were covering most of the floor tiles downstairs have been removed today and on Monday or Tuesday a cleaning company (paid for by Viebrockhaus) is coming to do an initial cleaning. We will take some more photos after that, but for now here are some pre-cleaning photos…
We now have an appointment for our kitchen to be installed on 27th and 28th April (although they are apparently still waiting for some doors which might not arrive until slightly later).
Since we are eager to move in (and because we don’t want to extend our holiday into the next week), we have changed the van hire to 25th and 26th April, and will probably now move in before the kitchen arrives. We can survive with a microwave and a kettle for a couple of days and we do also have a portable kitchen we could park outside the house if we really want to!
After three long days, we have now finished installing the laminate floor in all five rooms.
Our knees are sore and we ache all over, but we have saved a few thousand Euro compared to Viebrockhaus’ offer to lay it.
Since our telephone/internet connection will still be a few weeks before it is working, we’ve also now installed an LTE (4G) router so that we can connect to the internet via the mobile network.
Hopefully when the solar panels are connected up on Tuesday, the system can also be connected to the Internet, so that we can access the SolarEdge Monitoring Portal.
Our interior doors and skirting boards on the ground-floor and the cellar are installed. One man arrived (completely on his own) on Thursday and installed 6 door frames (complete with hinges), then came back again on Friday and installed the skirting boards.
The doors are not hanging yet, as the adhesive that holds the door frames in place needs a day or two to completely set first. All we need to do is to lift the doors onto the lugs, in a few days time.
The first-floor doors and frames have not been installed yet (although it was originally planned that these would also be done). It is simpler when this is done after the laminate floor is laid, so he will come back and do them another time.
On Friday, we started laying the laminate floor. The first room (bedroom) is now finished. Four rooms to go!
We will install the first-floor skirting boards, after the door frames are done.
The painters were at the house this morning to finish off and clear up. The paintwork is now complete. Other than that, no work at the house today.
We did, however, have two deliveries today:
Another week is over and looking back, a lot has been achieved.
The tilers finished grouting and set off for home at around 1pm on Thursday, having done all of the tiling in three and a half days. Someone else then showed up to start the silicon joints. The painters should be back again next week to finish off.
The electricians have now finished connecting up all of the wires, and the LNBs are now on the satellite dish, although the cables are not yet connected to the LNBs. The distribution cupboard is ready for the electric meter to be installed, once we have our mains electric connection.
Outside, a 3m x 3m x 2.3m deep whole has been dug out and the rain water tank installed. The downpipes for the water coming off the roof are now connected and as it is likely to rain in the next few days, the tank should start to fill up.
The road was dug up on Thursday to connect the waste-water and rainwater pipes to the mains, and new tarmac was laid today.
We also had the garden levelled at the back and side (where we are not laying driveways) so the original heap of soil that was dug out for the cellar and the new heap that was dug out for the rain water tank are gone!
Although the tilers were planned for the whole week, they have already finished laying all of the floor tiles and the wall tiles.
Even though it is only Wednesday, they have already started grouting, and told us that they will be finished and heading home around lunchtime on Thursday.
The electrician is making excellent progress in the cellar, and seems to have remembered which cable is which and where they all should go..
Next to the electrical distribution board, but not in the picture, the satellite multi-switch has already been installed as well as the network patch panel.
Outside, the groundwork continues. Today the road was dug up and our waste water and rainwater connections to the mains were made. The rainwater tank should be coming tomorrow. By the time I got there this evening, the digger and bulldozer were parked up for the night on our front parking space.
Today we met the subcontractor who is tiling the floors and bathroom walls for the first time.
The first thing we wanted to discuss with them was some minor changes to where the bathroom wall tiles are going (not tiling one wall at all in favour of tiling to the ceiling in another place.
Secondly, we wanted to look at the options for tile edge trim and to get a price for this (originally we did not order any). We have decided on a brushed metal trim.
While there, one of the tilers took a look at the bath, and commented that the distance between the bath and the wall was too much (about 5mm too much) and that he would arrange for it to be taken out and put in nearer the wall. At the same time, he noticed that the sockets by the sink were at a height where they would be on the join between tiled and not tiles, and that the electrician would need to move them down about 7.5cm.
By this evening, the sockets had been moved down, and the plumber was there moving the bath 5mm nearer the wall.
Since the tilers were not able to start in the bathroom until these things had been changed, they have done half of the ground floor floor tiles instead today. By tomorrow they will be set, and the electrician will be able to come back and continue installing the electrics.
The painters are back and the main bedroom, guest bedroom and study are painted already.
The ceilings downstairs are also painted, but the walls not yet…