I thought it was time for an update. The update is that we have no update. Again.

Designs

This week we finally got the designs back from the Belgian Architect. They have handwritten the translation in French but I was to weary to complain. I am just glad we can move forward now. Rogier went to a copy shop and we now have 5 sets of very expensive A3 prints with drawings of our house.

Contractor

Next week I will have a talk with our consultant on how to proceed from here. We will ask our contractor ( the one who is doing the foundation ) to make an offer for building the walls, roof and windows and if he wants on the insulation. Since we will be using sustainable materials for the insulation he might not want to go there because he has no experience. There is a company in Liege  - Ecobati – who are experts on sustainable materials and can do that part. I would have preferred a contractor who can do the rough build and the sustainable part but people keep telling me there is no such company here in Belgium. I will also ask another contractor to make an offer on the rough build,  to compare prices.

The problem with everything taking so long is that we are getting time sensitive with the rammed earth blocks we are planning on using. They need to dry for a long time so prefferably we need to order them pretty soon. We don’t want to do that now before we know how much this house is going to cost.

Keeping Calm

I am trying to be ZEN about all this because there is not much I can do. For these last few months I had to rely on the cooperation of others and that didn’t go well all the time. Now that we have the drawings we can finally take another step forward in this project.

2010 is going to be an interesting year.

This is the year we will need to prepare for 2011. The year in which we start building.
Now, when people ask when we start building, we can say.., “next year, we start building next year”.

So, what are the plans for 2010. I’ll sum them up to give an overview:

• Find an (Belgium) architect
• Submit for a building permit
• Sell the house in Rotterdam
• Move to Belgium
• Set up a temporary dwelling on our land
• Build a shed

Besides these actions we’ll need to learn (better) French, find suppliers, keep and find volunteers and keep working throughout everything to make money.

Wauw.., if you put it like that than 2010 is going to be a very interesting year indeed.

Architect

We need a native Belgium architect. One who speaks French as well as Dutch. This makes communication so much easier. It would help if he/she is from the south and had some dealings with our local government before.
Now, we did, or rather Laila and Lotte did speak to a potential and we hope that his price will be less enthusiastic as he was. As soon as we can agree on a price than we get cracking.
We need a somebody from Belgium because only Belgium architects can apply for building permits. Lotte would not be able to apply. A bonus is that a local architect can also help, a lot, with local contractors, and we’ll need all the help we can get with that.

Building Permit

In the talks L&L had with the architect he was very positive about the design (of course). He also suggested that it would not be a problem getting a permit on the design. Now, that is the design Lotte graduated on, it has slightly changed (see pictures).

Selling and Moving

These are a few issues that go together well. Selling the house, moving to Belgium, buying a (big) caravan and make Chenogne our home. This is also one of the most dramatic actions we will ever take in our lives and will definitely be the most dramatic move we’ll make this year.
Making a home in Chenogne will be tough, it has to be a temporary place, easily placed and maintained. But we’ll need (warm) water, electricity, something to cook on. All we have now is some grass, that’s it. A challenge to be met I’m sure.

Design

Last but not least. The house itself. Lotte has been creative again in providing solutions for our minor dilemmas.
Now, obviously all the ins and outs of the house will pass through this blog at some point, so I’ll leave you with just these images.

design and artist impression by Studio Middelkoop

It’s funny how time flies. Even to a positronic brain of an android time can be relative. I can imagine that if someone is waiting for the next post on this blog, and doing nothing else, it can seem ages ago since my last post. In fact it’s been just over a month, which is hardly an age.

To me, the past month has gone by in a flash. We seem to be constantly thinking and talking about the house in one form or another, the design, the passiveness, the power, the labour, the money, all these things (and more) demand attention. We have to be careful not to get overwhelmed by the whole thing, which is quite hard.
Our new creed is: “One step at the time”. One just can’t rush a good thing. So, a month may seem long, but enough happens that I can’t blog about, or is just not interesting enough.

So, what can I share with you about the past month?

The biggest thing, or at least the most formal, is that we set a date to sign the official deed to the land. Now that is good news. The land will be undisputedly (I love that word) ours.

Architect

Our architect has been busy. She’s past her second whatjamacallit in her study. This means she’s on the right track, something we already knew, of course.
She also made a few models for us to look at and I have to say, it looks mighty promising. I won’t post them here, because these are the first tryouts, sketches of ideas. But, the house is going to be magnificent, not in size, but in design, and not the fancy artsy design stuff, but functional, liveable and innovative.

Off the Grid

We’ve also been searching for an energy solution. Obviously we’ll be off the grid, and the idea is to never get hooked on at all, ever. Even during the build we’ll not be connected. It’s an expensive business getting hooked up to the grid and we’ll invest that money else where.

We do have very nice neighbours form whom we could “borrow” some power, but only during the build.

This means we have to find a way to power our future home with alternatives (sun, wind, whatever).
Heating the place is one thing, we’re building a passive home, which means we heat the house with sunlight and insulate it thoroughly, and only use a heater to assist our “passiveness”.

Electricity is a whole different ball game and for now it seems that wind power is the way to go. It’s way, way cheaper than solar power. But, the wind doesn’t always blow, so we might need a few supplementary solar panels.
But the cool thing would be something like the Sunmachine. The idea is brilliant, but unfortunately not applicable for domestic use.

Ah well, this is a quest which is far from over. Seems like we’ll have to face one challenge after another.

Any suggestions a more then welcome.

A very modest Woohoo is in order. We found a piece of land which matches pretty much all of our criteria.
In a way it’s liberating. It’s also stressful, exciting and stimulating, pretty much like a rollercoaster.

Chenogne was our first stop last Saturday. After finding the lot (only 10 minutes from Bastogne) we joked about the fact that the first was the best one, it turned out to be the only one, and we didn’t look any further. This lot fits the bill.

 Now, I can write down all the details, but I’m not gonna… There are quite a few obstacles with which we have to deal before we can celebrate. The local government has to answer a few questions, the bank has to give a loan and then we actually have to buy it.
Until the contract is signed, we stay focussed and keep our heads out of the clouds.

Our architect is happy, and that’s one for the home team.

Update:

We made an offer on the land!

Update #2:

We made a final offer on the land! Lets hope it sticks…

Update #3:

Our offer has been accepted. Now to make everything official, almost there!