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

Hi Cookie & Feta

Welcome! I'm not sure on timelines for a loft conversion. I know a couple on our street had one done that quickly, but they did have tons of contractors on site every day.

Re. Builders, ask around for recommendations, even if that means knocking on neighbours doors for recommendations. In the end I got 6 quotes ranging from £52k-£105k for a 30sqm single storey extension, not including flooring, paint etc

We have gone with the builder that was the most recommended. We got his quote early January and he's not free to start until July.

Dust I know this has been asked before but could you remind me of your parquet supplier? And if my memory is correct, it actually came in sort of tiles, didn't it? How were they fitted, was it clamp and glue as per normal parquet or something else? We've just had a joiner round who said he will lay 'modern' flooring, i.e. tongue and groove style but that he wouldn't do reclaimed parquet etc.

It came from here tentative: maplesandbirch.co.uk/

It does come in big tiles. Each of the rectangles is loose, but there is a web backing that keeps them in squares of 5 and each of those squares is made into I think 4x4 “tiles” with the webbed backing. It was glued down, but I don’t think any clamping was necessary. The builders said it was a lot like laying floor tiles, and as they do a lot of bathroom tiles they had no problem.

I think as parquet goes that finger block style is actually really easy, and purists might say it’s not proper parquet, but that is just because the fancy stuff looks fancier. Reclaimed parquet in that style would not have the backing and would be done the old fashioned glue, bitumen paper etc way. Our hallway is like that.

Sorry, multi posting here. But that supply company also install so you could find out costs of that.

Checking into the new thread 😊

We're on week 15 now of our extension (2 storey - kitchen/dining, utility, study & 2 bedrooms) and we're starting to come out the other side of the awful dust!

Upstairs is complete and ready to be decorated...yay! Downstairs we're ready to lay the new concrete floor and then start kitchen fitting. So I'm feeling quite positive now 👍

4years that is an amazing bargain! We've ordered the same hob and oven ☺

Great, thanks Dust. I actually really like that style of parquet, we're not even considering herringbone! I'll check out the installation service of that site, thanks again for the link.

Sherbet... I’m dead jealous of your progress. We started in Sept with andouble storey and the loft breakthrough only happened yesterday. 😢

On the plus side my kitchen is arriving today. No windows in yet, everything is boarded up.

Tika,
We are miles behind you and still waiting for amended structural drawings and quotes. Builders are the busiest people here . Dont know when will the work start.

Just remember Mum that it will happen and will be worth it. Don't be tempted to go with a builder that's available, a good builder should be busy:)

We are still waiting on party wall but our builder ready to start in a few weeks. Neighbour appointed her own surveyor but they not got back to ours and it’s been 2 weeks. How long can they hold us up by?

Thanks 4years. I was hoping main part of build will get done while i am on maternity leave but everything is taking so long... Anyway this is giving me lots of time to spend with baby so its ok. I am bored of seeing houzz and pinterest.

Filo,
Good luck with partywall. Hope it gets sorted soon for you.

I’m not sure if there are rules about that Filo. Can you politely chase?

I have popped into the house and my god they are busy. It’s a whirlwind of activity. Also who knew placing handles on kitchen cupboards was so complicated? We spent a while trying to work out how best to place handles so they looked good.

I am feeling much better now I can see so much progress happening. Us moving out was definitely the right call.

Re putting handles on the doors, my dad made me a wooden template so that we could just fit it against the door and all the handles are even.

We are at bricklaying stage, 18k of them, and it's due to snow for next two weeks here....

2 weeks nursery? Are you in the UK? (I knew the year we'll build will be the one when it snows again in our area. Hadn't seen snow for 5 years before this.)

Yes in the northwest, just heard its supposed to be bad from next week. To be fair i used to live in London where a frosting would stop everything...

Has anyone ever challenged a building inspector decision?
I am wondering Cus ours seemed to make an arbitrary decision based on no real evidence about our foundations.
I wasn't there otherwise I'd have challenged him there and then.
There seems to be no checks or quality assurance around their decisions. I rang our local planning office and asked why he hadn't put in writing his decision, and what it was based on etc.. They just said 'oh its up to individual buildings regulations inspectors'.
So that got me thinking.. Can I get a second opinion? My own inspector in?

You can call your own inspector in but private ones can be overruled by local authority ones. Maybe speak to a building inspectors firm for advice?

I know you can use private building inspectors but I don't know if they can override a decision

Jellybean, what has your builder said about the foundations? Planning portal.co.uk has a little info

Builder originally said he thought we'd be fine to build on existing foundations. Then did test dig and we are 8cm short of regulated depth but on excellent soil type. Builder said he'd get inspector out, who probably say OK, or at worse underpinning. But we could use existing concrete slab (we are replacing a conservatory with single story extension with lantern roof).
Inspector came out and said no... Wants it all dug out and start from scratch, including the concrete slab.
No reasoning given...
The conservatory has been there 13yrs and no shift or cracks etc..

Builder has said he'd happily build without regs approval

I know our builders complained about building control decisions and got the head of department to overrule. That was a guy who was recommending something crazy and refusing to discuss with the structural engineer though.

They are still flying along in our house. I am delighted to see that they have finally managed to get my stretch of upward opening kitchen units properly aligned. They were going crazy trying to adjust the hinges to do it. In the end they swapped two doors and it weirdly worked.