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.

Ahhh, namedy you have got my on my nerd subject of the week!

I have done some RESEARCH into this.

Well, I Googled it. That counts, right?

So, from what I can work out, paint has stuff in it to make it gloopy, and stuff that gives it colour. When they make DIY paints (non-trade ones), they basically think everyone is incompetent, so they make it with something called "false body", which is basically a gloopifier that makes the paint easy to pick up and work with, so inexperienced people don't drip it all over the carpet. When they make a trade paint, they assume that people know what they are doing, so they use "true body", which basically means loads of pigment, so you get more opacity.

The diamond finish is supposed to be reaaaaaallly tough, very wipeable etc.

So I'm going for trade with diamond finish.

whiskyowl this is what the quote includes.... he said it’s everything up to a plastered finish, but no floor coverings, painting and doesn’t include the cost or fitting of a kitchen ...

Thanks whisky, yours is the definitive word in all things paint-related. Diamond it is!

Can I just check that applies to bathrooms as well? Or is there a special moisture-resistant version?

And PupPup cost aside, that quote isn't particularly detailed. Having a super-granular quote (based on the architect's tender doc) has actually saved us lots of money and hassle. I'll share an example of the level of detail we had...

Namedy

You need a mould resistant additive for bathroom paint, or go for bathroom paint, which is quite shiny. The additive just mixes into whichever paint you’re using.

Now I'm having anxiety about having the definitive word! What if I'm totally wrong?!

pup - that quote seems remarkably cheap. It's less than £1000 a square metre! Agree with what namedy says about getting more detail. If this is a forever-home type of deal, consider an upgrade from UPVC to aluminium perhaps? Also, DO budget out the second fix costs now because they can be £££ and you don't want to be stuck with a shell you can't finish for ages. It's a ballache, but work out a cost for wall and floor finishes/kitchen if you need one/any more detailed electrical/plumbing work.

And agree with whatthefox about bathroom paint. Other stuff does attract that horrible black mould. I didn't realise you can just get an additive - that's great news!

whiskyowl i completely forgotbthe other question I had... the sizes he has put includes the whole footprint of the existing house! I didn’t know if that was usual. The actual square meters of the extension part is 32sm so it works out at £1906 a square meter

Ahhhhh, that makes more sense. I was thinking it sounded ridiculously cheap! Normally you list the dimensions of the additional bit of the extension, not the entire house. It might be worth querying it, to clarify whether he's written something down incorrectly. We spent quite a few weeks going back and forth with the builder over details - I think he got a bit sick of it, but it means that we are on the same page wrt costs now.

Somewhere around £2k seems about ballpark right now. Do get another couple of quotes if it will set your mind at rest - there can be quite a big (inexplicable) difference in price!

Do we think the builders have put enough supports in?

@DustandRubble

Better safe than sorry ours didn’t and we’ve got cracks upstairs as a result!

Like @NamedyChangedy we had a lot of detail in our quote. In fact we went for the builder who gave the most detailed quote.

What kind of radiators are people going for? I like the look of tall narrow ones but not sure how good they are.

Definitely better to be safer! And some of them need to come out or move when the top beam slides in so they need enough to compensate.

With tall skinny rads, I know that PigletJohn reckons they're relatively inefficient, as they're mostly heating the ceiling. I went for them anyway, as I'd have nowhere to put my furniture otherwise!

A friend just had the Screwfix Acova ones installed, which look amazing in her Edwardian house, so that's what I went for. I'd hit decision fatigue by then so didn't agonise over that one too much, unlike everything else!

whiskyowl

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DISTURB WORKMEN HAVING LUNCH
Its their private time, and they will usually make it clear they dont appreciate interruptions.

We found a huge supply of biscuits mid-morn and afternoon to supplement tea was, however, hugely appreciated amd directly linked to productivity and enthusiasm.

On our next project, 'biscuits' are going to have their own line entry in our budget spreadsheet.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes same issue for us. Looking at the space we don’t have a huge amount of wall space as we are getting a stove as well (very excited about this) so tall radiators free up room.

The extension is quite well insulated so I don’t think we’ll need loads of radiator output so I’ll probably just get the ones that fit as opposed to the right output.

I’m still agonising over the light fitting for the dining area. The ceiling is vaulted ie slanted and John Lewis were incredibly unhelpful when I asked if the fitting I liked could work on slanted ceiling (the response being “i don’t know ). It’s the last light to choose.

Hahahaha! Yes, the digestive bill has gone up tenfold!!

I have a kind of modern version of column rads in my house, from a place called Mr Central Heating. The raw metal finish is really nice, but they also do a white and an antique finish which looks awful on the website but is surprisingly nice in real life for a period property. You can also get all kinds of funky colours for a pomo scheme:

www.mrcentralheating.co.uk/radiators/column-radiators/horizontal-radiators-colours-from-stock-raw-metal-lacquered

However, I just don't have space for such a thick one in the study, so I'm going to have to go for a vertical. Soak have some nice ones, and they also do a BTU calculator so you can check you have enough heat output for your room (won't stop the ceiling-heating issue, but if you have plenty of oomph hopefully you won't be cold).

soak.com/info-btu-calculator

Gah now I have radiator envy whisky. I shouldn't have looked.

Yes, but yours are positively svelte and sleek by comparison namedy!! At least you have the extra space. I'm actually stressing a bit about how wide they are because I bought them before the extension was even under contemplation, and now I'm going to need to put one right by a doorway and I'm worried that it's going to make it reaaaaaally narrow!

THanks whisky I’ll take a look. I’ve been eyeing up the soak ones and now can check out the other site!

Are my builders the only healthy ones? They keep saying no to biscuits and referring to their weight. Or they just don’t like the ones I buy. :-)

Blimey Tika! Mine seem to exist on pizza, KFC, Greggs and red bull!

Mine don’t seem to eat biscuits but are partial to sunflower seeds. Maybe they are hamsters?

We live close to a kfc drive through and a McDonald’s drive through, we constantly have takeaway containers and they love a biscuit!

Although we do have a sandwich shop order written on our wall and it includes tuna salad 😂

Ps I did make them bacon sandwiches when I had a kitchen!

Same here Tika! We leave out all these biscuits but they don't eat them. Yesterday one of them commented how much sugar there was in shortbread . I'm thinking about putting out a fruit bowl instead .

Fruit bowl sounds like a good idea. To be honest I quite like it that they care about their health. I only bought the biscuits for them so keep offering to get rid. :-)

DH and I were just saying this morning how much healthier our builders are than the ones we remember as kids. None of them smoke, none are obese, and they eat salad for lunch!! They're also really clever - not only can they build a bloody house, which is more than I can do, they can talk about macroeconomics, the modern university system, the publishing market... you name it.