Support thread for those living in the chaos of building works

[shebird]

So we are in our fourth month of building extension works, new kitchen and bathroom. I thought I had planned and prepared for the work and the upheaval but I didn't realise that the whole process would nearly drive me mad.

It's the little things, like someone being in your space 5 or 6 days a week. One day I was on the loo with someone in the loft overhead and someone else drilling through the floor underneath, it felt like I was being attacked and I just couldn't go. The endless tea making, even though I've said help yourselves you still get the expectant look. How can they have so many bloody sugars in their tea without their teeth falling out? The constant mess, no matter how much you try and clean dust just gets everywhere. The endless problems, decisions and phone calls at work and late night conversations with DH about tiny details that you obsess over. The trades or deliveries that say they are going to arrive on a certain day, so you arrange everything and then you get a call on the day to say sorry love it will be next week. Builders scratching their heads and whinging that a walls not straight or that a jobs worse than they thought trying to add to the mounting costs and having to be tough when a quote is a quote.

And I know it will all be worth it in the end but in the meantime it's making me feel slightly crazy. Am I alone?

We're about halfway through a kitchen extension and loft conversion. It's no longer fun having no kitchen. It also feels like every room in the house is affected (stuff being stored etc). I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end!

Oh shebird I so feel your pain. Our extension started in September and finished in March. It was not fun.

DD 'lost' her bedroom and was sharing with DS. On the day the builders knocked through we came home to find that the lintel over the doorway into the extension had pushed mortar through the wall into DS' bedroom. Now that room was going to need work too.

The tackers worked a full weekend in December. Naturally, they had all the windows open (and were smoking out of them). We were confined to the dining room and kitchen for a whole weekend and it was bloody freezing.

Then we woke up one morning to find the garden wall had collapsed onto teh pavement. Then we found out it wasn't built properly to begin with (not part of the extension but affected by it). Then we found out that to replace the wall with a fence would need full planning permission.

The carpenter was very nice and made sure the door to the extension was put in place on Christmas Eve so we could use the living room over Christmas. Sitting on plastic picnic chairs in our own living room seemed like such a luxury.

Luckily we had booked at the local pub for Christmas dinner.

Packing all the builders mugs away at the end of the build was heavenly. We managed to get through 8kg of sugar during the build (we never noramlly use any).

Then there was the afternoon that DH spent in Urgent Care after the electrician sliced through his finger...

It sounds so cliche but it has been worth it. It has been (only just) less stressful than moving and we have the house exactly as we want it. Despite our little moans, all the trades were brilliant and we would use all of them again if we were stupid enough to do any building work in the future.

....and the planning permission for the fence was approved yesterday.

You will get through it and it will be a dim and distant memory in a few months.

Wine helps.

Sounds like an exciting project Thunderboltkid

For preparation I had a huge clear out of the whole house and garage to make sure we had plenty of storage when it was needed. Pack up and store as much as possible especially precious things or furniture that might get knocked.

It's also a good idea to have a clear out of places where they will need access to things like fuse boxes, boiler, pipe work etc. It is amazing where they need to get to for wiring or pipes that you are not expecting. I once came home to find the contents of the airing cupard emptied onto the landing, it hadn't been cleared out for years plus the floor boards in DDs bedroom ripped up . Try to work with the builders to ensure they give you notice of the next steps and any upheaval.

Have back up plans for mealtimes, when things get chaotic or when you have no facilities. I did some batch freezing and managed with a microwave and slow cooker plus the odd take away for a few weeks.

Other than this stockpile tea, sugar and loo roll