Extension / loft conversion thread 2020

[missfliss]

Hello,

Thought I'd start a thread for 2020 extenders and converters.

Might be good for us each time say a bit about what works we have planned / are in the midst of if folks are happy to share some / al details.

Current house:
1970s semi with 2.5 (!) bedrooms on South Coast ( Sussex).
Single storey extension ( large kitchen / diner with bifolds) was completed in 2013.

Planned works
Loft conversion with full width rear dormer and small front dormer to create a new master bedroom with large bathroom.

Stage
Planning permission received, builder appointed to start in March

Costs
Build is £60k including VAT. Bathroom / decor extra.
It is a double dormer with aluminium sliding doors to rear and lots of pipe work due to siting the new bathroom at the opposite end to the existing bathroom below.
It's more than expected but we have non-standard plans and are doing the work to stay in the house for years as opposed to maximising profit to sell.

Reasons for doing work
An adult space to hide away and relax!
Also our son has additional needs and we may need to use au pairs in the future ( new room needed). As our son gets older he may need to live with us into adulthood

Plans
Attached

Next steps
Party wall agreement
Deciding on bathroom fittings / flooring within budget

Hi all, I am so pleased to find this thread.
We are having a side and rear extension done atm. The foundations and block work are done and brick work starts tomorrow.

The builders and us want to carry on as long as possible , just wondering what everyone’s plans are going forwards? Are you taking it week by week , do you this you will pause at knock through stage?
Right now everyone working outside and distanced from each other but coming in?! I think we’re probably six weeks away from knock through right now.
At to the pp who said she thought her extension looked too small, I has exactly the same thing with mine when looking at the floors once concrete in, I thought oh is that it?, but builder assures me it’s big enough, I have zero vision for stuff like that!

@Nowombattheinn. We are in the exact same position as you re knock through and wondering what to do. We haave just paid extra for morescaffolding so the builders can put the roof on without getting the first floor in which would otherwise have required an earlier knock through.

We will loose a kitchen for 2 months when we knock through so it is abig decision. Plus our new kitchen is delayed as the manufactuer in germany is currently closed for at least 2 weeks. It is all a bit stressful.

How is everyone else doing?

Hmm difficult to know what to do? It’s the worst timing but totally unprecedented how this has blown up. The builders want to work and not have their business go under understandably too.

I think you can only take it week by week, when we first moved in we lived with only a gas camping stove, a kettle and then got a microwave for 9 months so without a kitchen is doable crazy but a bit rubbish and that was without a build going on! Especially worrying if you don’t know when your kitchen will turn up.
One thing I had never contemplated was having the children here ALL the time, working and home schooling, its nuts, I don’t know if we can live like that for months!? Arghh and we have bloody bats! What a mess. How is everyone else? anyone got a positive or just finishing their build to keep us looking forwards!?

So glad others are in the same situation as I'm in and understand the stress!

I'm having a two storey extension at the side and a single story extension at the back done. We've just knocked through, Ive got no kitchen, the house is a building site, I'm 17 weeks pregnant and in isolation, my toddler is at home and I'm meant to be living, working and looking at my toddler in this at the same time; needless to say the timing is horrendous

I can only pray it gets finished before the country goes in full lockdown. We've discussed it with our builders and they're not bothered about it at all?! I think like PP have said, they're all self employed so if they don't work, they don't get paid, and they've got families to support and mortgages of their own. The project manager said the police would have to physically removed him from site before he'd stop working, so that's

I've got 4 weeks left (supposedly) until the house is weather tight and I have a kitchen again, and I can only hope that happens. I really hope everyone's projects get finished and sorted regardless of what happens with CV19

motherofkittens hold tight it sounds like you might just make it to weather tight. I completely understand your stress as you’re pregnant too and remember that feeling of just wanting everything ‘right’ , decisions and rules moving so quickly atm though. Good luck with it all and I’m sure everyone wants the next four weeks to hurry on by!
CBeebies is your friend right now

Them being forced to stop working (by law or by being ill) is one aspect, the other thing is building supplies.
I need to speak to my builders next week how crazy it would be to order everything in we need to get the roof and windows done. Not too worried about the plaster and kitchen bits I need. I just want to have it water tight.

@Peachi82 I think you’ll find plenty will start stockpiling too which will kill supply.

I’m more worried about a lock down now.

Scary times.

I'm hoping to get the roof watertight and maybe glazed. We have two unfinished dormers now and missing tiles ...

Builder is delaying breaking through for staircase until he can be confident which is good

I am relieved.

We are watertight and secure. Glass was installed today - also loving the new view.

I feel much less anxious about lockdown now.

Good luck to all of you.

Gosh that's quick work @missfliss you must be relieved. I'm resigned to a lockdown within a few days. We are lucky we are in a rental. They ripped out our staircase today 😱

So what does everyone make of Boris's speech? Are we assuming builders now have to stop work for 3 weeks?

We are going to be out for a while

There needs to be a grace period really - of course the coronavirus situation is serious but there will be people with houses on acro props or with holes in the roof, or mid way through a new boiler or wiring. There needs to be an effort to get these houses to an ok state to leave them, because it might be longer than 3 weeks.

We literally have no roof right now. I haven't the foggiest what will happen going forward.

Is was not at all clear to me from the speech what was considered to be essential work. Is there a list somewhere?

We are still open to the elements on the ground floor. They've put another steel in today and the last one is already in place, ready for tomorrow.
No idea whether this will go ahead now or stop for the next weeks. Aaaaaaaaah.

1 of the 4 reasons he said to leave the house was for work. but only if necessary and cannot be done from home. So I interpreted that there isn't a restriction on type of work? Just to only travel to work if no other choice?

My builder interpreted it the same way and said happy to continue if I am and his lads are. I obviously said yes

Rhica, that's my interpretation too, thinking my builder will agree, although there's only two of them anyway!

Gah feels like a grey area doesn't it. Doesn't explicitly ban working and also doesn't sound like building supply shops would have to close... will wait and see I guess!

Communities secretary says twitter.com/RobertJenrick/status/1242210351007096836

Advice for the housing, construction & building maintenance industries:
🔹If you can work from home, do so.
🔹If you are working on site, you can continue to do so. But follow Public Health England guidance on social distancing.
🔹Outside of work, remember to #StayHomeSaveLives

I am honestly sure that builders will be allowed to secure sites safely- but not continue construction beyond that. Sorry folks, that's my definite interpretation.
My builder won't be on site for the next three weeks at least

Amazing, thanks for this.

Martin Lewis interpreted the same way as me.

Travis perkins appears to have shut shop but not clear if they mean retail operations or trade operations.

Tools station has suspended ordering for 24 hours as they aim to move solely to providing for trade and not retail

Of course everything is changing rapidly but feel (perhaps naively) optimistic

Sorry to spam (can you tell I use to be a researcher🙈) hardware and home shops are allowed to stay open.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close?utm_source=77e9a975-dcba-4146-b1f9-d36e8d01465f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate

Keep spamming! This is super helpful. I've just sat here feeling anxious and doing inefficient googling but this is exactly the answers I needed. Thank you!