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

@intheningnangnong your neighbour sounds nutty !

@birdbrained so sorry 😐 that is horrid. We had some UN Hazardous waste dumped on our property by our skip and that made me feel uneasy- I'd imagine you feel very vulnerable.

Tiler has been today - very happy with our new shower area

Lovely tiles and bath missfliss, so nice to see it all coming together, it will look beautiful when finished. I was wondering if you got your juliet balcony installed? If so I would love to see a picture if possible as we are still deciding on whether to go for a glass or metal one.

Sorry to hear about the break in birdbrained, and fingers crossed your windows arrive soon although I am sure they wouldn't dare to rob the same place twice.

We had half our floor joists installed this week. I am feeling a bit sad at losing the high ceiling although it will be exciting next week when we can go upstairs for the first time!

Feeling a bit better about it all. Think the builder is going to take the hit for the stolen materials. The site is now MUCH better secured and has an alarm. Other bad news though was that the patio doors as ordered weren't going to be ready until October...😱 Compromise is paying more for Aluminium ones. But they will still be six weeks...

We did venture out yesterday to a flooring shop and have made a decision. Was really impressed by Moduleo - the top of the range stuff looks very realistic. So will do the whole ground floor in that. Also confirmed to us that wood was out of budget.

Love the bath and tiling @missfliss. Will be exciting to have an upstairs @weepingwillow22

Can't wait until this bloody build is over though, just one stress after another and money disappearing at an alarming rate of knots....

@weepingwillow22 - yes ! Very happy with it. When you are upstairs it lets the air through the railings. Also glass would have been incredibly expensive for the span 3.5 metres

@birdbrained I'm so sorry, that's 2 of us now. All the progress is looking good for everyone. We have decided to try and move out for a few days again for the next knock through, that's ground floor and must admit feeling a little anxious about it.

Oh no @Slightlydustcovered I didn't realise you had been robbed too. It's so shit isn't it... especially given all the delays and set backs we've faced due to building during a pandemic....

Yup we gat had a week or so ago, tools mainly but luckily my husband had randomly moved a couple of the expensive bits in the house so could have been worse. But a bit of a kick in the teeth mind.
We have some plastered ceilings now and it's starting to feel like we are making progress, the light at the end of the tunnel is almost visible.

@missfliss Thanks for the photos. They look great. May I ask what you paid for the metal balcony? Ours will also need to be 3.5m and we were quoted £2500 for glass and £2000 for metal but I was wondering if we should be able to get it cheaper than this.

@slightlydustcovered. That is great that you are on to plastering now, I think we were at the same stage a few weeks back. Must be lovely to have the end in sight.

@weepingwillow22 I don't actually know I'm afraid ! It was part of the builders overall quote - but I do know that it's power coated steel and the same colour reference as the surrounding window frame.

I think the problem with toughened glass was for us having the sliding doors meant that there was nowhere central to attach the span of glass to, meaning one continuous run of glass. Also whilst I can totally understand why glass would be a preference ( for uninterrupted views etc) it was also a cleaning concern for me. Also I really wanted the air to move through the loft unimpeded - we get the afternoon and evening sun there and we are south coast - it does get hot.

@weepingwillow22 I don't think we are too far apart still as ours is being done in 2 stages now to help distancing. So stage 1 is further on but stage 2 is behind, steels and knock through in 2 weeks.
So altogether not too different it's just nice to see a room looking more room like. Won't be long now.

Feeling so disappointed again today. Quartz was meant to be fitted today. Just called to ask what time and they've not even cut the stone. Will "try" for Friday 🙄. I booked holiday to sort everything out. What should have taken a week to fit kitchen is not taking about 5 weeks as every single damn stage has been delayed.

Sorry to rant but 6.5 months without a kitchen is really taking its toll.

I know I should be grateful especially given your situation @birdbrained Hope you are feeling more secure now

@Rhica ☹️

Totally understand the feeling. Like you are powerless in getting your own home sorted and never a straight answer with a form commitment attached.

@rhica yup I send you my sympathy. We haven't been going that long but now on week 4 with no bathroom, just a random plumbed in toilet. It's taking it toll.
You will get there we all will. I have told my builders to disappear for 2 days. I have a massive audit at work and I want peace and quiet to sort this out over the next 2 days. So they are back Monday. Oddly wasn't as keen when I was causing the delay.

Complain away @Rhica! That's why we are here... we are mostly back on track after the robbery. The biggest bummer is I can't casually head over at the end of the day to check out progress as I need to navigate an alarm and door that's screwed shut.

At least things are secure!

We have nearly finished plasterboarding hoping for plastered to start in a week. Final concrete floor to be poured next Friday. Builder has requested bathrooms to be on site in two weeks so need to make some rapid decisions and pull out the credit cards.

But so fed up despite the progress. Feels like a long way to go still and so many decisions to make and keep track of!

I know the feeling Rhica, everything about the process is so frustrating.

We have been having a horrible week too. Finally got up on our first floor on monday to find that the rear window looked completely stupid. The beam was at eye level and the sliding doors were only 5'9" high. Why the builder or window fitter did not think to mention this to me I don't know. Our architect went under right at the start of the build and we have since been discovering loads of issues with his plans. We had repeatedly asked the window fitter for the door measurements which he had failed to provide. We now have to get the beam moved and get the sliding doors remanufactured. The only saving grace was that the apex glass had not yet been manufactured. No idea how long it is going to delay everything. I have attached a photo of our doors for dwarves!

Thanks for all the responses. Feeling much better now and sorry you are also feeling so to frustrated with the shitty process. They say building work is unpredictable but so many of these issues are not due to unforseen things just bad organisation.

@weepingwillow22 those doors are shocking. Not surprised the architect went bust. What a shock you must have had when you saw them

@weepingwillow22 oh dear, I'm sorry yes that does kind of ruin the effect of the windows. Hopefully now everything is gearing up again the wait for replacement doors will be short.

I can't imagine this is stress free at the best of time but chuck in a global pandemic and I do think this is going to test my patience far more than it would have.

Our main steel arrived on site today. It's huge has come in 2 parts and will eventually hold up the entire back of the house. Due to be installed next week now.

Oh @weepingwilllow22 what a bummer. I hope it can be put right quickly and at not too much expense...

@weepingwillow22 that's pants. Sorry you're having such a rubbish time with that. We're a family of shortarses but still wouldn't be having that. Hopefully it's quick to resolve and not too costly

For those who have had feature windows. Has anyone managed to get away with not fitting trickle vents to them with Building Control? We have a big 4m window, none of it is openable but I don't want to ruin the look by having to put a trickle vent in the middle if it. Other windows in the room will have them, just waiting feedback from our building inspector 🤞🏼

@weeping

That is pants - and I couldn't live with that either. Having made such a feature of the glass it has to be absolutely right proportionally.

Hope it can be sorted

Plasterboarding nearly finished here. Plasterers start next week. And the concrete floor in the kitchen will get poured. Have realised this stuffs up our finishing plans as it will be ages before we can lay a floor on it. But met with lovely flooring guy today and he's happy to do the rest of the house and then come back for that a bit later.

Need to make a decision about carpet colour for upstairs. Any thoughts?

Have been madly ordering bathroom bits across the internet. Shopping around has saved us money but means there are now millions of deliveries to keep track of.

Hope everyone made progress this week and have relaxing weekends planned.

@birdbrained I like the top carpet. I think it'd be most forgiving of any marks over time.

I think the top or middle carpet would be equally forgiving - it depends whether you are leaning more towards grey or cream as a colour scheme.

If I didn't have kids I would go for the bottom carpet. But we will be putting something in like the middle one.

@birdbrained I found the following quite useful when I was choosing the stair carpet. Particularly the bit about common mistakes / colour wheel at the bottom.

Hope it helps:

mariakillam.com/4-steps-to-choosing-the-perfect-wall-to-wall-carpet-colour/