Home extensions 2017 - Christmas is coming

[Believeitornot]

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Hello everyone,

just wanted to say whisky - very wise words!

believe We're in a similar position regarding the garden. I think we'll wait for Spring and try to build a small fund and get a clearer idea of what we actually want in the space. It will be a small garden so it needs to be functional and children friendly.

Husband started the painting in the kitchen today. He made amazing progress and I think he might be able to start building the kitchen cabinets this week. Eeeek!
See, counttotenandbreathe you guys are not alone in the whole building your kitchen yourselves ;) Good luck to us all!

Builder has finished plaster boarding the playroom (but not the downstairs loo) and plasterer will come tomorrow to do that room and hopefully the lounge as well.
I just hope and pray that they do all continue to work at the same pace til the end of the week.

Here's to having a productive week and a well deserved break from all the stress!

Arrgghhhh ❄️❄️❄️❄️ got in from work electrician had gone home, plumber god bless him was trying to get the heating to work!

The boiler wouldn't even fire! He rung the boiler support people they couldn't help. In desperation he rang his electrician friend who talked him through everything & the wires going in & out were the wrong way round! He put it right, we went for fish & chips so we're back!

The radiators are on the underfloor heating is on but it's obviously all taking a while to heat up!

It's bloody freezing! ❄️☃️⛄️❄️

Lovely message whatashower, Happy Christmas to you too! I hope you tell yourself to pull your own finger out and finish what remains of your renovation soon

I think I’ll take the advice of the people on this thread. Will get the patio done in March/April time. The rest of the garden can wait - we’ve had it designed so have an overall vision - but it’s fine as it is! We know what we want, it’s just a matter of cost.

Painter has been today and it looks different having the walls all white. No more change in the utility yet....

TeamRick, hope you warm up soon!!!! My toes froze from walking home in the cold.

Sounds like there is a lot of last minute work going on.

A quiet week for us as all the builders are already on their Christmas break.

Although there are odd bits to finish in January we are almost there.

Have been scrubbing and cleaning and slowly getting the house into shape for Christmas.

Managed to put up some lights and the Christmas tree yesterday.
Strange lopsided tree as most places had sold out. Never bought one this late before.

Removal guys are coming on 23/12 to move furniture back up from basement. Then I will have something to put Christmas decorations on.

Our renovated rooms no longer have window sills .... builders said it would date the property but am missing lining up candles on Them.

Slowly adjusting to the new layout. All is good.

Has anyone had problems with water when digging foundations? Our builders are still exposing this bloody pipe and all of a sudden they have water seeping up and it is not going away. I feel like it is all going a bit Grand Designs and expect to hear Kevin McCloud pronouncing in a doom laden voice.

The builders are concerned we have hit the water table and we still need to dig deeper for actual foundations. It all sounds like it could get expensive.

dust I think the silver flex. Haven't looked at that yet actually! Our foundations did fill with water but it drained. It was a stressful day! Fingers crossed for you.

Dust we had/have a low water table. Building regs were happy that the water was pumped out and then concrete poured. It was also really rainy outside when this all happened though so not sure how serious the problem actually was.

All the lights are now in!

The tiler has been muttering and complaining about the tiles. And he left an hour ago, leaving the (small) wall 2/3 finished and not grouted. I’m quite cross that he couldn’t stay to finish it.

He’s back Thursday!!!!

What's he got against your tiles believe?

Tiles are too fiddly and require lots of cutting because they’re not square or rectangle - they’re these

Head builder popped in after he had gone and I told him his tiler was a bit grumpy...!

Lovely tiles!

Thanks! They’re partly in so hard to tell but I like them.

believe tbh these ARE a bit fiddly, I can hear your tiler’s heart sink from here 😀 He would have been hoping against hope for a very large, square tile 🙀 But he will hopefully be enthused by their loveliness. I’d reward him with mince pies and lots of cooing tomorrow.

@whatashower I know they’re fiddly but when I asked him how he was getting on, he said he had manic depression as a result 🙈 and was actually quite rude. I did warn the main builder they’d be fiddly and did apologise 😬😬😬😬

believe I recognise the grumbling tiler. I think they are all trained in existential angst as part of their tiling diploma 🙁. It was another bad moment when our kitchen fitter, after muttering away all day and looking as miserable as sin declared he hated his job and was ‘ really’ a great musician but people just didn’t appreciate his talent and made me watch a video of his work (earplugs not included) 🙄

whatashower - That made me laugh! You poor thing! That's well beyond the call of duty!

believe - GORGEOUS tiles!

I am really hung over today following a work do, so I'm hiding upstairs trying to recover. Making a cup of tea for the builder was a major expedition this morning. Cladding is going on here. Cedar smells just amazing. Apparently it also deters spiders. WIN!

dust - I'm hoping you get some good news today. Encouraging that tatlerer had similar issues and they were solveable.

And rick - hope you're warmer now!

Hi everyone! Thanks very much for talking me down the other day, I was at a VERY low point, thinking it would never be finished. And TMI, but am also feeling low about my weight gain during the build - after many months of eating whatever crap is available, I have very few clothes that fit. It's very uncomfortable and making a big difference to my anxiety levels.

But anyway...

Bax - any sign of those worktops yet!?

Believe - those tiles are absolutely beautiful! They were on my shortlist at one point but after my herringbone floor drama I ended up getting the easiest tiles possible, to make up for it - nice large flat rectangles. The tiler was here yesterday today so hopefully he can finish them off and grout today.

Whisky - I know what you mean about layout changes - we now have a much longer walk to get to the utllity room than we did before. DS2 got a bit upset the other day as 'daddy disappeared!'. He just hadn't thought to look round the corner as it didn't exist before .

Devon I can't wait till the point where I can start scrubbing! (Possibly the first time I've ever thought that!) I'm expecting it to be a huge job as there's layer upon layer of dust in every crevice.

Got an update from head builder today - there will still be some minor jobs that need to be done in the new year, and a skip outside, but we'll at least have a working kitchen by the time they finish on Friday.

And @whatashower thanks for sticking with us, it's been really helpful having your perspective along the way, especially at times when I thought it would NEVER end!! Hope you enjoy spending Christmas in a house that's all yours!

Our tiler is fab. Although he was supposed to be in today but we've had to cancel him as our worktops don't go in until tomorrow! Annoying but it's not the end of the world!
Our snug is now painted a lovely dark blue. It's taken about 4 coats but it looks gorgeous and is now ready for carpet. No carpets until the new year but least it's done!
Bifolds are going in on Friday which I am so excited about!
I do feel quite happy with what we've got done for Christmas. As much as it would have been lovely to be completely done for Christmas, I wouldn't want to rush it.

Oh I forgot the most important thing- radiators are finally going in! I'm very jealous of all the ufh but we just couldn't justify it
Have a good day everyone

Mince pies all round! You guys are still so busy, lots going on. Flattered by namedys encouragement I have been thinking what advice I would give at this point, with most of you galloping towards a January-ish finish line.

I think that, when you are relaxed and curled up somewhere with a big gin and enjoying festive cheer, I would beg you to enjoy making some clear decisions - and even ordering - some peripheral/ boring finishing touches. Not the glam ones like pendant lights, but dull utility type decisions, and perhaps kitchen cupboard storage solutions. And resist the temptation to say 'lets think about that/sort it out after the builders have gone' or that you have total spending fatigue and wont shell out a single extra tenner on a superior finish.

When we were in the last weeks we ran out of steam on the attention to detail part and the builders just got on with it. As a result, on our side elevation exterior we have `(wait for it).....A black security light. A grey extractor outlet. A brown tumble drier outlet. And a white something else. Its sloppy and we will get around to changing it but you get my point. We also have a utility wall that looks like something out of Star Trek with pipes, levers, gauges all in front of an unfinished plaster wall that cant be easily boxed in. Its our bad as we asked the builders to leave it while we decided what to do. Of course we havent done anything and dont notice it now 😀

I had such joy obsessively organising my new cupboards, worthwhile thinking about that with New Year Sales coming up. Some of us started a storage porn thread somewhere which faded out but will try and find.

Believe the tiles are gorgeous! Sounds like your tiler might have been on his beeriod!

Namedy I'm sorry you're feeling a bit low. We could all form some kind of post-build health club??? As we've been living out my food habits haven't changed much but my goodness- the booze- and no we're well and truly into the Festive season there's no point in cutting down yet

namedy I feel ashamed. "Mince pies all round" wasnt the most appropriate greeting or response 😳. Am sure though that this is very normal, I was definitely comfort/microwave eating and drinking throughout the project. You will be back in control shortly and there is a definite post build euphoria/relief on the horizon so hang on in there ❤️

Morning all. I have left the head builder and electrician trying to figure out where we can put a door to the kitchen/diner. When we shifted all the kitchen around nobody really considered the door. It is a really awkward space and there is no easy position without it being narrow or getting in the way. The Builder is calling building control to double check if we need a door for fire regs. Electrician thought we did, but we think he might be thinking of 3 floor builds.

On the one hand a door is useful, on the order if we have no door we’ll have a really impressive view through from the hallway. And I won’t have to bang my hip off a door handle every bloody day because the space is too narrow.

I think they have come up with a solution of a pocket door if building control say we need one. But I had lost the will to live at that point. Sorry shower, I know you are counselling against that!