If building again - what to do differently?

We are currently planning quite a few ceiling spots,

to me they are spottily too bright, I can't look up there. It's like xenon or small LEDs in the rearview mirror, they dazzle me.

Even if you apparently will never understand that there are people who don’t want that,

But I do understand that very well. However, that is not the subject of this thread. Because already in the opening post there is exactly this desire for electric blinds. But that should also be thought through to the end... If you demand "only" electric blinds, then you get exactly those. But then you run into the problems you describe or others that one didn’t even think of at first.

It is unfortunately a fact that many builders are not at all aware of what is possible and what is not. Which is initially not a problem, but what is a problem is the fact that the builders are not being taken along by the general contractor partner (or electrician, architect, etc.) as Kati also describes:

We built for the first time, and we actually only saw which thermostats we got when they were already on the walls. This was not specifically addressed during the sample selection and we had not been aware of it until then.
All these things we would have had to consciously choose via "opt in," and at that time we didn’t realize we would miss them.

When building for the first time and also in subsequent builds, builders rarely consider all possibilities. Like with the thermostats with Kati or also with the blinds. Here it was obviously not advised at all or addressed what wishes the builders might have had. Unfortunately, the topic of house electrics is still being treated as a stepchild. The light should turn on and the power should come out of the socket. For many, the topic of electrics is done with that.

I would still be interested in how you would technically solve that the blinds in the main living area always go down when we go to bed.

Extensive controls have not been a problem in this area since 1979. Simple isolation relays and group switches existed even earlier. How it is solved is up to the resident; there are several approaches.

To explain it in simple words: You need an "ignition key" for your blinds in the main living area. This can be a regular push button, because apparently you need the manual action and operation. Thinking further, this can also be automated by implementing people detection. No, not surveillance with facial recognition and fingerprints, but a relatively simple detection of persons in a defined or diffuse area.

Of course, with all manual and automatic tools to override something, for example due to Christmas lights on window XY which you want to keep on longer after all.

Sure, but you don’t know beforehand when the sun is shining

That is no problem. The solar controller (not the panels) already tells the dishwasher, washing machine, etc. themselves and if these devices are loaded, they turn on and do their work.

For photovoltaic electricity, direct sunlight is not necessary. We currently have fully overcast skies and continuous rain. There are already 1.5 kW coming from the roof, currently, with a tendency to increase. Displacement in engines and size in photovoltaics cannot be replaced by anything.

Btw: remember, the more technology is installed/used, the higher the maintenance costs. Because nothing lasts forever. For example, it’s already getting on my nerves that after about 10 years I have to replace the electric drives of the roller shutters one after another. When you calculate the operating times, it’s a bad joke. And no, it’s not just the start capacitor and these are not “cheap Chinese drives” installed. I say this as an (ex-)electronics technician and tech freak.;)

Two comments on this: 1) There are really quiet dishwashers (also in the ECO program), which of course cost a bit more, but are a must for an open kitchen. You can still retrofit one. 2) Extractor hoods also always come in a higher quality (high-priced) but mostly quieter version. Retrofitting might be difficult. 3) If the TV is still too loud, a sound system helps.

Fighting fire with fire doesn’t work for us because the child wakes up then. ;) The extractor hood isn’t the problem, I think our Bora Puxu was expensive enough. It’s more about the noise when frying. That’s quite loud and I think technically hard to reduce. :D Retrofitting a quieter dishwasher is a good idea.

We considered that too, but then discarded it and we are glad that we saved the money. In daily life it turned out that we never lower all the shutters together. In the open living area they only go down when we go to bed, I still want to be able to see our lighting outside and don’t want to sit in front of or look at closed shutters. In all other rooms they are lowered after dark. Same in the morning, if my husband sleeps longer on weekends, I can already raise the shutters in the open living area and have daylight (not right now, but in a few weeks it will be like that again).

I have to ask quite stupidly – what’s the idea behind closing the shutters when going to bed? In the bedroom I can understand to keep it dark (if you like that), but in the living room? Energy saving? I think I missed something there, but we only use our shutters occasionally during the day when the sun blinds us. O.o

Our dishwasher runs at night. When we go to bed, my husband turns it on, so no one is disturbed and in the morning the dishes are clean and the machine is free, so nothing has to stand around during the day.

That's a good idea. We belong to the photovoltaic faction, so we often run it during the day as well, also because with home office and cooking a lot more accumulates than one dishwasher load per day. But the evening cycle we could easily shift to night. You just have to remember it when going to bed. :)

you should get to know the area you’re moving into well to be able to exclude noise sources. Maybe a building gap with quiet, older neighbors and mature plots would be the right thing.

We have that in sight at the moment. Family acquaintances have been sitting on a plot in a building gap for some time. We could possibly get that; it would already be somewhat grown there. I’m generally optimistic because I’ve already had a few addresses on my ID, and I haven’t experienced anything like here anywhere else. It doesn’t bother me so much if SOMETIMES something happens, it bothers me more if something is constantly happening. ;) I think some of those who wanted to send me to a therapist unknown to me in a previous thread would really lose their nerves in our current housing situation. :)

1. More patience or rather think over things first / sleep on it, no ad hoc decisions 2. Have my floor plan designed by a “real” architect (not a draftsman of a general contractor) and especially spend more time searching for one! 3. Communicate my own ideas but make no “specifications”. In the end, everything was always drawn according to my wishes and hardly any objections were raised as to whether something would work well or not. And on the topic of dressing room: we are getting a dressing room too (with a window..), partly for the reasons mentioned here before and partly because a wardrobe is so bulky to me. It takes up too much space in the bedroom for me. Tall and wide. I like it airy. That’s why we made the dressing area so that the huge wardrobe is out of the room.

I can totally agree with these points. During the sampling under stress, we made some decisions where I later thought, “It would have been smarter in two appointments.” And the general contractor even offered us that. We declined because we thought, “We can manage.” We had a rather small baby with us, and as it always goes, within the first two hours of the day both sets of change clothes got soaked, etc., etc. Sampling under stress is not recommended. Regarding points 2 and 3, I think today: They drew everything as we wanted, but sometimes without questioning if it made sense. And I agree with you about the wardrobe too. We had a wall extended in the bedroom so our 3-meter Pax wardrobe would fit. Aside from the fact that today I probably wouldn’t buy a 3-meter Pax anymore: In our manageable-sized bedroom, it sometimes almost feels overwhelming.

We don’t have photovoltaic. If we had one, I would consider it. But the topic is still in the decision phase. But how do you implement that? Do you really think about turning on the appliances when the sun is shining? You have to be at home for that.

Yes, we really do it that way. We are both in home office and in the sunny months we at least run washing machine, dryer and dishwasher when we have surplus from the roof. Without photovoltaic you don’t really imagine that, but the thing is more than an investment. Photovoltaic somehow automatically becomes a hobby. :cool:

Sure, but you don’t know in advance when the sun will shine ;)

During the day it’s more likely than at night :cool: