Week 2

Sunday, December 2nd
Christian and I worked in the house, planning future electrical outlets and tearing up the walls for the wires. The wall slotter was glued to our hands. My mom picked-up my grandma and together they drove to the house. Christian and I decided to ask her to move in with us. I was planning on taking her in when she would be in need of care/bedridden anyway, so this way she can hopefully make new friends and get used to her new environment and enjoy it. When she saw the apartment, she instantly said yes.

Monday, December 3rd and Tuesday, December 4th
Not much happening in the house as Chris and I have to go to again work. We are doing the paper work and contacting plumbers, tilers, heating and window installers, ...

Wednesday December 5th
My mom drove Siggi and a friend of his, who used to work as a heating installer to the house. There we met up with a distributer of condensing gas boilers. He brought a very nice heating installer along who made us a great offer.

Thursday, December 6th
Chris and I don't have to go to work today so we are working the wall slotter again. We have black pumice walls which means we were covered in black soot. We looked like we were working in a coal mine. In the afternoon Chris went on a teamday with his co-workers and I went to meet with the heating installer from yesterday. He assisted me in picking out tub, shower, sinks, lavatories, fittings, shower/tub enclosures, and the matching panels for wall recessing. There are so many different options nowadays. The bathroom in the downstairs apartment will be senior-friendly with a walk-in shower with grab handles and a higher lavatory and sink. Our bathroom will have a tub for two with built in shower option, a wash basin, and built-in cabinetry (which I will build myself to keep costs down). I am opting for a modern spa look in our bathroom, something like this:Here is a fun video about the makeover of the pictured bath: A Spa For Two

Friday, December 7th
Christian worked in the house all day getting the walls ready for the electrician. My mom and my auntie Gudrun were also there and removed wallpaper in the ground floor apartment. In the evening they took Damien with them to stay at my parents over the weekend. When Damien saw them working in the house, he asked "What are you doing in my house? Don't break my house!" He didn't understand why we all started to laugh...

Saturday, December 8th
Everybody pitched in again today. My dad and Siggi came to Saarbruecken (it is a one hour drive one way) and together they removed the old cast iron wastewater pipes. The electrician and my co-worker (his girl-friend) started on the electrical wiring and she removed the wall between our kitchen and dining area (it looks great, so much larger).
Credits: top frame from Unadorned Freebie by [ksharonkdesigns]; bottom frame from Stationary Plus 2 by [ksharonkdesigns]; tape from Unadorned Freebie by [ksharonkdesigns]
My future father-in-law removed the last tiles in the ground floor bathroom. And as always I was attached to the wall slotter...
Today a dry wall installer had a look at our top floor and we have to remove all the walls and ceilings adjoining the roof and put up new insulation and plasterboards. Moreover he noticed that it is now insulated with fiberglass, so we will not only be full of 50 year old dirt when we take it down, we will also itch all over and have to wear face masks. That sure dampened my spirits. The only one happy about it was probably Yves, the electrician, because that makes the wiring of the top floor a lot easier (that's where the network switch panel & sat dish will be). So we immediately ordered a container as there wouldn't be enough room in our garage for all that rubble.