Home sweet home…

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air conditioning, bathroom, Contractor, designer, Dishwashers, doors, Electricity, Home, House, interior designer, Kitchen, Ovens, plumbing, renovation, sinks, taps, windows

So – this blog is being written while sitting on our new duvet covers on our new bed after having a shower in our new bathroom in the new house which we moved into 2 days ago…

We are pretty tired after a very busy few days but thought we should write a quick update…it is in no particular order

Kitchen – finished except for moldings and dishwasher fronts. Kitchen tap has been moved, we will install a soap dispenser.

Doors  – getting there but still not completed – final interior door is hopefully being installed tomorrow. Hermetix also need to finish the door frames and give us properly mastered locks.

Bedroom cupboards – installed – although Natanel’s needs finishing and ours needs some adjustments and changes – hopefully tomorrow. Ya’akov is really enjoying his cupboard doors that he can draw on with whiteboard markers (the doors are white glass basically making a very large whiteboard)

Gas – our canisters arrived – oven installed and working well. Hob is great.

Old electricity box – removed – bin put in correct place.

Dishwashers, fridge and freezer, washing machine and dryer  – installed.

Air con – finished but we need a lesson on how to use it.

Bathrooms basically finished – accessories and some light fittings need installing. Cables for heaters which we didn’t want have been removed.

Entry coat closet and cupboard in upstairs hall – installed. Other carpentry work is continuing.

Sofabed – delivered.

Outside railings – have been measured.

Hammock – not ready for another 3 weeks – not what we planned but we will deal with it

Natanel’s bed – ladder was put on wrong side – waiting for replacement. He is currently sleeping on a mattress in the spare room.

Our bed and headboard – installed, looks lovely but not 100% correct – needs to be fixed.

Curtains and blinds – materials chosen and windows spaces measured

Hot water – connected but getting some yellow water once in every tap. If this continues we will look into it. The contractor is already aware that this may be a problem – and he agrees. The system works really well. The copper makes the water very hot extremely quickly even on these cool spring days. We also get instant hot water rather than having a 10 second wait as is normal in Israel.

Internet and telephone – connected but we were advised to change the telephone cable as it was old and now our phone isn’t accepting calls and the renters have no internet.

Outside – basically finished

so we have:

Windows, doors, kitchen, bathrooms, electricity, lights, internet (house telephone not working at the moment) water, gas, beds, cupboards…what more do we need?

So far, the most commented on part of the house has been the windows. This could be as they are visible from outside but we are having 10+ people a week (including strangers) saying how nice they are. We have even been asked for Andersen’s contact details.

Kablan will be sorting out all the finishing touches but main workers finished today.
Finally we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel…

Bye for now – it is late and the clocks are moving forward here tonight.

Adam and Joelle

And Again

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air conditioning, Alarm, Buy home, carpentry, Contractor, Design, doors, Electricity, gas, Home, House, interior designer, Israel, Kitchen, plumbing, property, sinks, windows

Yes, Hermetix. Need I say more?

Let’s leave our least favorite company for now and just say that overall the house is really coming together. It looks absolutely fantastic and should look even better towards the end of the week.

Electricity box – The new box has been installed by the electricity company. The old one needs to be removed to make space for the bin. The change to 63x3Amps has been done up to the box – but has not been done into the house yet. This should be done within the next month.

Concrete – the concrete company came today and started cutting up the concrete. We had no idea they were doing this at all – so when we asked why they explained that they did this to stop it from cracking due to heat expansion plus ground movement. The have put in several fine cuts making large rectangles which look ok as they kept the width of the cuts very small. They also put a lacquer over the concrete to protect it. This took 3 hours to dry – and was done in the garage just before our renters came to the house. Their normal route into the house would be over this concrete. Instead we told them to go through our house and into their area. As you can tell there is a route between our house and the rental basement. This has been done on purpose as when we sell the house (not the plan for a very long time) there has to be the ability to get to all parts of the house otherwise the government purchase/selling tax is done as two properties which is much more expensive.

Basement – The tenants moved their things in on the day that they wished – and have been slowly cleaning their stuff up before moving in. This was mainly because the bathroom vanity was only installed on Sunday or Monday. It all looks really good and they seem happy.

On to the main house:

Doors – Some of the interior doors were installed but 3 or 4 of them were damaged during transit. Although, we were told that they were painted in an incorrect colour. We have been told that they will be installed in three weeks but our interior designer has been told they will almost definitely be installed this Thursday – Sunday at worst. We will see.

Windows – These were finished now except for painting the wooden doors. The painting is to be done in about a month as the painter is really busy prior to Pesach. A warning to the English buyers here. Israeli law is different to the UK. Here (and in the States) it is illegal to have key locks on the inside of doors and windows. We did not know this and it has caused us some trouble (understatement of the year) but we will hopefully be able to sort out our security issues to our satisfaction and for the safety of our kids.

Alarm – A lot more of the alarm and the video cameras have been installed. We have been getting lots of phone calls asking if we want specific extras (remote to turn off certain sensors when the gardener arrives, sms card to send us messages if the alarm goes off, etc). The alarm people installed their boxes where we are putting a cloak cupboard. This was the plan. They just placed them so high that the carpenter will not be able to install the cupboard. They will be dropped.

Smoke Alarms – These have been installed. We hope that the smoke alarm in the rental apartment does not go off when we are not around as they will set off our alarm system (the smoke alarms are connected to our house alarm to make sure that we really hear it!)

Stair Railings – These have been secured now and cleaned up a bit. They still need finishing and to have the wooden rail put on top.

Electricity / Lights – Most of the lights have now been installed both inside and out. One of the outside lights was damaged. I am not sure if we will be able to get this one replaced or not. They may blame it on us. We do not think it was our fault – but cannot prove it either way.

Light switches – We noticed that the light switches in the upstairs hall have been done in a strange way which we hope can be fixed easily.

Hot Water – The collectors have been installed and everything is now up and running with the exception of the electricity connections. They were not ready when the plumber came.

Gas – All interior pipes were installed and the renters have their gas canisters. We will get our gas canisters next week after a formal test once our oven has been installed.

Air con – This is almost finished. We have a Toshiba system that is actually sold here by Tadiran. Tadiran are coming tomorrow to start the system and check that everything is installed and working correctly so that they can give a proper warranty. This is not normal on small systems – but we installed a “small office” system as it is much better and the prices had recently dropped enough to make it a viable option.

Kitchen – Where to start. Let’s start with the bad. The phrase “In the middle of the two sinks” is different in English and American. To me it means between the sinks. In American it means the central point from the two extreme sides. This caused the tap to be put in a place that I would not have chosen. In fact the tap does not even reach one on the sinks now (There is a large and a small sink together – not two the same size). I dislike this enough that we are going to move the tap – but we will be left with a hole in the counter top. The only cost-effective solution is to add a soap dispenser. I do not want this either – but I have no other choice if I wish to use the sink. On top of this, the plumber has used normal waste connections (including the trap) for the small sink – but we bought a waste disposal unit for here – so this needs to be changed. The last kitchen comment is that all the electrical kitchen goods are being delivered tomorrow and that the carpenter is coming to finish the kitchen on Thursday.

Carpentry – The carpenter has been jumping in and out of the house taking measurements. He will be installing our next main requirements on the 23rd March the day before we move in. This includes the cloak cabinet and some of the other living area units (We think).

Sofa Bed – The sofa bed has been built unbelievably quickly and will be delivered on Sunday. Two weeks instead of four with Pesach just round the corner. This is amazing as we now have enough beds and mattresses to put up our 6 Pesach guests. If we do have more than 6 people we will have to use blow up beds or borrow mattresses to put on the floor.

Cleaning – This was started today and will be finished tomorrow. The place already looked much better this afternoon.

Moving date – This has changed. We were planning on moving in on Thursday – but this has now been brought forward to Tuesday as it was easier for the moving company. We just have an extra two days of keeping the house clean for Pesach. Not the end of the world as we know it. Time for lots of felafel and pizza in the local parks!

Although we are moving in on the 24th there will be lots more “finishing” tasks to do which will take up to a month (especially with both Pesach and the carpentry).

That’s all for now – update next week.

Adam & Joelle

And they messed up again

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air conditioning, Alarm, appliances, aquarium, bathroom, Buy, contract, Contractor, designer, Dishwashers, doors, Electricity, Garden, Home, House, interior, interior designer, Israel, Kitchen, Ovens, plumbing, property, renovation, Shopping, showers, sinks, taps, tiles

Who else could I be speaking about – except for Hermetix. They promised installation and failed and failed again. I am starting with the area where this affected me the most – the basement.

Tenants – The tenants were supposed to be moving in today. They were told a couple of months ago that it would be very tight. A week ago we told them it would be an extra couple of days. I do not currently know how long until they move in as I am waiting for two main areas as will be explained below. The tenants’ main issue was that they had to leave their current property and therefore they needed to store everything. They are using the apartment for that without issues and they are currently staying with family. It says something about how difficult it is to get a good apartment that they are willing to “live” with the delayed real start date.

Basement Front door – We had the kablan (contractor) arrange for new facias and lock to be installed onto the existing front door. This has been done (white on the inside and I guess grey on the outside – the guess is because I saw it at night without any lights). It did look good though.

Basement Tiling – The kitchen splashback was completed and all grouting has now been done.

Basement Electricity – All lights have been installed, all sockets and switches have been completed. The only electrics that need doing is “covering” of the heater cables in the bathroom as I do not want these and the labeling of each circuit fuse switch in the electricity box for clarity. The electrician specifically came to the house on Friday (weekend here) to complete this part of the installation.

Basement Windows – The basement windows and patio door have now been completed.

Air conditioning – The 4 air conditioning units and base unit have been installed.

Cleaning – The kablan did basic cleaning of the basement. It wasn’t amazing but it was acceptable.

Protective bars – We are now onto the areas left to do. The protective bars around the basement windows/patio door needs to be returned/replaced. This hasn’t been done yet. It is cheaper to add the bars than to install an alarm.

Vanity Unit – Everybody has been nagging for the vanity unit to be installed in the bathroom for the last 2 weeks. We have been told today that it will be installed on Wednesday.

Plumbing – The hot water (pumps/hot water tank and solar heat collectors) are being installed tomorrow. The final plumbing connections in the kitchen haven’t been completed either. I may offer to do them myself tomorrow to speed things up!

Gas Points (inside and out) – These are being installed on Thursday by Amisragas. They are supposed to be giving ballonim (gas canisters) as well – just not sure if that is at the same time or on the following Sunday (normal delivery day).

Interior doors – These were supposed to be installed on Sunday but Hermetix did it again….they failed to deliver what they had promised. The kablan was waiting for the doors so that he could do the last finishing touches, but the Hermetix installer was sick yesterday and today so the doors haven’t gone in. I am not sure that the installer is sick – I have a feeling that the doors just aren’t ready. I have been told that the company feels very bad and that this is the first time that anyone has heard them apologise for anything (although they didn’t bother calling us to apologise – nor offer any compensation however small). We still do not know when we are getting the doors as the company wishes to use the “best” installer that they have. It doesn’t make us feel any better. We feel really guilty that the tenants are being messed around so much.

That’s enough for the basement, on to the rest of the house, starting outside and moving in and up.

Garden – The water feature, stepping stones and watering system have been installed. Most of the fence netting has been installed except for where the neighbour was complaining. We are going to wait until we have cameras looking at that part of the garden in case what we do doesn’t gain her approval.

Front door – Hermetix did actually manage to get one thing installed on time – the front door. It is due to the front door and windows being installed that so much has been done in the last week.

Windows – All windows and doors have been installed now. Andersen are hoping to complete the “finishing” tomorrow with the single exception of the painting of the wooden doors. They have a specific worker who specialises in this part of the project. Andersen are planning on walking through the whole project with me tomorrow afternoon. The painting will be organised in the next couple of days.

Concrete – The concrete was installed both in the garage and for the play area. The garage looks great, but the play area has white streaks on it – I am not sure if this is related to dirt or some other issue.

Electrics – The electrician continued with finishing off our electrics. He has not yet done the lights.

Alarm – The alarm is being partially installed tomorrow.

Smoke Alarms – after a confused discussion with the electrician we found out that we had approved for our smoke alarms to be wired into the alarm system (rather than separate battery operated units). This will also be done as part of the alarm installation.

Network – We have a quote for the installation of the hard and wifi network. We also need to arrange for an internet provider to give us connection at the house.

Gas Points – This is the same as the basement. Our points will be installed on Thursday, the only difference is that we do not yet have an oven as they need a point to install it. Therefore we will not be given our ballonim and will have to call the gas company back the following week (more money!)

Hot water – as in the basement, our hot water is being installed tomorrow. Our underfloor heating air pump will be installed at the same time.

Counter Tops – Our kitchen counter tops and sinks were installed.

Under sink waste disposal – We ordered an “insinkerator” from a US exporter that specialises in 240V appliances. It arrived last week and was collected yesterday after VAT was charged on the item plus shipping costs.

Fish tank – moving sideways (or forwards depending on perspective) we get to the fish tank. The wooden base has been installed and the glass tank is being made at the moment. When installed the carpenter can then create the unit around it.

Glass – The glass railing, mirrors and shower/bath doors were installed. The railing still needs a wooden top that the carpenter is not yet aware of!

Cleaning – this is booked for the 17th and 18th March. After this there will be very little “dirty” work to do. Mainly carpentry and “finishing” off.

Wardrobes – The wardrobes were booked for the 18th which is not possible due to the cleaning. The company has promised to do their best to get the wardrobes in on the 19th. It has not yet been confirmed though.

Study Paint – the kablan is including Magnetic paint for the area behind the desk in the study so that we can use it to hold company magnets and “post-it” notes.

Carpentry – we found out that the carpenter was working on the units for our garage. These are probably the lowest on our “order of importance”. We created a new list for him that included cupboards and public areas before the bits that are just for our personal storage!

Sofa bed – this has been ordered. Normally it takes 30 days plus – but as we need it for use on the 28th the company is trying to push it through quickly. I think they are trying to impress our designer as she hasn’t used them for about 6 months!

Deliveries – I wanted to arrange all deliveries for Tuesday 24th – but that would be too tight for us moving in. Instead I decided to do everything on the 19th but being in Israel this didn’t work. We now have our fridge, freezer and oven being delivered on the Wednesday (have arranged that kitchen cleaning is done first). Natanel’s bed is being installed on the 19th as is ideal (closets as well hopefully). The other beds are coming in on the twentieth. We also ordered today a new dishwasher and TV for the Wii – we do not yet know what day this will be delivered. The fun was arranging the delivery of the fridge freezer. We are getting a more European style and it comes in two units (separate fridge and freezer). The delivery company have it documented in their warehouse as two fridges rather than a fridge and freezer. The shop has promised me that the delivery company has it wrong and if there is an issue to call him. For those who need to buy large electrical items in Israel for the first time – be aware that once the item turns up you cannot even unpack it. You need to call a installation service – paid for by the manufacturer/shop – who install it for you. This confirms your warranty. If you unpack a fridge and plug it in yourself you have no warranty at all – even if it doesn’t work out of the box.

Moving – We have arranged for a removal company to move us on either the 24th or 26th March. We want the 26th but it is easier for them on either the 24th or 25th. They are only moving the large items as we will be moving the rest ourselves as we have overlapped the move and our rental by a whole month. We will not be moving our everyday kitchen until after pesach (We are moving into a brand new/clean pesachdik kitchen – and house – a really lucky side benefit of the timing).

Pesach presents – Israeli companies often give “bonus” presents for Rosh Hashana and Pesach. I was offered a set of choices and I decided to be nice to the boys (actually – it may be nicer to Joelle!) and I selected the fancy Karaoke machine which connects to the TV and will provide minutes of embarrassing fun.

That’s all for the week (except that which I forgot or am not aware of due to the protection of both designer and Kablan),

Adam & Joelle.

Coming together at last

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Alarm, aquarium, bathroom, Buy home, Contractor, costs, Design, designer, Electricity, Garden, Home, House, interior, interior designer, Israel, Kitchen, plumbing, renovation, Shopping, showers, sinks, taps, tiles

Hi all,

It has been a really busy and productive week. We have just 8 days to finish the basement until it is to be lived in – and only an extra 2.5 weeks after that until we move in. We know that the carpentry and probably the curtains will not be completed in time, but it looks like the majority of everything else will be done!

Here is where we currently stand:

Windows – the windows finally arrived at the warehouse on Tuesday and the installation started on Thursday. All the windows have been installed and two of the doors (no locks yet). We have 3 more doors to go but one of them will probably not be done until Tuesday as neither Yaniv nor Tamar (Kablan and designer) were aware that the door needed a shayish (literally marble – but possibly any stone) base. This will be installed tomorrow morning (if it was bought in the end) which will delay the installation slightly.
When I say that the windows/doors have been installed I am not being 100% accurate. The windows/doors have been secured in the correct places – they have done neither the cleaning up nor finishing of the units. This will take another week and we expect the whole installation to be finished by Wednesday next week.
There is one window that I looked at twice – there is a 5 cm gap on one side. When I checked about this – I was told that it was installed slightly smaller on purpose so that there would be space for the inside moldings. We were not aware of this when we signed off the windows. I am not sure that I am happy with this as the outside looks strange at the moment. We will make a final decision if we are happy once it has been completely installed and the gap filled in appropriately.
The last bit on this section is the exterior colour. We went with sandstone – mainly because we were told it is the best neutral colour. It definitely looked that way in the showroom, but when seen against our exterior stone we are not so sure and think that we would have been better off with white. We know that both Tamar and our gardener disagree with us (The gardener thinks they are the best looking windows he has seen in Ma’ale Adumim!) – but we both think this was one of those mistakes of understanding/conceptualisation that will always happen when doing such a large building project.

Doors – Adam went and confirmed the interior doors, something felt slightly different and not as good as the original door but we approved them anyway as we have had enough with this company and cannot give them an excuse to delay the installation any longer! We need those doors. If they keep to their promises (we are not holding our breaths) then the external door will be installed on Wednesday and the interior doors will be installed on Sunday and Monday next week.

Alarm – now that the windows are in the alarm needs to be installed next week. We are assuming that the intercom will have to wait as the front gate is not ready yet.

Garden Pond – this is now completed and looks really good except for one jar on the side. This will improve though as the gardener said this was for a hanging plant which should soften it a lot.

Gardener – The gardener has added some soil to our two planters in the mirpeset (balcony) by the lounge, he has also tidied up the wood for us and bought a splitting axe to be used when the wood is dry. He is installing the fences tomorrow. The stone for the paths in the garden are ready to install, but I am not sure when this is planned.

Fence – talking about the fence, our neighbour has decided that she does not like the idea of bamboo on her fence. She has asked that we use a fancy railing instead. The problem with this is that it will add at least an extra 5000NIS to the price. We have to ask her to pay substantially towards this as this is not something that we want anyway.

Concrete – We (well Tamar) chose a colour (that we approved). This was not really that important to us – but it needed to be done. The concrete is for a basketball court and the floor of the garage.

Counter Tops – The downstairs kitchen was installed and it looks great. The shayish person made a couple of matching trivets which we have stolen for our kitchen! At the same time he measured out our kitchen as well. This morning we had a very long discussion on where the counter tops would be cut (not where want as the length would be longer than the actual stone!) and how the edge would be finished. We still do not fully understand the difference but made a decision anyway! These are being installed in the next day or two as far as I am aware.

Splashback – The downstairs kitchen splashback has been started (and is almost finished).

Moldings – These were installed and look really good. They do a strange thing here where they actually glue and staple the moldings in place. I have been promised that these staples will not be visible at the end – so I am assuming they will be completely removed.

Electricity and lighting – Most of the switches and sockets (including some UK sockets) have been installed now. These actually consist of the switch plus the outside plate to finish it off. A couple of the plates have been installed but most haven’t as of yet. All the spot lighting has now been installed including the waterproof options in the bathrooms.

Network – Now that we have all the cables in the correct place – we have arranged for a quote for the network installation. We are doing this as it is very important for the music system and we also wish to move in with this working. I also have some bits already (24 port hub, wifi modem etc) that I wish to incorporate to save a little bit of money.

Glass – The mirrors, shower/bath enclosures and one railing are being installed tomorrow.

Fish tank – This is actually a lead into the carpentry – but that will come next. The carpenter (Dany), designer, kablan and aquarium guy (Uri) all met at the house to discuss and finalise the aquarium/bar unit. Unfortunately it was not something that could be done in one go. The short version is that the carpenter has to prepare a base from a single piece of wood (birch) and then give the exact measurements to the aquarium guy. The aquarium will then be made to these dimensions. This will take 14 working days – ie 3 weeks. After the aquarium installation, Dany can then measure and make the full unit for us.

Carpentry – I said the last item led on to here. See, there is a method to my madness. We spoke to Dany this afternoon and he was very pleased that the windows are going in to protect his work. He is currently working on my man-cave in the back of the garage.

Bathrooms – When Dany came to talk about the aquarium he also installed the vanity unit in the boys’ bathroom which had been left over from the week before.
The boys’ bathroom also has a toilet now and all of the bathroom shower/bath water fixtures have been installed. The downstairs bathroom still has the units that are being used by the workers – and will be changed this week.

Furniture – Two steps forward and one step back (sounds familiar). We have now ordered the sofas, table and all required material. The sample material is at the shop waiting to be collected as soon as possible. This will then be used to enable us to choose appropriate material for the kitchen counter stools that we have chosen (but not ordered). We did have a sofa bed from Joelle’s mum that was going to be put in the kid’s play room. She has decided that the main sofa she has was too big for her new apartment and so she is going to keep it in the end. We have seen a couple of possible options from a company called Dormir and we will order one in the next week or so.

Curtains – Once the windows are in – the curtain company will meet us at the house to finalise materials and to also measure everything out.

Photos – on the computer we have thousands of photos of the construction work that are just not organised. I am writing here publicly that I am hoping to organise them this week so that I can’t be as lazy as I have been with this task over the last 6 months!

That’s enough for today,

Until next week,

Adam.