Oct 24
What I learned from building a house…
2006 at 11.19 am posted by Veerle Pieters
Almost six months ago we received an official letter that completely turned our lives upside-down. If we fast forward to today it’s safe to say that it was a roller coaster. Managing work with all this has been stressful because we had to decide so much stuff in such a relativity short period of time. Most people plan such a life changing event a year in advance.
Our starting point
We bought the house when plans were already drawn and when the masonry and roof was already in place. We skipped a big part of the building process like foundations, choosing bricks etc. Luckily for us it was a modern design and really what we both would have envisioned ourselves. We wanted a modern looking building with lots of big windows. Light is such an important factor in your daily life, it affects your mood etc. Most old houses in Belgium consists of small rooms and not enough light. So when you buy something like that you have to knock everything out except the outside walls to get what you want. With the right architect you can turn that into something gorgeous.
Insulation
Living in an old house all these years have thought us it's wise to invest a big part of your budget in insulation. It's called "durable building" if you translate it literally from Dutch. In an average home, one quarter of the heat is lost through the walls, and as much as 40% through the windows. That's why we opted for Low-emissivity (low-e) glass. Its secret is the virtually invisible coating applied to one of the two sheets of glass. This coating lets the sun’s rays through (translating into free heat) while reflecting heat in the room back inside so that it does not escape – forming a shield against the cold. As a result, low-e glass provides twice as much insulation as ordinary double glazing. This allows you to install larger windows without having to worry about the impact on your fuel bill - plus you'll feel comfortable everywhere in the room, even right next to the windows. The roof and walls are another important factor if you want to keep the heat escaping down to a minimum. The government has tax deductions in place for a lot of initiatives that are good for the environment. But from what I saw so far it's a pain to find out if you apply, a lot of "if's" are involved ;)
Think ahead...
We learned that most decisions already have to be known when the architect is setting up a proposal. Take lighting for example: it's very wise to already have a vague idea of what you want because you have to know where the connections have to be cut into the walls so that you don't see any cables. Once the walls are plastered it's too late to do such destructive work. Most modern lighting requires a wall connection or is built into the wall or floor. If you have the money you can order a light study, but I have no idea how much that would cost. They can render a room or space equipped with light-fixtures in virtual reality so that you get an idea how it will be in real life.
The same goes for your computer network, even if it's for personal use. You don't want telephone cables or ethernet cables laying around in your new house. So either you work with cable gutters or you build a box into the floor in the office like we did. All other rooms just have wall connections. Better to have too many connections than too little. Put an ethernet connection next to your TV too for your game console or the the Apple's iTV :D
Broadband internet
Make sure you have your internet connection in place before you move. Even before we had our electricity up and running the necessary preparations were taken. Find out if DSL is still possible, so you know your options. In our case any DSL wasn't possible, so we had to switch to cable instead. Our internet broadband connection was in place pretty soon, one big concern less to worry about.
Deciding on the kitchen
After some extensive research we came to the conclusion that design kitchens cost a fortune. Brands like Butlhaup and Siematic have prices that are above 25,000 euro "cough". I'm no 'Chef de Cuisine' so that's a way over budget. So we opted for the next best thing "Ikea" :) Be sure to bring your plan to the shop, or be prepared to hang around all day and plan your kitchen there like we did. It is something you don't decide lightly and you need to come up with your design before you talk to a representative. But they are very helpful and supply some solid advice. Also don't believe all the measurements on the plan of the architect. Most of the time there will be some difference in reality.
They have a great follow up system in place that calls you when things will be delivered and how much you'll need to pay etc. I even called to ask about the number of the grey color used on the doors and the lady had to do extra research for this because there wasn't any info in their system about it. She called me yesterday with the number. Both Evelyne and Ann V. from Ikea Ternat were very friendly and helpful any time I needed them. You also get a 10 year warranty which is great at their price point. Another tip is don't build it yourself unless you are extremely skilled. You can't believe how many parts a full blown kitchen has, it's a gigantic puzzle. My guess is that it would have taken a month to install ourselves :) Afterwards we were called again with the question if we were satisfied on how everything progressed.
Budget
One thing is enormously clear and that is that building a house is a money eating monster. Never in my entire life I have seen money disappearing so rapidly. You can calculate all you want and you will still come up short because of unforeseen obstacles along the way. Don't forget to calculate the notarial costs (twice, once for the deed (akte in Dutch) and also for the mortgage) and registration rights. All the extras in the house that we decided on costed us an extra 30,000 Euro so be warned. Also it doesn't help if you love design ;) Don't feel bad if you can't do it all at once. You'll want to have new furniture, a terrace, a garden etc. This is something that will take a few years and we don't mind.
The big move
The big moment has arrived for us to prepare the moving and to actually move on Thursday. It could be slow here for the next few days. You know why now :) I'll be so glad once the whole 'thing' will be over. I'm looking forward to some less stressful times. I can't count the moments I wished I've could escaped to a sunny beach, a cocktail in my hand, nothing to worry about and some nice chill tunes playing in the background. Fingers crossed that everything will go smoothly.
35served
1
Keep my fingers crossed for you this Thursday
2
Good to see that everything is comming together.
Anyway… was nice seeing you both again at BIS :-)
Karel.
3
I moved on October 1st, partly because I wanted to, but also partly because I had to. The owner sold the building to a Turkish couple and they wanted to use all rooms for themselves (lots of kids). Luckily I was already looking for another place because of ongoing problems with the previous landlord. And I found something nice, not too far away and still somewhat affordable. But because it’s because pretty much impossible to buy something on a single income, I’m renting again (still… after all these years).
Moving day went fine, I had to find a van at the very last minute, but it all worked out well. The new place, however, still needs a humongous amount of paint work; all rooms, walls, ceilings needed a base coat (at least one) and then there’s the coloring. Also, there are two network connections, but when the guy from Telenet came, it seemed they weren’t correctly connected. So he installed two adapters to get the signal through the power grid. Works fine, but he forgot to say how much they cost :-(
Next thing: I also bought a new couch + dressing at Ikea. These were supposed to be delivered last week (I also got this message when delivery would happen), but then they called saying my payment hadn’t gone through. So delivery would not happen. The next day I called with my invoice and visa ticket, after which they admitted that payment had indeed gone through and they would call for a new appointment. But that was 6 days ago…. So now I’ve sent a mail (phone lines were too busy), we’ll see what happens.
Anyhow, Veerle, sorry to put all my troubles on your blog. But I just wanted to assure you that things can always get worse (but hopefully not for you ;-) And from the sound of it, I think you’ve got most of your bases covered ! Good luck with the move and the start of a new chapter in your life !
4
i know what it takes and how it feels to build or buy a house!
all u’ve written here is exactly that what my parents and i had when building our house….so its pretty much the same in germany…
i wish u all the best for the big move!
5
I have followed every step in your building process on Flickr. I even implemented some of your ideas, like the CAT6 network cables. Thanks again for that.
Happy moving!
We’re aiming for Christmass… or even later :-(
Aren’t having the best of luck with our contractor. He’s a talented guy, but I’m afraid we are not that high on his priority list…
6
Great to hear you are moving in at last! We, too, built our own house (well, we had a builder build it, we designed it and finished off things like the kitchen and painting and so on).
We have been here for 10 years and so far we have knocked one wall down to make a bigger kitchen/diner and now we have just altered the roof over the porch.
When you build your own house, it’s never ‘finished’ :)
7
Cooking is such an important part of life, so we did choose for Bulthaup 5 years ago.
For about 20,000 euro we got installed and stay happy with it ever since.
Enjoy the big move, find your friends to help and get some life into the house.
8
Best of luck with the move on Thursday! The house looks fab from the photos you put up on Flickr.
9
Hi, good luck with moving! We just moved in our new house last Sunday, and I know what you mean - I’d much rather have spent the day(s) on holiday and have come back to a new house, all spick&span;and furnished.
It’s funny what you say about the automated IKEA delivery telephone service, I hated it! A machine calling me uninvited, ew. Also, I wish I had dealt with the internet connection bit way in advance - only too late I found out that over here it takes one month or more to set up.
10
keeping my finger crossed! good luck veerle :)
11
Hi Veerle,
Good luck in your new house.
For you everything had to be done in 6 months which can lead to hurry-problems. In my case it’s the other way round. We (girlfriend and myself) bought a house 2 years ago. Although I’m 33, I’m still staying at ‘Hotel Parents’ and so is she, so we don’t have to hurry…. and that’s also a big problem… What colour of paint for which walls, what kind of floor, what kitchen, what bathroom… we visit showrooms and showrooms and showrooms and after a couple of months we both agree ;-) Even for small things it’s sometimes difficult to agree…
So, well, I hope we can move to our new place before I retire ;-). (oh, and one other problem is time… we try to do it all by ourselves… evenings and weekends)
12
Hi! Wish we could be there to help you guys out with the move, but at the same time I’m glad we live too far away. Cause moving isn’t fun, but afterwards it is. When every box is unpacked and you can sit on your couch and just enjoying the view and the surroundings. Good luck on thursday, and let me assure you we will think of you all day :)
13
I feel your pain/excitement. ;) I’ve been working on a complete bathroom makeover for the past 6 weeks. Unfortunately, I’m still not close to being finished. Even more unfortunate is the fact that it is our only bathroom. At least I can say I frequent the gym more often…mostly to shower though. Just not enough hours in a day for home building and working a full time job.
Best of luck with your move and don’t forget to breathe. ;)
14
sigh, I live in a tent
15
Hey, IKEA kitchen, I like that :)
Wish you all the best for the future!
16
Veerle, be carefull when moving. Orginize everything and keep your most important things close to your sight. (Un)fortunately, I had many (10) helpers for my move just two months ago and it was great that we moved everything in just ONE day, but the sad thing is that I lost $400 worth of stuff: my Canon digital camera, 2 memory cards, card reader, USB splitters…uhhh…hard to recover.
Anyway, IKEA is great. Almost every piece of furniture that I’ve purchased is from IKEA. Their style is simple, modern and of course affordable. All the other places are overpriced as if you plan to stick with those items all your life.
I also have a same problem decorating—it’s going really slow. One due to not having all the money to buy everything right away, and another thing is that whenever it comes to dressing up your own space is always extremely hard to decide what to put there. Before moving in I had all these ideas, and now there is so many that I just can’t pick one.
Best of luck and will miss you during your move.
17
Having a broadband connection in place before you move is all very well—but easier said than done when you’re moving countries. We just moved to NZ but, thanks to some preparatory online research, were hooked up the day after arrival… and that’s with no landline to utilize. Having new options is alway exciting ‘tho isn’t it?
18
Congrats on the build and good luck moving in. I’m surprised you didn’t go WIFI instead of hardwiring the network.
19
Hi Veerle,
Best of luck on Thursday. Hopefully everything will go smoothly.
I’m trying to buy a house myself and that in itself takes up a lot of time. So i cannot imagine how much time you are investing in this project.
Good luck! But i have to say seeing the pictures of your house i’m curious about your interiour. Hope to see some pictures of that as well.
Keep us posted :-)
Lex
20
I still rent a house and it needs to be painted and stuff but I can’t bring it up because it’s not mine…
So I am saving my money, yeah I am really sitting on it … In the hope I will get rich soon and build my own little paradise…
I guess I should sell Eristoff Vodka so I can drill out my pool out of the beautiful rocks of my own island…
21
Wow, I hope your move goes smoothly. I finally bought my little house last year and I am glad to be settled in one place that is my own. :)
It sounds like you will have a place to live and enjoy for a very long time.
22
Good luck :)
23
Good luck, Veerle!
No matter what, everything will end alright =)
24
you have a home!
25
I hope a new house will be oversaturated with the good spirit.
26
Good luck Veerle - hope your move goes as smoothly as possible. I’m sure once you get into your new house, the worse will be behind you, and you can look forward to fixing the rest of it up the way you like! It sounds like it has been a huge undertaking for you, but the eco-friendly architecture with the low-emissive glass sounds very innovative. Seems like they are on top of the latest in environmental deisgn over there in Belgium.
I live in an old apartment building that has a lot of charm, but we are having some issues with major water pipes bursting and electrical wiring that needs replacing throughout, in addition to all kinds of other repairs. Soon enough, I think they are going to ask us all to move out of the building - which dates back to the 1930’s - old by U.S. standards. Anyway, the old vs. new issue is a big deal, but I think with the new you can get a lot more modern conveniences, (but maybe not the same in architecture).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new home once you have a chance to get settled! I’m sure you will.
27
Hi Veerle
Good luck in your new house!
We’ve moved in December ‘05, and there was still a lot to do. Now, almost one year later, we still have a long todo list. The most important reason for that is that, after we’ve moved, we finally had some time again for ourselves. The work on the house now often comes on the second place, which is good I think. But beware, after a while, you start to get used on all those unfinished things.
28
As someone who had a house built this summer and just moved in a few weeks ago, I can say that I am very excited for you Veerle! Enjoy your new home!!
I researched this project for more than 2 years before diving in, but I still wasn’t prepared for everything that would be expected of me. Thankfully, the process went very smoothly and stayed within budget (I am the luckiest person of 2006!) Wow, have I learned a ton! Now I’m strangely interested in things such as “window treatments”. Watch out or in that interior design bug will bite you too! :)
29
Veerle, Geert,
if you need some help…
Sven
30
Good luck
31
The most rewarding things in life often come as a result of stressfull and hard decissions.
Best of luck!
32
I remember that day, well when my wife bought her house before we got married. It was an exciting time. Can’t wait to build our first house. It’ll be a nerve wrecking mess!
33
good luck for the move and with the broadband-connection you are damn right. Once I’d to move I only had a slow 56k connection for over two months :(
34
I hope you enjoy your new home once you have a chance to get settled! I’m sure you will.
35
Having moved myself in may this year, i know exactly how you feel, except for the fact that we renovated an old house, so some things we needn’t worry about, others we HAD to worry about, new foundations, new floor, new electricity, heating, windows.. except for the roof, the walls, and the windows on the first floor we rebuild everything. I’m glad that we’ve moved now, although not everything is finished (needed to get a break)
On a little note: we also ordered a ikea-kitchen which my girlfriend (she gets the credit) put together all by herself, in 2 days time, and 1 day for the installment of all the cupboards, cooker etc, with some help of my uncle. So, it’s do-able, maybe webdesigners are just not up for it, I know I saw it as a mega-jigsaw too ;)
Good luck in your new environment.