Anyone starting an extension imminently?

[Karcheer]

Ours has been a long time coming, planning permission was granted 18months ago, but our builders finally start on Tuesday.
Would be great to have some build buddies

I was here at the beginning of the thread - hello! Karcheer, husband works with bathrooms / kitchens and just chooses everything for me! I get no say lol! He does choose modern things though. I have got to say that the modern stuff has cleaner lines, it is easier to clean, especially if you have a steam cleaner. Matt tiles have been a good choice too.

Oooh gnome how does your bamboo floor look? Seriously considering that. Did you lay it yourselves?

Still not a lot going on here, waiting for planning on phase 2 still. Thinking ahead and planning kitchens etc to keep motivation up

Madblondedog bamboo floor looks very good. It took about half a day to fit. It is a clik fit rather than T&G so the joints are perfect.

This is the one we got. It took DH half a day to fit the room.

In fact we are now in our new sitting room now. It feels lovely and spacious.

Gnome have you put insulation/underlay underneath? If so which did you go for?

We're trying to decide whether to go for bamboo all the way through downstairs or carpet the living room and maybe the bedrooms.

We are ten weeks into a 13 week double extension. We still have to get the kitchen put in after that and decorate. I am losing the will to live! Also, despite having their very own portaloo outside, a builder was spending a very long noisy time in the only functioning loo today. I was cross!

I think I'm going to put in Lino or cheap laminate in our d/s shower room and family room rather than tiles because most of the existing house on the ground floor is tiled in the same tile. At some point probably in the dim and distant future I want to redo the kitchen and we will have to retile and I'll want to do the floors in the same tiles as I like that look. So I'm thinking if I do something temporary in the new rooms when we won't have to dig up tiles we've just put down.
This does mean i could end up living with something temporary for a long while...
Is this a good idea?

Madblondeog we have this underlay. The flooring looks very much like mid brown wood. It is strand woven so doesnt look like bamboo.

Thanks Gnome

I am currently testing the bamboo samples I have to see how easily they are damaged (quite a fun process)

Thinking its the way to go now, and possibly bamboo counter tops in the kitchen too

Sorry I've been so quiet.
Literally no progress on the build this week as we've been waiting on the steels to be installed, which will happen on Monday!
We are ordering the bathrooms tomorrow I'm still so unsure but the sale ends at the end of Feb so we have to do it tomorrow!
How are you all going?

First foundations started 11/1/16
As of today, as far as I can see (don't actually see the builders that often cos I am out at work), we are almost ready for 2nd fix electrics on the inside and render on the outside of the extension. Steps are complete up to the new back door.
We are waiting for the second window to be fitted (someone got the measurements wrong on the first attempt - not me)

I still have my sink/washing machine/drier - these were against the wall that was being slapped through into the extension so the builders have basically taken the wall away and left them standing in the middle of the floor! It's great, it's like having an island

My rangecooker arrives on 8th March, and the kitchen should be delivered that week too. I have been assured that the extension will be ready for fitting out by then! I may be a bit very, very, very excited.

I went to look at flooring today. The downside of a massive kitchen - at least £1200 for a Marmoleum floor But dh agrees that it's an investment and we are unlikely to have to do it again. I'm going to wait till the units and worktop are in, and probably live with it for a while, then decide on colour for floor.

Has just written her longest post ever on MN

First foundations started 11/1/16
As of today, as far as I can see (don't actually see the builders that often cos I am out at work), we are almost ready for 2nd fix electrics on the inside and render on the outside of the extension. Steps are complete up to the new back door.
We are waiting for the second window to be fitted (someone got the measurements wrong on the first attempt - not me)

I still have my sink/washing machine/drier - these were against the wall that was being slapped through into the extension so the builders have basically taken the wall away and left them standing in the middle of the floor! It's great, it's like having an island

My rangecooker arrives on 8th March, and the kitchen should be delivered that week too. I have been assured that the extension will be ready for fitting out by then! I may be a bit very, very, very excited.

I went to look at flooring today. The downside of a massive kitchen - at least £1200 for a Marmoleum floor But dh agrees that it's an investment and we are unlikely to have to do it again. I'm going to wait till the units and worktop are in, and probably live with it for a while, then decide on colour for floor.

Has just written her longest post ever on MN

Twice apparently!

Sorry!

We are sitting in our extension watching the rugby. The place still looks like DIY central.

We were chatting this evening discussing where the Christmas tree will go!

Once the sitting room is finished we will start thinking about the kitchen.

The dog is not convinced about the whole thing. He was giving us reproachful laborador eyes for sitting in the extension.

Slow but steady progress here this week.

UFH put in dining area, plastering downstairs started but still got a lot to go.

Decorator coming on Monday! Upstairs rooms and bathroom ceiling can be done now and then tiler starting on Wed. Cannot wait to see the tiles on bathroom wall finished. They were delivered last week and look beautiful. We went for 80x40 Calacatta Marble effect porcelain to walls with wood effect grey porcelain to floor.

Gnome I think you are v wise to plan Christmas Tree location. Your dog needs this time to get used to the change

Karcheer not sure why but the bathroom ordering was quite easy for us compared to everything else? Bath is in now but no panel as cannot decide whether to tile the side or not, ordered the new mirror and wall lights for it this week and sooo looking forward to having one of the rooms completely finished.

Have a great weekend everyone

aesops I bet your tiles are lovely! that's exactly what I'm thinking of (faux marble) for our room. Who,did you end up,getting them from?
I think the problem is doing 4 at once, and being indecisive about modern or traditional...

We are sourcing all tiles from Stonewood uk Ltd. For the Calacatta we chose smooth look instead of polished and they look v sophisticated !

It must be tiling week! I have just bought the tiles for the kitchen, utility room and downstairs toilet floors. None of these rooms have much in the way of natural light so we have gone for luna white.

The calacatta marble looks stunning.

Hi everyone,

I'm very behind you all in terms of progress.

Planning approved at the end of December for a double storey and kitchen extension. We finally agreed on a builder and confirmed with him at the end of January. He has now gone silent, we have asked for a start date 3 times in the last 3 weeks and no response.

What would you do? Hang on (his quote and quality of work is very good) or start the search again? I'm 20 weeks pregnant now so starting to lose hope that this build will be completed in time for birth.

If any one is in South London please feel free to recommend.

Rather fed up, waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

If the builder is good then I would hang on.

No, your extension is not going to be finished before your baby is born (congratulations by the way). Sorry!

Gah Gnome you are right! I know, realistically that the build won't be completed in time but the builder going silent is really peeving me off.

Not sure how long is reasonable to hold off? We've called once a week, leaving a message for the last 3 weeks (hope he's ok mind).

Thanks for congrats too. 2nd one but decided to make this pregnancy extra stressful.

DH has offered a different view on the builder. He suggests that you leave a message with the builder to let him know that you are starting to look elsewhere. Tell him that you really want him to do it but you cant be left hanging forever.

Yes my husband said the same. I'm just a pregnant, hormonal and impatient woman at the moment.

We'll give him another call and let him know we'll need to find someone else. Was expecting him to start in March (stamps foot)

Yahhh the annoying steels have been put up! Woo!

I'm at a very early stage - working with architects, yet to go through planning. Build to happen later in the year (fingers crossed) but I don't yet have a builder liner up.

Can I ask a question about your gardens and space please? I am quite invested in my back garden - I've put a lot of work into getting it looking nice, and I have quite a few rare plants. I really don't want builders trashing the whole thing. So I'm starting to move plants out so I can keep them and transplant them back in - this has to be done now for a lot of things, before bud break. How much clearance room should I give the builders beyond the end of the notional extension? I obviously want to move as few plants as possible.

shovetheholly are you having a ground floor or two storey (or more!) extension?

If ground floor then a couple of metres back from the extension to allow for a tower, ladders etc. If it is a two storey extension then you will need to allow for scaffolding, plus step off space so say 4 metres back.

Allow a good sized area for things like cement mixer and bricks/blocks etc to stand for the duration. You will need to allow space for the spoil to go during the digging out for the foundations. Discuss this with your builder and either put a tarpaulin down yourself or ask them to.

Our extension was ground floor only and we didnt find the disruption to the garden too bad. Obviously the plants which were under where the extension was to go had to be moved and we have lost the plants immediately around the base of the extension (no more than a half metre's depth back from the extension). Otherwise generally no harm done.

Our builders were tidy and as there were never more than two on site at any one time they didnt get in each other's way and need to tread on anything which we didnt want them to tread on.