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.

Of course will happily answer-I love it-we have wet underfloor heating. It brings a lovely warmth to the room-even and not at all cold. There’s no problem standing on it all day. I have a sofa with a rug in the corner too which works well. I’ve bought floor cushions as the kids love lying in it. We mop clean with water only-sweep it daily.
We were told to expect it to crack-it has slightly so far. We poured the the patio at the same time as the kitchen floor and it looks great-can’t waitto be able to open the doors put fully all day for the summer.

Ooh we're considering polished concrete too. Did you have any issues with laying it and expansion lines? I love the look but not sure if we can afford the price tag.

We went for the shorter time builder, just seemed to make sense!

@Whattodowithaminute that's a gorgeous room 😍

Builders started today. Foundations are dug and the building inspector is in tomorrow morning 👏🏼

Sorry other thing to mention-floor is very hardy and the only thing we warned to be careful of is oil splashing-we will need to resell every couple of years and can do this ourselves if we want to.

Thanks 4years and good luck!! No problems with laying/pouring the floor-they cane back the day after the pour to cut in the expansion joint. It was poured day 1 and you’re able to walk on it and install a kitchen on it at day 4-they seal it at approx day 28.

What are the cracks like, does that always happen? Argh so hard to decide, I think I want one but concrete just sounds so cold and hard!

Cracks are really fine you can’t really see them-they can fill them. We have a reasonably industrial vibe and therefore I’m not too worried about them they fit in well. We have an area without any UFH (we have a cellar hatch in the kitchen floor) and that’s where I’ve noticed the crack-possibly due to the different expansion rates?

@whattodowithaminute - I love your kitchen.

We have no kitchen but we are living with my parents so that solves all our problems. (Although my mum is force feeding me oranges to get a bit of goodness into me! )

I love it Whattodo , your room looks fab. Do you mind me asking how big it is? It looks vast! Think it's bigger than ours which will be arund 35sqm, but gets up to 50 when we include utility. And you have the concrete on the patio too?

Really great to know that they could fit the kitchen quite soon after, that was one of the things I was concerned about.

Thanks Stokey it’s about 50m2 and we are fortunate to have a separate utility too-I feel very lucky!
Yes concrete on the patio too-they poured it all in one go.

Whattodo can I also ask you some questions? What size is your kitchen and island? It's gorgeous!! Think mine will similar. And I love the Toddler kitchen- going down on my list of must haves 🤣. I think our extension will be similar size- have you found it easy to furnish? Or difficult to fill the space? A few of the builders we had quotes from said I was going to big 🤷

Rhica I will attach a pic from the other angle so you can see (excuse the mess we are still in a state of flux-the play table in the middle of the room is going!!) we’ve broadly zoned into living area, play area, kitchen area and dining area. I find it a lovely balance. We have 3 DS so they play football in the space I haven’t found it difficult to furnish-we’ve been able to go quite big on dining table etc. We don’t have a TV in the room and I’m glad as I think it would be too noisy!
Our island is 2500mm by 1200mm. Rear tall wall is about 4300 and short run is about 2200.

Fab thank you! Ours will be a rectangular room but it's useful to get an idea of proportions. Your room is gorgeous, making me consider going back to our first design idea which was square 🙈 like yours.

Any top tips on preparing for the build?
Just had kick off meeting and they're planning on starting in 3 weeks time. I thought they'd knock down the utility room first but they're starting with the kitchen - so sadly will lose that sooner than expected. We are setting up temporary one in the play room but will lose oven.
So next couple of weekends will be spent packing everything away. Don't know what to do with all the stuff!

Are you having an extension built and will they be building the external walls first? Sorry I don't really have many tips - I'm just taking each day as if come at the moment... 😬 i found I managed to be home quite a bit at the middle stages and this was helpful for making quick decisions on things (such as the lighting and bifolds)
We're two months in on a 45m2 build and still have half a kitchen thank goodness. Our extension itself is almost done - roof, boarded ceilings, skylights, electrics all finished - just waiting for the bifolds and windows to arrive on Monday and then they are going to fully knock down our kitchen and start rebuilding walls and making new etc for downstairs bathroom and play room etc. Everywhere is looking pretty messy now, but I know the worst bit is yet to come 🙈

Hi Hoppa, first they have to knock down existing kitchen, utility room & garage, then rebuild making big kitchen diner and rebuilding utility (current one is built of breeze blocks and leaky).

We're planning on living here through it as they won't touch living room or do too much to upstairs (just replumbing as we need a new boiler system), and lucky enough to be double-fronted so can set up the temp kitchen/diner in the second front room.

May be unrealistic though! Your bifolds arriving sounds exciting. Must be great to catch at it taking shape.

Morning all. We are now 4 months in and I have a boarded extension and a plastered bedroom!!! Will upload photos later when i seen it in the light!

I think I might be joining you guys, we’ve instructed an architect to start getting some drawings prepared for us.
We are planning on a double storey side extension and integrating the existing detached garage and converting it into the kitchen.
We’ve been planning and saving for 7 years so can’t wait to get started!

Waving hello, hopefully will be having builders in soonish - still waiting for a couple of quotes. We are converting a breezeblock built outbuilding into a granny annexe. Planning decision due by 20th March.

We'd set a budget of £50k (excluding furniture and carpets) but beginning to think we've way underestimated.

Hi all, please can you let me know what you think of our interior exposed brick wall. There will be opaque glass up the wall and clear glass in the ceiling.
I went out this afternoon and when I came back the bricks had been finished with this different layer along the top.
I'm not sure what I think - sometimes I think it looks good and other times I'm thinking it isn't what I was expecting and I'm not sure again.

Do you think it is ok or should I say something tomorrow?! 🤷‍♀️

I've started us a new post before we run out.

Welcome to all the newcomers 🥂

(Can someone link the new thread please? I can't do it on the app)

@Hoppahouse I'd probably request that they change it otherwise it'll bug you forever!

@4yearsnosleep
Thank you. Is that what you would do?

And will it be easy-ish to change? 😬

@bobkate I’d love to see the side view of your house with the hip and gable! Or could someone point in the direction of the Instagram account mentioned? Thank you everyone!!!