Half-timbered architecture can be recognized immediately. It is associated with the houses of Germany and Europe. Often the roofs in such structures are covered with a tiled roof. To date, this canonical type of residential buildings is used as a design refinement. On the other hand, it is a symbol of German quality. But in fact, buildings of the 15th-16th centuries have been preserved in Germany, which are currently in operation. Therefore, many argue that German technology houses have an extended service life.

History of German houses

In fact, the famous German houses, whose photos are fascinating, appeared for a reason. Structures of structures in which the main material is wood are typical both for wooded areas and for coastal ones. In the countries of the Baltic and North Seas (Germany, Denmark, Great Britain, Holland, etc.) there were many skilled carpenters who built high-quality ships. These craftsmen knew how to properly build a reliable wooden structure, so they started building structures.

For the construction of the first houses, the pillars were dug directly into the ground, and connecting beams and rafters were laid on top of them, after which they proceeded to the construction of the roof. Of course, after 15 years, the pillars rotted relatively quickly. Over time, they began to be installed on the prototype of a stone foundation - huge boulders previously dug into the ground. The service life of the pillars, and hence the structures, has increased tenfold. But it was necessary to compensate for the binding to the ground with a multitude of transverse slopes, rods, puffs and ties.

For skilled carpenters, such a connection was not a problem. They were carried out according to naval methods and techniques. Today, all connections have been replaced by simpler ones, using steel fasteners (anchors, screws, brackets, threaded rods).

Design features

In fact, a German house is a special frame made of elements of large and medium section, with filling of the sinuses of the external temperature circuit. The remaining elements of the structure (roof, foundation, partitions, walls) can be made in the same way as in other houses.

A reliable frame is no problem for skilled carpenters. But sinus filling is difficult task. After all, the quality of the walls depended on this, and consequently the fate of the entire structure. At that time, the sinuses were filled with adobe or adobe material. This material has been used on all continents. Today it is also becoming popular, it is used in green building.

Grooves were cut in the beams, into which a paired or wicker lattice of rods was inserted. They applied adobe on it. Sheet material for the exterior of the building was not invented at that time, and it was too expensive to use boards for this purpose. Therefore, the buildings were plastered, but first apply the solution to wooden beams failed.

Therefore, the walls remained with visible beams, which later became the hallmark of German houses.

A distinctive feature of a half-timbered house

Many old German houses have one distinctive feature. Looking closely, you can see that each new floor of the house hangs over the previous one. At first glance, this looks unusual. The explanation for this design is quite simple. In coastal areas, it often rains and rains, flowing down the walls, water fell on the lower floors. Their walls were very wet. The upper floors quickly dried due to wind and sun. The lower ones could rot due to moisture, and this is unacceptable. Therefore, the upper floors were carried forward.

This feature of construction has become inefficient with the invention in the construction industry of high-quality waterproofing materials. Modern facades, foundations, walls and wood are reliably protected from frost and moisture. Therefore, modern German houses have completely flat wall planes.

The changes also affected roofing material, due to the weight of which it was impossible to take out the visor even half a meter. Today, light sheets are used that can drain water from the wall by a meter, or even more.

Canadian technology or still German?

Old German houses can be safely called the basis of all frame construction technologies. After all, in modern construction almost everything is repeated using frame technology. There are no cross slopes in the systems. Today, experts only use a different thickness of the material (modern beams have become a little thinner). Many consider it to be Canadian, but finished structures are often referred to as both Finnish and German. And this is true, because buildings were built using this technology even before the discovery of America.

Today at frame houses it's hard to see old European houses, because they have a characteristic advantage - sheathing with high-quality sheet material and finishing the building from the outside. The design of the building was improved, and nature won, because the consumption of wood was significantly reduced.

Ancient house building method and modern materials

Thanks to sheathing with a solid OSB sheet, the structure has become even stronger, more rigid and more reliable. Now you do not need to use powerful beams and racks at the initial stage. exterior finish and sheet material reliably protect wooden frame from negative influences environment: solar burnout, weathering, freezing. Thanks to this protection, the life of the structure has increased significantly.

A solid German house has a visiting card - the visible beams of the structure. Today they are used only for decorative purposes. Of course, walls made of adobe and clay are a thing of the past, and the space is filled with high-quality and environmentally friendly insulation. Today, straw is also used as a filler.

Previously, sinus trimming was a problem, but today this process takes as much effort as interior decoration walls. Thanks to the use of modern facade putties, this process is easy and simple.

The frame of the structure remained a model of the reliability of the entire structure. Metal elements helped to speed up and simplify the process of installing a German house.

Conclusion

The German house is a high-quality reliable building. Its construction is practically no different from other houses. Remember, having decided to build such a house, you can fulfill your dream and live in

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I recently met a builder from Germany, and from him I was surprised to learn that building a house is very easy and simple. They have spent a lot of brains on technology and organization, there are a lot of services, from calculating strength to free house-building capacities - and there is almost nowhere to put all this wealth.

I am primarily interested wooden houses"a la skeleton builder" and I, of course, told him about my idea of ​​​​a building designer. As it turned out, the idea is not new - everyone has already come up with it before us! This is how they build themselves. Only by the hands of not the customer, but the builders.

According to the German, they build both wooden and stone houses. Wooden - frame. Houses made of SIP panels are considered a type of frame houses. Stone - their wall stones like our aerated concrete, but not quite. Their main difference is that these stones are made either without the use of cement at all, or with some ridiculous amount of it. And the usual brick for the outer walls is forbidden so as not to heat the street, and the construction of such a house turns out to be much more expensive.

And, by the way, at the cost of their "box" frame houses are a little more expensive than from their wall blocks. And if with finishing and additional insulation, then the opposite is true - it is impossible to lay all communications in stone walls and ceilings during masonry, this has to be done separately.

The German was very reluctant to talk about the details of the device - he says that everything will be done "as expected." However, something did come to light.

"As expected" - these are German standards for quality, strength and energy saving for our climate, i.e. just as, according to their norms and understanding, it is necessary to build in our climate.

I was interested wooden house, so the main conversations were about this. First, we discussed SIP panels, because, as it seemed to me, it was faster and more convenient to build from them.

It turned out that, despite the same name, they have different panels - not those what we call "Ecopan". As a heater, they often use polyurethane foam, and not polystyrene foam, as we have. He says that it is more environmentally friendly and warmer - a layer of insulation is needed less, the wall is thinner, less wood is used for the frame, and they have it - not cheap.

The main advantage of SIP panels is the simplicity and speed of assembling the box - when assembled by German hands, it disappears: a box of a house of 150 m2 from SIP panels is mounted in a day, and a simple frame - a maximum of one and a half. On the other hand, SIP panels lose in terms of assembly time: it takes 2 weeks to prepare structural elements for a conventional frame, and 4-6 weeks for SIP panels. The final price of the house is almost the same.

Especially about the energy efficiency of the house: this is one of my "troubles" (well, I really don't like to be dependent on external factors, especially in such a vital issue as the temperature inside the house).

It is clear that the climate in the main territory of Germany is much warmer than ours. But German houses, even for their climate, are warmer than ours. And if you use their norms for our climate, then you get a "hurricane" in general:

We believe that 14 cm of foam plastic in a SIP panel (Ecopan type) is enough for the walls to have the necessary heat transfer resistance. And by German standards for our climate outside you need another 10 cm of foam. And for their climate, they add only 4 cm! At the same time, there are practically no vestibules at the entrance. For our Krasnodar Territory, this, of course, is suitable, but not for the Moscow region.

Here is an example of their house:

Some details of the device of such a house -.

The construction of such a house with an area of ​​​​about 150 m2 is as follows:

A set of parts is made at the factory and delivered to the construction site by 8:00 am along with a detailed installation plan. By the evening of the same day (at 10 o'clock) a box is assembled at home. AND this happens without a hacksaw and tape measure- parts do not require adjustment on site.

The foundation (usually of the “slab” type) is made in advance by another team of four people. It takes her TWO day. All necessary communications are laid in the foundation. After manufacturing, the foundation should stand for at least a week.

Since their working time is very expensive (according to the estimate - at least 20 euros per hour, usually 25), the assembly team has a good set of tools and uses a mini-crane - although there are no heavy parts, it is much faster with it.

Of course, after 10 hours of assembly, only a “box” is obtained, but the box is very pretty: the walls and ceilings are standing, the roof attic floor or rafter system ready for roofing. Cable channels are already laid in the walls and wires and all pipes are in them. Walls are not only a frame in the traditional sense of the word, but also all the necessary insulation inside. From the inside, smooth walls are obtained from polished OSB (you can glue wallpaper). If the house is made of SIP panels, then additional insulation has already been fixed to the outside - ready for exterior decoration. Outside, the house is closed with windproofing.

This completes the installation of the box.

No exterior finish is included in this stage. Windows are one of the first works the next day: without them, drafts and the inability to carry out other work. On the second day, the house is covered with a roof.

Bringing a house of 150 m2 into a turnkey condition takes them about a month more. But it's really "turnkey" - hang curtains, put furniture and live: sockets, switches and plumbing are installed, tiles are laid, the roof is covered, laminate is laid, all doors are installed, all communications are connected to existing networks. Ladder installed.

The German house has a few more features:

- the rigidity of the floors and the bearing capacity of the walls are calculated, and not made by eye. And it is calculated according to German standards, which are higher than ours. The minimum allowable load "they" - 200 kg per m2 - can not be done less. When ordering a house, you can specify any other, but only above their minimum standards. If your project provides, for example, a large corner bath, then the load-bearing capacity of the ceiling under it will be appropriate. For floors, special beams are used, which can have different sizes, and they can be laid as often as necessary to ensure the necessary strength of the floor. Samples of such beams

- the Germans have other panels. Instead of environmentally sensitive foam, rigid polyurethane foam is used inside the panels. It is both more efficient as a heater, and safer in case of fire, and better in terms of environmental parameters. Thanks to this, the layer of additional external insulation of the box of the house with foam plastic can be reduced to 8 (!!!) cm. Our houses made of SIP panels manage only with a layer of foam plastic 14 cm inside the SIP panel. I have not seen cases of such insulation from the outside. Maybe there is somewhere in Siberia...

In addition, the Germans have polished OSB on the inner layer of the SIP panel - it is much smoother than usual, and, for example, wallpaper can be glued on it without additional leveling / puttying, which greatly simplifies the finish and reduces its cost. Although they usually sheathe it with drywall - according to their German standards, this is supposed to be done in a number of cases for fire reasons.

- much less energy is needed to heat it - 1 kilowatt per 100 m2. It turns out that a 100-watt incandescent bulb can heat a room of 10m2. And a warm floor can be the main heating system, and not an auxiliary one, as is usually the case with us. And taking into account the fact that a person also emits a tangible amount of heat, and Appliances- too, then even less energy may be required for heating. Almost "energy-passive" house!

In principle, such a house can even be placed “in an open field”, and the necessary energy can be obtained using a small wind generator and a solar battery. And if you use gas in cylinders for heating, then one cylinder is enough for a month in winter.

There are already technologies for accumulating electricity and returning it to the house when power is needed that significantly exceeds the power of the source, and I wrote about this. If we calculate the amount of money, effort and time that needs to be spent on supplying and connecting main gas to the house, then even now the “autonomous” option may turn out to be more attractive. Especially if you take into account the independence from the gas and energy companies.

This, of course, is partly due to significantly warmer walls and ceilings, but German ventilation standards make a huge contribution to the increased energy efficiency of the house.

Let me remind you that according to our standards, the air in a room 3 meters high should be changed once an hour. This means that the warm air must be expelled outside, and the outside must be heated and fed into the house.

I can understand such norms if three people live in a 15m2 room (as was often the case after civil war), but for a house with a volume of 450 m3, in which there are usually 1-3 people? I'm afraid it's just a diversion.

The Germans in an individual house just need to open the windows once a day and ventilate the premises. It is believed that air seeps from the street through opening doors, leaks in the windows. No one forbids fans in the bathrooms and an extractor hood in the kitchen, and, in my opinion, they should be left. And an open window in the summer is the most proper ventilation. And in winter, opening it for a few minutes is also very nice.

The construction of such a house turns from a terrible headache and a lot of risks into a very nice and enjoyable experience. for the customer. With labor discipline, accuracy and quality of work, the Germans are all right. Construction simply ceases to be a feat.

And, most importantly: the cost of construction such a house, including materials, delivery, customs and assembly by German hands according to their German drawings, practically different from building"almost the same" houses by our builders. It turned out that 1m2 of area will cost 27.5 thousand rubles!!! This amount was obtained using the example of calculating the cost of a turnkey construction of such a house by architect Firsov:

This money includes the foundation, and delivery, and customs, and their assembly by German hands, and connection to communications. (The cost of sewage treatment plants, water wells, electricity limits - of course not. They don't even really understand what that means.)

The German says that he is ready to build a house in the suburbs for this money!

If all this works out, then the "German house" has one more thing interesting "consequence":

If studio apartment in Moscow costs 500 thousand USD, then with this money you can buy a plot of land near Istra (50 thousand USD, 30 km from Moscow), build a "German" house 130 meters (140 thousand USD - one living room and three bedrooms), spend another 20 thousand for the arrangement of the site (water, local treatment facilities, paths, etc.), 15 thousand - for furniture - a total of 225 thousand. Another 25 thousand - a car. And on the remaining 250 thousand live for 10-15 years, forgetting about work. Here is an interesting lineup.

And all this can be done without a headache in 4-5 months, taking into account the time for searching and designing a site.

What is your take on this building?

More about the "German House":

Comments:

Natalia, 05.03.2010 16:25:24
I read the calculations, how much it would cost to build a house with an area of ​​140 m2 in German and its arrangement, and it became somehow inconvenient for our carelessness. We spend much more on a smaller area and a quality that cannot be compared with German, and at the same time we are “happy and satisfied” with our approach to this, it’s sad how it has become ...

According to the stories of readers published on the site as part of the My Living Room, My Kitchen, My Bedroom contests, one gets the impression that Belarusians are wealthy people who live in interiors made with taste and attention to detail. Wooden cabinet and leather upholstered furniture, German wallpapers, designer sanitary ware and Italian tiles are all almost the norm. Curiously, in what then "mansions" do ordinary Europeans live?

We studied housing that is for sale or rent. We also went to visit "ordinary Germans" - pensioners and "IT people" - and asked permission to take pictures for this material.

The kitchen in the house, which is sold for 375 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de Kitchen in the house for 400 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Kitchen in the house for 399 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

It turns out that by Belarusian standards, the Germans live a little better than us.

Dining-living room in an apartment rented for one and a half thousand euros

The bedroom is right there.
Bathroom in the house for 399 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

What I immediately noted is that the Germans are terrible conservatives. Few of them will come up with the idea of, say, buying a cheaper shower cabin in Poland or hiring fitters from Lithuania. Everyone here loves German, even if you have to overpay for the goods.

Yes, the Germans have an average salary that differs significantly from the Belarusian one. But given the high prices for public utilities, food, gasoline, school after-school, hairdressing and car repair services, there is not much free money left. And clearly, designer novelties are not included in the category of what practical Germans are ready to spend this free money on.

Living room in the house of German pensioners In a house valued at 400,000 euros. Unfashionable tiles, simple plumbing. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Beautiful, by German standards, a bathroom in a house for 395 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Plumbing that has gone out of fashion in Belarus is in a German house for 398 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

We were in the “rich” (according to the German citizens themselves) land of Baden-Württemberg. Just like in Belarus, furniture from IKEA is very popular here. In the nearest store of this network on a day off - not overcrowded: there are crowds of people around the furniture exhibits, lines of carts stretch to the consultants, to the cash registers. For comparison, in the largest local shopping center XXXL Mann Mobilia, where expensive (serial, non-designer) furniture, dishes, lamps and other household goods are sold, the trading floors are rather deserted.

IKEA is also loved in Germany. In the photo - the apartment of the family of the teacher and social worker.

Finishing the floor, walls and ceiling is not given as much attention here as we do. Often in non-poor houses you can see an inexpensive laminate, wallpaper for painting on the walls and ceiling, and painted white. Even in bathrooms.

Why is almost everything white here? I asked the owners.

“It’s practical, everything goes well with white, it’s easy to pick up furniture.

I almost never saw painted, pre-puttyed walls here.

Popular in Germany wallpaper for painting. In the photo - the apartment of the family of the teacher and social worker
Around - wallpaper for painting. House for 396 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Simple decoration and furniture in the house for 396 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

Only in two apartments was it possible to admire the German patterned wallpaper, which is so popular in Belarus.

Colored wallpaper in the dining room in the house of German pensioners

By the way, the Germans have no idea what "German stretch ceiling". There are almost no drywall constructions here - to make the walls even, they are often upholstered with wooden slats.

Living room in the apartment of the teacher and social worker. The walls are finished with wooden slats and wallpaper for painting
In the house for 398 thousand euros, the ceiling is trimmed with wood. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
wooden ceiling in a house for 398 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
"Dry" interior with budget furniture in the house for 396 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

Comparing the approaches of Belarusians and Germans to housing, you quickly come to the conclusion that we attach more importance to details and strive to create interiors that look expensive.

Interior without frills in the house for 399 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Strange bathroom in the house for 396 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de
Nothing extra. In the house for 396 thousand euros. Photo from immobilienscout24.de

In Germany, they make the interior within their means, "for themselves." As, for example, in the house where the family of a German IT specialist lives with two children:

Sometimes some things only amaze an American (such as a wall-hung toilet), but sometimes they surprise me too (rolling shutters down throughout the house, regardless of the time of year or day).

German houses are not usually built with brick or wood, but with metal rebar and sand/limestone mix. Outside and inside the walls are covered with plaster and paint (outside - usually yellow, inside - white). Wallpaper is not used due to high humidity. american houses, usually constructed from wood/plywood, do not require a signal amplifier to wireless wifi. In a German home, it is required.

In Germany, they prefer to rent a house, rather than having their own. For example, in Berlin, more than 80% of people live in rented housing. Perhaps this is due to a lack of funds (the salary is small and you don’t want to be bound by a loan), or perhaps people do not see their future in this city and want to have freedom of choice and movement. If in America it is common to rent housing for a period of 1 year, then in Germany the minimum period is usually 3 years. The more, the more convenient for the landlord.

IN german houses usually there is no central air conditioning and heating system (grilles in the ceiling and on the floor). With the American hot climate and high humidity, constant air conditioning is a must. But Germany is located to the north, it is enough to ventilate the rooms here. Although in old German houses, which are already several centuries old, there is often stubborn mold. The Germans may use small household fans. In cold weather, houses are heated hot water, which is fed into batteries on the wall or under the floor ("warm floors"). The heating level can be adjusted independently. No wonder Germans use less electricity than Americans.

Heating under the window. Balcony door made entirely of glass

But there are light motion sensors that save electricity. For example, they work near the entrance, in the corridor, in the basement.

It was a revelation to Americans that windows could be opened vertically. Sometimes they write on forums that they broke a window in a rented apartment and ask how to fix it and what to say to the landlord. Also, the Americans are puzzled why the Germans do not insert insect screens into all windows. It's just that in Germany all sorts of chemicals are sprayed from helicopters in swampy areas so that mosquitoes do not breed. There really are almost none. Summer night turns into torture for Americans, as all the moths and bugs fly from the darkness to the bright house. The battle between fresh air and lack of insects. Once an American woke up from the fact that a grasshopper was sitting on his chest.

In German houses, roller shutters (metal, wooden, plastic) are usually built into each room. They will be everywhere, except for the windows of the bathroom and toilet. Among Americans, similar strong window fortifications are found on the East Coast or in the southern states, where hurricanes are frequent and windows need to be saved from strong wind and flying debris. Or with the help of thick blinds in the south they escape from the sizzling sun. Americans are wondering why such powerful blinds are needed where there are no hurricanes and the hot south? Versions under consideration:

So that at night the light from street lamps does not interfere with sleep (but the blinds are lowered at night in all rooms);
- so that in winter, leaving the house, to keep it warm (but modern double windows and thermal insulation of the walls perfectly retain heat);
- in order to keep the house cool in the summer (the Germans are afraid of drafts, so they do not ventilate the house in this way in the summer);
- so that the glare of light does not fall on the TV screen;
- to keep their private life secret (it seems to them that 60% of the time the neighbors look out of their windows);
- to feel safe (it seems to the Americans that the Germans thus prepared for the zombie apocalypse);
- perhaps this is a memory of the time when in July 1939 an instruction was issued on the need to tightly close the windows with blankets at night so that the light from inside the house was not visible.
- perhaps there is no logic here. Enough habit that my mother and grandmother did this.

For example, in Holland they rarely curtain their windows, rather they try to decorate them with orchids, lighthouses, seagulls ... The Dutch like to live without curtains, as if demonstrating to all people that they have nothing to hide. Perhaps the Dutch like to look out the window more often than the TV. Perhaps this is their favorite TV program. Or maybe the Dutch just love the sun and don't like to turn their houses into underground spaces where no light can penetrate.

Dutch house in the evening.

Window shutters are what most surprise Americans in Germany. But those shutters on century-old buildings never close.

Usually residential buildings in German towns look like this day and night:

Maybe this is an echo of the war and it seems to them that a sniper is sitting on the roof? But the whole of Europe was at war.

When you move into a rented apartment, you need to be prepared for the fact that instead of lighting in the rooms there will be only wires. buy light bulbs lighting and you have to install them yourself. For example, for the first time, two table lamps brought with us helped us out a lot ..

Americans are surprised that German toilets have not one but two flush buttons and they are different! In the US, older toilets use 13.6 liters of water to flush, newer ultra-low-flow toilets use 6 liters. In Germany, pressing a large button uses 7.5 liters of water, and a small one - 3.8 liters.
Also, for Americans, the design of the hanging toilet is amazing. They are used to having it attached to the floor. And it’s also surprising to Americans that there is a brush in the toilet ...

Americans are used to the fact that in the kitchen waiting for them is a two-door refrigerator with a minimum height of 1.8 m, a huge oven and a large space for utensils and creativity. German cuisine disappoints them in this regard. Not all rented German houses have kitchen furniture, and if there is, then it is not at all "American" in size. When baking a turkey in a German oven, the Americans even have to cut off its legs, otherwise it simply does not fit inside.

Usually, at the entrance to a rented apartment, new tenants in the kitchen expect only the possibility of connecting water and electrical wires. The previous tenants will even take the sink and countertop with them (most likely, because of its size, it will be useless in a new place, but here the Germans are driven not by logic, but by a sense of justice - you didn’t pay them for this kitchen). Usually kitchen furniture tenants buy on their own or buy cheaply from previous tenants who moved out (fortunately, people rarely move in Germany).

What does a typical American stove look like:

What does the kitchen look like in a rented German apartment (a small elevation on the left is a refrigerator):

Now I'm starting to understand why the Germans go to the store every day ... They simply do not fit anything at home. However, from the previous post, you already understood that the Germans prefer not to cook at home, they eat ready-made food that needs to be warmed up as much as possible (What do they eat in Germany? and).

German built-in oven:

What did the Americans do first? Of course we bought new refrigerator! True, they did not measure in advance the doorway of the closet where they intended to put him, but he climbed in anyway:

The storage room inside the apartment is often used to install an additional refrigerator or freezer. At our house, for example, there is a place for connecting washing machine. Also, usually the apartment is supposed to have a basement where you can store bicycles, skis, rods and whatever your heart desires (except for combustible and flammable items). Yes, when moving, the Germans will also take the dryer and washing machine with them.

If in America a large and beautiful space is accepted in front of the house, then the Germans have the opposite: in front of the house there will be quite small space, and all the beauty will be behind the house, away from prying eyes. Even apartment buildings in Germany, unsightly from the street, will have a pretty patio. Perhaps this is because the Germans do not want to "show off" their beautiful yards, while the Americans, on the contrary, like to look attractive. Usually in the backyards, the Germans cook sausages and fry meat.

IN American houses it is usually customary to make closable niches in the wall, which are convenient to use as dressing rooms or pantries. They will be present even in the smallest apartments in New York:

In Germany, instead of such niches, they buy furniture where they hang and fold clothes. Americans believe that cabinets are what Ikea does its main business in Germany.

Americans are accustomed to having large furniture in their big houses. But it just won't fit in the comparatively smaller German apartments. For example, this big dinner table for 10 people and chairs, the Americans had to sell before moving to Germany:

Of course, there were still difficulties in finding an adapter for equipment designed for a different mains voltage. For example, electronics bought in Germany will not work in the US unless adapters or transformers are used. Therefore, those who leave Europe for America usually sell all their equipment through websites at low prices. This is very convenient for those who are moving to Germany and do not want to invest a fortune in the purchase. new technology. Electrical plug in the EU is different from the US (2 small round pins vs 2 small flat prongs). Things that usually don't work from the US: TVs, irons, hair dryers, coffee pots, electric shavers, lamps, etc.

I'll add on my own:

If the house is old, post-war construction, most likely the bathroom will only have a shower. But at modern renovation everything looks nice:

In old houses, the division of rooms into a kitchen and a dining room has been preserved, i.e. they don’t eat in the kitchen, they only cook (however, as in the pre-revolutionary houses of Moscow and St. Petersburg).

Small German kitchen. Cooking here:

Here they eat:

In the kitchen, you can only have a bite to eat, sitting at this impromptu table on high bar stools:

The central place in the living room is occupied by a TV (each room of the German house has a TV outlet). For example, our neighbors watch TV as if on schedule - every day from 18:00 to 22:00. Then they lower their blinds and you can't hear them. His barbell continues to lie in the shed, her bike is there. It seems that in their life there is only home and work.

The German bedroom differs from others in that an additional switch will be arranged above the bed. Americans are surprised that in Germany there are big switches, not in the form of a lever. Very often, even on a double bed there will be two separate blankets (and not one large one) and there will be no bedspread on top (this is a wonder for the Germans). Terry stretch sheets are often used.

For some reason, the Germans avoid eating on the balconies, although they buy flowers, trees and beautiful furniture there.

The balcony in Holland is literally created for lunches and dinners:

Nice balconies in Heidelberg.

What are German houses -