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.

@897654321abcvrufhfgg - great, let me know, hope it goes smoothly!

Great new 4years
Great progress for most it seems. We've had a fair amount plastered now.
We placed a deposit for the quartz today - went with the white carrera from Rock and Co. Haggled a bit and so got it under £3000 which we're pleased about. That's a 3.2m sink run, another 1.2m section and the island is 2.2m x 1.6m - I'm hoping this seems a good price. I got so tired of googling various places and comparing quotes!
Have started a different thread about what sink I should get. Have to say, as lucky as we are that we are doing this work, I'm getting frazzled by the constant decision making!

Great news 4years. What all work you are getting done?

@bobkate that sounds pretty good. We secured granite for £2.7k and it's similar measurements to yours

@mum2015 we're having a single storey extension across the whole back of the house. Extension is 3.2m x 9.2m which will give us a room of 9.2m x 6m to accommodate a kitchen/dining/living area.

9.2mx6m would be such a large beautiful room as kitchen-diner-living.

I hope so! The plan is to stay here for 15 years once it's complete. At present all the rooms are separate and the kitchen is a nightmare as I have about 1m of worktop. When I'm in the kitchen I can't see anyone else in the house, it's like I've been locked away. We'll also still have our current living room for when my DD is older and we want peace in the evening!

4years that sounds remarkably familiar!! Our kitchen was very narrow....like you it felt very out the way, even though it was only next door to the lounge. We're keeping the front room as a separate living room, then we'll have a kitchen/living room/ dining area across the back. Sounds v similar size as well. Think ours is about 9.5 x 6m!
Am currently summoning the energy to chase the window man. It's draining having to chase up people...

Hello all, happy Monday to everyone!

So we were supposed to begin the process of painting the new house this week. That’s now been pushed to Wednesday, but bits of plaster still aren’t finished which worries me. Not sure how our guys are supposed to paint when the plaster hasn’t been done. 😬

Also there is a hiccup with the wood floors, mainly that the slab underfloor is still a bit too damp to lay the wood. Ack!! Our kitchen is supposed to come in two weeks on the 8th, so I’m no freaking out that we’ll have no floor to put the kitchen on. And kitchen installations can’t just be rescheduled. 😩 Ack!!

This is all so stressful, honestly I feel like I’m giving birth. 😅

Ha Bobkate, very similar. We're using a local company that manufacture their own aluminium windows and doors. So far they've been the least problematic so far and great value too

I hope they get sorted soon Lingua, I've heard that floor drying is a big headache!

Does anyone know how much approx cost of installing a bathroom in a new space. I am thinking of having one in a smallish place next to dining room so will need new plumbing etc.

My highly uneducated guess is that it could be between 3 and 15k depending on how bare bones you go! But maybe other people have better estimates? Is it just a powder room or also a shower?

Our ensuite cost £2.5k to refit and that was pretty much replacing like for like (we supplied all the fittings) and that was the best quote by a long way so expect it to not be cheap. Best to get a selection of plumbers round

Great news about the builder 4years. lingua you must be so frustrated-so close... you don’t live really close either do you? bobkate can’t add much on the sink front; sounds like you’re making good progress. Plastering in the main house starting for us, roof going on the extension this week, starting to come together...

Knock through downstairs in extension today which I have managed to keep from rest of family so they can see later. Builder has got hold of structural engineer and new drawings and calculations for roof have to be submitted for roof steels as she screwed up. £60 in respect of building regs which builder said he’d cover which was kind but I said we would as not his fault.

He then went out and bought a couple of cheap doors to stick on as temporary measure as DS’s room other side of new hall and close to building work which I thought was really kind. Hoping I’m as fond as him at Christmas as I am now but cautiously optimistic!. Think it helps that he has just gone through major build so memory of what it’s like is still fresh for him but he is a genuinely nice guy.

Our ensuite quote is £1200 plus proportion of the £1850 electrics plus a radiator. That’s for somewhere with no current plumbing (or roof !) Downstairs shower where no plumbing was £680 earlier this year.

Yes it is a bit frustrating! Spoke with the kitchen people today and if the floors can’t go in next week, the delivery may not be able to happen until November or December. 😭 Crossing everything the moisture has gone right down by the end of this week. 😬

Painters started today and the front of the house is now finished! Lots to be thankful for. Just need our builder to pull through on those last few bits to make sure everything gets done on time. It’s about 17 thousand plates spinning at once!

Looking great pallando and lingua. We have 3/4 of a roof to our extension, rooms plastered, ready for tiling next week-starting to look like a house which can be a home!

Ok so, our builder has managed to scratch 3 or 4 of the tiles on our new Karndean floor.

Any ideas on the best way to deal with this? TIA!

No advice but this is my worry too

@897654321abcvrufhfgg Tell them in advance to be careful and cover floors. They did it taking a door off to plane.

I was stupid assuming they would take care!

Does anybody have any experience getting scratches out of Karndean?

I think you can use the stripper and then re-polish. We do this with our is Medan once a year.

Karndean

We’ve got up to damp! Time for the brickies to do their thing!

I just need to vent. All of the workmen on our job have been great, but the plumber (or rather the plumber's mate who's been assigned to this job rather than the plumber who I've worked with before and really like) is doing my head in.

He's either had a hard life or is in his 60's, and is a patronising, sexist git. Everything is presented as a problem, and when I ask "well, what about..." he replies that he was just going to suggest that.

This morning's corker where I have told him I'm VERY annoyed is that they asked for the back of the garage to be cleared to allow them to fit a new gas pipe so we spent 3 hours last night moving things and my partner's classic car has had to be parked on the garden with the expectation that we'll be reversing the process tonight. I asked them to confirm they would be doing the gas pipe today and they said they wouldn't be doing it till Wednesday.

After I came down off my rocket, they are going to put the gas pipe in today and it doesn't look like I'll be seeing this man on Wednesday.

Grr on your behalf @homesunderthe hammer