Home Extension Thread 2018 - summer edition

[DustandRubble]

A thread to share the highs and lows of all things extension, loft conversion, renovation related. Bring your own dustpan and brush.

Hello everyone I've been following this thread with interest during the work in our single storey ground floor extension to our 30s semi.

We are three months in and nearing the end and until today we've been positive. Today though the builders have left half a constructed kitchen, holes in the floor and the wall. I know it will all be fixed but instead of looking better it's looking worse! Not to mention trying to co-ordinate the appliance delivery (on fourth date) decorating and tiles. Arghh!

Anyway not looking for advice just sympathetic ears from those who have come out the other side!

Also is it usual for builders to leave rubble under the floor? I am desperate to clear it out!!

That may be worth a visit then whattodo we have heard today that Shuco prices are going up in Sept by 8% so we need to get a wriggle on and out a deposit down if we are going with Schuco.

thehousethat all sounds like you are nearing the end, how exciting.
How has it been living whilst the building work has been going on? What are you doing to your house?

Newkitchenideas1 we have added a third again to the house going 4m into the garden and creating a big kitchen where the old dining area was and a utility and wc.

We have been six weeks without a kitchen now and it's ok - lots of cold chicken and quiches - I'm getting a bit tired of it now with a 5 year old and 8 month old.

But when I go in at the end of the day I just see so much more to do.

Today a new side door was fitted and it has a huge gap at the top, none of the floors are level and there are bits of brick and rubble all over the place.
Not to mention a half built kitchen. And half plaster boarded extension 😬

I'm sure in a couple of weeks it'll be much improved but at the moment it's a bit depressing!

Oh wow that sounds like a massive amount of work and upheaval! 6 weeks without a kitchen sounds stressful to me but sounds like you are coping well, we have a 4 and 2 year old so I can imagine how you are feeling now!
Hopefully the next few weeks will go quickly for you and you will start seeing more detailed progress.
If you have concerns maybe speak with your builder? I think work like this often looks worse before better, my dp is a plasterer by trade and when he does work at home it looks a bloody mess but he does tidy at the end of the day!
We are converting our current kitchen into a bedroom so I know we will have to be without a kitchen too, perhaps I need to start planning meals as well as kitchens
Thankfully it’s summer so meals are easier....I hope!

Our main builder is on holiday - just seems at the moment that the planning could be better but I suppose that's not my problem!

Yeah six weeks has been ok - Im feeding my 5 year old those toddler microwave meals 😳 my baby has been living on pouches. Me and DH are on the salads. It is surprisingly liberating not having to plan meals. Makes me wonder why we are investing £££ in the kitchen 🤔😂

Don’t we invest in expensive kitchens to just socialise
Although I am hopeful my cooking skills will improve as currently my excuse not to cook for friends/family or bake is because my kitchen is too small! Wishful thinking maybe!

I was thinking along the same lines as you about the microwave meals and the toddler ones are a good idea for my two. We are lucky that my parents live fairly local so we might be able to have dinner there a few times.

Despite dp being in the building trade we have been so nervous about doing this project, it’s going to be stressful and to me I won’t have a clue what I am supposed to be seeing day to day until it all comes together.
Does your builder give you regular updates on the progress and position?

I love this thread it’s been informative and I love seeing photos of other people’s vision! I particularly love seeing the kitchens as we are still early stages of that!

I highly recommend Sainsbury’s cafe for feeding kids if there is one near you. Or any other supermarket cafe probably. Inexpensive and no washing up.

Newkitchenideas1 yes I see the site manager almost daily and then the owner every couple of weeks.

I think they are trying to coordinate around holidays at the moment which isn't ideal. But then we are away for a week or so which is probably a good thing (as long as there is visible progress when we get back!)

I have been quite relaxed about the whole thing until now when I am just getting impatient.
Here's a pic for you

So jealous of how far along many of you are. We're starting a back and side single story kitchen extension in Sept.
Can I ask for your dos and don't in clearing the house in prep for the build? Did you use storage? Did you get a skip?
They will make us a temp kitchen in the living room with fridge, freezer, washing machine. I need to clear kitchen, under stairs wardrobe (loads of old clothes & shoes), middle room (lots of books, book cases). Where do I start?

We hired a moving company and got them to pack and take it to storage. Took all the hassle out of it.

DustandRubble I hear you. We did that a few years back to move basically across a street, best money I ever spent.
So much I need to clear out & bin/donate though. I'm a level 1-2 hoarder.

We've just put the downstairs furniture into storage. My advice is to get drastic, only keep stuff that you genuinely love or need. Paying for storage for random tat is such a waste.

I had a massive clear out and have managed to store most stuff in the bedrooms and loft with only about 20 boxes plus furniture going into storage.

We are now living upstairs, although for the time being we have use of the kitchen (I just have 4plates, 4 bowls etc still out, everything else has been put upstairs/into storage). Packing was so much easier because I had had a good sort out first.

thehousethat there was no pic attached

That will be nice for you to be away from it all for a week, I really hope you come back to find some really good progress. This time of year is difficult for holidays I guess but still very frustrating for those of us who want progress and new kitchens

VanellopeVonSchweetz99 I hadn’t even given thought to clearing anything out yet - hmmm! We start outside in a few weeks but no internal works until the extension has been built up to when steels are needed! Will chat with dp about that tonight.

Perhaps I can't do pics from my phone.

We squirrelled everything into a shed and around the house (whilst also clearing out as we went) - storage was beyond budget. Although it was just kitchen stuff and a dining table so not too bad.

Today they cleared out six buckets of rubble and fixed the holes in the floor so I'm feeling happier. Looks like the kitchen might be in on Friday and all plastering finished by mid next week. Yay!

That sounds encouraging and exciting once the plastering is finished it will start to feel like a room!
I wish we were at that stage already lol, think I am a tad impatient.

That sounds very encouraging.

Not sure what is going on here as I can’t see into the back. I am hoping I have a window in. But plywood is still up. The woodwork in the bathroom has had a first coat of paint. I asked them to colour match our wallpaper as the white primer made the white bathroom look really stark. I feel like I should have told them not to do the skirting that colour though as now it is quite dark! I am sure I will get used to it and it might look better with a second coat.

It looks darker than the wallpaper though. Which could be good but it isn’t exactly what I envisioned!

I think our builders are off for two weeks next Monday. They were a bit disgruntled that the roof couldn’t be done before they went as they were hoping not to have to come back. But given the slow progress last week and this I don’t know how they thought they would be finished!

Thanks for input all. Just had a good chat with PD and feel less overwhelmed.
Now who wants to chat Velux Integra dos and don'ts?

Vanellope I was just browsing the velum website last night!! We have 4 roof lights in the sloping roof to our single storey extension. I think we have decided to have the integra ones in the kitchen and sunroom and just a manual opener in the utility room. Just need to decide on finishes and blinds!!
What are you going for?

I’ve dropped off the edge of this! Planning has been submitted and approval date is 5th September. My brother in law is sorting out the building work.

Threesocks I'm rubbish at explaining, here's a sketch. Two big ones over the dining area (biggest size I think, that's what our friends have) and three smaller, in a row, over the work area, if that makes sense? Now I just need to work out the sizes ... and all the rest. Any advice much appreciated!

P.S: Might go for integra on all. We're a short family and the manual opening seems such a faff, also scared I'd hit the glass with the hook opening thingy.

We have gone for manual as don’t expect to be opening ours much. It was not my decision, i left the Velux buying to DH!

Newkitchenideas1,
We live in a bungalow too. Our planning application is in progress, and if all goes well extension will start end of sept /start of Oct.