T - 3 weeks ...

For those of you who enjoy a good panic, we will move in a little under 3 weeks and have:
no kitchen
no library
no doors
no dressing room
no front door
no satellite dish
no patch panel
no car port
no driveway
no front path
...

But the skirting boards are nearly finished upstairs, so we can relax on that front.

T - 5 weeks and counting

We are moving in on 15 February, which is not far away.

Right now we have lovely oak floors on the ground and first floor of the house.

Oak parquet/parkett floor looking from the dining room into the living room

The craftsman laying them worked on his own across the winter break and has done a great job.  The colours don't look very nice on the web ... sorry about that.

We still don't have any bathroom furniture, a kitchen, any doors, a dressing room, any shelves, a front door, etc. but the house was busy today when I popped down.  I will check again tomorrow and see how the tiler, metal worker and fine plasterer are getting on.

We chose the wood for the terrace and balcony today - Siberian larch, which is, according to the source of all wisdom and lies, ideal for velodromes and mine props.

Last push before Christmas

In the last week or so there is plenty going on.  The craftsmen are working towards a Christmas deadline (Ho-ho-ho) and have even been spotted on site at the weekend.

Yesterday the tiles were laid in the entry area and on the floor of the main upstairs bathroom.

Tiles inside front door

After I had wandered around looking for him, the tiler asked me not to step on the first two rows inside the front door.  Aha.

The fire/stove is much more complete now.  The engineers were installing some offset piping halfway up the chimney yesterday.

Fire/stove nearing completion with recess behind for sliding door

Outside, the wall builders are doing their best to carry on, but it is getting pretty cold.

Wall

I guess about 2/3 of the stone has been laid so far.

Things are hotting up (well, not too much)

The fire place has arrived.  There was a lot of cladding and heat-proofing to do because of the sliding door which disappears behind the fire. Yesterday the built-in seating was started around it but the final surface is not on yet.

Log fire prior to installation

Also, because the glazier has still not fitted the big window in the staircase, the heat pump has been having a bit of a struggle.  The engineers were round yesterday trying to coax a few more mega Watts from the national grid through my bank account and into the outside fan.

Engineer looking inside outside part of heating system

Plenty of progress - plenty of bills

In the last few weeks, the plasterers have finished all the walls (double layer Kalkputz upstairs and normal Putz in the cellar).  The ceilings have been done (with a thin layer of scraped plaster) and the floors are basically dry. The heat pump is running and the house is warm. It would be even better if the last huge window can be installed.

We have decided to have parkett floor upstairs as well as on the ground floor - that contract is signed and work should start quite soon.  The carpenter has been selected and the contract signed.  The kitchen equipment has been ordered (cooker, fridge, ...).  And the tiler should start soon as well.

It looks like things are rushing towards some kind of crescendo around early/mid January.  I hope we can move before the end of January.

More front wall and some underfloor/floor progress

The stone masons have been struggling away at the front wall for a couple of weeks now.  It is made of dark grey granite from Groß-Bieberau.  The granite is, apparently, a pig to work with.

Granite front wall

Inside the underfloor heating has been laid and now the screed/Estrich has been poured throughout.  We are not allowed inside until the weekend so that it has a chance to set nicely.

Upstairs underfloor heating manifold with circuits connected

Upstairs manifold after the screed/Estrich has been poured

A small scaffolding platform has appeared in the void at the end of the staircase.  I don't know why but at least it stops anyone falling though.

Looking down to the ground floor through the void

Allotment across the way

I was lucky enough to catch a photo' of my allotment neighbour just the other day.

She nearly always has something yummy to eat and drink and a garden full of visitors.  Lucky me.