Outside done (bar the "Sockel")

I know I promised an update and forgot about it, so here it is. Behold, the outside is pretty much finished. "Pretty much" because the "Sockel" (that's the stripe at the bottom of the house, underneath the plastered and painted part) still has to be taken care of. My plasterer (Chrisch) already said he'd do it. I'm not sure if it will be done this year, but if not, I don't care. Inside is more important anyway.

Speaking of inside, we did get quite a bit done since the last update. For example, if I recall, the last update was just after we slabbed the kitchen. Well, now the bathroom is not just slabbed, but also tiled (well, the walls are - the floor will be

done in November, after the concrete is heated up and cooled back down). I hadn't expected the bathroom to be finished as one of the first rooms, but as fortune would have it, it looks like it will be done first (or second, depending on when the kitchen and the tile layer arrive). As you can see from the photo, the bathroom is tiled up to about 1.2m - above that we want to paint with a latex paint (i.e. a paint that is suitable for a bathroom). Obviously, where the shower is going, there are tiles up to the ceiling (and yes, underneath the tiles is sealed with Elastogum and a sealing tape). I can now get the bathroom fittings (toilet, sink, shower) put in - but I want to finish the painting first. We won't be painting the slabs directly (though apparently that is done relatively often) - we'll be fixing a fibreglass wallpaper to the slabs with an adhesive. When this dries, it provides a flat, stable surface for painting. The end result is (apparently) as though the wall had been plastered. This fibreglass coating is also suitable for the bedrooms - which have a kind of oil paint finish which will not really be suitable for any kind of plaster.

Oh yes, before I forget, we also put in the balcony. Grasser Metallbau built and installed the metal frame and steps. I had to pour some concrete for them (around the metal legs) last weekend, but other than that they were fast and clean. I did the timber decking (larch, 4cm) with Sven last Saturday. It took us the whole day, but the end result is quite good. We only had to split one larch board over a length of 20m (the last one). Apparently larch is weather-proof, but I think I'll treat it once or twice with fungicide, so it doesn't start to go black on me. There is also a special oil for larch - that might be useful too. I haven't looked into this yet.

The next up on the schedule is to get plasterboard on top of all the chipboard/OSB in the living room area, to finish the kitchen ceiling (insulated and the vapour block is in, but the lats have to go up and the slabbing has to be done), and to get going on the ceilings in the bedrooms. I already started the insulation (18cm - to suit the thickness of the joists 035 rockwool should do the trick).

Below are a couple of recent photos...