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.

WOW! Amazing kitchen fourmagpies. And yes, I can see the sparkles!!

I want to do one of those heart eyes emoticons, but I don't know how!!

Worktops are gorgeous! I get such kitchen/clean house envy!!

The dust is doing my head in!!!

On the subject of dust... when does it start to get better?! After the knock-through? After plastering? When should I stir my lazy ass into gear and start hoovering frantically?

We're plastered now and the dust is still intense but maybe I need to hoover 10 times a day?!

I reckon once the builders are gone.

Really lovely kitchen, nice to see things nearing completion as it gives me hope!

We still have lots of dust, the floors aren't finished which doesn't help and they're really dusty so it gets walked through the house.

Ooh sky lights are fab whisky. 3m is huge! We have a 2.5x1.5 metre roof light in our kitchen and I love seeing the clouds float by as I sit on the sofa below it!

I have had a shitty day. Loads of people here when I got home so a bit manic but that was fine. Then the plumber parked on our drive and because there isn't currently much light out there DH tripped over a pile of tiles and hurt his arm badly. He went off to A&E an hour or so ago as he was worried it was broken. Luckily it's just badly bruised or maybe chipped but it was still not great. The electricians wanted to close off so were here for ages and then one of them kicked the pipe our plumber had just put in for the new hot water tank and water pissed all over the eaves so DH had to sort that out quickly but the loft is soaked. Now my tumble dryer isn't working and we spent 90 mins sitting in the kitchen in the pitch dark while the electricians sorted out the fuse box (they kept saying it'll only be another 10 mins . Oh and the outside lights that they promised would be here today aren't so we have to get them back to put those up. Argghhh!

I feel your pain fourmagpies. I have no idea how you get dust up from a concrete floor! There'll be weeks between them finishing and the new floor going down!

My floor being grouted today, I'm sort of hoping that might be the end of a lot of the dust!

I'm going to Hoover as many times as I can over the weekend! We have a brand new Dyson animal to start using once it's all gone so poor Henry is on his way out! 😛

titsy- oh my Lord, what a concatenation of shite you had chucked at you yesterday. You poor thing, and your poor DH, injured and dealing with a bloody great leak.

I think every build has a black day, but yours sounds spectacularly awful. Hope today is a flyer by contrast and that everything goes well. Have a bottle of wine tonight.

Thanks whisky, yes it wasn't the greatest of days! We also realised this morning that the central heating was no longer working. I thought it was a bit bloody chilly overnight! Anyway DH had words with the builder who has called up to complain at the various crappy contractors. Plumber is coming today to fix leak then back on Monday to finish. Electricians are coming back on Monday.

I have opened the first window of my prosecco advent calender so will be glugging that down at about 6pm tonight!

I hope everyone else is getting on well and has a restful weekend free of dust and mess (yeah right! )

at prosecco advent calendar! Enjoy. You'll be toasty warm by this evening, hopefully, once that boiler is back up and running.

Big old knock-through is happening today - a new doorway from dining room to the new kitchen area, and a new back door! The latter is the only thing in the entire building project I feel really nervous about - it's pretty close to the corner of the house and I'm obsessively poring over the structural engineering drawings to make sure everything is OK!!

Seriously, the dust gets everywhere! If anyone knows an easy way to get plaster dust out of an oiled wooden floor, please tell me. I never found a way to go this without serious hard graft. Some builds I never managed to get all of it, it got right into the grain and we needed to refinish

Prosecco advent calendar you say? I’ve missed a trick this year! hope things improve rapidly for you titsy No house build in the history of mankind has survived without a Black Day of Woe. Really hope the heating is back on soon.

whatthefox- you are always so well-informed and so full of excellent advice that I hesitate to suggest this as I am sure you already tried it, but have you used woca soap on your oiled wood, followed by woca oil??

I have oiled oak and this worked when it got very dirty before. I kind of wish I hadn't chosen an oiled finish to be honest, though. It's a lot more work to maintain!!

Haven’t tried Woca yet whisky, have been using blanchon. I will give it a go!

The soap is great stuff. It's like a floor version of washing powder for very sensitive skin. Doesn't strip the oils, but lifts the dirt. The oil is more of a PITA to apply - needs a lot of rubbing in, and then takes a while to cure. Best done just before you're away for a weekend or something!

Titsy - I hope things are better today?

Just Back from my weekly check of the house.

2 bedrooms painted and the kitchen painted! Bathroom fully tiled and bath and shower base in. Painters scurrying around all over the house.

It is all go over the next 10 days with an end date of 12/12.

Not the 31/10 as originally "promised" but pre Christmas is perfect.

Been to buy kitchen (over the island) lights and bar stools today. Much prefer spending my money on those rather than boring old hearing pipes.

Hope everyone had productive weeks.

We've finally had our flat roof done on our single storey bit.
We had a lovely chat with our builder so we know where we're going. We've told them that we want to prioritise our kitchen and bathrooms. We're not going to be done for Christmas but we'll be on the way to completion (inside at least)
Our kitchen is being fitted tomorrow and new windows in the old part of the house.

We used woca soap and oil on our last oak floor and it was great. I found the oak floor ok in terms of maintenance - only had to re-oil once after the cleaner accidentally used the wrong stuff to clean it. It survived DS pouring black paint on it and then rubbing it in with his hands....

Waiting for the worktop fitters to arrive...... getting quite excited.....

Wahay that's a great update devon - good that they're getting on with things without you looking over their shoulders. Ours are going to have to work weekends from now on to fit everything in.

We're painting here too. I had some nerves over paint colours as I ended up choosing the same colour for the entire ground floor, but it looks great so far. I went for a Dulux Diamond Matt as it's meant to be very washable - exactly what we need with two jammy-fingered munchkins running around.

That's great news about the kitchen bax, good that your builder is being flexible.

magpies your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous. What more is there to be done??

Oh some positive updates today, brilliant!

Even I have a positive update! The fabulous contractors who have laid my floor tiles ( beautifully I must say)
Have only cleaned the bifold doors inside & out! They've taken all the sticky stuff off as well! They look amazing! I'll take some photos tomorrow in the light!

The building gods have smiled on me today! 😀😀😀

The stone guy who came to do the worktop templating pointed out that my plan for taps wasn’t going to work as they’d be too close together. He’s going to cut the holes on-site when he comes back to fit them, so I have a week and a bit to decide.

We have a 1.5 bowl sink, a pull-out mixer tap and a boiling water tap. Is anyone doing similar?

TeamRick what awesome guys. You deserve some good luck. Well done!

Namedychangedy - sound the same as our plans. What did he say the problem was? Curious?

Sorry to those having tough weeks - and yay to those having a bit of good luck!! To those who have started the knock through, I'm jealous and dreading it at the same time.

Our builders didn't turn up yesterday, which is typical as it was the day that our wood burning stove was delivered. Can me and DH move it into garage on our own? Course not...