Above 1200 Sq/FT Swiss Garage / Workshop / House Build

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Fantastic progress. It is really cool to follow along on your project while doing a house myself. My wife knows all about your house as I refer to it as the 'awesome swiss house!'. It is surprising how much localization there is in modern construction. Here in the pacific nw you would probably not see many external blind systems due to the significant lack of sunshine, and the persistence availability of moss!

European DIN based cabinets are so interesting compared to the standard american cabinet design. The use of small bus bars to link subcircuits,and the variety of breaker designs is cool. What size is the total cabinet and house capacity (volts and amps)?

Jeff

Ha, that's interesting, Never thought about moss related problems
It's like evolution, every part of the world has evolved certain solutions for certain local-only problems and ended up with houses specific to the local needs. So interesting to see other parts of the world...

Same here, my wife knows youre house as the amazing North american house. I use it as a reference sometimes when we have new ideas again.

I need to check the Overall ratings since i don't know and it's not finnished yet. We have one main cabinet outside with the mains supply connection, which is then splitted to the two houses with each one main cabinet inside each part of the house. We have a second one inside the technical compartment where the whole network and cable-tv/internet setup is, and a third one will follow with the Photovoltaic Frequency converter and stuff.
We run a variety of different voltages, but need to check the amp ratings.
- 380V AC / 3 phase in the workshop for big machinery (standard is 16Amps)
- 240V AC / 1 phase for standard outlets (standard is 10amps)
- 24V DC for most of the BUS systems and integrated LED Lighting
- 24V AC for the garden watering valves (don't ask my why they use AC)
- 12V DC for the stairs lighting, since that was not available in 24V DC

the low voltage wiring is general for low-power rating so i guess the max current is around 1 Amp.

The Photovoltaic system has a DC-Bus of max 16 Amps and max of 0,8KV DC voltage

The mains cabinet is still covered until the insulation work is done at the in-laws house. But i will definitly have a look inside when it's free to access...

 

[locul]

Re: The Swiss "JDMJ" Garage / Workshop / House Build

How much does it cost to raise your Ah.
Denmark is 1000dkr pr 1 Ah.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Re: The Swiss "JDMJ" Garage / Workshop / House Build

How much does it cost to raise your Ah.
Denmark is 1000dkr pr 1 Ah.

Honestly i have no clue. If you don't have any heavy machinery at home, i don't see a need for this either.

 

[jgbnm]

I also wish we had European windows. I really miss the multiple ways you could open them. I'd have the top tilted in even on rainy days and never feared water getting in my house. Do your new windows function the same way?

As an FYI - You can get European tilt/turn windows in the US. I have some incoming from Poland made by a company called Zola who are US based. Expensive but way more energy efficient and higher quality than the typical US window. The rest of the house won't match this kind of quality and durability...

Enjoying the thread (lived in Zurich for a year).

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thanks for the input. Most of the european windows are made in eastern europe these days. I think ours are made in czechia, even if it's a german brand.
There is one company making similar windows in wood here locally, but they're quite a bit more expensive and mainly used for old houses where the goverment rules require you to put authentic wood windows back in during a restauration.

At todays visit, the insulation guys were busy doing the last bits on the outside. Funny how the ratios seem totally different with 18cm of extra foam on each corner of the house...

The excavators got removed again, after they prepared / connected the remaining parts of the roof water piping to the public drainage system (see green pipes peaking out):

The tiler showed up today and parked his car in the future lift area, so it gives a nice first hint how it will look with a (significant lower) car inside:

Of course the tiler was there to work, so he started to lay down the ceramic tiles in the main entrance and will work through the 6 different tiles we selected in various areas of the house.

On wednsday we have labor day so i will spend some hours on-site and do some small things on my own and have a look at the progress... On thursday i have an apointment again with the tiler to discuss how to install the other tile-types and then we have a big meeting the same day with the landscaping guy, to see if our plans are within the budget and what they recommend

 

[Motoman1100]

This has to be one of my favorite builds. I really like the garage setup under both houses. Very well done.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

This has to be one of my favorite builds. I really like the garage setup under both houses. Very well done.

Thanks for your kind word. I appreciate all the comments and inputs
Tomorrow is labor day so i will get some things done and make another update.

Just got the news that the heating company is insolvent and can't pay for our heater and warm-water boiler even if it's ready at the manufacturer of that. Good thing is we haven't made any advance payments. but the whole heating system may get a bit delayed. Need to find a solution now.
I hope it's ready when we start to move in 6 weeks or so. At least it's summer so we could live without heating and warm water for a week or so if required

 

[Hostyle]

I haven't checked in in a while, but you're making great progress!

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

I haven't checked in in a while, but you're making great progress!

thanks a lot sir. Well they have to. we will move in in just a few weeks

I just spent 6 hours on site, checking out some details and finally starting to do some things by myself. I don't reckon my self beeing a great builder, but when it comes into technical details and wiring i'm a pro - so i'd like to involve myself and get some of the more complicated parts done by myself. but let's start at the beginning:

The telecommunication company showed up, dug a hole and connected the Cable-tv wires and telephone (internet):

Now everything is connected to the main braker cabinet with the two counters for the two houses now running. The main input fuse is 160Amps.

Meanwhile also the house automation system is showing some first signs of life, however nothing is programmed yet.

Because of that i wanted to check if the IPC mounting frame is fiting into the wall. Also made a lot of preparation work like measuring wire-lengths etc, so i can order various parts for my installation...

On the outside, the insulation guys are almost finnished with our part of the house:

The tiler continued with his work and also got different deliveries of our tiles from various manufacturers in spain and italy (the hotspots for ceramic tiles):

And then we had to expand the cat-flap tunnel and make it waterproof (with gorilla tape, lol) so that it's long enough to go through the insulation. That also gave us the opportunity to make it fit straight and level and slightly downwards-tilted, so that rainwalter will flow out again.

next the insulation guys have to complete the work around this and make it wind- and waterproof

Tomorrow we have a meeting again with the tiler and also with the landscaping copany, so they know what we want and can write quotations

 

[Hostyle]

That has got to be one of the best engineered cat flaps I've ever seen

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

That has got to be one of the best engineered cat flaps I've ever seen

my biggest concern is all the money and time that went into this and then the cat will refuse to use it. I'll make her go through that door no matter what.

 

[Hugo L.]

Your main electrical panel looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Are they all like that? Ours, here, are much more basic and « mechanical ». A main breaker, smaller breakers, that’s it.

 

[locul]

Re: The Swiss "JDMJ" Garage / Workshop / House Build

Honestly i have no clue. If you don't have any heavy machinery at home, i don't see a need for this either.

My electrc car would like that...

 

[DIYDave]

This is a great build! And I just read your EK9 build, I have just imported a DC5 here!

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

My electrc car would like that...

How many amps do you have for a car quick-charger? We have prepared an empty hose for (maybe) future electric cars but currently there is no wiring, braker or fuse to it in the cabinet, but we could easily add it if required. i assume that would be a bigger braker then

This is a great build! And I just read your EK9 build, I have just imported a DC5 here!

Thanks a lot - nice! I would love to own a prefacelift DC5. but then i'd need a bigger garage

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Your main electrical panel looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Are they all like that? Ours, here, are much more basic and « mechanical ». A main breaker, smaller breakers, that’s it.

Not really. we have a lot of additional stuff for the Automation system (CPU, I/O and Bus modules, relay modules and dimmer modules) and a few things because of the photovaltiac systems, which are not required, but we wanted to (data-logging, etc..)

Here's the inlaws cabinet, without automation. Ignore the Siemens Logo CPU it's just there to communicate with our cabinet about a few shared things like the garage-door, etc. Normally you wouldn't even have that. The white box at the bottom is just network (LAN) distribution

 

[wasfast]

The European components make a much nicer appearance and cleaner wiring with multiple lanes. The panel, the breakers, all very nice.

 

[GeorgeK]

Hi Nils,
Don't let anyone park in your garage until the floor is done. You don't know which car will leak oil/other fluids that will seep in the concrete, bugging you forever, or preventing further treatment of the concrete.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

The European components make a much nicer appearance and cleaner wiring with multiple lanes. The panel, the breakers, all very nice.

I just had to google "american braker cabinet" and well, they look different i have to say. As an electronic engineer who uses the same components with a DIN rail system in all our machines (which we also sell in america in big number by the way)i think it's a bit weird, but then i haven't really understoud how the layout is in the American box to be fair. As long as it works it's good, i guess. The only feeling i have is that the european style is maybe a bit more "modular" and flexible in terms of future modifications?

Hi Nils,
Don't let anyone park in your garage until the floor is done. You don't know which car will leak oil/other fluids that will seep in the concrete, bugging you forever, or preventing further treatment of the concrete.

good input, will have an eye on it

Meanwhile the tiler was busy:

The grout is still missing but he wanted to show us a few different options first, so we could choose the right shading.

He prepared the big bathroom floor with some stinky fluid

Also he put up this yellow paint which is waterproof, for the areas where the shower is. i wasn't able to walk inside because of the stuff on the floor but the whole inside of the shower is painted with that waterproof material

 

[Ronin22]

I love getting mail notifications for this thread.

One thing is for sure. Swiss houses are made to last. Gotta love that!

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

So. had my weekly deeper weekend inspection and spent some hours on-site today.
The outside insulation is finally finnished. Now the cosmetic part will start:

The tiler continued with his work and is doing a nice job:

The frequency converter for the photovoltaic system arrived and will be installed soon:

And aside from a lot of small things here and there i started with a major job that always made the OCD side in me cringe. The garage fiber panel ceiling had alot of concrete soaked areas which i didn't find particular nice. so i thought i remove them with some gentle hammer-hits:

It's a tough job and i haven't done more than maybe 25% in 3 hours of work until my arms hurt so much i had to stop. But then the result is way more appealing. still far away from perfect. but much better.

This is what came down...

Still a lot work to do. We have an option to get those panels painted if we have some money left over and i think without the concrete patches and a nice paint layer this will look fabulous. but not sure on the paint. it's quite a bit of money which we maybe invest in more important areas of the house. Nevertheless. Once you start with a terrible job like this, you get a little obsessed (It's like removing sound deadening stuff from old cars *lol*)

 

[red]

So. had my weekly deeper weekend inspection and spent some hours on-site today.
The outside insulation is finally finnished. Now the cosmetic part will start:




And aside from a lot of small things here and there i started with a major job that always made the OCD side in me cringe. The garage fiber panel ceiling had alot of concrete soaked areas which i didn't find particular nice. so i thought i remove them with some gentle hammer-hits:

It's a tough job and i haven't done more than maybe 25% in 3 hours of work until my arms hurt so much i had to stop. But then the result is way more appealing. still far away from perfect. but much better.

Still a lot work to do. We have an option to get those panels painted if we have some money left over and i think without the concrete patches and a nice paint layer this will look fabulous. but not sure on the paint. it's quite a bit of money which we maybe invest in more important areas of the house. Nevertheless. Once you start with a terrible job like this, you get a little obsessed (It's like removing sound deadening stuff from old cars *lol*)

Thanks for taking care of those "leaks"
It looks s o much better

Bother me too, but with so many more important things going on you have to pay attention to them first.
And with multiple operations happening at once, it's easy to miss something important.
Is painting it yourself an option?
It will be substantially more difficult to paint once you start moving stuff into your garage.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Thanks for taking care of those "leaks"
It looks s o much better

Bother me too, but with so many more important things going on you have to pay attention to them first.
And with multiple operations happening at once, it's easy to miss something important.
Is painting it yourself an option?
It will be substantially more difficult to paint once you start moving stuff into your garage.

That could be an option too, however i think it would end up much nicer if the painter does it instead of me. also the ceiling is high up there and difficult to paint. we'll see.. still have a few weeks to think about it before the painters show up

 

[iampepa]

- 380V AC / 3 phase in the workshop for big machinery (standard is 16Amps)
- 240V AC / 1 phase for standard outlets (standard is 10amps)
- 24V DC for most of the BUS systems and integrated LED Lighting
- 24V AC for the garden watering valves (don't ask my why they use AC)
- 12V DC for the stairs lighting, since that was not available in 24V DC

Oh you use only 10A in Switzerland? Her in Austria we use at least 13A or 16A depending on the installation type (thermal insulation and so)

Also 380V not 400V like here in AT? or is it because older people use to say the older voltage like 230V and 380V but it is 240V and 400V now?

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Oh you use only 10A in Switzerland? Her in Austria we use at least 13A or 16A depending on the installation type (thermal insulation and so)

Also 380V not 400V like here in AT? or is it because older people use to say the older voltage like 230V and 380V but it is 240V and 400V now?

You're right. i have to correct that.

240V and 400V AC and 13 or 16A for the brakers. I think only one Braker was 10A but don't remember what it was. Maybe just the logic.

I'm still so used to the old voltages

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Currently i have to be sure that the Tiler does his work properly, so i check the site every day, which means more updates for you
The insulation guys are working out the details, like puting in the window sills and getting the edges straight and level:

The tilers put in the skirting tiles:

And our guest-Restroom starts to look fancy too

 

[Ronin22]

How is the 5/6 weeks deadline to move in looking?

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

How is the 5/6 weeks deadline to move in looking?

We have terminated our current rental contract by the end of July, so we have plenty of time left. So far we're a bit behind but not too much of a hassle. The biggest issue is the heating company which is insolvent and cannot make the advance payment for our heating system. But we made an agreement today and made the advance payment today by ourselves so i hope it will arrive here by next week (it's already ready and waiting for delivery).

Overall i think progress will speed up a bit once the plaster-guys have finnished all the details.

The only thing that will most probably happen after we've moved in is the landscaping, but that's not really unusual and not a big deal.

let's keep the fingers crossed

 

[Ronin22]

The only thing that will most probably happen after we've moved in is the landscaping, but that's not really unusual and not a big deal.

let's keep the fingers crossed

For sure!
Fingers crossed then

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

The site was super busy today when i arrived...

The tilers are coming along fast:

What i didn't expect was the Photovoltaic system getting hooked up today:

So from today on we're producing our own kilowatts on the roof

And even better (because garage related): The garage door guys showed up and are installing the garage door:

I'm not a fan of the white colour, but since it's in the in-laws house part i decided to let them choose the colour. could be worse and at least i don't need to clean it. most important is that the hole is closed now and the garage will get warm now i hope

 

[rixtrix1]

Looking nicer every day!

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Things are busy at the moment. still so much to do until we can move in in a few weeks already. Don't want to show you all the details but here are the most improtant ones...
base plaster work has started in the covered outside area (currently the weather is quite unstable)

And the inner door frames are currently beeing installed:

Now im longing for the plaster guys and the painters to complete their thing in the garage / workshop area so i can start to set up my workshop and move all my cars and car stuff. I have the feeling that this is way more complicated than moving the rest of our belongings. Also since this is a garage-journal forum i'm pretty sure you want to see some garage related stuff after 20 pages of non garage related building

 

[smschriefer]

JDM, you could have 20 more pages of the house and I think we'd be fine.

We all enjoy construction of any kind. I will admit some JDM car **** is always a good thing and I look forward to the finished garage. However, if you have stuff involving work on the house itself, please don't think we wouldn't be interested. We all enjoy watching others spend money.

 

[Ronin22]

JDM, you could have 20 more pages of the house and I think we'd be fine.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

However, if you have stuff involving work on the house itself, please don't think we wouldn't be interested. We all enjoy watching others spend money.

Well ok then, here we go

Spent another few hours clenaing the ceiling in the garage / workshop area, but didn't get any pictures of it. Also did a lot of other stuff here and there, but as well no photos.

The insulation team came along fast this week and the in-laws house part is almost finnished too. I think by next tuesday they will be done..

After the long hiatus, the heating system and warm water boiler arrived here yesterday and i'm happy that on tuesday it should be installed too (the in-laws got their own system as well, not pictured):

The tilers are continuing their excellent work and should be done with our part of the build by mid next week too, i guess...

And we got more inner door frames:

Including the door frame for the main entrance from the garage/workshop to the house:

I expect a lot of things to happen next week. so i guess i have to go and check it out daily. Will keep you updated of course

 

[wasfast]

What size are the large tiles in the bath? They look huge! Biggest I've commonly seen in the States is 24" x 24"(600mm x 600mm).

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

What size are the large tiles in the bath? They look huge! Biggest I've commonly seen in the States is 24" x 24"(600mm x 600mm).

They are Century Ceramica (Italy) "Ecostone" Silver in 60x60cm (aka 24"x24").
But would also be available in quite big 120x60cm, 80x80cm or other sizes.

see here:
https://www.century-ceramica.it/de/prodotti/ecs/#0100447

I have to say i really like the big tiles with small (2mm) seam.
Those big tiles have become modern and poplar here in europe over the last few years.

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

So finally a lot of things happened today that i was waiting for long. The insulation / plaster guys finnished a few things, like the base plaster in the Pantry:

Started to complete the space above the windows in the upper level:

And also finally finnished the Ytong-stone wall in the technical compartment (left side will look the same as the right side, once its dried):

And the also finnished the outside insulation on the in-laws house and started with the insulation of the garage area that is sharing walls with their house-part (needs to be insulated). However i think this is just a mock-up to calculate how much more hard-foam boards they need to order...

The tiler continued his excellent works with those fancy tiles we chose

aaaand the first bunch of kitchen cabinets got delivered and tomorrow the assembly should start.

 

[Ronin22]

Nice progress!!

The tiler continued his excellent works with those fancy tiles we chose

What's that rectangular hole for?

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Nice progress!!
What's that rectangular hole for?

The Bathtub will be in front of it, so the hole is to put some decoration stuff and / or bottles of shower gel, etc..
We have a similar hole on the inside of the wall (inside the shower). the Base tiles are slightly tilted, so that water will run out.

Much better than those usual in-shower baskets / trays for bottles, if you ask me...

here's a (not so nice) example: