Home extensions 2017- the one where all builders are dickheads.

[monkeyfacegrace]

Link to the old thread.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2847599-Home-Extensions-2017-come-along-on-the-journey

As you were ladies.

Bax, I don’t know how I missed the handle. 😀 Copper looks great!

Whisky, oh no... is that 1950s??? You’ve made me feel a lot less confident about it now. 😃

I wouldn’t be too concerned about an established grass, it’s amazing how it recovers. I can’t even thinknabout our garden at the moment... it’s a total mess, I love having the space (for the kids and animals mostly) but I’m not very green fingered and with an ugly chicken run it will always be quite... laid back. 😀

Sorry I stopped reading for a bit as our extension is still on hold and all the reading was getting me down, I really don't think looking at those plans it will make any difference moving that door and looks as though it will line it up more with the one opposite. The doors are going inwards so that makes no difference but will really make the space more useable.

Wow I’ve not been here in a while (started a new job and got sucked in then the thread fell off “I’m on”).

Anyway, monkey, awesome re the kitchen! Fabulous!

We are crawling along. Sliding doors go in this thurs 😍 kitchen should be delivered the following week and have booked the worktop templating in for the week after. But the builders have slowed down as the kitchen won’t be in for a while.

tika - yes, I meant in a good way - was thinking of that lovely bottle green that was used a lot as an exterior paint on garages etc - don't think they used it in the kitchen generally, as 50s interior colours seem a lot more pastel!! (Very on trend right now though not my cup of tea personally either).

I have a really bad cold and am struggling with lighting issues today. Why does everything to do with electrics have to be so complicated?! There are about 5 spotlights of the kind I want, all of them very slightly different and I am getting very confused.

whisky sorry you're feeling ill. I hate lighting with a passion. Although we have actually nearly picked our lighting which is a small miracle. Several parts of our old house had rubbish shades because we couldn't find something else we agreed on in the 7 years we lived there (!).

My new pet hate is taps. Why are there so many incredibly ugly taps out there?! We need four and I think there are about eight in the world that are the right size and not hideous.

Glad I'm not alone glorious. Feeling under pressure today. I know how much electrics can make or break a space, and I don't want to screw this up.

I know what you mean about taps too. BIL has one of those ones with a pull-out hose and it is brilliant - Franke Arena I think. I am torn between total desire to get one and concern at spending £350 on a tap!

Hi everyone - glad to see lots of progress, and magically-appearing kitchens! What an amazing surprise monkey!!

I also escaped for half term week, and have to admit shed some teeny tears on our return. It was truly disheartening to come back to our chaotic dust-fest after a week in pristine luxury. Hopefully not long to go now though.

On the plus side, our glass roof appeared while we were away, so clearly the supplier hasn't done a runner as I feared! I'm glad we went for white rather than anthracite grey - with the room's size and ceiling height it might have felt like it was closing in on us. Hopefully the doors will be in soon too, especially now it's freezing.

Our DIY Kitchen also arrived while we were away, so there are boxes EVERYWHERE - meanwhile there's still plasterboard to be put up and floors to be put down.

Believe - hope the new job is going well? And did you ever get your leaky roof sorted out?

And John that's encouraging to hear about your garden's survival - ours is pretty much a muddy hole right now, but will give it a chance!

I am currently hiding in my bedroom listening to all sorts of building noise. I am not entirely sure what they are doing. I need to try and catch up with lead builder to ask about where we are with timings. I should probably give up hope of Christmas at home and book in with the in-laws, right? There’s surely no way I could have a functioning kitchen by Christmas.

I think I’d try and avoid the stress of hosting Christmas this year if I were you dust ! You will really feel the pressure if even the slightest delay happens and be super stressed.

Lovely to see all of your progress and what amazing friends you have monkey

Re electrics and lighting, everyone try not to get too stressed. Remember things like pendant lights can be changed later on. I tend to go as simple as I can with lights, as I want them to complement rather than fight the furniture. I look for statement lighting for large open spaces with little other furnishings eg large staircases, hallways etc. I recommend lots of sockets including usb sockets.

Please spend a little money on good quality taps. They will be turned on and off a million times, they need to be robust. I’ve had good luck with taps from hansgrohe, franke, blanco, bristan and Samuel Heath in the past. Yes some of them are very expensive but bristan isn’t.

Good luck and drying thoughts for this week everyone!

I was so looking forward to Christmas at home though whatthefox. Just us & the kids, doing our own thing. But if I don’t have space for a Christmas tree then it ain’t happening. And my in-laws are lovely and will ply me with booze.

Eek they're cutting it fine Dust - have they said you'll be in by Christmas? They'd probably need to start working evenings & weekends to catch up, or get more labourers in to help... Hope you get on well with your in-laws!?
Watching with interest as I may be in a very similar position...!

A Christmas finish was always unlikely as soon as our start date got pushed back over a month due to reasons outside everyone’s control. I just haven’t had a proper chat to see what sort of stage we will be at and whether a basic Christmas is possible or not. I’d be quite happy coping with our current situation and having an alternative Christmas dinner but with no space for a tree I think the kids would find it a bit of a let down.

I get the pressure over Christmas, but the extension is for a loooong time, whereas Christmas is over in just a few days. If you can get it done well by putting on some time pressure, it is worth it - but it's not worth cutting corners. Can you have an outdoor tree instead dust? And perhaps a mini personal one each for the kids' rooms? I remember being a child while an extension went up, and you just sort of accept it far more readily actually than adults do - I'm sure in a house full of love they won't really notice/mind a bit of an "alternative methodology" this year. All that said, if an escape from the dust and bother is what is called for, your in laws sound great!

whatthefox - I think one thing that's stressing me is that so far I've been dealing with a builder who is really clued up - a really bright guy who is a great communicator, one of the new breed of tradesmen who has a degree, marking experience, the works. My electrician is much more traditional. He'd never seen a trimless recessed spotlight before and there has been harrumphing over the price (which I am paying!) and the faff of fitting them. I've been told I want fish in the pond next to the house (I don't) and I need a filter and a socket for this (I don't because I'm not having fish). I am struggling to get him to listen - I need his advice on whether I'm choosing the right type (there are lots of permutations), and I really don't get the impression he has properly looked at the data sheet I have given him. That kind of thing makes me nervous.

It's the detail of fittings that is awkward. I have a flight of 3 steps from the dining room to the garden room, and I want some subtle ambient lighting for these that can be on all evening, to ensure that we are safe trotting up and down them. I would ideally like a recessed, trimless floor-washer that just casts a bit of light downwards. I found one by Astro, then discovered the it has an integrated bulb - and as it's plaster-in, that could be really annoying. Found an alternative one (the Tornado TF41), but it uses a weird specialist bulb, the Osram dragon eye), and I'm now going all around the houses trying to find out exactly how bright it is, and exactly how it lights so I can figure out exactly where it needs to be placed. I don't want to have to revert to more traditional wall lights, but I have to admit at this moment it would make life a great deal easier.

whisky your Builder is above par but your electrician is most definitely subpar! There is absolutely no reason why your requests cannot be met, they aren’t complicated and any competent electrician would not shy away from this and give appropriate advice. Do you need to continue with this guy? If you do switch, be aware that he won’t issue an electrical certificate and another electrician will need to recheck all his wiring. So not so clear cut what to do here.

With regard to a low light, you want to check the lumens of the bulb. A 25 watt bulb is less than 300 lumens and should be a good low level for lighting the way. I wouldn’t go any higher.

Hi ladies

I’m glad everything is moving forwards for you all. Monkey your surprise kitchen is gorgeous!

I’m after some guidance/info.

As our extension was fairly standard and we had a clear idea of what we want, I got the drawings done by a technician recommended by a builder we spoke to. They’ve gone to planning for a legal certificate (planned development). He is also doing the prep for building regs. What do I need to go to builders for quotes as we don’t have an architect for that? I’m aware it needs to be as detailed as possible and I’ve done drawings for electrics & heating. Is there anything else I need? Many thanks

We have the drawings for building regs 4years. It shows materials, sizes, specs etc so the builders know exactly what they are building with and to what specs.

Good catch up with the builders today. We should have the foundation & column steels in this week, then the big massive top beam beginning of next week. There’s quite a lot of work to do getting them in but so far it is all going to plan. The chimney breast removal wasn’t quite as straightforward as we would like. The chimney is just full of loose bricks so they are securing it all. It is quite a sight! But they were working non stop today and got that basically finished off.

We ran out of tiles this morning but they then arrived this afternoon after the roofers had left!

I had a long chat with the builders, which was really useful. We’ve sorted out how big we’re having the snug and the entrance into our new bedroom.
Finally they’ve sorted the steels out for downstairs and how they’re doing it.
The breakthrough happens on Friday so it’s all getting a bit serious now!

That all sounds pretty exciting *bax!

All this talk about being ready for Christmas is making me nervous!

Never in my wildest dreams did I think we wouldn't be but now I'm not so sure! 😱

@Whatthefoxgoingon thanks re the lighting tips. We’ve got to decide and I’m just going with plain lights which suits dh. Also some of the more fancy ones look a nightmare to dust

@NamedyChangedy new job is stressful. So much so that I’m keeping one eye on the job market. The place is so disorganised and I’m finding it hard to work out what the hell is going on. The leak was fixed but also turns out the soil pipe also needs fixing as that too is leaking. Which is an issue as it will be boxed in inside the kitchen 😷 have you peeked inside the kitchen boxes yet...!! Ours is coming sometime next week. NEXT WEEK IS NEXT WEEK!
Sorry it’s just hit me that’s not far away

However as for being ready for Christmas @TeamRick I’m in the same place as you. I had originally thought we could make it by the beginning of December for DD’s party (she wanted one at home) but a recalculation of worktop lead times has made me realise that this isn’t possible. So, super Mum here has found an entertainer and hall and booked them pronto instead. That’s several hundred pounds down the drain but takes some stress away.

I have booked in the worktop templating for the week following kitchen delivery and they probably won’t have it made for another possibly 2-3 weeks after that (it’s a bespoke glass recycled worktop).

As for taps. Yes there’s no point getting cheap ones. Made that mistake for our last utility room in our old home and it was gone in a month.

Will probably get a pull out tap as we’re going to have a double sink (so we can hide the washing up in the second bowl instead of cluttering up the island). Need to choose soon before the worktop templating happens.

Once the kitchen is done, the builders will then rip out the old one - we’ve been so lucky to have cooking facilities all this time!

I've always bought Bristan taps and that's what I've got the the kitchen but I had my head turned by this baby when we were in Ikea on Friday for the utility room. It was 10% of the price of the units! 🙄

Anyone else got one?

Waves to Believe! I don't know how you've managed to start a new job in the midst of all this!

I feel I'm clinging on to the one I've got! Lol! Always in the same few clothes, always covered in dust! Distracted & tired from sleepless nights worrying about stuff!

I am full of admiration!

Ha thanks @TeamRick although I’m slipping in other areas of life. I didn’t think the extension would still be going at this stage... (how naive).

I am not sure where the stress is going. Perhaps to my waist as exercise has slipped and food intake has massively increased

We’ve finally sat down and sorted where we want plug sockets. We have a grand total of 28 😂😂😂

I have this tap.

Beautiful isn't it.

Silent, smooth, 5 year no quibble guarantee. Ceramic replaceable components. Very heavy. Used in £40k + kitchens.