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  • COMMAIK
    • Contact Form
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  • The Villa
    • The top floor
    • The upper floor
    • The first floor
    • The cellar
    • The garden
  • Stories from the construction
    • irrigation
    • Photovoltaics
    • Pool and terrace
    • SmartHome
    • The planning
    • The demolition
    • The installation
    • Machinery
    • Restoration and working techniques
    • This and that
  • Videos
    • Build & Renovate
    • Irrigation
    • Carport
    • Gabions
    • Garden
    • Garden kitchen
    • Pool
    • Smart Home
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    • Tutorials
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  • Cleaning the patio with the T-Racer

    A wooden terrace deck is being cleaned with a yellow pressure washer, revealing a much cleaner surface compared to the still-dirty area. The washer and hoses are visible on the terrace. www.commaik.de

    Can a WPC terrace be cleaned with a high-pressure cleaner? What do I need to bear in mind? I looked into this question and cleaned my WPC terrace with the Kärcher T-Racer.

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    A stylish party room with black walls, a tan floor, and a wood-burning stove with firewood storage. A partial wooden divider with a large window opening separates the space from the cellar-style utility area in the background. www.commaik.de

    Build your own party room in the basement

    14. March 2014
    Close-up of a partially constructed wooden deck, ideal for a garden terrace renovation, with a drill, screws, hammer, and metal brackets on top of the decking boards; metal framing and groundwork visible underneath. www.commaik.de

    Renovating the garden terrace: switching from wood to WPC and aluminum profiles

    17. March 2024
    A fire barrel with flames rising from the top stands outdoors on dirt, with stacked firewood neatly arranged in the background. www.commaik.de

    Build your own smoke-free fire barrel: DIY instructions from a 200 L oil drum with secondary ventilation

    17. October 2025
  • A paving stone staircase is built into the slope leading to the parking lot

    A terraced outdoor area features brick stair steps leading to a paved landing, bordered by gabion walls filled with firewood. Stacks of construction materials and lush green plants are visible nearby. www.commaik.de

    The stairs for the slope in front of our house are finally being tackled. The path from the parking lots will be much shorter in the future with a staircase made of old town cobblestones, which I will build directly into the ground. But first I have to excavate the slope and lay concrete kerbs.

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    A patch of grass with a hole dug in the soil, exposing underground cables for a robot lawn mower. Nearby are an orange cable locator tool, wires, a white hose, and two blue wire connectors. www.commaik.de

    Robot lawn mower – Find and repair a broken control cable easily

    19. January 2024
    A white wooden carport with a flat, sloping roof stands on a gravel lot bordered by a low concrete wall, stone stacks and building materials in a tree-lined courtyard surrounded by a wooden fence. www.commaik.de

    Build your own carport – build an Easycarport safely on a slope

    26. September 2020
    A gabion retaining wall made of wire baskets filled with stones provides effective slope stabilization on a gravel-covered courtyard. Trimmed shrubs and small plants thrive behind the wall, framed by a wooden fence in the background. www.commaik.de

    Removing and extending a gabion wall on a slope

    15. November 2020
  • Build your own parking lot with gabions and lawn grids

    A paved driveway with a grid of black plastic or rubber honeycomb cells installed next to a brick walkway, likely used for parking lot ground reinforcement or drainage. A wire mesh retaining wall is visible in the background. www.commaik.de

    In order to park the cars safely and securely, the next step was to build a parking lot in the garden. But what is the best method for this, especially on clay soil? In search of answers, I created a new parking space immediately after the paving stone path to the side entrance was built. My goal was to offer the office’s customers a convenient parking lot on the property. Although the parking area in front of the house was already in use, it consisted only of compacted loamy earth, which was very unpleasant in wet weather.

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    A construction site with a stone retaining wall and gabion wire mesh reinforcement in front of a modern house; soil and building materials are scattered in the foreground. www.commaik.de

    Slope stabilization – stack gabions safely on top of each other

    21. August 2020
    A gabion retaining wall made of wire baskets filled with stones provides effective slope stabilization on a gravel-covered courtyard. Trimmed shrubs and small plants thrive behind the wall, framed by a wooden fence in the background. www.commaik.de

    Removing and extending a gabion wall on a slope

    15. November 2020
    A metal wire gabion cage is positioned on muddy ground next to soil, with black cylindrical planting trays and other gabions nearby, likely at a construction or landscaping site. www.commaik.de

    Securing slopes with gabions – building corners and curves

    19. August 2020
  • Drainage of the house – installation of drainage and water pipes.

    Three drainage pipes—one black and two orange—are embedded in gravel and surrounded by soil in a trench, highlighting ongoing drainage or construction work. www.commaik.de

    Drainage from the house foundation with a drainage system became more and more important due to the heavy rain and continuous rain. Due to the slope of our property, the surface water always flowed to the house and seeped into the walls. A little later, the floors in the basement became wet and and in the lower basement the water was standing. I could not achieve much by drying the walls – before that, the cause of the dampness had to be eliminated. Drainage should remedy the situation.

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    A large empty pool under remodeling, featuring unfinished walls, a rolled-up white liner in the center, scattered debris on the floor, and a wooden ladder leaning against one side. www.commaik.de

    Converting a pool – dismantling an old steel wall pool

    8. March 2021
    A man in a black jacket stands next to a Hunter X-Core irrigation timer, pointing at it. The X-Core’s display reads 4:22 PM and features green buttons and a central dial with labeled settings in German. www.commaik.de

    Hunter X-Core control computer for garden irrigation program yourself

    29. January 2021
    Close-up of a heavily rusted and corroded basement metal girder with jagged edges showing considerable decay. A blurred ladder and a bright background can be seen through a large hole in the metal. www.commaik.de

    Renovate basement ceiling yourself – safely replace steel beams

    25. October 2020
  • Cleaning WPC decking boards with high pressure

    A sunlit wooden deck with a hose and pressure washer on the floor, potted plants along the railing, and outdoor furniture with a white cloth in the background showcases durable WPC decking boards for a modern outdoor retreat. www.commaik.de

    Our WPC decking is now in its 3rd year and still looks great – and there are no haptic defects either. The floorboards are still splinter-free and undamaged. Only the green algae coating on the shady parts of the terrace was a nuisance during my tour in spring. Last spring, I had already sprayed the WPC decking with my Kärcher high-pressure cleaner and removed the dirt and algae deposits. It worked, but it left these ugly streaks on the wood.

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    A man in a black jacket stands next to a Hunter X-Core irrigation timer, pointing at it. The X-Core’s display reads 4:22 PM and features green buttons and a central dial with labeled settings in German. www.commaik.de

    Hunter X-Core control computer for garden irrigation program yourself

    29. January 2021
    A modern, automated litter box with a circular opening sits on a wooden floor next to a wooden pillar and light gray wall. The litter box is empty and clean. www.commaik.de

    Automatic litter box test: Self-cleaning litter box without odor – Mova LR10

    12. December 2025
    A red and black portable parking heater is displayed on a table with its components, including hoses, wires, a remote, clamps, a silver exhaust pipe, a vent, and a small black bottle in a wooden workshop setting. www.commaik.de

    Diesel parking heater for animal house, workshop and camper: My test of the Vevor 8kW heater

    3. January 2025
  • Build your own party room in the basement

    A stylish party room with black walls, a tan floor, and a wood-burning stove with firewood storage. A partial wooden divider with a large window opening separates the space from the cellar-style utility area in the background. www.commaik.de

    Due to the current mild winter, I’m torn as to whether I should start gardening or start building the party room in the house. My original plan was to work exclusively outside in summer and exclusively indoors in winter. However, the party room is firmly planned for this year as several events are planned. So I’m going to start converting the old cellar into a stylish and functional lounge.

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    A small red excavator is digging a pile of dirt in a backyard or construction area, with wooden sheds, a carport, and a fence in the background. The machine is operated by a person inside the cab. www.commaik.de

    Build carport yourself – prepare building site

    26. August 2020
    A fire barrel with flames rising from the top stands outdoors on dirt, with stacked firewood neatly arranged in the background. www.commaik.de

    Build your own smoke-free fire barrel: DIY instructions from a 200 L oil drum with secondary ventilation

    17. October 2025
    Concrete blocks are laid in a straight line to form a shuttering stone wall foundation, with a spirit level, wooden plank, and hammer on top; yellow guide lines ensure alignment. Soil and rocks can be seen in the background along the gentle slope. www.commaik.de

    Build your own carport – secure slope with shuttering blocks

    26. August 2020
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Autor & Blogger

In this construction diary, we share our experience in the renovation and modernization of our Art Nouveau villa and hope to give a few suggestions and tips to some of you.

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