It's very tall! (and has a bathroom!)

Hi everyone. A quick midweek update as Yuko and I went to the house on Sunday and there have been a few developments. I had my annual health check at work today and so have a stomach full of delicious barium. Yummy.

Anyway, mid-morning on Sunday we decided to head over to the house in the car and see what was new. This time, before going inside, we decided to wander around the outside of the house since the blue sheet has been taken away and there is more space to walk. The first thing we were struck by is how tall the house is! On paper we knew it was 8 meters high, give-or-take, but standing at the base and looking up from the outside was really impressive! "たけ！！！", Yuko said. "It's tall!!".

On the side of the house each window now also has a kind of protruding "mini roof"  at the top to protect it from the rain. It's these little details that we didn't really think about at any stage or didn't pick up in the plans that just appear on the house and give us a kind of nice surprise. I nearly stabbed myself in the eye on the corner of the one at the back of the house next to the bathroom so that will be something to bear in mind should I decide to start running around the house in future (unlikely).

It was also nice to see the deck space properly from the outside, the dark-stained roof of which we particularly love. Whereas the inside of the house looks modern with lots of light-toned natural wood, the roof over the deck looks like it could have been there for hundreds of years. I think it will be a cosy place to shelter when it's raining outside but we want some fresh air and I can imagine sitting and reading a book here with a cup of coffee while the rain falls over the garden.

Inside there has been more insulation going in everywhere and a few more of the vertical studs that will eventually be walls have gone in too. Downstairs, the biggest change is that the bathroom has been installed. Since the window and door glass panes are protected with cardboard, we couldn't see inside the bathroom without opening the door. I'll be honest, it was pretty exciting to see inside it for the first time.

Unfortunately, that excitement was quickly tempered as we were greeted with one of the most horrendous smells I have ever had the misfortune to experience. The various glues and pastes used to fix the shower and bath unit together appear to have been trapped inside the bathroom and opening the door unleashed hell on the both of us. I hope it can be ventilated before we move in!

Holding our noses, we were at least able to see the blue wall that we had both liked and the position of the LED downlights and rainfall shower (which looks brilliant). Although the bathroom is small, we've ended up with something that looks pretty decent I think. The colour scheme is good and it has everything we need. Perhaps we should have gone for a slightly bigger window? Maybe we could have made another room a bit smaller and had a slightly bigger space here? I'm not convinced it would have been worth it, to be honest. I think overall we're pretty happy.

Upstairs there has also been some progress in that the floors have been overboarded with a thicker, smoother layer. Surprisingly, this change (even though the floors will eventually have wooden boards on top) has made quite a visual difference. Because it is smooth and uniform, you get a better flow from area to area and it feels more solid underfoot. I have said before that the whole place is starting to feel like a house but upstairs feels like it's a sofa and two chairs away from being ready! Of course this is ridiculous as there is no kitchen and not even all the walls are finished but we couldn't help but have the feeling that we are onto the final stretch.

Anyway. that's all for this entry as it has already ended up being longer than I had expected. Oops. We will probably head over to the house on Sunday and see what has changed this week. Speak soon!

From the base to the roof 1 

From the base to the roof 2

From the base to the roof 3

Window compete with mini-roof

Deck, still complete with pile of wood and sheet

Roof over deck with dark stain

Insulation everywhere!

Insulation around pipes in the laundry room

Kids room really taking shape

Living room upstairs, now complete with smooth floor

Living room from the other direction. Love the open space

Outside of the bathroom

Rain shower!

Blue wall of the bathroom. Sorry it was too smelly to stay in and take better pictures

Lots of Progress

September already! The summer has really flown by and it's been a couple of weeks since the last post. Yuko and I have been in Vietnam for the last week, drinking and eating far too much and having a great time. We got back on Saturday, both rather tired but excited about the next meeting with the builders on site, which was set for the following day. Thankfully the big typhoon that hit Tokyo yesterday avoided the Kansai area so everything was still intact when we arrived.

I have made a few references to the building schedule in this blog but our most recent update had the house being finished just in time for Christmas and my Mum's visit to Japan. We are desperately keen to have Christmas in the new house this year and be out of our tiny apartment once and for all. Unfortunately, the builders let us know recently that, due to a combination of factors, mostly unavoidable ones like weather, this was looking unlikely and they were nearly a month behind schedule. We pushed back on this, indicating that we were understanding but pressing them as far as we possibly could to try and get back on track. Though unable to make any concrete (please god, no more concrete) promises, they are evidently doing all they can.

With that in mind, it was really wonderful to see how much things have progressed in just two weeks. There are new additions all over the place, both upstairs and downstairs. It is really starting to feel more like a house and less like a building site. The exterior boarding for the walls is up and ready for the installation to be installed. The windows are onsite, ready to be fitted. The downstairs plumbing is all in and ready for the bathroom and toilet installation. I'm not sure if this was to be expected or is a responsive increase in pace but we are grateful nonetheless.

Having the boarding on the walls up gives a much clearer idea of the layout of the house and the size of the rooms. One does have to be a little cautious however, as having just boarding to demarcate rooms ignores the fact that real walls are thick and insulated and will the open spaces will reduce in size when walls are completed. The same is true for floors and ceilings which will come up and down respectively when layers and finishes are added.

We also had a couple of decisions to make on Sunday, one of which was the colour of the mortar to coat the exterior of the house. Yuko and I realised about 12 hours before the meeting that we hadn't really discussed this properly and it was already too dark to walk around near our apartment for some inspiration. Oops. 

Though we had previously made a preliminary indication of preference, we couldn't really remember what it was and weren't exactly sure what sort of a choice we were going to be presented with at the meeting either. When the meeting rolled around, we were shown three 30x30cm boards, each with different shades of greyish, yellowish mortar and asked which one we liked the best. 

The good news was that we liked the same one. However, I felt that it needed to be a bit more yellow-hued. This was hard to explain so I used words like 'sunny' and 'warm' which didn't really help. Then I had a brainwave. I excitedly referenced another house that our builders had built in the area that, from memory, was exactly what I had in mind. When we checked on our phones, it transpired that this house was in fact bright yellow and not covered in mortar at all. Another shining example of how a less-than-stellar memory and unbridled confidence gets you nowhere. Bemused, they agreed to knock up a slightly more yellow mortar sample for us. To be continued I guess.. 

The other decision was what to do with the shelving in the Japanese room. It was originally planned to be the same height as the low window (about 55cm) but we had changed the room design to feature a tokonoma (See here) in the corner and the architects felt that the shelving as originally planned might no longer fit and that a lower shelf might be appropriate. We couldn't really decide what to do so opted to remove the shelving completely and figure it out once we have moved in - flexibility and a cost reduction in one fell swoop! Marvellous.

That was about it for the meeting. It was hot so the builders supplied cold drinks and offered apologies for the construction delay, stating that (again, no promises) they were doing everything they could to catch up. We were grateful for this and I suppose should count ourselves lucky that 18 months since starting this project, we still have a really strong working relationship with them. We still look forward to meetings, discussing progress and changes with them. The house they are building is shaping up so, so nicely. Only a few more months to wait!

And finally, what I'm sure you all came here for - some pictures!

Hallway leading to kids bedroom (LHS) and master bedroom (RHS)

Piles of wood (I believe for under the flooring) and insulation

Laundry room (viewed through what will be the downstairs toilet). Window and back door ready to go in

Master bedroom with large French doors opening, frame for which is on RHS

Outside wall sheeting is now all in, ready for insulation

The infamous pair of black windows

View through the French doors of the study

The north-south corridor running the length of the house

The bathroom. Plumbed, and ready to be installed. Love the long window!

Laundry room plumbing. Red for hot and Blue for cold. Will house a small window. Back door is on the LHS in the corridor

Piles and piles of insulation. Ours is made by Styro Ace.

Moisture barrier boarding on the outside of the house.

The SW corner of the building. Will house the wine cellar (like a big fridge)

The Japanese room. Not sure why there is still a big hole in the wall on the LHS. There's going to be a window towards the top but it's not that big!

North wall of the house upstairs. Wood burner will go on LHS in the corner. TV somewhere in the middle. Balcony is on the far LHS (still covered in blue sheet)

What will be the staircase. Ladder is now considerably more stable!

Upstairs toilet

View along the kitchen through to the pantry. Pantry doorway will be narrower when the LHS is added.

Bathroom Madness!

It’s almost the end of May and the last few days in Japan have been seriously hot and the thought of working out on a building site all day seems almost unfathomable. Perhaps that’s why, when I went over to the house yesterday (I’m not sure if I should start calling it a house yet but it now has foundations so perhaps it is time), there were precious few changes to be seen. It seemed as if we had made no progress this week, save for some delivered metal poles in the car park area and the absence of the digger at the top that been there the previous week.

Based on other blogs that we have read about house building in Japan, such as the excellent Catforehead Blog and Gaijin House Blog, it is not altogether unusual to have brief pauses in the frantic building schedule, due either to paperwork, staff scheduling or other factor. We are not all that concerned as it’s only a week but it was a little disappointing to see no obvious major signs of progress.

This update therefore is not going to be about the site itself but our first forays into choosing utilities for the inside of the house. We are going with the builder to the bathroom showroom this weekend to pick out the options for our small bathroom. As such, Yuko and I have spent a number of hours this week looking through the online catalogue for the TOTO 1616 bathroom that we are having installed. TOTO is the brand and 1616 refers to the size of the space, as decided by our builders in the original plans (we took their suggestion as to what would fit best given the available area and other rooms in the house).

This sounds simple but is, in fact, anything but simple. TOTO offers about 7 different ranges of bathrooms, each then further subdivided into about 8 trim levels with certain things being included or excluded for each. Somewhere between 50 and 60 different starting points. Customers then can choose from a dizzying array of add-ons and upgrades for everything from rainfall showers and TVs to screw covers and window blind density. Sounds great right? Full customization!

In practice, this is absolutely baffling. The catalogue for each range is over 400 pages long and everything is explained meticulously. By the time you have reached the end of choosing everything, you wonder if you should have just started from the next trim level up. By the time you’ve done through that, you think “Well maybe we should look at another range”. We’re drowning in choice! How are there so many types of white? Why is a square tap more expensive than a round one? Help!

I’ll report back from the TOTO showroom later in the week. In the meantime, here are some typical pages so you can see what I’m talking about. Madness.

Page 135 of about 100000000

Why are there so many choices?

Not in fact a physics textbook but a bathroom catalogue

House Walkthrough 5 - The Bathroom

Instagram and Pinterest are filled with posts of amazing bathrooms, dressed in marble with free standing bath tubs and heated towel rails. These are very nice indeed but they are invariably Western style with the sink, bath and separate shower all found in one room.

The Japanese bathroom is different with the sink situated in an undressing area that you enter before taking your bath in a separate wash room. The wash room is like a wet room with a standing shower area and a very small tub. In all but the smallest versions, the toilet is situated in a separate place entirely, the separation of “dirty” and “clean” spaces being very important to Japanese people. I was happy with a toilet in the bathroom area but apparently this is little short of heresy so it’s going to be across the corridor.

Our bathroom with separate clothes removal area (top) and wet room (bottom)

Honestly, I think I prefer the Western setup. Japanese baths are too small for a 192cm man and I still don’t understand why you get clean in the shower before having a bath. Perhaps it’s memories of playing rugby and then coming home to soak off all the dirt in the bath afterwards. Then again, it’s not unheard of for British people to have carpet in their bathrooms so perhaps it’s me who is the oddity.

Nevertheless, this is Japan and, thus, we are having a Japanese-style bathroom. One compromise that I was able to secure from my loving wife is that we are doing away with the hideous all-in-one plastic vanity unit that houses the sink. The builder is going to make us some simple cabinets instead. Much better.

The sink and clothes removal area. Note the absence of vanity unit!

We actually went to look at one of the biggest Japanese kitchen suppliers, Lixil, and were pleasantly surprised with how good some of their latest things are. I lived in an apartment with older Lixil stuff when I first came to Japan and the quality was pretty ropey. One of their setups had a Jacuzzi bath and large widescreen TV as well as various other cool things (mood lighting!). It was seriously impressive, but at $36,000, so it should be.

At this stage, we are opting for a small, very simple bathroom with no enhancements. I think it’s going to run to about $3000 which is barely more than the aforementioned “unit baths” found in very small apartments which have all things in one space (even the toilet!) I believe we’ll have the option to choose colours and some fittings later on so we may be able to make it look a little nicer or more interesting.

Overall though, it’s not a room that we want to invest an awful lot of money in and we have to make some savings somewhere. On the list of priorities, it just wasn’t that high up for us so, as long as the shower sprays water and it’s easy to clean, I think we’re ok (not that I wouldn’t have liked a Jacuzzi and flatscreen TV).