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

Lingua,
Looking at floorplan, where is entrance of the house? N8ce that you have written down a plan. I am still struggling with furniture layout and storage and utility placement for our place.

Fourmagpies,
Kitchen is perfect. What kind of flooring you are going for?

Mum2015 it's sort of an upside-down house, so the entrance is two floors up. It's built into a steep hill, so ground floor has the entryway and master bedroom, next floor down has the children's rooms/family bathroom/playroom/dressing room, and then bottom floor is the living/dining/kitchen/etc. It's a bit funny but designed to maximise views and floor space.

Got it now. So stairs are main entrance to living/dining/kitchen

Right. Attaching floorpans for the other two floors of the main family living space (entry and first subfloor) for clarification. The loft area is separate and I'm not doing any fancy lighting for that as it's not somewhere we'll spend much time!

Placemarking. We're nearing the end of ours hopefully, have just moved back in from our temporary rental

Thanks for all the support ladies... Going to have builder over for chat.
In the end it's a minor project really, but like mum2015 I am a terrified reno virgin.
But going to do it... Half paid for from bonus and half on loan.
I just need to bite the bullet and get on with it.
I keep thinking.. I am a very successful professional, surely I can do this....

mum2015 we're having LVT wood lookalike. I'm a bit nervous as not sure how it will look!!

I haven't seen LVT in real life but read loads of threads on number where people recommend it.
I would love to have engineered wood but we might not have money left for it by then.

No number - I meant mumsnet

I love your huge balcony, Lingua (this is not some kind of CarryOn style euphemism).

I am loving my Amtico so far, fourmagpies. It's really easy to care for.

Redjelly- you WILL be fine!! It will be very hard work, but you can handle it!

I spent my entire day off cleaning and the net result is that one room, just one, is now done. The rest of the house still looks like a stage set from a particularly enthusiastic student production of Dune.

Whisky: thanks, re: the undercounter lights last, exactly what I'd like to replicate and I hate those old fashioned box undercounter lights that we used to have, strip LED looks to have a much better presence.

Another question, sorry, your Amtico, how do you find the appearance? Reason I ask is we have samples of the Spacia range and was dead set on it bit two doubts are creeping in...firsty it's has a quote obvious sheen finish which gives it an almost fake look (I know that's exactly what it is!) and secondly I visited my local Amtico approved fitter yesterday and he said most people that were having LVT installed were saying that Karndean has a more realistic look. Moi = confused.com!

Fourmagpies there's a lot of great examples on instagram. It sold it for us! Looks very realistic and much better for coping with family life. We were going for Amtico Spacia, but our flooring guy found us a commercial grade with a 0.7mm wear layer for £500 less

humpty- interesting question. I found that the look of the lvt varies quite a lot with the range. So I have amtico signature, which has quite a thick surface layer. I think it looks more fake than the amtico spacia, which has a thinner top layer, but it is more hard-wearing and can be stripped back and refinished. This was a definite plus for me in my hallway because I am always traipsing through there with all kinds of mud attached! . I also used it in my study as this will be my entry room onto my roof garden, so ditto about the floor needing to stand up to mud, bits of plant, detritus etc.

That said, I've found the same tile looks more realistic in my hall than in my study. I think this is because I have a big window in the study, which angles the light at floor level, so you can see across the LVT and so the surface is very visible. In my hall, the windows are higher and it looks more real. I suspect this would be the same for any lvt!

Part of the reason I wanted it in these tougher spaces is that I have engineered oiled oak in my open plan lounge/dining room and it is a right nightmare. It marks really easily, with any moisture or food, and it needs reoiling each year, which is a pain because it takes ages to cure. I would never buy it again. Of course you can get lots of other finishes.for engineered wood which are more durable.

Oh dear engineered oiled oak is what I want to buy.

I would look into it carefully, especially if you have young kids or dogs. There's just the two of us and our elderly cat, and we are all pretty gentle with it, yet we find it difficult to keep it looking good.

I definitely agree about NOT getting oiled hardwoods. We're getting engineered wood but with a stronger finish. We have the oiled ones in our current house (it's a rental) and they're definitely looking worse for wear after us having lived here for 2 years with 3 young children. Shame as they're beautiful, but they scratch really easily, water damages them in about 2 seconds, and (worst of all in my book) they have changed colour in all the spots where we have rugs, so that you can totally see lines where our rugs have been as the floors are lighter!

I doubt we'll get our deposit back.

Oh, i really like oak floor. I dont mind the scratches but water damage and colour change is putting me off now. There was lovely floor in the gym studio, badly scratched but looked great. I hadnt thought about water and sun damage though, that floor wouldnt have faced it.

You can still get oak! It just needs a different finish I think. Ours are engineered oak but we're getting a matt acrylic finish which should stand up a lot better to kids, water, etc. Not super shiny, so the difference isn't too far off from oiled wood, but lots harder wearing.

linguaphile that’s interesting about getting the acrylic coated engineered floor. I really don’t like any of the laquered ones as they’re too shiny for my liking and thought the oiled was the only other alternative.

We’ve two toddlers though and the thought of it getting wrecked is worrying. I thought the oiled would play out better for us as it wouldn’t show scratches as easily but if it gets damaged with water we’re snookered. There’s not a day goes by without a cup of juice sent flying across the floor! Where did you source the one you’re going for if you don’t mind me asking.

Some of them are so eyewateringly expensive though especially over large areas.

Oh and to further complicate it I’ve fallen in love with parquet and wanted to carry that through the house

Thanks Whisky, super super helpful. So basically there are pros and cons of ownership. I think I need to get over the fact it may look like LVT because that's exactly what it is and embrace it for what it is, hard wearing and hood looking. Lucky you with the Signature, I'm struggling to tussle up the extra pennies for it (quote was about £9k, nearly made my eyes bleed) but the patterns are so much nicer (why do we always want what we can't have!) and the additional wear layer is clearly a bonus in terms of longevity.

Hello people - can I join in?

We're in the early stages of building a two-storey rear extension to bring some much needed light and space into our kitchen - planning all sorted, and we have a structural engineer coming in to do his initial thing this weekend. Finding the whole thing quite intimidating so would appreciate any moral support going

Have added what we're trying to achieve (hope it works). It's going to be quite a big job involving moving out for a couple of months but hoping the end result will be worth it!

Couple more. House is on a steeply sloping plot so the kitchen is pretty much underground, hence why all the glass is required!

Ah sorry badweek I think technically it's a matt lacquer, but it doesn't look dissimilar to the oiled effect. You can also get a brushed finish I think?

Ours is coming from a little boutique here in Luxembourg, no idea what the brand is actually called! It's the place the building company has contracted to do the floors.

This is a good example though of engineered hardwoods with the matt finish though: www.flooringsupplies.co.uk/matt-lacquer-wood-flooring

BadWeek, get lots of quotes. Mine for 66sqm varied from £3.5k to £5.9k! Thankfully the cheapest is the lovely very well known and regarded lovely flooring guy. I loved the signature sample we received, but we have gone for a similar look to the Spacia as the price had to be a main concern with so much flooring needed. Have a look at @renovation.x on Instagram. Hers is Spacia and gorgeous