Can any of you explain those things we have no idea what they are?? BTW, don’t forget to get Surfshark VPN at surfshark.deals/passport2 - Enter promo code passport2 for 83% off and 3 extra months FREE"
Die klein Kreise sind so gennante unterputzdosen/verteiler für Elektrik oder Netzwerk/Internet/Telefon der Große könnte entwerder ein Abluftschat sein oder aber ein Kaminzugang hängt auch immer vom raum usw ab. The Smal Circels were In Wallboxes for electrical wires or for your network/ phone and the switches are outdatet becouse of safty changes or maybe for yout Door Bell. The Bige hole ist maybe for a Woodoven or an Used Air Pipe for your Clothdryer or your Kitchen extractor Hood depends on the high of the hole.
The switch could be a kill switch for the door bell from olden times. I have my apartments intercom customized to have such a switch that silences my bell. This has been used by people when you had little kids or work shift and didn't want them to woke up from the blarring ring of a door bell.
the first random thing is an AP (Aufputz) Abzweigdose (connection box for wires), but there exist different types. One type can be the income from the telephone or from the (door)bell and that would be low-voltage (under 50V) and the other type can be for the normal voltage level from 230V an normal connection box And the 3rd random thing is an UP (Unterputz) Abzweigdose the crawler could be an Weberknecht
The random box is most likely a box to hook up a lamp (night light, reading light, bed light) above a bed. This was all the rage in the 50-70th. The big circles are chimney attachment points for wood/coal stoves. Before central heating every room had access to a chimney for a small stove. The small circles are connection boxes for the electricity. In there the wires are connected. Rule of thumb: wires are 50cm below the ceiling and above the floor, and direct above/below a junktion box, switch, or socket. The random flip-switch. Some homes have switches to turn of the doorbell. Others has a doorbell in the garden, that could be switched of. Low fat milk taste like colored water. :-)
It's always helpful to find out about the correct dimensions of the "Installationszonen" (h/v, DIN 18015) before posting BS here. We don't want Donnie to experience the full 230V pleasure when accidentally drilling in an apparently "safe" zone of the wall. We love our Muricans and want them to stay safe and in healthy condition.
You will see a lot more window nets (and even permanent frames) in areas near standing water (mosquito breeding grounds) or forests (weird tree bugs) in Germany; otherwise you won't find many annoying insects coming in from outside for most of the year - it's simply too cold for the majority of the year, plus climate change did a number on the insect populations. And people generally won't bother with a window net for just a few flies.
We installed mosquito screens in the north more than 30 years ago. Wasps and mosquitoes (there is a fire-fighting pond less than 100 meters away) were often uninvited guests.
It's pretty simple - you have a ton of choices if you rent an apartment in Germany. You can install your own lights and kitchen, hang your own curtains - normally you really only have the bare bones of a home. You can do a lot to improve things - you normally rent for 5 years and then it makes sense to have everything to your liking - paint the walls and have your own furniture... You can install cheap window nets - with tape inside the windows. If you live in rural areas with much flies that makes sense. But not many people will bother and accept it.
You obviously are in an old house that used to have different wiring and used to have a stove (the circles in the wall cover the holes for the stove pipes). The stove pipes lead to a central chimney. Obviously the room you are in was equipped with wiring for an electrical "Starkstrom" outlet used in kitchens in the second half of the 20th century to connect the oven. I hope it is not wired anymore, but leave the cover on just to make sure not to endanger yourself.
Those circles can also be a hole where you can install an electrical socket (which is plugged with a plastic cover) at least I have two such circles in my room.
Also in many old houses, you might find still present 3-phase installations in all rooms if the house had been built for electric heating - including the old thermostats still on the walls. But those were usually fed by a separate wiring from a separate energy counter in the central breaker box, as the electric stoves would only heat up and store warmth in ceramics over night at a much cheaper rating.
Those bigger circles with the hollow sound were former access holes to the chimney because before there was central heating, every room had it‘s own heater. We had individual oil heatings in every room but the oil was pumped from central tank in the basement. My Grandparents had also oil heatings in every room but they had to fill every heater with an oil can by hand once a weak. The smaller ones high up the wall are like you said access points for the wiring in your house where different switches are connected to certain lamps and power is distributed to different rooms and outlets. Normally you find one of those above every switch or when there is an outlet at the bottom. Electric wiring in German homes follows certain specific rules so that you can be almost sure that there is no wire in the middle of the wall when you trying to drill a hole. So drilling left, right, above or below those boxes is a bad idea. 😉
We call(ed) it "Zentrale Ölversorgung" when several oil stoves were connected to a small pipe that supplied them with oil. I had relatives woh had such a "Zentrale Ölversorgung" whereas my grandmother had to fill up her oil stove herself (like your grandparents did). She used to have 2 oil stoves but later she got a gas stove in the living room ... But nowadays her formerly home got central heating and no one has to got to the cellar and get a can of oil for the heaters any more 🙂
Sadly those specific rules (VDE-Norm) did not apply to older houses! We have many hidden cables running criss-cross under the wall plaster. Same applies to water pipes.
Those VDE-Norms for wiring are quite simple. 1. Wiring has to be vertikally or horizontally. 2. Horizontal wires have to be 30 cm below the ceiling or 30 cm above the floor. And that's it irrc.
In my youth, there was no central oil pump. We had to carry coal, wood, and oil all the way up to the 3rd floor. Sometimes in autumn or spring, just adding another layer of cloth was less inconvenient ...
You can and the primary reasons that I don't use them is that if they're installed I can't lean out of my window, which Germans are fond of doing. Now, my father's place had fancy screens on the windows that could also be opened to allow for leaning out of windows, which was very nice, but is pretty pricey and may or may not have to be a custom job depending on your window.
My family and all of our neighbours never used a flame thrower for weeds 🤣 And most homes in my area have bug screens here, you just stick them on the windows frame with „Klettverschluss“ (And you can buy them from big brands like Tesa in lots of sizes)
Man, EVERYBODY in our area of Germany uses the flame throwers 😅 It is always interesting to hear how different various parts of Germany can be 😊 Thanks for sharing your experiences!
@@PassportTwo it's indeed Interesting. I didn't know there are so many using it. I'm from Cologne/ Nordrhein-Westfalen and I have never seen anyone use this little flamethrower.
But curtain tracks are more a thing of older people in older homes and in recent years they are getting more and more out of fashion. When I was looking for an apartment there was a almost clear pattern: apartments built prior to the 90s are mostly having curtain tracks, apartments and houses built or renovated in the 2000 are more likely to have curtain bars. At least that‘s my experience with growing up in Germany and seeing those in homes of my family and friends. Oatmilk
Or you live in a "Fachwerkhaus" build somewhere in the 15th century and there is no installation for curtains at all, as curtains are a relatively new invention. It also depends a lot on the regions, the Northern parts of Germany are having far less curtains than the Southern regions, so calling this a German thing is also not correct. I grew up in Switzerland in a house where you had no curtains, but a double window system with wooden blinds for the summer and actual outside windows in the winter with self-made draft stoppers between the two windows. Talk about Switzerland: the wire caps near the ceiling are square, not round 🙂
Want to keep bugs out? No problem. Go to are Super Market called "Bauhaus", "Obi" or "Hornbach". Ask for Insect Protection Units for Windows. Make them fit, bugs will be kept out
The old-style/Frankenstein-like lever towards the end of the Video was often used to change between different (old) Telephones. When i was a kid, our household had such thing and our telephone was used in the office at daytime and in our appartment for private use after official officetime, because in those times the house had only one telephone number for the entire house. We lived in a building that was the post office of our village and my father was the "postamtsleiter", the leader of the post office. The office was at the ground floor and our apartement was at the first floor... Sometimes those levers switched the the old doorbells ON and OFF, in case that you dont want to be interrupted at your "afternoon nap" (Mittagsschlaf). They were not uncommon in older times. And yes, the bigger round plates in higher spaces are old connections to the chimney and the smaller ones are for electrical wiring. Usually the had to be covered by the wallpapers because in germany it is mandatory that those plates could be opened "only with a tool" and not simply by your hands, because of safety regulations!
The first "circle" could be a chimney hole that has been covered. The other one is a cover for a holder box for electrical wiring. In case the house uses ductwork for cables, wires end up in these corners so you can remove them and repair them without opening the wall in case of a fault. Or if you need more cables you can add them.
You are right with the underwall boxes, but they are also used in wood construction houses, to get easy access to the connections point where the wires are connected to each other, to be able to easy change the wirering. Like add a cross switching function
the house is also probably not a recent construction. I think in older electrical installation those underwall boxes were very common - a cable with power from the breakerbox would come into one of those, there would be clamps connecting it to a wire going to the switch and another clamp connecting the return from the lightswitch with the wire going to the ceiling light. Also I think electrical cables should only run either horizontal or vertical, never diagonal over a wall, and in older installations they tend to put the horizontal cables close to the ceilings. So you would usually find those underwall boxes either above a lightswitch or a wall socket (then connecting the wire from the wall socket with wire coming from the breakerbox). In more modern electrical installations, the clamps often sit right behind the switch itself, making most underwall boxes obsolute. Guess modern screwless clamps are a bit smaller than what they used 40 or 50 years ago...
@@Mariosch26 also modern houses have this boxes there is the connection between the switch and the lamps at the ceiling and if you have more than one switch there is the connection done too
@@Stephan4711 at least my apartment (completely re-wired in 2007 or 2008) has virtually none of those anymore. And I do have two switches in my hallway, all wires are clamped behind the switches. I was surprised myself, since I was used to the vast amount of underwall boxes, but the electrican said they wouldn't do that anymore. I also have wires running between wallboxes a few cm above the floor, instead of having a "ring wire" for power under the ceiling which all wall sockets would split of (in an underwall box). those connector underwall boxes usually do not provide much benefit at all if the cable is actually plastered into the wall, since you can't change much then. They might come in handy though if you opt for the "luxury version" of having conduits in your wall to feed the wires through, since then you could change the wiring fairly easy if you want to. But I don't think using conduits is standard in electrical installations, unless you specifically ask for it.
@@Mariosch26 correct! That's how it was used to be done! The upside is/was that wire-connections also stayed accessible if something went wrong which happened more often back then as the standards weren't as high and connections not as sophisticated as today..
You have to attach the curtain rail to the ceiling as the Rollladenkasten (mechanics for the rolling shutters) is immediately behind the wall between the top of the window and up to the ceiling, so you can't drill in it.
I used a very strong glue to glue them onto the wall. I have the outer two screwed onto the wall though where there is no box of the shutters and the two inner two glued. Spanning around 5 meters. Works without problems.
As others said, the large circle is probably an old access from an oven to the chimney. The smaller ones are most likely covering electrical connection boxes (up high) and holes where the were light switches in the past. The one low small one you pointed to is on the outside of the bathroom. I guess that your flat used to have the light switch for the bathroom on the outside, as it was often fine in older homes. At some point it was moved to the inside. I struggle to think of what that box near your sofa is. Maybe a cable outlet for rear speakers put in by a previous tenant. Not way to be sure without opening it though. Could also be a very old outlet for a telephone.
There weren't always flies and bees? 🤔 I have heard from some neighbors that the wasps have been particularly bad this year and that has been very unusual!
I'd say it just depends on personal habits. Mosquitos have always been an issue, and those are a pain to deal with in summer...so I'd say whether you have a bug screen depends on your personal msoquito tolerance lol
I. Cities especially mosquitos aren’t much of a problem. Moreso flies and wasps My girlfriends parents house in the countryside has so many mosquitos it is unbearable
Also you don’t have friendly little critters like trash pandas (raccoons 🦝) that would happily go through a window and raid your refrigerator. Yep they’re clever little buggers and they know how to open refrigerators and know food’s inside.
@@leDespicable I come from a German region that, up to a few decades ago, was plagued by mosquitoes. Thus, screens were standard during my childhood. After the measures by the government have reduced the number of mosquitoes significantly over the years, screens went "out of fashion".
i cant believe you bought a bee costume and crawled into your bathroom window. i bursted out laughing when you hit the window again and again. Thanks for the laugher
The (Blass) box on the wall is most likely a cover for wiring. It's either wall power or telephone wiring. Connect the two wires inside and find out. If there is a big spark and your home has no more power and maybe you are dead on the floor, it wasn't the telephone wire.
@@PassportTwo Es könnte damit zu tun haben, wie die Mietsituation in den USA vs. Deutschland ist. In Deutschland wird z.B. zwar häufig eine Küche gestellt, aber eben nicht immer und der Vermieter muss keine Küche stellen. In den USA ist es vielleicht ähnlich aber dort ziehen die Familien auch häufiger um und das durch das ganze Land. Da noch eine Küche einbauen zu müssen hat sich vmtl. nicht als wirtschaftlich erwiesen bzw. die vorher eingebaute Küche wurde bevorzugt. Ähnlich könnte es mit den Fliegengittern sein - einfach ein Verkaufsargument und deswegen häufig. Außerdem kann man in Deutschland das ganze Fenster öffnen. Ich meine mich zu erinnern, dass in unserem Haus in den USA die Fliegengitter genau wie die Fenster weggeschoben werden konnten - aber eben immer in Sicht waren. Hier mögen viele Leute den Ausblick aus dem Fenster und mögen es nicht so gerne, wenn da irgendeine Form von Gitter zwischen ist. Aber alles nur Spekulation...
I liked the way you tried to buzz out of the house next to the open door - how hilarious! In former times you had to have those pipe exits, so that you could also put up a "Notofen" in case you had to heat your house by burning wood or coal.
Nee. Wir hatten vor 50 Jahren auch so ein Ding. Das ist ein Schalter, um die Telefonleitungen zwischen zwei Wohnungen umzuschalten. Es war damals nicht unüblich, dass zwei Wohnungen in einem Zweifamilienhaus sich eine Leitung geteilt haben. Um zu telefonieren, musste man die Leitung auf die eigene Wohnung umschalten. Später bekam dann jeder Haushalt eine eigene Leitung bzw. einen eigenen Anschluss. Vorher gab es halt einen Anschluss für zwei Wohnungen. War aber nicht sehr praktikabel, wenn in einem Haushalt telefoniert wurde, konnte im anderen nicht telefoniert werden. Vorher, als ich ein Kind war, hatten wir überhaupt kein Telefon, und mussten im Bedarfsfall zu Nachbarn oder in die Telefonzelle. Ausstattung mit Telefon war in den sechziger Jahren nicht üblich, ausserdem fehlte die Infrastruktur.
You as a bug is just so adorable! If they really could get into our fridges and steal our beer, you bet we'd all be buying more screens 😂 I've managed to wean myself off full milk (3.5 to 3.8 %) and accept low-fat (1.5 %) into my life. The next step is to go for that 0.7 % milk called "Fit-Milch". I mainly just use it for coffee anyway.
Fit Milch is like putting too little milk powder into water. For coffee you could maybe just switch to what Americans call creamer, you sometimes get it as Kaffeeweißer.
The salt in the dishwasher is required due to the fact that Central Europe has hard water / lime water, which causes to kill your appliances unless you take precautions. Salt is the classic (and cheapest) way, unless your home generally has a water softening system installed.
Absolutely loved the bee skit. I'll just imagine you bought this just for this video because I find that funnier than it being left over from some previous "Fastnacht". "Gardinen aufhängen" is my least favourite part of "Gardinen waschen" (which I usually don't do, until my mom visits and nags me to do it because apparantly you should do this at least once a year(???), which is about as typically German as anything else I can imagine).
Bärenmarke 3,8% ESL fresh milk!! 😁And switch with the 0/I on the housing was or is to disable the door bell... BTW: You live in a pretty old home what we can see from the electric installations and the old fashion curtain tracks... 😉
The blow torch part & flipping switches was hilarious. Also, in central TX there's very hard water, so most people have a house water softener. I've never heard of adding salt though, but like you said, probably a newer thing in the US. Milk wise - neither! I'm lactose intolerant & drink oat milk haha :)
Oh mei, I remember former decades when bugs made attacks and ambushes as soon as you opened the windows and/or the balcony door and simultaneously set on the light. But nowadays I really miss them - during this hot sommer only two proper bugs came in and ended their live in my living room (they moved in and lost their way out). And there is a terrible need for insects of all kind .....
Sombody needs to explaine to you how "lüften" in the summer works correctly 😅 I have never had a "bug-problem"...🤷🏼♀️🤔😅 ...it wouldn't be smart to keep the windows open during the day anyway (!!!), because of the heat outside and at night, you can't have ALL the lights on, because than, sure... then you would get a bug-problem. If you close the windows and shades towards the sunny side during the day, the house (built of stone) will stay cool.👍🏼🤓 You could install screens artificially by the way, they are just not installed as standard, because "das Lüften" doesn't work as good with them - bad air flow😬 The "lids" (circles) in the wall are electrical access-pointsbor extra light attachements. And yes, you house looks like multiple generations of electritions had fun with it😬👀🤷🏼♀️
Well in the USA in the 1980s there was this false belief that spread that rather than too much sugar that was making us fat , that really too much fat was making us fat and so low fat foods and diet became a big thing. Thus a lot of us switched to low-fat or even no-fat foods like milk even though doing so by itself didn’t cause us to lose weight in the long run. My family switched to 2%or 1% milk (which had that percentage of milk fat in it). At university, I even switched to skim milk (where all the fat had been skimmed off the top or removed). There was no understanding that there were beneficial or good fats.
I don't know what friends you have :D but our windows are always screen protected and the first thing we do when moving into a new home is getting window screens..... And no, we don't have bugs and flys and bees and wasps in our houses, I have never seen anyone like that.... I live here since 28 years... well born here in Germany
The circle boxes are either electrical junction boxes (the smaller ones) and old access points to the chimmney (the bigger one). It looks like your junction boxes have been closed and overpainted a few times ;)
Bug screens not being standard is a wierd thing. You can install bugscreens yourself without any tools needed, (they are installed with tape into the frame of the window. Allows the window to be used like normal) and I grew up in a home where we installed them on every window. My parents even build a screen-door for the balcony. The curtain thing: From my experience, it is half-half. Growing up, we had rails on the large living room windows and balcony door, but my room had little rods on the inner window frame (The pastic frame that actually holds the glass). In my current apartment, we have a rail in the living room but otherwise dont have any cutains. Or at least I dont think we have. Every other room has a roller blind, and I've seen some call this curtain, tho I think its not the right word.
I think this is more showing that Americans aren't questioning whether they actually need them enough. Many Germans simply decided that no, they don't and they still have the option to get them cheaply. (I don't, since i have all rooflights, but i generally don't get that many bugs either. More spiders, which i don't mind and don't make noise... maybe that's why there's so few bugs.)
@@PassportTwo In my area (Austria though) everybody I know has bug protection - either on a frame or taped into the window, and a glinding "door" on the balcony door. Just because the flat doesn't come with it doesn't mean it's not common to have them. Flats don't come with beds either jet nearly everybody will install one.
I think the rounds in your walls are an old electrical system with wall lamps (high ones) and switches (lower ones). After one of the last change in european norms about electric things, or because they were old fashioned, they probably have been removed. The round plastic cover is a standard thing for these kind of job and you can see them everywhere in Europeans renovated houses.
The caps higher up are mostly going to be the current and in-use junction boxes for the cables going out to the ceiling lamps, often with a split downward to a socket as well. In many German builds the cables run in the horizontal direction high up on the wall and drop down for switches and sockets. Alternatively some rooms may have a large "Fußleiste" (baseboard?) that houses the cables, with switches and sockets then being connected from below. The first circle you showed us in the ex-kitchen has the correct size to be a closed up hole into the chimney for a gas boiler or heating's flue gases. It used to be popular to have these boilers in each flat and installed in either the kitchen or bathroom.
@@Gontor42 more likely it is simply the old electricity circuit. In the past you would do all the electric work up there, but the modern standard is 30cm above ground
2:42 omg relevant HEALTH WARNIGN!!!!: NO! NO! NO! Do not use the dishwasher salt on FOOD !!!! NEVER ! Use FRENCH "FLEUR DE SEL" as French and Gemans love each other ( :) ) pls use Fleur de Sel NOT German dishwasher SALT!!!
You're right. The tiny circles are the caps where you get access to the Kabelschacht (sorry I don't know the English word for it) wich electricians use to remove or repair cables.
Essig-Essenz (maybe you have seen that at stores) is so aggressive and acidic that it literally kills plants. No need for a flame torch, which has the potential to start a very dangerous fire. We had a neighbor in the place I grew up who used this torch to burn out his oven pipe (where the ashes from the wood oven go through). It was fun watching the flames come out on the right side, but sadly this left a burn patch of grass. This was very nice to pick up with your nose as the burned smell travelled through the air. /s Glad to say that our 300 € custom made window screens have been holding up for 7 years now, even with cats in the flat. The stupid buzzers would usually enter through the flat door, but since the main door (apartment complex) has been replaced and has to be shut whenever possible, there haven't been any. I like the 3.8 % Fett Milk from Bärenmarke, and I personally think 3.5 and more has a stronger and better milk flavor.
In Belgium, we also use German-type windows but we always add a 'flyscreen' which is removable in case of window cleaning. Shure that you will find these flyscreens in any DIY store in the Bundesrepublik.
The most common solution I see (in Germany) are velcro strips to put on your window frame. And sometimes new windows have fly screen doors. I've only seen framed, removable flyscreens a handful of times.
Yep, there is many different options, from velcro attachment to full sturdy screens. They just don’t usually count as necessary. None of the bugs that come from outside are particularly harmful, most of them only stay because of hygienic reasons. Putting up a fly trap in the summer is less of a hassle.
😂😂 The secret background story to that is that Aubrey found that one day but I haven't told her what I used it for yet...I'm waiting for her to watch this video and see what I was up to one day while she was out 😅😂
The switch at 12:08 might be turning off the door bell. Good idea for moments in which you don't want to be disturbed. 😉 Try it out. The covers at 11:41 are electrical divider boxes. until the 90s a single cable has been installed from the ciruit breaker to each room. There the cable would devide into one cable for the light switch, one cable for the light outlet and others for wall plugs. The connection is done in theses devider boxes. Today the cable devision is done in most cases behind the light switch in an extra large box.
I work in a curtain store and I have to say our customers are very invested in their curtains. They have to hang so perfectly that making the curtains is a very slow process. This makes the curtains very expensive to afford if you want them to be custom made.
Blass is a Company producing such things, the white thing on the wall is purely called a „Aufputz Abzweigdose“. So basically it contains a electrical connection which can be used for further installations, „aufputz“ means it is on and not in the wall. The circles are the same but in the wall, there are the electrical connections and wires runt towards those ususally vertical or sometimes horizontally.. so if you happen to put something on your walls like a picture make sure you don’t drill in in a direct vertical or horizontal line of these without having checked for wires.. regards
When you have multiple track curtain hangers, you can have gauze closest to the window (to keep bugs out) and have a pretty curtain on the inside that looks nice (and cover the simple white gauze curtains).
Curtain tracks are like the budget version of real curtains to me. I think they don't look as nice as a metal bar and the white plastic often turns yellow with age, adding to the cheap and dirty look. The thing is they are often found in apartments, especially older ones. I think they were really popular during the 80s-90s as people thought they looked modern and sleek but today I never hear anyone say "I want curtain tracks in front of my windows"
Sometimes they're more practical than the bar style. Especially with very large windows, where you can't attach a bar without in-between holders (necessitating fixating the curtains or seperating them in that spot, which might not be practical) or even just straight-up can't get one that is long enough. Not all tracks are made of plastic, either.
@@PassportTwo 12:12 This looks like a 6 or 12 volt switch for the doorbell. Maybe someone wanted to turn it off at night. Looks very "antique". Maybe from the 50s or even earlier.
I see you are renting so you probably don't want to invest in custom made, professionally installed, framed window screens. Maybe just for one or two windows? We just got these screens on 6 windows for just under 1000Euros. We haven't had a single bug get in since, and we leave our windows open all night long. Now for the missing screen door....You know who takes bug screens and screen doors seriously? The Australians. Their screen front doors are criminal-proof (with bars e.g.) and as secure as a regular door in Summer, and they're beautiful.
Ion water-softener are pretty much standard in European dishwashers since 50+ years. Most regions, especially those close to the alps have a lot of limestone in the water that damages the heating coils of dishwashers. One of the reasons why most cloth washing machines also work better if you use European washing products as those contain water softeners, or use specific water softeners as an addition.
I have to ask, is it common to have whole house water softener systems since the water is so hard? Water softeners are pretty common in US homes so I would imagine that’s why dishwasher water softeners are not as popular. No need since all the water coming in the to the home is treated and softened.
@@pjschmid2251 not it is not very common, simply because the limestone is actually not bad for you, quite the contrary, it is an important source of calcium in the drinking water. The only items that are actually affected by limestone are the heating coils in dishwashers, washing machines and kettles, the latter can be cleaned quite easily, as can the faucets. So having water softeners for the whole house are an expensive installation, and not as easily maintainable as the built-in one of the dishwasher. Water softening installations in houses are also a potential source of germs as nasty as legionella, not something you want to have in your house. We had the case recently with a legionella contamination in a nearby residential building due to bad maintenance and it took them years to have everything cleaned out as they eventually had to change all the water system.
@@pjschmid2251 Some houses have those systems, some not. Can't really tell a percentage. But I know from those that have one, that they often have problems. I certainly would like to not have a layer of lime deposits inside my shower.
Dishwasher salt is required for "hard" water (e.g. containing lime). but it always depends on the water hardness, which can vary in one place. you can ask the local waterworks (municipality/city) about the water hardness. We have "soft water", we don't need any extra salt.
We added bug screens to all our windows and our backdoor 2 years ago. Its so much better! - So now the house from 1934 is ready for the weather of the 21st century ^^ - But I guess it is cheaper to add screens to your awesome german windows, than putting these windows into an american home ^^ The old switches are probably just that - and it is strange that they didn't remove them when installing the new ones. As I said, I live in a really old house (my bathroom is in the old pigsty *g*) and there are no old electrics left :)
I never have seen this kind of switches and I have visited lots of old houses. If they don't have any use, they should be removed. Would be bothering me all the time 😅
The curtain tracks are often built into the ceiling in homes built in the second half of the 20th century, so people just use what's already there. Older and newer homes tend to not have them and you can install whatever you want. In the olden days people were not necessarily rich enough to put curtains on every window because fabric was expensive. In modern homes, the rod becomes more and more popular. At least that's my impression.
About the window screens: In most areas we don't have huge problems with mosquitoes, so all the insects that are coming in are some flies and occasionally a wasp. Wasps will get out pretty fast if you have a window open. Most people I know who live in the countryside have come to terms about living with flies. They are all around you anywhere if you live near cattle farms. They have a fly swatter if they get too annoying and that's it.
Glass of wine with a drop of dish soaps rid of fruit flies and a sticky fly trap gets rid of the patrolling male flies. We currently have no problem with venomous spiders coming into houses (which is about to change, 2 venomous species entered Germany during the last decade) Ants, meal moths, food bugs etc. don’t come if they can’t find a food source. The occasional wasp or hornet might be scary to someone who is allergic, but there is always the option to buy insect screens and upgrade yourself, there are non-permanent ones.
The round things high up on your walls are covers for electrical distribution boxes. German houses used to be built with these boxes at places where the wiring changed direction to make it easier for an electrician to hook up new wiring. Houses with newer electrical wiring don‘t habe these boxes anymore.
i think the curtain rods actually look nicer, if you buy nice ones that complement your furniture and stuff... that being said, i only got tracks, and I would say it is easier to just take any fabric u like and sew those plastic things on to make it into a curtain, than to sew around big holes for a rod.
You could sit on a garden wagon and just scratch the stuff out of the cracks. I don't think I spend more time doing that than your guy with the blow torch. // There is no Culligan man in Germany! So the drinking water is not "soft" (aka salted). If your dishwasher is to do its thing really well, then it needs soft water. // Don't forget to put stoppers in the entrance holes for the curtain wheels after hanging!
@@PassportTwo People have accidentally burned down entire hedges in their garden with this torches, often resulting in a funny article in the local newspaper.
The big round blends behind the wallpapers are for stove pipes. The house of my parents has central heating still some connections to the central chimney where added in cause my parents later wanted to add stoves. Those may not only exists in older homes so!
So these curtain rails are more common in south-west Germany... I don't use either of them myself, I stretched a steel cable from one side of the room to the other and covered two windows with it These boxes hanging on the wall are mostly from old telephone cables, you would have to look inside The circles on the wall are old "flush-mounted sockets", which is how the power cables used to be laid The switch on the wall will be or was for the doorbell so you could turn it off The second switch was probably a light switch... The problem is that many houses in Germany are much longer than in the US and over time there is a lot built in but many are too lazy to remove the old stuff
Ist eine BLASS - Abzweigdose. Vielleicht sogar für den Feuchtraum. Normalerweise werden Abzweigdosen unter Putz verbaut. Manchmal, bei älteren Wohnungen/Häusern, werden Aufputzdosen benutzt um weiter Steckdosen oder Lampen anzuschließen.
just be careful while having fun with the blowtorch iirc it right a gardener destroyed a city hall like this - while working over the years he damaged constantly the outermost layer of the building which was the heat resistant one and directly below was highly flammable stuff going across the whole building - so when he got too close to the damaged spot with the blowtorch... have to look up the details sometimes though I think newer building arent allowed anymore to have this kind of fire protection mfg Olli
Haha, loooved the big bee! Especially when "it" tried to leave the house, bumping against the window and then, after numerous tries leaving through the other one. 🤣 I totally agree about the bug screens. Why does the US have them and not open their windows and here we don't have them and are obsessed with fresh air? And the do-it-yourself ones are a pain in the ..., at least when you have dated wooden windows with peeling paint. As for the insects, they are dying out, but, as far as I know, it is not due to climate change but excessive use of stuff like Round UP. Which is not really forbidden as far as I know. D blocked the law when the EU tried to pass it due to the lobby of the farmers and chemical industry, but I can be wrong. About the awesome windows in D: I always wondered how one cleans the outside windows on the upper levels of houses in the US. A friend who moved to England has a window cleaner now (same in the US?) and she says, if she ever buys a house over there, she will for sure get German windows. 😂 Oh, and on an unrelated topic: why is the electrical wiring above ground in the US, when outside? There are so many floods and other natural disasters. Forest fires even get started by old electrical lines, they say. And then there are black-outs for millions of people. year after year. (That question is not meant judgmental at all. I just don't understand.) All the best!
Blowtorches??? WTF! I have never seen people using a blowtorch in Germany to get rid of weed. // My parents had a dishwasher when I was a kid 40 years ago and yes we did have to add salt. // Window screens look awful. The are an insult. Learn to live with the bugs. // These protruding circles are strange. How old is this house? The upper one was the end of a cable box for light. You can clearly see that the circles are in vertical or horizontal lines, which is required for laying cables in German homes to avoid bad surprises. The lower one I have no idea. Could be a pipe from old coal ovens. But this is not normal for German homes. // The fun switch downstairs could be connected to the door bell. In the past, some people were so obsessed with having their good sleep they could turn off the door bell from the inside. Crazy, isn't it?
Many German houses have fly screens at the window frame. Especially in houses, close to a river, or lake. I prefer an open window instead of air conditioning. High energy and maintenance costs - no thanks
hi donnie, for the first little box i `ve also no idea what it`s for, the circle plate you described right, the larger ones close an old oven access to thje chimney, the smaller one gives you access to the electrical system and the little switch was (long ago!) for turning off your doorbell! Michael/Hannover
Your presentation is so entertaining, as is the editing. To come to those circles, the larger ones cover up old chimney flues where in the past coal or oil fired stoves have been used, the large circle in the kitchen would have been for the kitchen stove which doubled as cooking range. The old switches seem to be left overs from a very old electric system in the house, the landlord clearly took a bit of a lazy approach and didn't remove these when renewing the electrical installation. The small covers are electrical junction boxes, in old houses these are all over the place. In new houses all sockets and light switches will be wired toward one of the central ceiling boxes, in general also the point where you hang a lamp from or take power from if you have a false ceiling whit built in spot lights. That old switch with the open contacts did look especially quirky and dangerous to me, it must be from the very early years of electricity and well over 100 years old. safe light switches are in use from the 1920s onwards.
Then simply put an insect net in front of the window, it doesn't help one hundred percent, especially if you open windows everywhere and the grid just doesn't hold on some windows Because the glue thinks oh it's warm I'll just come off and the glue is just this a******** for it And there are fly traps others and the flying collected
Since electrical installation is highly regulated, the circle underneath the wallpaper thats on shoulder height should actually be a chimney access for a stove of some kind. The other little circles are - well you guessed correct there - electrical junction boxes. Mostly used to bring in power and connect multiple wires comming from your switches underneath to the appropriate light fixture.
Low fat milk or full fat milk? How about … half fat milk? 😎 You can actually get four different percentages around our area - excluding ‘fresh milk’, which isn’t treated but basically ‘fresh from cow’ with way above 4% and is just cooled - and would be option five. 3,5% , 1,5% (sometimes sold as 1,8%) , 0,3% and even 0,1% The last one though really is just white water. We usually choose the 1,5er.
Full fat milk, if at all. Milk is for calves, not us. ;-) Err...I mean...why would I pay more for skimmed milk with 0.1 % fat, so basically white colored water, when I could have the good stuff with cream on top, where I have to shake the bottle to make the cream mix with the rest of the milk. Yum! You know, these brown bottles from say Südmilch or similar. Don't know what your milk company's name is, but here in Ba-Wü it's Südmilch. Non homogenized milk is the best imo. Lasts only for 2-4 days at best , before it turns sour in most cases. So, not the H-Milch, the 140°C heated up milk that lasts a year. Fresh one...really fresh milk. Have you guys already been to a Aussiedlerhof? It's a farm with a shop, where you can buy organic veggies and milk fresh from the barn. If not, you know what you have to do next...;-)
1) I’d prefer chemicals 😂 I’d be too afraid to burn everything down 🤦♀️😆 2) 👍 3) there’s a downside of our windows - we had a cat that died because he couldn’t escape our window 😭 4) we have totally different curtains 😂😂😂 with little „hooks“ 5) ? Idk Low fat or full fat milk: we’ve got the 3.5% fat milk 😂
You already got a good number of comments! The first box isn't 100% clear to me either, the closest guess would be an old telephone connection. (If the wire looks like a computer network cable, size wise, this may as well be an old telephone connection) The large round covered hole, could be some electrical connection, too. (Perhaps a metering device "Untermieter") However, in the earlier days homes used to be heated with coal / wood, of course it could be a connection to the chimney. But not sure about this one. The small round covers, cover electrical house wiring "220 VAC!!!" e.g. distributor access. German building code requires that electrical wiring is run perpendicular to the ceiling at a distance of about 30 cm from the top. Wiring run vertically in any angle other than 90 degree is not in conformance with the code. So whenever an extra outlet needs to be set up, the wiring has to come from the top in a 90 degree angle. In this way you wouldn't need a stud finder, there aren't any studs in a typical European houses anyway. Brick, cinter block or some other solid non flammable material is used. A electrician could locate the distribution cap and follow easily the wiring. (DIY non conforming wiring will pose a problems) As to the funky switches, they almost look like toy, low voltage switches to me. I don't think that your home predates WWII (left overs). Perhaps, someone had a Dollhouse at some point and had 12 V or 24 V lights installed that would be switched on and off with these switches? If so, somewhere nearby, would be a transformer of some kind. Germany uses 220 VAC 50 Hz for house wiring, reducing the current @ same power requirements (smaller wire size), less voltage dips, however essentially more lethal than 110 VAC 60 Hz as used in the US. I guess, the US uses 60 Hz in an attempt to compensate for voltage dips. Studies have concluded that the human body has an "impedance" (sorry for the technical jargon) of around 10 KOhms. In theory, this could allow a maximum current of 22 mA through the human body, almost certain to kill. (*** I would suggest, you place safety caps onto the outlets where your child can reach ***). Euro outlets are designed much different from US outlets, but are still not 100% safe. In contrary, US electrical system could allow 11 mA max on 110 V outlets, which can cause severe shock, but is less lethal. The maximum current depends on a number of things, including footwear for one , but not limited to it. Hope my thoughts will shed some light onto the dark areas. Cheers
Obviously, there are huge differences between certain german regions. I live in the "Niederrhein" Region (Düsseldorf, Neuss, Mönchengladbach) since 1970 and i have NEVER(!) seen...: a) a blow torch for burning "Unkraut" (neither in my house, nor in any neighbours house)?! Actually, i HAVE seen it in the Netherlands, where i own a house as well. b) weird little boxes at the wall without having any function?! c) any "hollow" plastic "things" in the wall?! Maybe, that is an old house and there had been changes to the electro installation somewhen or so? On the other hand, our house in Mönchengladbach has a) Air Condition (yes!) in the master bedroom and in the living room (it was WAY cheaper than i expected!) and also the energie consumption is not a problem. Even with our horrible german "Strompreise". b) as well as screens in the master bedroom, in the living room and in the kitchen in order to avoid bugs and flies. You can get these at any "Baumarkt" (Hornbach for example), its neither very expensive nor very hard to install. Even if you dont own the house, i think, its a good decision to get these protections and keep the flies and bugs outside! Dont wait for the landlord to get active - he wont. (Finally - i already have a Surfshark contract for many many years, but thats another story....).
Can any of you explain those things we have no idea what they are??
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Die klein Kreise sind so gennante unterputzdosen/verteiler für Elektrik oder Netzwerk/Internet/Telefon der Große könnte entwerder ein Abluftschat sein oder aber ein Kaminzugang hängt auch immer vom raum usw ab.
The Smal Circels were In Wallboxes for electrical wires or for your network/ phone and the switches are outdatet becouse of safty changes or maybe for yout Door Bell. The Bige hole ist maybe for a Woodoven or an Used Air Pipe for your Clothdryer or your Kitchen extractor Hood depends on the high of the hole.
The square cover is for the shaft of the fireplace. Earlier had wood stoves for heating and cooking. These are remnants from that time
The switch could be a kill switch for the door bell from olden times. I have my apartments intercom customized to have such a switch that silences my bell. This has been used by people when you had little kids or work shift and didn't want them to woke up from the blarring ring of a door bell.
^^ NordVPN runs over 5500 server 🤷
the first random thing is an AP (Aufputz) Abzweigdose (connection box for wires), but there exist different types. One type can be the income from the telephone or from the (door)bell and that would be low-voltage (under 50V) and the other type can be for the normal voltage level from 230V an normal connection box
And the 3rd random thing is an UP (Unterputz) Abzweigdose
the crawler could be an Weberknecht
The random box is most likely a box to hook up a lamp (night light, reading light, bed light) above a bed. This was all the rage in the 50-70th.
The big circles are chimney attachment points for wood/coal stoves. Before central heating every room had access to a chimney for a small stove.
The small circles are connection boxes for the electricity. In there the wires are connected. Rule of thumb: wires are 50cm below the ceiling and above the floor, and direct above/below a junktion box, switch, or socket.
The random flip-switch. Some homes have switches to turn of the doorbell. Others has a doorbell in the garden, that could be switched of.
Low fat milk taste like colored water. :-)
It's always helpful to find out about the correct dimensions of the "Installationszonen" (h/v, DIN 18015) before posting BS here.
We don't want Donnie to experience the full 230V pleasure when accidentally drilling in an apparently "safe" zone of the wall. We love our Muricans and want them to stay safe and in healthy condition.
@@gerohubner5101 This is correct, but many older installations dont follow DIN 18015
"Low fat milk taste like colored water. :-)" so true!
@@gerohubner5101 I wouldn't rely on the installation zones, especially in old buildings with installations which have changed several times.
@@gerohubner5101 dachte es war der Kabelanschluss von früher xD
You will see a lot more window nets (and even permanent frames) in areas near standing water (mosquito breeding grounds) or forests (weird tree bugs) in Germany; otherwise you won't find many annoying insects coming in from outside for most of the year - it's simply too cold for the majority of the year, plus climate change did a number on the insect populations. And people generally won't bother with a window net for just a few flies.
We installed mosquito screens in the north more than 30 years ago. Wasps and mosquitoes (there is a fire-fighting pond less than 100 meters away) were often uninvited guests.
It's pretty simple - you have a ton of choices if you rent an apartment in Germany. You can install your own lights and kitchen, hang your own curtains - normally you really only have the bare bones of a home. You can do a lot to improve things - you normally rent for 5 years and then it makes sense to have everything to your liking - paint the walls and have your own furniture...
You can install cheap window nets - with tape inside the windows. If you live in rural areas with much flies that makes sense. But not many people will bother and accept it.
You obviously are in an old house that used to have different wiring and used to have a stove (the circles in the wall cover the holes for the stove pipes). The stove pipes lead to a central chimney. Obviously the room you are in was equipped with wiring for an electrical "Starkstrom" outlet used in kitchens in the second half of the 20th century to connect the oven. I hope it is not wired anymore, but leave the cover on just to make sure not to endanger yourself.
Great information! Thank you 😊 Ya, like I said, I don't have any plans of taking off the cover 😂
Those circles can also be a hole where you can install an electrical socket (which is plugged with a plastic cover) at least I have two such circles in my room.
Also in many old houses, you might find still present 3-phase installations in all rooms if the house had been built for electric heating - including the old thermostats still on the walls.
But those were usually fed by a separate wiring from a separate energy counter in the central breaker box, as the electric stoves would only heat up and store warmth in ceramics over night at a much cheaper rating.
Mamarok, we're following the same channels, eh? ;-)
@@sput42 looks like 🙂
Your Donnie Bee perfomance is hilarious 🤣! Not finding the open door/window is sooo accurate...brilliant.
Qotw: full fat milk
Those bigger circles with the hollow sound were former access holes to the chimney because before there was central heating, every room had it‘s own heater. We had individual oil heatings in every room but the oil was pumped from central tank in the basement. My Grandparents had also oil heatings in every room but they had to fill every heater with an oil can by hand once a weak.
The smaller ones high up the wall are like you said access points for the wiring in your house where different switches are connected to certain lamps and power is distributed to different rooms and outlets. Normally you find one of those above every switch or when there is an outlet at the bottom. Electric wiring in German homes follows certain specific rules so that you can be almost sure that there is no wire in the middle of the wall when you trying to drill a hole. So drilling left, right, above or below those boxes is a bad idea. 😉
We call(ed) it "Zentrale Ölversorgung" when several oil stoves were connected to a small pipe that supplied them with oil. I had relatives woh had such a "Zentrale Ölversorgung" whereas my grandmother had to fill up her oil stove herself (like your grandparents did). She used to have 2 oil stoves but later she got a gas stove in the living room ... But nowadays her formerly home got central heating and no one has to got to the cellar and get a can of oil for the heaters any more 🙂
Sadly those specific rules (VDE-Norm) did not apply to older houses! We have many hidden cables running criss-cross under the wall plaster. Same applies to water pipes.
Those VDE-Norms for wiring are quite simple.
1. Wiring has to be vertikally or horizontally.
2. Horizontal wires have to be 30 cm below the ceiling or 30 cm above the floor.
And that's it irrc.
In my youth, there was no central oil pump. We had to carry coal, wood, and oil all the way up to the 3rd floor. Sometimes in autumn or spring, just adding another layer of cloth was less inconvenient ...
You can and the primary reasons that I don't use them is that if they're installed I can't lean out of my window, which Germans are fond of doing.
Now, my father's place had fancy screens on the windows that could also be opened to allow for leaning out of windows, which was very nice, but is pretty pricey and may or may not have to be a custom job depending on your window.
My family and all of our neighbours never used a flame thrower for weeds 🤣 And most homes in my area have bug screens here, you just stick them on the windows frame with „Klettverschluss“ (And you can buy them from big brands like Tesa in lots of sizes)
Man, EVERYBODY in our area of Germany uses the flame throwers 😅 It is always interesting to hear how different various parts of Germany can be 😊 Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I've never seen a person with a flame thrower before, I think.
There are even door-bug-screens, for i.e. the terrace, which you can open.
Never ever see one flame throwers in the different neighbourhoods we lived.
@@PassportTwo it's indeed Interesting. I didn't know there are so many using it. I'm from Cologne/ Nordrhein-Westfalen and I have never seen anyone use this little flamethrower.
@@PassportTwo, I can probably guess you bought the flame thrower at Obi
But curtain tracks are more a thing of older people in older homes and in recent years they are getting more and more out of fashion. When I was looking for an apartment there was a almost clear pattern: apartments built prior to the 90s are mostly having curtain tracks, apartments and houses built or renovated in the 2000 are more likely to have curtain bars. At least that‘s my experience with growing up in Germany and seeing those in homes of my family and friends.
Oatmilk
Or you live in a "Fachwerkhaus" build somewhere in the 15th century and there is no installation for curtains at all, as curtains are a relatively new invention. It also depends a lot on the regions, the Northern parts of Germany are having far less curtains than the Southern regions, so calling this a German thing is also not correct.
I grew up in Switzerland in a house where you had no curtains, but a double window system with wooden blinds for the summer and actual outside windows in the winter with self-made draft stoppers between the two windows.
Talk about Switzerland: the wire caps near the ceiling are square, not round 🙂
Yeah…. Homes build prior to 1920 also most likely have bars (if they weren’t ‚modernized‘ during the 70s)
Want to keep bugs out? No problem. Go to are Super Market called "Bauhaus", "Obi" or "Hornbach". Ask for Insect Protection Units for Windows. Make them fit, bugs will be kept out
The old-style/Frankenstein-like lever towards the end of the Video was often used to change between different (old) Telephones. When i was a kid, our household had such thing and our telephone was used in the office at daytime and in our appartment for private use after official officetime, because in those times the house had only one telephone number for the entire house. We lived in a building that was the post office of our village and my father was the "postamtsleiter", the leader of the post office. The office was at the ground floor and our apartement was at the first floor...
Sometimes those levers switched the the old doorbells ON and OFF, in case that you dont want to be interrupted at your "afternoon nap" (Mittagsschlaf). They were not uncommon in older times.
And yes, the bigger round plates in higher spaces are old connections to the chimney and the smaller ones are for electrical wiring. Usually the had to be covered by the wallpapers because in germany it is mandatory that those plates could be opened "only with a tool" and not simply by your hands, because of safety regulations!
The first "circle" could be a chimney hole that has been covered. The other one is a cover for a holder box for electrical wiring. In case the house uses ductwork for cables, wires end up in these corners so you can remove them and repair them without opening the wall in case of a fault. Or if you need more cables you can add them.
You are right with the underwall boxes, but they are also used in wood construction houses, to get easy access to the connections point where the wires are connected to each other, to be able to easy change the wirering. Like add a cross switching function
Glad I was able to at least figure those out! 😅😊
the house is also probably not a recent construction.
I think in older electrical installation those underwall boxes were very common - a cable with power from the breakerbox would come into one of those, there would be clamps connecting it to a wire going to the switch and another clamp connecting the return from the lightswitch with the wire going to the ceiling light. Also I think electrical cables should only run either horizontal or vertical, never diagonal over a wall, and in older installations they tend to put the horizontal cables close to the ceilings. So you would usually find those underwall boxes either above a lightswitch or a wall socket (then connecting the wire from the wall socket with wire coming from the breakerbox).
In more modern electrical installations, the clamps often sit right behind the switch itself, making most underwall boxes obsolute. Guess modern screwless clamps are a bit smaller than what they used 40 or 50 years ago...
@@Mariosch26 also modern houses have this boxes there is the connection between the switch and the lamps at the ceiling and if you have more than one switch there is the connection done too
@@Stephan4711 at least my apartment (completely re-wired in 2007 or 2008) has virtually none of those anymore. And I do have two switches in my hallway, all wires are clamped behind the switches. I was surprised myself, since I was used to the vast amount of underwall boxes, but the electrican said they wouldn't do that anymore. I also have wires running between wallboxes a few cm above the floor, instead of having a "ring wire" for power under the ceiling which all wall sockets would split of (in an underwall box).
those connector underwall boxes usually do not provide much benefit at all if the cable is actually plastered into the wall, since you can't change much then. They might come in handy though if you opt for the "luxury version" of having conduits in your wall to feed the wires through, since then you could change the wiring fairly easy if you want to.
But I don't think using conduits is standard in electrical installations, unless you specifically ask for it.
@@Mariosch26 correct! That's how it was used to be done! The upside is/was that wire-connections also stayed accessible if something went wrong which happened more often back then as the standards weren't as high and connections not as sophisticated as today..
The rich folks consider every economic crisis as the right time to invest so I believe now is the perfect time to start an investment.
Rich people stay rich by spending less and investing more while the poor remain poor by spending much yet with no investment
Crypto trading is a very lucrative way of making money now
Some people are really making money through bitcoin trading
I tried trading Bitcoin once but was confused and got discouraged by the constant rise and fall in price.
@@chrisgarrick6243 I got your point but believe me that wouldn't be a problem if you trade with an expert like helen Davis
You have to attach the curtain rail to the ceiling as the Rollladenkasten (mechanics for the rolling shutters) is immediately behind the wall between the top of the window and up to the ceiling, so you can't drill in it.
Not really. Plenty of them only have two attachment points. So you can put them in the wall next to the shutter box.
I used a very strong glue to glue them onto the wall. I have the outer two screwed onto the wall though where there is no box of the shutters and the two inner two glued. Spanning around 5 meters. Works without problems.
As others said, the large circle is probably an old access from an oven to the chimney. The smaller ones are most likely covering electrical connection boxes (up high) and holes where the were light switches in the past. The one low small one you pointed to is on the outside of the bathroom. I guess that your flat used to have the light switch for the bathroom on the outside, as it was often fine in older homes. At some point it was moved to the inside.
I struggle to think of what that box near your sofa is. Maybe a cable outlet for rear speakers put in by a previous tenant. Not way to be sure without opening it though. Could also be a very old outlet for a telephone.
Due to traditional climate here, bugs really have never been that much of an issue. With weather becoming warmer this is slowly changing....
There weren't always flies and bees? 🤔 I have heard from some neighbors that the wasps have been particularly bad this year and that has been very unusual!
I'd say it just depends on personal habits. Mosquitos have always been an issue, and those are a pain to deal with in summer...so I'd say whether you have a bug screen depends on your personal msoquito tolerance lol
I. Cities especially mosquitos aren’t much of a problem. Moreso flies and wasps
My girlfriends parents house in the countryside has so many mosquitos it is unbearable
Also you don’t have friendly little critters like trash pandas (raccoons 🦝) that would happily go through a window and raid your refrigerator. Yep they’re clever little buggers and they know how to open refrigerators and know food’s inside.
@@leDespicable I come from a German region that, up to a few decades ago, was plagued by mosquitoes. Thus, screens were standard during my childhood. After the measures by the government have reduced the number of mosquitoes significantly over the years, screens went "out of fashion".
i cant believe you bought a bee costume and crawled into your bathroom window. i bursted out laughing when you hit the window again and again. Thanks for the laugher
The (Blass) box on the wall is most likely a cover for wiring. It's either wall power or telephone wiring. Connect the two wires inside and find out. If there is a big spark and your home has no more power and maybe you are dead on the floor, it wasn't the telephone wire.
Wenn du mal in den Baumarkt gehst, findest du 100% Fliegengitter. Ich habe welche an jedem Fenster und eine Tür am Balkon
Ja, wie ich schon im Video gesagt habe, gibt es sie auch in Deutschland, sie sind nur in deutschen Haushalten nicht so üblich wie in den USA 😊
@@PassportTwo Es könnte damit zu tun haben, wie die Mietsituation in den USA vs. Deutschland ist. In Deutschland wird z.B. zwar häufig eine Küche gestellt, aber eben nicht immer und der Vermieter muss keine Küche stellen.
In den USA ist es vielleicht ähnlich aber dort ziehen die Familien auch häufiger um und das durch das ganze Land. Da noch eine Küche einbauen zu müssen hat sich vmtl. nicht als wirtschaftlich erwiesen bzw. die vorher eingebaute Küche wurde bevorzugt.
Ähnlich könnte es mit den Fliegengittern sein - einfach ein Verkaufsargument und deswegen häufig.
Außerdem kann man in Deutschland das ganze Fenster öffnen. Ich meine mich zu erinnern, dass in unserem Haus in den USA die Fliegengitter genau wie die Fenster weggeschoben werden konnten - aber eben immer in Sicht waren. Hier mögen viele Leute den Ausblick aus dem Fenster und mögen es nicht so gerne, wenn da irgendeine Form von Gitter zwischen ist.
Aber alles nur Spekulation...
I liked the way you tried to buzz out of the house next to the open door - how hilarious!
In former times you had to have those pipe exits, so that you could also put up a "Notofen" in case you had to heat your house by burning wood or coal.
Humanoid bees hacking into my personal accounts is one of my greatest fears, actually.
The switch at 11:50 was common in old houses, and was mostly used to turn the doorbell on or off 🙂
Yeah - I have one of these and it still works. Though it's not painted over cause you don't do that with electrical thingies ;)
Yes I still remember that one when I was a child. It's a 1960's doorbell switch
Nee. Wir hatten vor 50 Jahren auch so ein Ding. Das ist ein Schalter, um die Telefonleitungen zwischen zwei Wohnungen umzuschalten. Es war damals nicht unüblich, dass zwei Wohnungen in einem Zweifamilienhaus sich eine Leitung geteilt haben. Um zu telefonieren, musste man die Leitung auf die eigene Wohnung umschalten. Später bekam dann jeder Haushalt eine eigene Leitung bzw. einen eigenen Anschluss. Vorher gab es halt einen Anschluss für zwei Wohnungen. War aber nicht sehr praktikabel, wenn in einem Haushalt telefoniert wurde, konnte im anderen nicht telefoniert werden.
Vorher, als ich ein Kind war, hatten wir überhaupt kein Telefon, und mussten im Bedarfsfall zu Nachbarn oder in die Telefonzelle. Ausstattung mit Telefon war in den sechziger Jahren nicht üblich, ausserdem fehlte die Infrastruktur.
You as a bug is just so adorable!
If they really could get into our fridges and steal our beer, you bet we'd all be buying more screens 😂
I've managed to wean myself off full milk (3.5 to 3.8 %) and accept low-fat (1.5 %) into my life.
The next step is to go for that 0.7 % milk called "Fit-Milch".
I mainly just use it for coffee anyway.
Fit Milch is like putting too little milk powder into water. For coffee you could maybe just switch to what Americans call creamer, you sometimes get it as Kaffeeweißer.
The salt in the dishwasher is required due to the fact that Central Europe has hard water / lime water, which causes to kill your appliances unless you take precautions. Salt is the classic (and cheapest) way, unless your home generally has a water softening system installed.
Absolutely loved the bee skit. I'll just imagine you bought this just for this video because I find that funnier than it being left over from some previous "Fastnacht".
"Gardinen aufhängen" is my least favourite part of "Gardinen waschen" (which I usually don't do, until my mom visits and nags me to do it because apparantly you should do this at least once a year(???), which is about as typically German as anything else I can imagine).
Bärenmarke 3,8% ESL fresh milk!! 😁And switch with the 0/I on the housing was or is to disable the door bell... BTW: You live in a pretty old home what we can see from the electric installations and the old fashion curtain tracks... 😉
The blow torch part & flipping switches was hilarious. Also, in central TX there's very hard water, so most people have a house water softener. I've never heard of adding salt though, but like you said, probably a newer thing in the US. Milk wise - neither! I'm lactose intolerant & drink oat milk haha :)
Good video. I especially liked the bee costume bit and how you tied it in with the promotion.
Haha, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
Oh mei, I remember former decades when bugs made attacks and ambushes as soon as you opened the windows and/or the balcony door and simultaneously set on the light. But nowadays I really miss them - during this hot sommer only two proper bugs came in and ended their live in my living room (they moved in and lost their way out). And there is a terrible need for insects of all kind .....
Sombody needs to explaine to you how "lüften" in the summer works correctly 😅 I have never had a "bug-problem"...🤷🏼♀️🤔😅
...it wouldn't be smart to keep the windows open during the day anyway (!!!), because of the heat outside and at night, you can't have ALL the lights on, because than, sure... then you would get a bug-problem. If you close the windows and shades towards the sunny side during the day, the house (built of stone) will stay cool.👍🏼🤓
You could install screens artificially by the way, they are just not installed as standard, because "das Lüften" doesn't work as good with them - bad air flow😬
The "lids" (circles) in the wall are electrical access-pointsbor extra light attachements. And yes, you house looks like multiple generations of electritions had fun with it😬👀🤷🏼♀️
Well in the USA in the 1980s there was this false belief that spread that rather than too much sugar that was making us fat , that really too much fat was making us fat and so low fat foods and diet became a big thing. Thus a lot of us switched to low-fat or even no-fat foods like milk even though doing so by itself didn’t cause us to lose weight in the long run. My family switched to 2%or 1% milk (which had that percentage of milk fat in it). At university, I even switched to skim milk (where all the fat had been skimmed off the top or removed). There was no understanding that there were beneficial or good fats.
I don't know what friends you have :D but our windows are always screen protected and the first thing we do when moving into a new home is getting window screens..... And no, we don't have bugs and flys and bees and wasps in our houses, I have never seen anyone like that.... I live here since 28 years... well born here in Germany
The "circles" are indeed plastic covers for the electric wiring underneath. They are called "Federdeckel".
The circle boxes are either electrical junction boxes (the smaller ones) and old access points to the chimmney (the bigger one). It looks like your junction boxes have been closed and overpainted a few times ;)
Ya...overpainted many many times through the years 😂
@@PassportTwo ...and the connection to the chimney was not for kitchen air, but for a wood stove or a wood or coal burning oven to heat the place. 😅
the day you were filming it a lot neighborhood ladies called the police to report a giant bee breaking into houses...
mfg
Olli
Great video! Personally, I just poor boiling water on the weeds and it takes care of them. Lot safer too!😅
I have a new business case for shark tank. I import the cheap german dishwashers and sell them as high tech german dishwashers in the usa 🇺🇸😁
Do that and throw in a German flamethrower and you are going to make good money 😂😂
@@PassportTwo I'm not Rammstein ✌️😂
Well, isn't that the American way. Good luck! 🍀
@@sonjagatto9981 it's the dark side 😅
Bug screens not being standard is a wierd thing. You can install bugscreens yourself without any tools needed, (they are installed with tape into the frame of the window. Allows the window to be used like normal) and I grew up in a home where we installed them on every window. My parents even build a screen-door for the balcony.
The curtain thing: From my experience, it is half-half. Growing up, we had rails on the large living room windows and balcony door, but my room had little rods on the inner window frame (The pastic frame that actually holds the glass). In my current apartment, we have a rail in the living room but otherwise dont have any cutains. Or at least I dont think we have. Every other room has a roller blind, and I've seen some call this curtain, tho I think its not the right word.
Ya...we definitely will probably buy some screens for next summer...it about drove us crazy the last three summers not having them 😂
I think this is more showing that Americans aren't questioning whether they actually need them enough. Many Germans simply decided that no, they don't and they still have the option to get them cheaply. (I don't, since i have all rooflights, but i generally don't get that many bugs either. More spiders, which i don't mind and don't make noise... maybe that's why there's so few bugs.)
@@PassportTwo In my area (Austria though) everybody I know has bug protection - either on a frame or taped into the window, and a glinding "door" on the balcony door. Just because the flat doesn't come with it doesn't mean it's not common to have them. Flats don't come with beds either jet nearly everybody will install one.
Full fat Milk. The circles are lids to the chimney. You can stick the Metall Tube from the oven into it.
What the hack?😲 Oh my gosh! He wear socks In his sandals. Ich think he is germanized😂
I think the rounds in your walls are an old electrical system with wall lamps (high ones) and switches (lower ones). After one of the last change in european norms about electric things, or because they were old fashioned, they probably have been removed. The round plastic cover is a standard thing for these kind of job and you can see them everywhere in Europeans renovated houses.
nice! thanks so much for the information and education 😊
The caps higher up are mostly going to be the current and in-use junction boxes for the cables going out to the ceiling lamps, often with a split downward to a socket as well. In many German builds the cables run in the horizontal direction high up on the wall and drop down for switches and sockets. Alternatively some rooms may have a large "Fußleiste" (baseboard?) that houses the cables, with switches and sockets then being connected from below.
The first circle you showed us in the ex-kitchen has the correct size to be a closed up hole into the chimney for a gas boiler or heating's flue gases. It used to be popular to have these boilers in each flat and installed in either the kitchen or bathroom.
@@Gontor42 more likely it is simply the old electricity circuit. In the past you would do all the electric work up there, but the modern standard is 30cm above ground
2:42 omg relevant HEALTH WARNIGN!!!!: NO! NO! NO! Do not use the dishwasher salt on FOOD !!!! NEVER !
Use FRENCH "FLEUR DE SEL" as French and Gemans love each other ( :) ) pls use Fleur de Sel NOT German dishwasher SALT!!!
:)
You're right. The tiny circles are the caps where you get access to the Kabelschacht (sorry I don't know the English word for it) wich electricians use to remove or repair cables.
Essig-Essenz (maybe you have seen that at stores) is so aggressive and acidic that it literally kills plants. No need for a flame torch, which has the potential to start a very dangerous fire.
We had a neighbor in the place I grew up who used this torch to burn out his oven pipe (where the ashes from the wood oven go through). It was fun watching the flames come out on the right side, but sadly this left a burn patch of grass. This was very nice to pick up with your nose as the burned smell travelled through the air. /s
Glad to say that our 300 € custom made window screens have been holding up for 7 years now, even with cats in the flat. The stupid buzzers would usually enter through the flat door, but since the main door (apartment complex) has been replaced and has to be shut whenever possible, there haven't been any.
I like the 3.8 % Fett Milk from Bärenmarke, and I personally think 3.5 and more has a stronger and better milk flavor.
hahahaha you as a bee smacking against the patio door. that was funny. 😊
So funny when you as a bug are bouncing against the window again and again. 🤣
In Belgium, we also use German-type windows but we always add a 'flyscreen' which is removable in case of window cleaning. Shure that you will find these flyscreens in any DIY store in the Bundesrepublik.
The most common solution I see (in Germany) are velcro strips to put on your window frame. And sometimes new windows have fly screen doors. I've only seen framed, removable flyscreens a handful of times.
@@iamcurious9541 we have them and our windows have a attachment for it u can even open the screen without removing it
Yep, there is many different options, from velcro attachment to full sturdy screens. They just don’t usually count as necessary. None of the bugs that come from outside are particularly harmful, most of them only stay because of hygienic reasons.
Putting up a fly trap in the summer is less of a hassle.
But I need the bugs, the spiders in my aparment need some food.
Blow Torches? I have never seen that in my life. Is this legal or just a content story??? 👎 Can it be that you have been really screwed?
Go to any home improvement store and you will find them
Those circle are things where wires are connected or the was once a outlet/leavers or stuf like this and now there is just a hole.
Perfect! Thanks for the information 😃
Great video! I love the bee part!!! Milk - both are good!
LOVE the bee costume!
😂😂 The secret background story to that is that Aubrey found that one day but I haven't told her what I used it for yet...I'm waiting for her to watch this video and see what I was up to one day while she was out 😅😂
The switch at 12:08 might be turning off the door bell. Good idea for moments in which you don't want to be disturbed. 😉 Try it out.
The covers at 11:41 are electrical divider boxes. until the 90s a single cable has been installed from the ciruit breaker to each room. There the cable would devide into one cable for the light switch, one cable for the light outlet and others for wall plugs. The connection is done in theses devider boxes. Today the cable devision is done in most cases behind the light switch in an extra large box.
Thing 5 :
1. Vielleicht ein W-lan Verstärker
2. Eine Abzweigung in der Stromleitung
I work in a curtain store and I have to say our customers are very invested in their curtains. They have to hang so perfectly that making the curtains is a very slow process. This makes the curtains very expensive to afford if you want them to be custom made.
Another cool video… and it is full fat milk for me
Need some help with the installation of the weatherswitch, its snowing right now...
😂😂 Let me flip mine a couple of times and see if it does anything
Very smooth transition into advertisement 😀
Der spaceballs Flammenwerfer, die Kids lieben das Ding 😂
Und Erwachsene auch! 😂 Mindestens ich...😅
Your intro reminds me of the good mythical morning one. Is this on porpoise ? :)
I’d have to admit after years and years of watching Rhett and Link, they definitely have an influence 😊
Love the extra effort with the bee sketch!
Blass is a Company producing such things, the white thing on the wall is purely called a „Aufputz Abzweigdose“. So basically it contains a electrical connection which can be used for further installations, „aufputz“ means it is on and not in the wall. The circles are the same but in the wall, there are the electrical connections and wires runt towards those ususally vertical or sometimes horizontally.. so if you happen to put something on your walls like a picture make sure you don’t drill in in a direct vertical or horizontal line of these without having checked for wires.. regards
When you have multiple track curtain hangers, you can have gauze closest to the window (to keep bugs out) and have a pretty curtain on the inside that looks nice (and cover the simple white gauze curtains).
Gotta love Donnie in a wasp costume :D
Curtain tracks are like the budget version of real curtains to me. I think they don't look as nice as a metal bar and the white plastic often turns yellow with age, adding to the cheap and dirty look. The thing is they are often found in apartments, especially older ones. I think they were really popular during the 80s-90s as people thought they looked modern and sleek but today I never hear anyone say "I want curtain tracks in front of my windows"
Sometimes they're more practical than the bar style. Especially with very large windows, where you can't attach a bar without in-between holders (necessitating fixating the curtains or seperating them in that spot, which might not be practical) or even just straight-up can't get one that is long enough.
Not all tracks are made of plastic, either.
The small switches on the door are usually usually for the doorbell.
And do what for the doorbell? 🤔 Turn it on and off so people can't ring it if they don't want to be bothered?
@@PassportTwo 12:12 This looks like a 6 or 12 volt switch for the doorbell. Maybe someone wanted to turn it off at night. Looks very "antique". Maybe from the 50s or even earlier.
@@PassportTwo I remember my grandma had some for wen we kids sleeping...
I see you are renting so you probably don't want to invest in custom made, professionally installed, framed window screens. Maybe just for one or two windows? We just got these screens on 6 windows for just under 1000Euros. We haven't had a single bug get in since, and we leave our windows open all night long. Now for the missing screen door....You know who takes bug screens and screen doors seriously? The Australians. Their screen front doors are criminal-proof (with bars e.g.) and as secure as a regular door in Summer, and they're beautiful.
Ion water-softener are pretty much standard in European dishwashers since 50+ years. Most regions, especially those close to the alps have a lot of limestone in the water that damages the heating coils of dishwashers. One of the reasons why most cloth washing machines also work better if you use European washing products as those contain water softeners, or use specific water softeners as an addition.
Very interesting! Had no idea they had been around in Europe for THAT long! 😃
I have to ask, is it common to have whole house water softener systems since the water is so hard? Water softeners are pretty common in US homes so I would imagine that’s why dishwasher water softeners are not as popular. No need since all the water coming in the to the home is treated and softened.
@@pjschmid2251 not it is not very common, simply because the limestone is actually not bad for you, quite the contrary, it is an important source of calcium in the drinking water. The only items that are actually affected by limestone are the heating coils in dishwashers, washing machines and kettles, the latter can be cleaned quite easily, as can the faucets. So having water softeners for the whole house are an expensive installation, and not as easily maintainable as the built-in one of the dishwasher. Water softening installations in houses are also a potential source of germs as nasty as legionella, not something you want to have in your house.
We had the case recently with a legionella contamination in a nearby residential building due to bad maintenance and it took them years to have everything cleaned out as they eventually had to change all the water system.
@@pjschmid2251 Some houses have those systems, some not. Can't really tell a percentage. But I know from those that have one, that they often have problems. I certainly would like to not have a layer of lime deposits inside my shower.
and I forgot: not all regions are affected by limestone, that varies a lot depending where your water comes from.
Dishwasher salt is required for "hard" water (e.g. containing lime). but it always depends on the water hardness, which can vary in one place. you can ask the local waterworks (municipality/city) about the water hardness. We have "soft water", we don't need any extra salt.
We added bug screens to all our windows and our backdoor 2 years ago. Its so much better! - So now the house from 1934 is ready for the weather of the 21st century ^^ - But I guess it is cheaper to add screens to your awesome german windows, than putting these windows into an american home ^^
The old switches are probably just that - and it is strange that they didn't remove them when installing the new ones. As I said, I live in a really old house (my bathroom is in the old
pigsty *g*) and there are no old electrics left :)
You're definitely right about which is a less expensive fix! 😅
I never have seen this kind of switches and I have visited lots of old houses. If they don't have any use, they should be removed. Would be bothering me all the time 😅
@11:53 und @12:18 Kann ich bitte den zweiten Schalter bekommen? Es wäre sehr praktisch, wenn ich meinen Garten so einfach bewässern könnte. 🤣
😂😂
Nah, German houses don't have that many bugs.
The spiders take care of them.
We must have lazy spiders! 😂
@@PassportTwo They probably just got eaten by the really big spiders.
The curtain tracks are often built into the ceiling in homes built in the second half of the 20th century, so people just use what's already there. Older and newer homes tend to not have them and you can install whatever you want. In the olden days people were not necessarily rich enough to put curtains on every window because fabric was expensive. In modern homes, the rod becomes more and more popular. At least that's my impression.
About the window screens: In most areas we don't have huge problems with mosquitoes, so all the insects that are coming in are some flies and occasionally a wasp. Wasps will get out pretty fast if you have a window open. Most people I know who live in the countryside have come to terms about living with flies. They are all around you anywhere if you live near cattle farms. They have a fly swatter if they get too annoying and that's it.
Glass of wine with a drop of dish soaps rid of fruit flies and a sticky fly trap gets rid of the patrolling male flies. We currently have no problem with venomous spiders coming into houses (which is about to change, 2 venomous species entered Germany during the last decade)
Ants, meal moths, food bugs etc. don’t come if they can’t find a food source.
The occasional wasp or hornet might be scary to someone who is allergic, but there is always the option to buy insect screens and upgrade yourself, there are non-permanent ones.
another great video 😊
and those torches are great to light the grill ....
I do this as well 😅
The round things high up on your walls are covers for electrical distribution boxes. German houses used to be built with these boxes at places where the wiring changed direction to make it easier for an electrician to hook up new wiring. Houses with newer electrical wiring don‘t habe these boxes anymore.
i think the curtain rods actually look nicer, if you buy nice ones that complement your furniture and stuff... that being said, i only got tracks, and I would say it is easier to just take any fabric u like and sew those plastic things on to make it into a curtain, than to sew around big holes for a rod.
I agree! Most people do not have money for expensive, professional hang curtains today.
You could sit on a garden wagon and just scratch the stuff out of the cracks. I don't think I spend more time doing that than your guy with the blow torch. // There is no Culligan man in Germany! So the drinking water is not "soft" (aka salted). If your dishwasher is to do its thing really well, then it needs soft water. // Don't forget to put stoppers in the entrance holes for the curtain wheels after hanging!
The flamethrower is so much more fun though and makes me actually look forward to getting rid of weeds 😂
@@PassportTwo People have accidentally burned down entire hedges in their garden with this torches, often resulting in a funny article in the local newspaper.
The big round blends behind the wallpapers are for stove pipes. The house of my parents has central heating still some connections to the central chimney where added in cause my parents later wanted to add stoves. Those may not only exists in older homes so!
Have a blessed day!
So these curtain rails are more common in south-west Germany...
I don't use either of them myself, I stretched a steel cable from one side of the room to the other and covered two windows with it
These boxes hanging on the wall are mostly from old telephone cables, you would have to look inside
The circles on the wall are old "flush-mounted sockets", which is how the power cables used to be laid
The switch on the wall will be or was for the doorbell so you could turn it off
The second switch was probably a light switch...
The problem is that many houses in Germany are much longer than in the US and over time there is a lot built in but many are too lazy to remove the old stuff
Ist eine BLASS - Abzweigdose. Vielleicht sogar für den Feuchtraum. Normalerweise werden Abzweigdosen unter Putz verbaut. Manchmal, bei älteren Wohnungen/Häusern, werden Aufputzdosen benutzt um weiter Steckdosen oder Lampen anzuschließen.
Die hohlen rundenkreise sind alte Unterputz Abzweigdosen (für Strom).
Gut zu wissen! Vielen Dank 😊
just be careful while having fun with the blowtorch
iirc it right a gardener destroyed a city hall like this - while working over the years he damaged constantly the outermost layer of the building which was the heat resistant one and directly below was highly flammable stuff going across the whole building - so when he got too close to the damaged spot with the blowtorch...
have to look up the details sometimes though I think newer building arent allowed anymore to have this kind of fire protection
mfg
Olli
Haha, loooved the big bee! Especially when "it" tried to leave the house, bumping against the window and then, after numerous tries leaving through the other one. 🤣
I totally agree about the bug screens. Why does the US have them and not open their windows and here we don't have them and are obsessed with fresh air? And the do-it-yourself ones are a pain in the ..., at least when you have dated wooden windows with peeling paint. As for the insects, they are dying out, but, as far as I know, it is not due to climate change but excessive use of stuff like Round UP. Which is not really forbidden as far as I know. D blocked the law when the EU tried to pass it due to the lobby of the farmers and chemical industry, but I can be wrong.
About the awesome windows in D: I always wondered how one cleans the outside windows on the upper levels of houses in the US. A friend who moved to England has a window cleaner now (same in the US?) and she says, if she ever buys a house over there, she will for sure get German windows. 😂
Oh, and on an unrelated topic: why is the electrical wiring above ground in the US, when outside? There are so many floods and other natural disasters. Forest fires even get started by old electrical lines, they say. And then there are black-outs for millions of people. year after year. (That question is not meant judgmental at all. I just don't understand.)
All the best!
12:15
That one can break the door bell in old times. 😁
Like if you didn't want anybody ringing your doorbell, it would turn it off? 😅
@@PassportTwo Yes.
these big round wholes are for oven-pipes^^ - and small ones arecovered up switches and power sockets. (and 1,5% fat milk, to answer the question)
Blowtorches??? WTF! I have never seen people using a blowtorch in Germany to get rid of weed. // My parents had a dishwasher when I was a kid 40 years ago and yes we did have to add salt. // Window screens look awful. The are an insult. Learn to live with the bugs. // These protruding circles are strange. How old is this house? The upper one was the end of a cable box for light. You can clearly see that the circles are in vertical or horizontal lines, which is required for laying cables in German homes to avoid bad surprises. The lower one I have no idea. Could be a pipe from old coal ovens. But this is not normal for German homes. // The fun switch downstairs could be connected to the door bell. In the past, some people were so obsessed with having their good sleep they could turn off the door bell from the inside. Crazy, isn't it?
Many German houses have fly screens at the window frame. Especially in houses, close to a river, or lake.
I prefer an open window instead of air conditioning. High energy and maintenance costs - no thanks
hi donnie, for the first little box i `ve also no idea what it`s for, the circle plate you described right, the larger ones close an old oven access to thje chimney, the smaller one gives you access to the electrical system and the little switch was (long ago!) for turning off your doorbell! Michael/Hannover
Your presentation is so entertaining, as is the editing.
To come to those circles, the larger ones cover up old chimney flues where in the past coal or oil fired stoves have been used, the large circle in the kitchen would have been for the kitchen stove which doubled as cooking range.
The old switches seem to be left overs from a very old electric system in the house, the landlord clearly took a bit of a lazy approach and didn't remove these when renewing the electrical installation. The small covers are electrical junction boxes, in old houses these are all over the place.
In new houses all sockets and light switches will be wired toward one of the central ceiling boxes, in general also the point where you hang a lamp from or take power from if you have a false ceiling whit built in spot lights.
That old switch with the open contacts did look especially quirky and dangerous to me, it must be from the very early years of electricity and well over 100 years old. safe light switches are in use from the 1920s onwards.
Honestly, living in Germany all my life, I have NEVER seen anybody using a blowtorch against weed. Never!!! Maybe it’s a regional thing?
Then simply put an insect net in front of the window, it doesn't help one hundred percent, especially if you open windows everywhere and the grid just doesn't hold on some windows Because the glue thinks oh it's warm I'll just come off and the glue is just this a******** for it And there are fly traps others and the flying collected
Since electrical installation is highly regulated, the circle underneath the wallpaper thats on shoulder height should actually be a chimney access for a stove of some kind. The other little circles are - well you guessed correct there - electrical junction boxes. Mostly used to bring in power and connect multiple wires comming from your switches underneath to the appropriate light fixture.
Low fat milk or full fat milk?
How about … half fat milk? 😎
You can actually get four different percentages around our area - excluding ‘fresh milk’, which isn’t treated but basically ‘fresh from cow’ with way above 4% and is just cooled - and would be option five.
3,5% , 1,5% (sometimes sold as 1,8%) , 0,3% and even 0,1%
The last one though really is just white water.
We usually choose the 1,5er.
Full fat milk, if at all.
Milk is for calves, not us. ;-)
Err...I mean...why would I pay more for skimmed milk with 0.1 % fat, so basically white colored water, when I could have the good stuff with cream on top, where I have to shake the bottle to make the cream mix with the rest of the milk. Yum!
You know, these brown bottles from say Südmilch or similar. Don't know what your milk company's name is, but here in Ba-Wü it's Südmilch.
Non homogenized milk is the best imo. Lasts only for 2-4 days at best , before it turns sour in most cases.
So, not the H-Milch, the 140°C heated up milk that lasts a year.
Fresh one...really fresh milk. Have you guys already been to a Aussiedlerhof?
It's a farm with a shop, where you can buy organic veggies and milk fresh from the barn.
If not, you know what you have to do next...;-)
1) I’d prefer chemicals 😂 I’d be too afraid to burn everything down 🤦♀️😆
2) 👍
3) there’s a downside of our windows - we had a cat that died because he couldn’t escape our window 😭
4) we have totally different curtains 😂😂😂 with little „hooks“
5) ? Idk
Low fat or full fat milk: we’ve got the 3.5% fat milk 😂
Always love these funny elements in your videos (bee costume, washing the dishes) and start to smile / laugh! ;)
You already got a good number of comments!
The first box isn't 100% clear to me either, the closest guess would be an old telephone connection. (If the wire looks like a computer network cable, size wise, this may as well be an old telephone connection) The large round covered hole, could be some electrical connection, too. (Perhaps a metering device "Untermieter") However, in the earlier days homes used to be heated with coal / wood, of course it could be a connection to the chimney. But not sure about this one. The small round covers, cover electrical house wiring "220 VAC!!!" e.g. distributor access. German building code requires that electrical wiring is run perpendicular to the ceiling at a distance of about 30 cm from the top. Wiring run vertically in any angle other than 90 degree is not in conformance with the code. So whenever an extra outlet needs to be set up, the wiring has to come from the top in a 90 degree angle. In this way you wouldn't need a stud finder, there aren't any studs in a typical European houses anyway. Brick, cinter block or some other solid non flammable material is used. A electrician could locate the distribution cap and follow easily the wiring. (DIY non conforming wiring will pose a problems) As to the funky switches, they almost look like toy, low voltage switches to me. I don't think that your home predates WWII (left overs).
Perhaps, someone had a Dollhouse at some point and had 12 V or 24 V lights installed that would be switched on and off with these switches? If so, somewhere nearby, would be a transformer of some kind. Germany uses 220 VAC 50 Hz for house wiring, reducing the current @ same power requirements (smaller wire size), less voltage dips, however essentially more lethal than 110 VAC 60 Hz as used in the US. I guess, the US uses 60 Hz in an attempt to compensate for voltage dips.
Studies have concluded that the human body has an "impedance" (sorry for the technical jargon) of around 10 KOhms. In theory, this could allow a maximum current of 22 mA through the human body, almost certain to kill.
(*** I would suggest, you place safety caps onto the outlets where your child can reach ***).
Euro outlets are designed much different from US outlets, but are still not 100% safe. In contrary, US electrical system could allow 11 mA max on 110 V outlets, which can cause severe shock, but is less lethal.
The maximum current depends on a number of things, including footwear for one , but not limited to it.
Hope my thoughts will shed some light onto the dark areas.
Cheers
Obviously, there are huge differences between certain german regions. I live in the "Niederrhein" Region (Düsseldorf, Neuss, Mönchengladbach) since 1970 and i have NEVER(!) seen...:
a) a blow torch for burning "Unkraut" (neither in my house, nor in any neighbours house)?! Actually, i HAVE seen it in the Netherlands, where i own a house as well.
b) weird little boxes at the wall without having any function?!
c) any "hollow" plastic "things" in the wall?! Maybe, that is an old house and there had been changes to the electro installation somewhen or so?
On the other hand, our house in Mönchengladbach has
a) Air Condition (yes!) in the master bedroom and in the living room (it was WAY cheaper than i expected!) and also the energie consumption is not a problem. Even with our horrible german "Strompreise".
b) as well as screens in the master bedroom, in the living room and in the kitchen in order to avoid bugs and flies. You can get these at any "Baumarkt" (Hornbach for example), its neither very expensive nor very hard to install. Even if you dont own the house, i think, its a good decision to get these protections and keep the flies and bugs outside! Dont wait for the landlord to get active - he wont.
(Finally - i already have a Surfshark contract for many many years, but thats another story....).