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

Just spent £200 on a mop! 😳😳🙈🙈My new floor is gleaming and want to keep it that way. Hope it works 🤞

@missfliss looks ace! Can't wait to see it finished!

Love your tiles missfliss.

We have had drains, steels, and brick traumas so far this week. Damn design had a steel pointing through the roof of our builder had just done what the structural engineer specified.
Now we have no way of getting the waste out of our bathroom either. More money

Love the stencilling too. Far more creative than I’m capable of

I'm really happy with the stencilling actually! It's going to take a few days and I'm doing the whole surface not just the centre - need to seal it too. But as a cheap and cheerful fix I'm pretty pleased

Wow, that looks brilliant missfliss, fancy a new career as an interior/exterior designer?

Feeling the pain today, I paid the balance on the kitchen, windows and the builder for the roof. Ouch.

However super excited that windows are coming on thursday.

@weeping - i feel your pain. We are set to exceed budget by £6k ( a mix of things - flooring etc). we hadn't budgeted for decorating and I'm seriously thinking we might pay for it, loft rooms, both landings and all the way down the stairs to front door - plus the new fire doors..

We are basically borrowing money from our future selves now (!)

Happy to hear windows are coming for you.

@intheningnangnong - sorry to hear of those woes. It;s disheartening to see precious funds being diverted into stuff like that. It's somehow more palatable to spend on the nice things like new kitchens - dealing with soil issues is pretty much the least fun way to spend money :-(

@bez91thankyou! i'll bore you with a few more pics when all done
@Rhica I'm intrigued by the £200 mop...?

@missfliss how are you applying your stencil paint?

Well glad we are in a caravan. We are now a few walls down, but it does really feel like progress now. Excited to get this stage done then the downstairs can start.

@missfliss looking really good, i think that will make a huge difference.

@weepingwillow22 I still have so much to pay for it's becoming a bit scary. We have crept over our budget for a couple of upgrade items. And I didn't really include enough for the "extra stuff" we are adding in 2 extra toilets, so I need 2 extra toilet roll holders, a couple more hand towels just stuff to make the rooms useable. This is far more than I expected, and I'm not sure why.

Had to take all the rads off yesterday to decorate behind. Place is a complete tip with plumbers, tilers and chippy all working at same time. No point even trying to paint more while they're at this point, too much muck flying around.
Doors should arrive today...

Looks great @missfliss!

Feels good once they start putting things back together again @Slightlydustcovered

Our budget is terrifying @weepingwillow22 and so many things not in there - like toilet roll holders and furniture for the new space... it all feels a bit uncertain too as there have been so many iterations and add ons that I can't be 100% sure what the final figure will be.

In better news the builder told us today that bathroom fitting was in the quote! So please let as that's a biggish chunk which can go back in the pot... (reducing the red anyway!)...

Water pipes still giving us a bit of a headache. Water company won't touch or give advice about anything beyond the road. So we still need to work out where our shared supply with the neighbour branches and cross our fingers that the leak the builder unearthed is on 'our spur' and can therefore be shut off without cutting off the neighbours...

In other news electrician and plumber on site this week so progress is a bit 'boring'. Though they did start some plaster boarding last week which was exciting!

@birdbrained what water company? Many water companies only hold records of pipe up to the point they pass on responsibility to the customer, which is generally a property boundary for clean water and the point at which the pipes only serve one address for waste. There are fairly easy ways to trace pipework, so it will be something that can be done. It may be easier if there is a confirmed leak to ask for a relay for both properties. This is not as expensive as it sounds if done by water company ( depends on what one but if fixing leakage may be done at very small charge to none of you get the right gang) otherwise a bit of tracing is a leakage companies bread and butter.

I did start a seperate thread - so sorry if I'm going overkill. I finished the stencilling th

Sorry pressed post too soon!

Finished the front path - pretty chuffed! DH is going to do the sealing part

Anyone decorating themselves, just a reminder that one white is not the same as another white. I forgot to mention this to the in-laws who insist on being helpful... The whiter walls are now splattered over the not quite as white and perfectly finished ceiling :(

If anyone is interested, the screwfix bare plaster paint gives a great finish in two coats (thinned) but the Leyland trade white is slightly brighter and very much shows up against the other white.

My own fault, I should have just stuck with the one type

You look like you are making good progress birdbrained. Good to see it all coming back together again.

Love the finished path missfliss. It looks very smart.

Has anyone moved an electricity meter? We are debating leaving it where it is which will be in an internal cupboard or moving it to an external wall but are expecting a painful quote from the electricity board.

In other news we are planning our temporary kitchen for after knockthrough. I came up with the idea today of having a marquee in the garden with a combi oven and hob and am strangly excited about it. I expect the novelty will soon wear off!

Thanks for the white paint tips loofah I was wondering what the best one to use is.

Gah... today's bad news - we need a complete rewire... so much for saving on the bathroom installation! 🤦‍♀️

@Loofah01 we plan to decorate ourselves. We had someone in previously to do hall, stairs and landing (had fantastic reviews) but I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to decorating 🙈 used the screwfix plaster paint before and thought it was really good!

@weepingwillow22 I expect it'll be expensive. We had to move our gas meter 3m as was on a wall where garage being demolished and they wanted £980 🤯 luckily we found a chap who worked for Cadent 😉

@birdbrained argh that's rubbish news! Hope it's cheaper than you expect!

Our builders not on site today, can't blame them with this weather! They worked until late last night laying bricks as this was forecast!

@birdbrained Oh buggeration :( that sounds expensive, sorry. Get 3 quotes as always

I've changed my mind on colours a bit. Now having a light grey n the hallway and gone for a gold / mustard for the downstairs loo (it's a bungalow but still what we're calling it lol). Not wholly convinced on my brainwave but will see how it pans out