Extension 2020 part 2: pandemics, plaster & plumbing

[birdbrained]

Original thread: Extension / loft conversion thread 2020 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/3783237-extension-loft-conversion-thread-2020

Hopefully during the course of this thread the plaster will be in abundance, the windows will arrive and houses will be put back together...

@UptownFunkYouUp you have started!!! What great news. We have just taken down the conservatory and the garage ourselves this week. Builders will be in in two week’s time. What’s wrong with your foundation? We spent last week hand digging out two 3 foot iron railing pillars. We definitely have very dense clay soil in our garden.

Great progress everywhere. We are slowly plodding on here. Mr dustcovered is currently finishing decorating the last old bedroom before new carpets stage 3 arrive tomorrow. Next week is project tile... Our ground floor ended up being 6cm too narrow. But as the 1st floor was done on to steels this was spot on.

This can be a disaster mind you. A fairly close friend built a huge extension with separate garage and workshop. This part was built 3.8 cm longer and 9cm higher than planning had granted. Well the neighbors who didn't want the build to go ahead complained it was too big. Technically they were right, it all got very nasty and ended up with new planning being needed and a whole bunch of stress. It took 9 months to resolve. I remember joking to him after how I built a person in exactly the same amount of time it took to sort out a few cm of extra brick. It got resolved in the end without any remedial work but it cost a fair whack of energy and money to sort.

@mothergooseinnorthwest yes, we are on with it slightly earlier than expected which is great. We have really heavy clay which I thought was a good thing but apparently not (turns out there are different types of clay and we have the bad type) so the standard 90cm deep strip foundations just weren't going to be enough. In the end our piled foundations have only had to go down to about 2.2m (the deeper they go the more it costs, so that was a relief!)

So April came and so did the big shut down , then the builder got covid and to add further misery to woe he then went bankrupt ! So we have spent from April to September trying to find a replacement builder that was not going to cost the earth, as money now has to be a big consideration due to DH being made redundant in August.
DH has now decided that the only way forward is to project manage ourselves and to subcontract the work out.
Meanwhile we live in 3 bedrooms with no heating (apart from fan heaters)
We now have a plumber lined up to finish installing the underfloor heating hope that he can start on 9th of November, by which time we also hope to have new bi-folds fitted and at long last we will be weather tight.
Which will leave so much more to be done but at least we have started to move forward it can only get better

@notreallydumb that sounds like a tough few months. I hope you get back on track and enjoy some much better luck from now on.

@notreallydumb I'm sorry to hear that. I came on to have a little rant as have spent all last week tiling the bathroom, only today to drop a tile into the bath and crack it.... I am being very optimistic that we can repair it otherwise I dread to think what the alternative is. However if you can move forward through that then really I need to pull my big girl pants up and just get on with it. Hopefully everyone else is making progress, our kitchen arrives tomorrow....

Oh goodness @notreallydumb wishing you some good luck

To everyone thank you for your support, life has a habit of throwing the odd spanner in the works it would be easy to sit down and cry and blame the world for all our troubles (and don't think I have not ). But at the end of the day you just have to get on with it . I have sat here over the months reading everyones comments, seeing the pain and jubilation as people go through the process of building works but the most heartening thing is everyone comes through it and hopefully has something that they are proud of at the end. We will get there it just may take a little longer. In the mean time I can take inspiration for all the good ideas people post on here. At the end of the day life is too short to be miserable and we are positive people .

@notreallydumb I really admire your attitude, it certainly puts all the problems we have had with our builders into perspective. I hope you get some good luck now, at least it is not long until you get heating and windows which should make a huge difference.

I think most builds have their issues, some more than others! Power on through when life gives you lemons, building projects have their moments when they just suck the big one.

Just taken delivery of one of our last big items - a huge mirror in the bathroom. It's basically the back wall above the bath level.

Bit of grunt work to follow getting it fitted...

@Loofah01

ooooo don't know if I could handle a big mirror would see all my wrinklier bits, saggy bits and grey hair .....unless it was a magic mirror that could make me look 30yrs younger and a size 8

So would anyone like to guess what we will be doing in our spare time over the next few weeks .

[quote notreallydumb]@Loofah01

ooooo don't know if I could handle a big mirror would see all my wrinklier bits, saggy bits and grey hair .....unless it was a magic mirror that could make me look 30yrs younger and a size 8 [/quote]
Aha! This is for the main bathroom - mainly used by the kids!

@Slightlydustcovered I remember seeing a stack of boxes just like that... Feels good when it's all gone :)

@UptownFunkYouUp May I ask how much your extension is costing roughly? We're thinking of doing something not unsimilar, just not started / sure exactly where to start.

[quote notreallydumb]@Loofah01

ooooo don't know if I could handle a big mirror would see all my wrinklier bits, saggy bits and grey hair .....unless it was a magic mirror that could make me look 30yrs younger and a size 8 [/quote]
We had an enormous mirror in the bathroom of our first flat - when I was in my 20s.
Now all mirrors are strictly shoulder height and above!

@BruceAndNosh
All mirrors in my house face the wall as they lie when I look in them

Just saying hello from an old timer on here - loving the pics from my alumni!

Is your home an oasis of post build calm @missfliss

@SaffaQueen our total budget including architect fees and kitchen/bathrooms/decorating etc is coming out at around £130k. However, we had a range of builder quotes and the most expensive one was £70k more than the one we went with so could have been £200k (in which case we just couldn't have done it and would have probably moved instead!). That's for an extra 58sq metres in total across two floors plus a garage conversion.

@BruceAndNosh - nearly!
It's only actually truly 100% finished as of yesterday funnily enough as I had to get the carpet man back to put a new divider on !

In a very small way I am midway through a lounge makeover too - we moved the electrics around, built cabinets and shelving, new sofa, tiling and are getting it painted ... so a mini renovation !

For those of you using a draughtsman rather than architect to do plans etc - what are they charging and where in the country are you? Having gone through the mill on the project I'm looking at starting it up myself. I've been learning the additional ins and outs of building regs and of course the software and not looking to tout myself as architect worthy but I need a new avenue for cashflow!

It has been a positive week ,the plumber is all set for Monday and asked if he could drop stuff tomorrow as he wants everything here for an early start. Bifold arrived yesterday but they were the wrong colour!!! After lots of calls company finally admitted they had got it wrong , now another 4 weeks to wait for them to make new ones on. They have agreed to replace 2 windows for less than 1/3 of the price quoted.as compensation for their mistake.
Have been looking at motorised blinds for the bi-fold has anyone got any recommendations ?