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

HELLO EVERYONE!

Sorry for my hiatus from the thread, I have handed over responsibility for the extension to DH for a bit, in order to get some headspace back and crack on with some work. The extension was eating my brain. I'm loving these photos of progress!

Bax your dining table is every bit as gorgeous as I had imagined - beautiful!

And dust - that kitchen! You must be so chuffed! And your bathroom floor tiles look superb!

All's good here. My massive bookcase is currently going in, really excited about this. I will try to post some pictures soon.

Whisky
Great to see you back and good to know all is well.

Lovely to have you back whisky! Looking forward to pics.

More transformations here. I added decorating the hallway on to the job as I decided I couldn’t face living with it anymore. They have now painted the walls and the stairs. I wanted dark blue & white but it was vetoed by DH for being too dark. Instead we have pale grey walls and a darker grey staircase. It looks lovely & light. The stair colour ended up not being the colour I expected - nobody is sure how. It’s ended up in the middle of what I wanted and what DH wanted and I really like it so am quite happy.

In the kitchen our wooden worktop has been sanded and oiled and I utterly love it. We went for a smooth but not completely shiny finish so it still looks like wood. I keep stroking it!

Whisky soo good to have you back! Completely understand handing it over, I'm finding the end part the most stressful!
Can't wait to see some photos!

We had a family roast the other day. It's amazing what things make you realise how lucky you are!

A roast! I am waiting for us to have a proper dining table again before I try that. But I can just imagine how nice it must have been.

Hi all. Just a quick note to say that it appears my legendary "mumsnet tap" is back in stock at long last, although now almost double the price 😢.
I would buy it again at that price though to be fair as it still instils joy every day 😀

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01AYSJLL6/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_20?smid=A181Z02C8K7UAL&psc=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8

Hi whatashower can you please give me a quick sales pitch on why the tap is so good. It looks great but I’ve only just Star my tap search so no idea what I should be looking for x

Bathrooms have both come out this week, progress should start again on the extension next week... glad we are not living at the house at this point! Hope everyone else is doing ok

bayleaf it is solid, matt not shiny or plasticky, very simple, with a nicely designed flat lever, and was under £60 when I bought it. A year on and we have had no problems, looks good as new. Similar Grohe taps were about £270-£300. It was a total punt when I got it but the plumber was impressed and it was installed easily. I guess it depends what you are looking for. It doesnt hoover or shower the kitchen in fairy dust, it is just a tap - but a nice one. And other mumsnetters seemed to agree.

whisky welcome back! I confess I even checked that you were active on other site threads although that feels like snooping and was much relieved to find you active. I am not sure exactly what I would have said when I phoned the police..... 🤣 (Name? er....., Address?.....er, Reason for concern? SHE HASNT POSTED IN AGES!)

We have steels for the extension! I am hoping soon I won’t have to do the embarrased “ah actually we still need to build the extension” response when people ask if we are nearly done.

I think some of the bits didn’t make it on the lorry though. Annoying. I also saw the electrician today so am hopeful that he will refit all our smoke alarms and put the dining room lights in. I have had visions of ending up a salutary lesson in a Fire Service press release.

Don't worry dust... I am still waiting for a builder

Still waiting for drawings and quote.

TO join the ‘still waiting’ queue ... we’re still waiting to move over to the extension bit which was supposed to have happened last weekend but realistically will be towards the end of April. Believing the builder originally I have given away the ‘old’ dishwasher, so everything in handwashed, still more weeks when I have to go under the bath with a screwdriver to get the hot water going as tap is broken (also have to put heating on for hot water as combi boiler is dying), living around massive boxes, upstairs loo doesn’t flush any more etc. I felt so murderous today, I ate half a chicken.... (I haven’t had meat in years).

I wish I could post progress pictures but it’d be along the lines of ‘a nail has been put in the wall today, look’.

Ha, I feel like that about progress at the moment Tika. Nobody really wants to see a picture of my new smoke alarms do they?

Oh goodness - so frustrating @Tika77 hope you get some progress soon.

Our builder has given us a start date of 14th May, so we are currently in the process of having a good clear out. They are going to demolish the back of the existing house (dodgy extension) and then rebuild a wrap around single storey extension first.

When they then come through into the main house we are going to be retreating/camping upstairs for the rest of the build and our downstairs furniture will mostly be going into storage, so we will be living the dream at that point too ... I am hoping that the weather we will be on and we can survive, with a microwave, fridge and small over/hob combi thing for the duration ... that and invite ourselves for dinner at friends houses on a regular basis

I highly recommend getting a George Foreman grill or equivalent. Very handy for cooking one and if nothing else a cheese toastie is always welcome.

Oh gosh I so feel your pain everyone. We have minor snagging to go, to the degree that I don't actually know what needs doing!

I absolutely would never have an extension again! However, our house is absolutely beautiful! Every tear has been worth it!

You will all get through the tough times and smile at your lovely houses

Bax or it may have been dust.... Whoever used wood and beyond, did you find them the best price? They currently have amazing sale on but I wonder if they are like dfs were it is impossible to actually buy a full price sofa!
I ask as finally got builders, and dp in same room, going to go ahead.. And funnily enough now dp is keen to start adding extras.. Woodburn stove, garden done etc etc
Builders will lay floor for us and will measure up to tell me how much to order but I don't want to choose as not chosen kitchen yet but also don't want to miss sale... So wondered does wood and beyond always have sales?

I didn’t order from them as I didn’t find them the cheapest. Well, they didn’t actually have the floor I was looking for. I had about 20 floor samples here. :-) My actual floor arrived yesterday, it’s beautiful. (Bought the last batch of a discontinued line.)

Out builders are liars. I am a very straightforward, stupidly jonest person. Hate them all.

Yes we got ours from wood and beyond, ours was about £1000 for 45 Square metres. It's gorgeous.
I think you're right that it's probably always having a sale!

Thanks bax... I thought it was you who had used them... That looks lovely, I won't panic I am sure by May when I order it there will be sales. Better pick a kitchen first.... Oh and find the extra 15k I now need for bigger project

Tika what have your builders done? Sounds like you need a vent.

Why does it have to be raining? We have all the steels for the extension and the builders can’t do anything with them because of the bastard rain. It is forecast to rain for a week. I just want this over!

Oh, Dust, the rain is great, isn’t it? Is there anything else they can do in the meantime or have they packed up.

I’m near breaking point, to be fair. The ‘PM’ of the company (who is not the site manager, and is never here) has told me in person several times that our external doors have been ordered and are waiting to be put in. I called the supplier today, he’s only given them the measurements yesterday. They’ve done the same thing with the windows that they had the measurements for at the end of October and only ordered them at the end of December which meant a 2 months wait because of Xmas. And every single thing has to be chased up and this guy keeps lying about having done things.

I seriously braced myself for 6 months for the works. That should have been manageable if we weren’t dealing with such a disorganised lot. My 6 months expired at the end of Feb. At this rate, we won’t be finished by the end of May.

There’s internal stuff they can do, so they are doing that. But it isn’t really making up time as they have a big enough team that they could have people working outside and inside. So we are still losing time.

That is really poor behaviour on their part, have you had any justification for the lies?