Almost finished with windows and doors

Yesterday (July 11th), two men came from Auer Baustoffe (well, they had their own window installation company but did some subcontracting work for Auer) with a trailer full of windows. The trailer wasn't big enough for all of the ordered windows and doors so they had to leave the doors (except the balcony door) and some of the windows in Erding. They got right to work carrying the windows up and making sure the right windows were placed next to the right openings - not very easy as some of the windows are only marginally bigger/smaller than neighbouring ones but everything was custom manufactured so a mistake in one window automatically means a mistake somewhere else as well. Uli had taken out most of the old windows when I was in Nuremberg on Wednesday, so they were able to make good progress. The windows are wedged into place on plastic wedges. Then, each side is screwed into the wall with long screws and the gaps around the edges are filled with expanding foam. Each window takes only a few minutes.

By the end of Thursday they had installed almost everything upstairs. The balcony door was done but the main house door wasn't (as it won't be delivered until Monday). The balcony door opening needed some work too as it wasn't measured properly - the measurer apparently took the distance from the top of the subfloor to the underside of the lentil rather from the top of the step. Either way, it was only a couple of minutes work to break down the step to the level of the subfloor.

Today, they finished all except one window downstairs and also installed the front door. They were very exact about their installation and plastered the inside of all the doors and windows to ensure that there were no gaps. They are going to be back on Monday to install the last of the windows, the front door of the house and the big window. They are still trying to come up with an idea as to how they will get the big window (it weighs 120kg) three metres up from the living room floor to the opening. Currently the idea appears to be manpower and the outside scaffolding. I reckon that most of the time on Monday will be spent with that window.

The plumbers were back today - which kind of surprised me as they said yesterday they almost certainly wouldn't be back until Monday. They connected the local well water to the toilet (you may remember this was one of the ideas of saving costs as well water doesn't cost anything whereas municipal water costs €1.19 per cubic metre (including tax)). Unfortunately, while closing off the well water they broke the hydrant - it was rusted beyond recognition and needed only a bit of tightening to break it. They had to replace the hydrant - which took them a good three hours as water kept coming out of the pipe. Eventually a new hydrant was installed and we'll check it on Monday again to see if it is still sealed.