27.02.2010

Still lying peacefully in winter's sleep, nothing hints of the impending construction. Yet telephone and email were already running hot with planning.

A view at the ground before start from the balcony. The view from ground level.

13.03.2010

About one week later, the topsoil was removed so it could be stored seperately.

A very surprised dog wondered what happened to the garden. Now it's officially a construction site. A big pile of dirt.

18.03.2010

After the ongoing winter everything was delayed, but suddently everything started fast. Here the measurer ordered by the basement builder marks the corners of the new house.

The measurement procedure seen from the balcony of the old house.

23.03.2010

Without warning the company we hired for the earthworks started making the hole. As I said, the speed of the process was increasing.

Here is me speaking with the driver of the truck. The finished hole for the house.

25.03.2010

Two days later the basement builder arrived, again more quickly than expected.

The just arrived crane seen from the balcony. Preparation starts. The borders of the floor are prepared. I guess those are for keeping the steel in the middle of the concrete. The crane looked really large in real. The base of the basements floor is prepared. Preparation for the floor is completed and the first delivery of concrete was awaited. Note the red plastic band. It's dunked halfway into the concrete of the floor and later will also be halfway dunked into the walls. This way no water can seep during the crack between floor and wall. The floor is almost finished. The floor is finished and gets hard.

26.03.2010

Already the next day the basements outer walls were made.

The outside of the cast is set. The windows and insulation are integrated into the cast. The cast seen from the other side. The finished outside of the wall cast. The windows, the cable-pipes and the insulation is integrated into the form. The finished cast awaits the first pour of concrete. The walls get made. All the time we watched excited. The finished wall awaits getting hard. Some advertisement for the basebuilder.

27.03.2010

During the next days the building rested so the outside wall could get hard. As it shows less surface that the floor it needed longer to dry and get hard.

The drying wall.

29.03.2010

The wall was now hard enough for the next step.

The cast of the outside wall is removed and the inside walls were prepared. The inside wall cast with the cable-pipes is finished. The inside walls were poured.

30.03.2010

The inside walls were thinner, so already the next day the cast was removed.

Now the inside of the basement is finished. The support for the basements ceiling is prepared. The poured ceiling with the holes for the pipes coming from above.

06.04.2010

The basement was finished now and just awaited the steps. Meanwhile the surroundings were mostly filled again and the rain drainage installed.

The rain drain. A first view into the basements inside. Made by holding the camera inside one of the holes.

07.04.2010

The next day the cast for the stairs were built.

A look at the stair-cast-building from above. A close look at the finished cast for the stairs.

10.04.2010

Meanwhile the stairs were finished and we dared our first steps into our new basement.

An increasingly surprised dog visits the site. Should we really go down there? Big adventure! We did it, the first step into the new house. It had rained a little so some water was at the base of the stairs. Later more rain would make a little pumping work neccessary. Ah, that's where all the pipes went. A look at the cinema entrance from within. Standing in front of the screen-to-be.

24.04.2010

Before the big day on 26.04.2010 when the house would come increasing rain filled the basement a litte with water. About 200 litres as it would turn out.

We covered every hole of the basement with a makeshift roof. Looks like an emergency boy scout tent covering the stairway. Not yet enough for a swimming pool, it proved to be a litte trouble getting the water out of the basement before the house came, but thanks to a pump borrowed from my father it worked well. Steps from below.

26.04.2010

The big day! The house would come to us.

A first portent. The night before suddenly colored lights appeared outside and filled the dark house with a light show. Looking outside a mobile crane had appeared. It had started! This truck contained half of my house. That is all the walls. The floors and roof where delivered seperately. The mobile crane of Fischerhaus was taller than the one from the basement builder. The basement ceiling was prepared for the first floor. The windows and shutters were already included in the walls. The parts needed for the other side were already put there. The new house seen from the entrance of the old house. The truck carrying the roof and floors and the crane. Right then, nothing was standing yet and I went to drive H to the subway. When I came back after 30 minutes I was very surprised. Already two outer walls and two insides were standing. The construction commenced quickly. Seen from the balcony of the old house. The entrance door under a protective layer of plastic. The confused but happy owner. Very soon, the floor level was finished. On almost every piece of building material was my name. So if archeologist dig up my house in a thousand years, they will probably think it was a temple to some "Streng" and ritual prayers were engraved into the house everywhere. Boy, will they be wrong. First steps inside. Next the floors are lifted up. The floor was lifted quickly. After fastening it, it's being cleaned. The roof was unloaded on the lawn and the floor integrated, so the first truck could go home. My grandmother also made strawberry cake for the visitors and guests. It didn't survive for long. The first floor started. Again the walls were lifted and connected quickly. The outside northern facing wall. A look inside the first floor from the balcony of the old house. All the materials needed in the first floor were already lifted inside by crane before the roof closed. Ah, welcome to my new house. Please enter by climbing through the window. The big beam of the roof is lifted up. Feeling pleased with myself while people built me a house :-). Another roof building impression. The final piece of the roof, then todays work would be finished. As the stairs would come only in a few days, the first floor could only be reached by ladder yet. After night fell and the workers left, there was still a little light, so we entered the building for a first view of the first floor. It started to rain a little and so the look of the old house through the new windows was through a wet window. So ended the day of the birth of the house.

27.04.2010

The next day was very busy too and progress was quick, but after the eventful day yesterday it seemed comparatively slow.

First thing that happened was, that the house was surrounded by scaffolding. The roof windows were inserted and the connections between the floors made waterproof. The connections between the floors were filled and the roof shingled.

04.05.2010-11.05.2010

The outside was finished for the moment and the wiring and pipes were laid.

I think this type of house makes it easier to install everything compared to a brick house. The kitchen sink without the kitchen sink. The childrens rooms (child 1: H, child 2: me) have every connections possible. Finally, I will have access to a bathtub. The basement starts to become even more complicated. The outside was meanwhile completely covered in a scaffold and the window covered with protective plastic. The ceiling of the first floor. The convenience room now had covers over the sanitary installation of the bathroom next room. It's the same look you had first seen a few pictures earlier. Hot-water boiler was installed. The circuit breakers and fuses were installed and connected too.