I am working on finishing the upper level of my house and have been reading some DIY forums.

I came across this thread about a guy rebuilding an old house in Germany. http://www.diychatroom.com/f49/german-house-rebuild-23424/

It's really long because he has been working on it for about three years but I found it interesting to see how different the construction methods were than what I am used to seeing in the USA.

Also diychatroom.com is way better than doityourself.com if anyone else is looking for some DIY info.

mmmm - saw what looked like a lot of bodges going on though.

Eg:


Not nice for the next owner who nails through the power cable when putting up a picture or a cupboard ...

All the more reason to never ever nail something into the wall until you've checked for a live wire.

I don't think anyone is gong to be "nailing" anything into that wall, since it looks like it's made of brick and covered in concrete.

He should have at the very least done a vertical straight up from the switch box and then straight horizontal along the top, taking note not to crimp he wire on the bend. And running the wire inside a metal conduit/channel would have been nice too.

Yeah I saw things that seem weird to me I just figured that's how they do it there. It does sound like he had inspections.

That is a something I didn't think about, how do you hang anything with block walls. Drill a hole and put a screw in ?

For light things (photos in frames) you use a small nail into the plaster (not concrete) covering the wall. For heavier things, yes, you drill a hole and put in a wallplug and screw. For very heavy things (bookcases), you drill a hole and use an expanding bolt.

Peter

This is my favorite DIY site

Most houses (including mine) here are brick and concrete on top. Actually, it is not "concrete" but usually something not as hard: which I can't find a correct English name for: plaster!
In any case, you can still hammer nails in it, and, in some occasions, when concrete is particularly hard, yes, that's exactly what you do: drill a hole and place a concrete fastener in. standard practice here (Italy). Wooden walls are extremely rare.

Unfortunately that is the way professional electricians are expected to do it here in Holland. Otherwise they are wasting the customer's money by adding to the distance they need to do.

And we all know that wasting money is the worst thing a Dutch person can imagine...

Same here in Italy. And I am equally unhappy about that.
Sometimes, pics are taken while cables are being placed, for future reference.