Our place
Our property consists of two houses: the villa and the gardener’s house in a beautiful large forest. It is located here in Daufenbach/Zemmer north of Trier. A little walk and you are at the train station of the cozy ~150 people village Daufenbach to which we belong.
Surrounding
~18,000 m² belong to the property. Most of it is forest. There are a few parking lots and enough space for gardening. The beginning of the property is a plateau with the two houses and the parking lot. Directly behind the houses is a rock wall that could be used for climbing. From the parking lot it goes down the slope through the forest that belongs to the property. At the bottom is a small stream, called the Grundsgraben.
Renovation
There is a lot to do. The houses are old and there are some things to repair and modernize. The plan is not to leave it at the minimum, but to improve everything together so that people can live their dreams on the property.
We are currently somewhere between phase 1 and 2 and we are also trying to make everything a bit prettier.
Phase 1 Basic services
The basic services include:
- Fresh water supply: Pumps, tanks, distribution, collecting rainwater if necessary
- Waste water: renewal of the small sewage treatment plant
- Hot water: heating, extra boiler if necessary
- Heat: Renew heating systems
- Internet: Connect to the network
- Washing: Washing machine, drying room, dishwasher?
- Transportation: Buy a car, clear the road if necessary
- Post: How does it actually work here?
- Waste: How does it actually work here?
- Sealing: Replace broken windows, double glazing if necessary
- Electricity: Check cables, retrofit safety elements
- Tools: So that people can always build
- Remove brown wallpaper and paint
- Ensure usability of kitchens, bathrooms, rooms…
Phase 2 Home improvement
Now you can live here without any problems. Unfortunately, it is relatively expensive, an old house lets out a lot of heat and is not particularly efficient. There are things that could be done better. It works, but it’s still not particularly nice to live here.
Now come things like
- Insulate everything
- Energy, water and heat-saving measures
- Making the kitchen bigger
- Renewing the bathrooms
- …
Phase 3 Now it’s getting awesome!
Now living here is great, everything we need is done and we can devote ourselves to fun things.
- Repair the sauna?
- Workshop in the cellar?
- Create a garden?
- Solar panels?
- What do you fancy?
Timeline
1961
The villa is build
1970
The gardener’s house is built
2019
Our search for properties begins
Mai 2021
We notice of the property for the first time
November 2021
We bought it and repaired a few things straight away
Spring 2022
It’s getting warmer and we live here now
Spring 2024
In the meantime, everything you need to live is working. Time to look for more inhabitants.