Home Extension Thread 2019

[4yearsnosleep]

Time to start another extension thread. 2019 for lots of newcomers and hopefully lots of finishers too!

We're Day 5 of builders on site and have a roof framed. V excited about the big velux

We're endlessly painting 😩

We're on budget. We'll smudge over due to new furniture.

The only thing I'd wish we'd budgeted for, but will have to wait to next year is a new patio. We're left with a gully around the building like a dry moat 😬

A few pics too

That’s all looking good 4years.hear you on the painting, just trying to get the energy up to start again, on a break. Pushed the boat out this morning and bought some Benjamin Moore Aura satin for the woodwork as I have so many doors to paint. Seems pretty good so far, better than the Dulux quick dry had been using. Right, I’m going to get back to it, shoe cupboard next.

The absolute killer for us will be the beam 😩 thin coats and lots of sanding!

That sounds pretty hideous, what paint are you planning to use? I’m now really into the Benjamin Moore I’ve decided. You can recoat in an hour in theory, coverage is good and i’m finding best to just get it in and not faff with it. Does run if you put too much on but I’m getting the hang of it.

Goes on very smoothly with my Purdy brush and also a mini roller. Woke up at 4am yet again this morning and was so tired that the idea of a day’s painting made me well up slightly at me point which is not like me but feel a lot better now as have got a fair bit painted and it dries so fast not going to have to worry about people touching it.

Wow 4 years it looks amazing! I can't believe how quickly it's all been done!

We're also at the endless painting stage 🙋‍♀️ 😫.
Extension and utility are pretty much done, but still so much to do...
I'm trying to get the study painted today as the carpet is coming tomorrow - total nightmare with the kids around though... Once this is done though, I can move a load of stuff out of other rooms...
Downstairs shower room is finished, as is the utility - with new floor down today. Builder is busy putting skirting boards down and then I guess I'll need to paint the hall, stairs & landing 🙈 .
I think I underestimated what the end of a big build and re-modelling would look like - it's quite messy and very tiring!!

Thanks for your responses! Gas pipes were not anticipated as it was actually the neighbours pipe that shot across to my property. Luckily I have a great relationship with them and they were ok with losing gas supply (twice!) and with their lovely patterned concrete drive being dug up to reroute it. 😳

The stress was two fold, once uncovered it was just there for nearly 2 weeks, one night came home and could smell gas so ended up having to call Cadent emergency number and have them out till 3am! Banging the neighbours awake and all sorts.

Secondly when it came to moving it they all work in separate teams, so the ones working inside the house don't communicate with the ones doing the connection to the house and the reporting guys have nothing to do with the people who are digging the holes etc. It is by far the most frustrating process I've experienced. The pipe removal in the end took over 48 hours with no supply and 14 separate phone calls trying to get the right people to come out. I nearly lost the plot! This was all Cadent being the issue though not the builder.

The builder is nice enough and says it's the garden and the pipes that have held us up. My experience is that some days no one turns up at all, other days like today he drops two lads off to paint the fencing but doesn't stay to finish the bricks so again another day lost in my opinion. I'm trying to keep an amicable relationship but it's tricky and my biggest fear is being screwed over!

Lucky me! I've got 2 builders coming round tomorrow for a chat and hopefully a quote.
I hope they both turn up at the right time, cos if Builder A is late and Builder B early, they'll bump into each other.
This could be more embarrassing when I tried to run 2 boyfriends at the same time, ended up in the same club at the same time, and they both dumped me.

@NonTraditionalFeelings Wasted days must be so frustrating. You put up with the mess and the noise as long as you can see by 5pm it looks like progress has been made.

I agree. I would hate to see wasted days 😖. My builders have been here 8-5 every week day and quite a few Saturdays since January 😬 - but at least things have progressed pretty quickly.

@Hoppahouse see now that's more like what I would expect! I rarely see them before 9 and they are always gone before 4, some days before 3. I completed an extension before at my old house and we had more than one builder on site every day for full days.

There's a perfect number to have on site at any one time, too many and you piss the neighbours off with 6 White Vans taking up all the on street parking.

No vans here normally! He drops the lads off and goes!

The 2 chaps doing my bathroom both had big white vans. And the skip of course takes up a valuable parking space

Sounds like a nightmare
@NonTraditionalFeelings . Our builders only did 7:30-3 max each day, first 2 weeks only 3 days a week, but nailed our build in turbo speed. I think it all depends on how organized the builder is. Unfortunately the delay with the gas line may have led to him starting another job, thus throwing yours off and the other trades too :(

I didn't think about asking what kind of working day the builders would do but I think I will check now.

Loving the comparisons between getting quotes and teenage juggling of boys lol! It is very true! Yesterday a builder who I was considering but who then didn't respond to my questions about if we could save some money by keeping a part of the wall in the utility finally got back to me... 3 weeks after I had emailed, texted AND spoken to him to ask him the question. And even then it was to say sorry I forgot but will give an amended quote tomorrow!!! I very politely told him we'd chosen someone else...

Avo - did you finally choose a builder? The one you liked?

I went to the local kitchen supplier that my builder suggested yesterday. The builder set it up and came too. I was pleasantly surprised! It also kind of made me feel better about our choice as they had close links to my estate. One of the staff must've gone to school with a neighbours son. The designer was open to suggestions and made good design suggestions too. The builder knew that he needed to fit this kitchen so was asking things along the way about what was needed as well as explaining to the designer what wall was going where etc. Waiting on the initial CAD design now.

Choosing a builder was a low point. It should be easier!! But I'm back to being excited again :) Lets hope I made the right choice!

@4yearsnosleep - I am hoping and plotting to be slightly under budget so we can put a patio area in just at the doors!!! I think it would be slightly cheaper and easier to get it done all at once as the builders can plan it in when putting in the step for the french doors and are on site with all the equipment already there... are my thoughts anyway. I have pencilled it in with the builder as a tbc once we re underway.

Hello all. Was on last thread and we are still going. But floor tiles going down tomorrow so some progress! Weve been painting but really were waiting on tiles and the plumber ....

Nearly there Catquest1!

I feel like we are dragging towards the end. I have chosen new carpets though

@soakedat3 that sounds really, really positive!

@soakedat3 I would definitely have done it that way in hindsight! We decided to buy furniture instead (for inside the extension) as we had none

The only area we exceeded the quote was an add on, not extension related; the bloody boiler. 2 days before he was due to start, he increased his quote by £1400 because it was nearly a year since his initial quote 🤦🏽‍♀️

Yay @soakedat3 kitchen designing is so exciting!! Remind me what style you're going for again?

I'm 99% sure we're going for nice builder. I just still can't decide whether to start sooner or delay till end of summer so we get to use the Garden a bit now. Or that's just silly and we should crack on regardless!

@4yearsnosleep 2 days before is SO cheeky!!

@NonTraditionalFeelings gosh that sounds so mega stressful! I hope things get easier from now and speed up a bit too.

@Catquest1 that's great you're in the final stages! What did you do and how long has it taken? Has everything gone well/are you pleased with your lovely new space?