Anyone starting / in the midst of an extension?

[AalyaSecura]

I'm feeling in need of a support thread! We got planning permission for a big single storey extension 6 months ago, and are just finalising the builder's contracts after getting quotes (which were all at the top end of what we were expecting). So now we have lots of decisions to make before we start building proper - need to settle on kitchen, render, flooring, doors etc - as well as clear the madness that is our garage.

Anyone else out there?

Wow, we're considering a (I think it'd be considered a fairly) big, 2 storey extension, and you lot are making me feel nervous having read this thread!

Moving out - did you all move out? And for how much of the build?

I have a 1 yr old and 2.5 year old. I could go to relatives, but DS1 will have his 15 free hours by then, so don't really want to go far. Did you rent, or stay with others, or in a caravan in the garden like they do in Grand Designs?!

I have so many questions after reading this thread, this is just the first of many!!

Hi all,
We are in the process of buying our first house. Plan is to add a single storey extension and to remodel the downstairs.
Would love some advice and guidance.

John that's good progress. I don't blame the builders for reserving parking for a delivery. If they didn't they'd have to block the road while it happened anyway. Some people are so inflexible.

Noisygirls that's a big to do list for one day! Good luck!

Doje we aren't living there yet. Just bought it at the end of July. We stayed in our previous house which we now joint own with my in laws. They sold theirs last year in april and are renting while they wait for us to finish. It's costing an arm and a leg to pay both mortgages and rent between us but so worth it as means the builders can work quicker and more efficiently without working around us. And I'm a bit ocd so it would be hard to deal with the dust. Also we have a dog and the site levels mean that the only access to the garden for 8 weeks is down a ladder so not sure how we would let the dog out for a wee if we lived there!

Thanks dynevoran.
And doje may be worth making a new thread, but about moving out there are a lot of factors. Moving out could be really expensive (maybe try a holiday cottage in off season or something?) But the builders will charge more if they have to keep it livable for you.
Also think about how much space you can survive in. We are only a couple in a house, so we gave the builders the rear dining room and have moved into the front lounge for everything. The bathroom and toilet won't really be affected, and the kitchen will not be affected until the new kitchen room is watertight.
Upstairs they will probably make a mess in both big bedrooms later so we have moved into the small one.
Things have been helped by the fact we have a garage that won't be affected, so all non valuable, non damp sensitive junk has gone in there. And the rest of the stuff, clothes, etc we have in one of the big bedrooms and we'll probably end up wrapping it in plastic and moving it around a bit.
As a backup, next door of our semi go away for 6 months every year in winter, so they said we can use their house when we need while they're away.
So really it depends on what's happening, what you need, and how much you can impose on other people's hospitality. But I hope that's useful info!

Doje - we are doing total renovation and extension so really would have been hard to live in it. I've just been down to the house today and it is a bomb/building site. Hopefully it will all be done within 20 weeks where as if we had lived in it - well would have had to be done in stages and would have taken a lot longer.

It is expensive though - mortgage and then rent and double bills eg council tax.

Let's just say Christmas will be very low key this year.

I'm not sure how I missed this thread before!

We've been fully renovating our 1950s house for the last year (interrupted by DH having to go away for work for several weeks at a time) and all is pretty much now complete bar building two extensions!

We received PP for a single storey rear and a two storey front extension three weeks ago but will be leaving the two storey until the end of next year. Work has started on the rear extension however. DH has levelled the garden, put in all the sewerage and soak aways and dug out the foundations. All been approved by Building Control and concrete going in next week.

Apart from the plastering he's doing everything himself and says it'll all be done by Christmas.

doje I think there are pros and cons of moving out. Paying rent (even for a smaller house than we had before the extension) would have been about £1400/1500 plus bills so would easily have been £12k for 6 months. It was simply money we didn't have so we never a real choice for us.

Obviously it's been hard work living through it but we've usually seen the builders every morning and have been home every evening so queries can be addressed quickly and if they'd done anything we were unhappy with, we saw it immediately and it could easily be undone. I've also been here on my non-work days so have built up a friendship with them, made them drinks / sandwiches which i think has helped. They've gone the extra mile for us. We wouldn't have been here so much if we'd have rented elsewhere.

We are just at the early stages of planning a 2 storey side and rear extension. We need to knock down our garage and extend to include garage & lounge downstairs and new master suite & bedroom upstairs.

We're doing everything the wrong way round though as we just got new flooring throughout, have bathroom refurbishment booked for December and are also planning kitchen refurbishment, which involves narrowing a window and knocking through to the old boiler room! We also want to add a stud wall into an existing bedroom and insert an ensuite and walk in wardrobe, but this would mean adding a new soil stack and connection into the sewer with a trench through the patio, so not straightforward.

We will try to live in while building, but my parents are 10 mins away if necessary.

We have a builder and structural engineer coming round this week to give us some idea of costs and feasibility for all these jobs. We're on top of a hill, which may add some complication and ££££.

Might be worth getting the flooring taken up while the builders are in. Admittedly I told them we're replacing the flooring at some point soon, but you can't imagine how much dust is flying around and that's before the knock through! We gave them the dining room as their storage and site office, and there's a good layer of dusty mud! The area near the f garage out the back looks like a snow scene from them cutting the blocks for the walls. We've basically done small updates to the bathroom and loo, and finished one bedroom that they won't touch, apart from the carpet. But we're still bracing ourselves for the dust taking over.

Just joining for the moral support and information / experience of other survivors.
Two storey side extension planned, two small kids and a demanding job too.
Very early stages - we've got a builder in mind, and commissioned the working drawings, but haven't even had the proper site visit or measurements taken yet.
Part of me just wants to get it started NOW and the other part is dreading the upheaval..

Just to chip in on living in or moving out. We opted to stay. Too expensive to move out and fund the build which is coming in over our original budget. So far so good as they have sealed us into one side of the house while they work on the other. In other news have finalised kitchen layout and packed up 3 rooms! Had a major delivery of chipboard and other wood arrive which is exciting!

We had a builder round today and he reckoned they could do most of the build until knocking through without disturbing us. One entry into the extension would probably be through turning an existing window into a doorway, so that wouldn't be too much work or mess (although I definitely don't underestimate the dust there'll be). The other entry will be more complicated as it will need to be off the existing stairs to access the new rooms upstairs. Hopefully we could live in for most of the build and perhaps just have a strategically timed holiday.

Flossie I'll keep you posted as to what happens regarding dust when our knock through happens. Because of the unbelievably complex way everything is threaded together, they've actually slightly knocked through already, but only in a corner and they're rebuilding that in engineering bricks at the moment. Then I goes they'll put all the steel in and build up to roof level before any more knocking through. It'll be the whole dining room which we've abandoned to them anyway, plus the Back of the landing right next to the toilet and bathroom...
I think the real mess will be knocking form the chimneys that go through 2 bedrooms and the dining room and lounge. So basically our whole house. We're considering your idea of a strategic holiday, however we also want to check their work.
Does anyone else check and remind the builder or correct them on some details? Or just let them get on with it?

I totally trust my builder but he is very very good. And although we've moved out - we are only round the corner so I pop in every day to pick up post etc.

john we had the chimney breast knocked out a couple of years ago - separated dining room & kitchen and then 2 bedrooms, and then through the loft. It was just less than 2m wide and 1m deep. I'm not kidding when I say everything was under about 1cm of dust (and even where the rooms had been sealed up, it had permeated in). It was a mixture of dust and soot - so black. It was awful. If you can get away for at least a couple of nights when that is done I would recommend it.

We're about 7 months in to a big project - double storey extension and massive internal reconfiguration - all new wiring / plumbing etc.

Been in tiny rented house (kids, dog, cat) which I know we're lucky to have but just want to go home.

Still not got kitchen / bathroom fitted or flooring down but 1st fix electric and plumbing done.

Desperately want to be home for Christmas.

Bought carpets yesterday for upstairs and internal doors today.

Need to chose door handles and buy granite for kitchen and utility room - it's a never ending expense!!!

MrsCampbell you don't have to pay double council tax - you can apply for a rebate if your house is inhabitable due to major building works - this is what I've done - I'm only paying council tax on rented house.

Oh really Olly - I will phone them today - thank you!

Obv should have read uninhabitable!

Yes I think it's for up to a year - I had to fill out various forms and send pics - in theory they send an inspector round but with us the didn't - I think they checked with the building regs person who is visiting the works frequently plus we had recent planning permission etc etc. I've not paid council tax on home since we moved to tge rental.

Re council tax: check with your council.

Mine makes you pay , where as council 5mins walk away does not.

This has changed from what it was only a few years ago.

Unless someone can tell me different. Mine will be empty for a few months while work is done. I rang the council and they say I have to pay.

Thanks namechanged we'll think about the holiday. The problem is I want to check their progress regularly.
We just found out after the architect visited that the builder didn't put cavity trays and weep vents at the bottom of the walls. Apparently he's going to have to work out how to fit them in now that the walls are built half way up. The annoying thing is I asked the builder where the water would go from the cavity and he said there won't be any, now it turns out there might be!
Update wise, apart from that progress is good, apparently the steels will arrive on Monday and they have been making strategic holes in the walls and casting concrete pad stones in the holes for the steels. They said they will knock out the side wall soon so I've disconnected the socket on the wall and mounted it in a new back box on a piece of old floorboard. Otherwise they'll be without power for their tools!
Funny story is this morning they asked is to clear the existing kitchen worktop so they could make a hole in the wall. They said there "won't be much mess"!! Anyway you can see where this is going... So I cleared everything from all the surfaces and hid it all in boxes or cupboards and went to work.
When I got home they had covered the hole in the wall with some plywood and there was a small dusty area underneath, and the rest of the kitchen was as clean as in the morning! Result!

Double checked and still have to pay council tax here on both properties - the rules changed here on 1st April this year. Oh well.

Just got confirmation that we're starting in the first week of December! Not doing anything that will affect the inside until late January, so don't have to worry about trashing the house over Christmas, though the garden won't be looking too pretty! It's starting to feel much more real now!

Any practical survival tips from those in the middle or at the end?

Our is up to fitting the steels and first floor joists now. The only tip I have is to check the measurements of everything as if they don't have the exact information they'll adjust things to fit, and if you check in time they can sort out out.

And get good at drawing diagrams so they know what they're doing.

Also install google translate on your phone if they don't speak English much!

This thread dropped way way down the list, but I'm bumping it back up - we start tomorrow! Skip and builders' portaloo arriving first thing...