Home Extension thread 2018

[Baxdream]

Thought we should get the new thread ready!
Our front door is in. Long story but it arrived damaged 😫 it's in and lovely but it's going to be replaced!
Our fencing has started today, the short ones are new, the others are getting ripped out

Yay for a new thread! Sorry about the door 😞

New thread placemark

Yup Sorry about the door - I was thinking the other day if I had a tenner for everything that had arrived damaged or just plain wrong or not arrived at all I'd be able to pay for the bathroom!

As for the washing machine in the bathroom ..yes you are allowed even within regs. The bathroom is basically zoned and you are only allowed to have an electrical socket in zone 4 (I think) which is anywhere 3m or more away from bath/shower. However if the bathroom won't allow for that you can have the appliances wired in (no plug) and then have isolator switches on them - as you do with ovens etc. I believe its the norm in some countries to have washer/dryer in bathroom but most of the people we showed the plans to were like

Oh no bax that's annoying. I can't believe I'm here for yet another thread. We've been very nearly finished since before Christmas but still getting the last bits done. I feel like I've been decorating for months. The floor goes down next week so that should make a huge difference. Then we can give the front room a much needed makeover, it has been the dining room/lounge/everything else for the last few months. We also need a new front door but have been waiting until everything else is done. The render won't gone until spring.

One good thing is we now know the new fuse box works!! I managed to trip the fuse for the downstairs sockets whilst filling in the gap around a socket - polyfilla fell in the gap and onto the wires (old socket, no box), tripping the fuse!

I really hope I am done by the end of this thread! We finally have the missing kitchen bits so that is something. I am enjoying not being at home and letting DH deal with the builders. I swear they pay more attention to him.

I like the idea of a washing machine in the bathroom frilly. We can't do it in ours but it makes sense to have the laundry stuff all upstairs. I used to work for a housebuilder many years ago and they put washing machines in the bathrooms of small flats.

Thanks for new thread bax annoying about the door. Fingers crossed that this thread nails the completion of a few builds-we are just starting out but feels good to have broken the ground.

Ooooh, shiny new thread!

I am VERY jealous of the original parquet badweek. Oh. My. God. You lucky thing you. I am

bax - that picture really shows the extent of the project that you have taken on - it's huge!

fourmagpies - Your comment about decorating for months made me laugh - at present, I feel like I have been varnishing forever and that is not even half as tiring as decorating.

After much crying, cajoling, begging, and pleading, my upstand now looks like this instead of a wonky mess. As you can see, I had a glass of wine to celebrate.

Hi everyone! Great to see a new thread, I think I fell off the last one! All fine here, 3 weeks in and structure is done to a few bricks above the damp proof course. Famous last words but builders seem very reliable...

I'm hoping that I'm not part of the next thread in the nicest way!
The house looks awful in that photo, roll on getting it painted!

Whisky your worktop is gorgeous!

Would anyone be up for an extension survivors spa thread?

That sounds amazing!

bax bloody hell thats a big job! Is it a new build or an extension? Either way it’s massive. Well done for surviving!

whisky your upstand looks beautiful, in fact the kitchen looks gorgeous. Very sleek and elegant. That glass of wine is well earned by the looks of it.

Don’t get too jealous of the parquet... we had a load of water get in over the weekend and not sure how badly it’s been damaged yet. Builder left the new dormer on Friday afternoon when they downed tool, wait for it... with NO membrane over it to water proof it. They’d taken off all the ridge tiles as well to put the timbers in so there’s holes in the roof you could put your fist through.... and then it rained, and snowed, and rained some more... floorboards upstairs are saturated and stained with the red dye running down from the marine ply. Not happy. And ground floor flooded from the back down into the hallway. Seriously unimpressed. He’s a genuinely nice guy and has assured us that all the damage will be rectified with no cost to us, but I don’t see how the floorboards upstairs will be salvageable. I was going to sand and varnish them as they’re the lovely thin 50s one that you don’t see anymore rather then the standard wider ones, so I wanted to keep them because they’re unusual and original. Gutted!

I have been reading g the previous thread but we haven't got started yet so miles behind you all. We had plans and quotes but have made some changes so currently waiting for amended plans from architect and new quote from builder.

After looking at all photos and reading all posts from you all, I have virtually gone through an extension in my mind!

And forgot to say, may I join the thread , even though I don't even have start date yet.

Oh no! That is seriously, seriously annoying badweek. And the fact that it was all caused by basic negligence just makes it worse.

I hope it's all OK . They often made parquet out of really tough, hard woods so hopefully it will dry out over time. It's another uncertainty and frustration, though, which is absolutely not what you need.

I think we should have some kind of presentation engraved gin glass for the person with the worst builder event of the week!

Frilly,
Thanks for washing machine information.

Whisky,
Your worktop and upstand are gorgeous. Is it quartz?

So, I followed your thread in 2017 as we were planning our extension but the start date is now getting closer (May) and am now in the midst of a kitchen dilemma..... B&Q or Howdens ? Any experiences of either?

It's been good to see the photos of how everyone in progressing.

Badweek it's an extension albeit quite a big one!

Our kitchen is howdens and we're really pleased!

@kissing, my parents got a howdens and really happy with it except the worktop which they didn't like and got elsewhere, we are also using them but not sure which we will go for yet.

Baxdream,

That looks like quite a large extension. Would you share floorplan. I would love to know how everyone is planning to use all the existing and new space.

Same we got our worktops and appliances elsewhere.
Here's our floor plan

Bad dream I think you need to change your username it’s becomibg too realistic! I hope it can all be fixed.

I’ve spoken to my architect she wants to meet the builder and really tie him down on prices and timings etc. I think we’re just so desperate to start work (we started with designs& planning in 2016!) that we aren’t being rational. It’s her job to protect us going forward.

Love the lighting on the worktop whisky it looks fabulous, well done on persevering for perfection.

filo irony is that my first post on the last thread wa along the lines of ‘everything’s going well so far’... think I jinxed myself!!

bax You’ll not know yourself in there when it’s all done, you’ve doubled the living space! Rooms look a great size. I love big square rooms. So much space

Filo - I actually think you're at one of the hardest stages, mentally. There's an "oh shit" moment when a hypothetical build gets costed and suddenly it all seems very, very real. We went through a lot of agonizing about how much we should spend. In the end, I wouldn't say the decision we reached was fully rational - in the sense that it probably wouldn't add value to the house commensurately with what we were spending. At the same time, it did have a hard-nosed practical edge, in that we knew we could afford it.

The one piece of advice I would give is never, ever to neglect the need for a contingency, because it is very likely you will need at least some of that money.

Mum - yes, quartz, with oak on top! I'll try to get a picture in the light, though the house is chaos today. Builders are fitting a cedar gate, floorer is doing the hall, and windows guys are replacing some glass that had roller marks from the production process in it.