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.

I phoned to let our insurers know we were having building work done and they are going to cancel our insurance as they couldn’t find anyone to cover us. They have referred us to specialist insurers. Does anyone else have details of a company they’re insuring with whilst building work is being carried out please?

Thanks in advance.

I think we’re with Legal and General who continued cover for us.

Good luck to all of the newcomers! @bobkate it’s looking really good well done!

We’re in the middle of the snagging phase-another couple of weeks at least and then some external works before we have the garden crew in... its never ending!!!

Hi extension thread.

I think we may be close to starting after spending an unfeasible time in planning due to various complications. We're at second tender stage & are asking builder's to start as soon as possible.

One has said June but another has thrown me into a panic by saying mid February. We haven't chosen kitchen or floor yet or finalised glass etc - though think builders have their own suppliers.Are we bring wildly unrealistic? There's quite a bit of demolition and excavation to be done before we need the kitchen I think.

We're knocking down & rebuilding utility room & garage (making it one big room) and knocking down existing kitchen to build big kitchen diner and downstairs shower room.

Sorry final question. How much prep did you need to do before the builders started?

Hi Stokes, we're one month in to our extension and haven't chosen kitchen or flooring yet.
For us, the first month has been absolutely fine as all the building work has been to create the extension floor and walls - all on the outside. Steels are just in and they have only just broken through the kitchen window & wall - they have put a big wooden frame up and completely boarded the opening and we have been left with half a kitchen.
We have boxed up as much as we can from in the affected rooms, so we're kind of ready if we need to move things out.
I would ask the builders what they will be doing first and how long you'll be able to use your kitchen for etc.
Good luck!

Stokey I mean!

stokey mid February is realistic as you say there will be loads for the builders to do before you need have kitchen and flooring sorted. I would start looking at Pinterest/Houzz for styles you like and then confirm layout etc. There are loads of decisions to make so the more you can do in advance the easier the process will ultimately be. Good luck!

Thanks Hoppa and Whattodo, that's the answer I wanted.

We've been in planning for over a year so have a well developed pin. Now I just need to finalise layout & materials, what worktops, where everything is going to go, that sort of thing, and get quotes from kitchen companies. We can't afford high end, but one of the builders can do bespoke for around £15k, so need to compare with Howdens, Magnet, IKEA to see if it's worth it.

The one who does bespoke kitchens gave April as a start date so that may be a bit more relaxing!

stokey a concept planner might be an efficient way of you confirming layout and give you a shopping list to take to the different kitchen companies. We used diy kitchens and I’m happy overall with our kitchen quality-still some grapples with the builders who installed it but they will be resolved!!

Hello everyone! Long time lurker and first time poster here, really hoping you can help - its day 1 of our build and going to sh*t already
We can’t seem to get any reasonable quote for site insurance, can I ask who you have used please? We’re a 3bed 1930s semi in Surrey, this isn’t a new thing for insurers to deal with...
Thanks in advance for your advice!

My insurers gave me this number for BIBA when they couldn’t offer me insurance.

0370 950 1790

Then they put me through to another insurer - link is here.

www.acinsurance.co.uk/home-insurance.html

Well not much really had been happening here and then its been all go over the lawt few days.

We finally got the gas meter moved (it was requested in October) so the last remaining bit of old wall came down and concrete floorong went in into the new study/snug. This also meant that the new boiler could be installed and dh knocked the old downstairs toilet out at the weekend.

Amd then yesterday was knock through day from the current house through to the new bit!!! So that was quite messy and slightly cool last night but manageable.

Hoping for plasterers next week and crack on with the plumbing.

How's everyone doing?

What a pain moving the meter was Catquest!

We have had big news, builder finally got back to me Monday and we're going to start a week Tuesday!

Thanks so much Jane we did try them but they wanted us to move our entire insurance to them and we’d already paid an extra £200 for the new proposed value of the house (or extra rooms, however they come up with a cost) to our existing insurer. So we’ve just stumped up about £700 with Aviva... and (least glamorous of all preliminary costs) now comparing Portaloo hire costs

Really lovely to read about everyone’s progress, so good to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

No problem. Our hand was forced as our insurer wouldn’t continue our house insurance and we were paying monthly so got a refund back. We’re moving out very soon so that the knocking through can start in earnest! 😬

Exciting news here: I was notified by building Control that our build is starting in a week 👏🏼👏🏼 Builder coming over to finalise everything tomorrow. It may finally happen

On the insurance note. I called MoreThan today and they're submitting a form on my behalf and will be in touch if there's any issues

Opinions please; we're extending our house at the back - bigger dining room and new kitchen. Now I don't want a 'bump' in the ceiling between old and new part so this means we'll need to lower the ceiling in the original part. We've started hanging the joists but I'm worried I will regret this decision. Help!

Good luck with the work 4year. We're 6 weeks in now the extension is looking like a room!

So many decision to make now 🙈

Icelolly - I don't have any experience of that. The ceilings on our main house are really high - our extension has a sloping flat roof (if that makes sense?!) - so the ceiling starts lower than our main house ceilings, but then goes to a higher point. I don't think the different ceiling heights will be a problem for us at all, but your design may need it 🤷‍♀️

We are at the kitchen choosing stage and it is all being dealt with by a local kitchen fitter. The problem we're having is that we want the hob on the island, but the ceiling slopes and the joists are narrow and it is a flat roof... after much thought, we are not going to compromise and move the sink to the island, so the options we are exploring is an extractor in the wall (not pretty 🙁) or in the hob (something I've just discovered)

Any experience or ideas welcome!

hoppahouse can you do a false ceiling around the extractor or get a downdraft extractor? Or embrace the ducting as a design feature? We added additional top boxes to hide the ducting and ran it back through between the joists and turned 90 degrees.

Good luck 4years exciting times!

icelolly anyway to drop the floor to combat ceiling height problem?

Thank you - I will ask the builders whattodo, but it did seem like there weren't many options 🙁. Do you have any pictures of what you mean?

hoppa apologies for dodgy pics but I’ve attached some to see if you get what I mean

Hi icelolly

We've just had this with our extension. We wanted the ceilings in the new/ old to be seamless.
Our builder removed the floor boards in the room above, and put the joists in the void between the floor of the room above and the ceiling of the old/new extension ( I'm not very technical) this didn't comprise the floor of the room above. Thus enabled us to keep the original ceiling height with the joist showing. Hope this helps.