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...

Looks great. It must be an amazing feeling to be at that point where things are really starting to take shape.

So great to see people are still progressing with their builds! We have actually managed to get to the roof stage and hopefully having solar panels fitted next week.

We also need to decide on light and socket placement. I'm not sure how many sockets to go for in the bedrooms. Will 4 double sockets be enough? Should we make them usb? Also how many in open plan kitchen diner area approx 48m2? Anyone feel they've not put in enough and in hindsight would have had more? Considering a 'charging drawer' in the kitchen to keep devices off the surfaces. I don't feel prepared for these decisions at all.

Also at the moment we're going for single pendant lighting in the bedrooms - anyone had downlights instead? I keep being told lighting really makes a room but unsure what to go for and feeling the pressure 😂

Have the architect suggest some placements, they’re usually quite good. We have a similar sized kitchen and 6 double sockets plus one on the island. Basically corners and either side of the range. You’ll need to add extras for the things like fridge and appliances. Didn’t bother with the usb sockets but will upgrade a couple at some point and the idea of a drawer is neat but personally I know I wouldn’t use it. Our super clear, must make the effort to be tidy, island is a total tip!

@thistimenextyearplease I considered a charging drawer but rejected it because if the logistics of the cabling to a mobile drawer and more importantly, I was worried about charging items getting warm in an enclosed drawer.
Instead we have a charging shelf with USB x4 socket, plus I have a little box with mini pigeonholes for all the cables, we have 5 different ones in regular use!

With all the community support we've all had throughout our builds, I'm looking at starting up a small business supplying drawings.
If you have a minute could I ask you have a look at my post created for it? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4129370-Planning-drawings-startup-business?watched=1

Thanks and all the best

@Loofah01 @WhereDoesThisToiletGo that's really helpful thank you. May rethink the charging drawer!

When you have the layout then double check the location of wall switches. I didn't and there's a couple of rooms where I go in and reach for the switch only to remember it's on the opposite side!

I had another rollercoaster yesterday! Called the window company and was told one of their fitting teams is off sick with covid so there's some doubt over my windows going in on schedule next week. Argh etc, also double argh because I had discussed with our builder and booked that date in the full knowledge that it could slip, which he thought was a good ploy, but builder then rescheduled all the dependent work like screed and plastering for straight after the new window date - removing the room for slippage.

Anyway the window company called back soon enough and are still on for Monday morning, assuming no further people go down with the bastard virus.

I'm starting to hear "that'll be extra" quite a lot now. I guess they are into the lower profit margin types of work, carpentry etc. Must stay on top of that...

@Slightlydustcovered your tiles look great! Can I ask the dimensions if your peninsula? As we can't go to showrooms, I'm funding it really hard to see if my plans are big enough (190x96).

Oh the ' that'll be extra' REALLY pissed me off by the end! I never got a breakdown dspite regular requests so had to cough up or argue the case due to no breakdown being provided. Think I got as good as not lol

For those planning sockets and lighting, don't forget smoke alarm while you're thinking about wiring.
(Our old kitchen didn't have one - we have one in hall and on landing upstairs, hardwired and linked)
Builder, boss electrician and I all agreed electrical plan and none of us thought about smoke alarms. The electrician who actually came to do the work brought it up.

Heat alarm more than smoke in the kitchen!

@Loofah01

Heat alarm more than smoke in the kitchen!

Yeah, sorry using the wrong term, but it's quicker than typing "the type of alarm suited for kitchens to prevent us all dying in our beds"

Slow progress here. But the steel over the sliding doors went on finally, which has been sitting on site since before Christmas.

Also had our first ‘extra’ from the builders this week. Underpinning needed for two areas under the pillars carrying the main steel.

Quotes from worktop places look astronomical! I need a drink.

@SnowWouldHelp thanks, those tiles took me a while. Pic of our dimensions , the 1.30m is the gap between the end of the wall and the worktop to give you an idea of the space we left at its smallest point.
Basically it's 120cm by 105. Mr dustcovered is very tall, long legs we wouldn't want any less than 30cm overhang on the breakfast bar.

@Slightlydustcovered thanks! I wanted a bit wider like that too but the standard widths for laminate seem to stop at 95cm. I mostly like pla bing but occasionally I really wish we had money to just throw at a local designer/fitter

@SnowWouldHelp yes we ended up using ply for our worktops which we purchased in large sheets and got fitted. This gave us lots of options.

This weather!! Is anyone else stuck at a similar place to us? Ground floor build is up to head height and builder has taken all the bricks away from first floor and roof in preparation for the knock through (leaving breeze blocks and insulation in place). Can't go any further up now until the weather improves and can't fit bi-folds until they arrive in a few weeks. They've done what they can inside, relocating a few partition walls upstairs and changing the boiler but we've now pretty much ground to a halt. It's so frustrating as it takes shape so quickly when they can put the time in, but it's just been a few days here and there for weeks now. Feels like we've got so much further to go!

Sounds very annoying! Is it poor planning by the builder accounting for supply or lockdown affecting the sourcing of material?

It's definitely, or at least mainly, lockdown. At the start my builder ordered loads of building materials - bricks, mortar, plaster, etc, etc in advance anticipating supply issues and they are all in my garden and driveway just waiting to be used. I don't think he anticipated quite the magnitude of delay with the doors and windows that we've had, so this aspect of planning could have been better with hindsight.

The main issue was that there were some problems with the steel designs that we had to rectify in December which lost us a couple of weeks, and as soon as these were righted, the snow set in and for the last four weeks now we've had either snow, rain or ice most days.

Builder has been fab throughout to be fair.

Meant to add a few pics to my last post...

Wish I had spotted this thread when starting our building work last September. Before pictures posted. I will find more up to date ones. We are still waiting for bifolds ordered in September..

Getting there. Definitely worth the upheaval and I would do it all again

@UptownFunkYouUp yours will look so gooood when finished! Such scale. Wish we had the space.

our builder couldn’t do bricking in the rain or snow or freezing weather either. So they did the structural work like yours. We have the beams up (2 out of 3) now and they started on the roof this Monday.

@Earlybird00
Thanks for sharing! I think ours will have a similar layout. We had a previous kitchen extension and is squaring off the back as well. We started in Nov and I am think two more months till finishing touches as well. So similar timeline to yours. Like your kitchen colour.

Still love seeing everyone’s progress here :) Saw bit in the guardian today about materials shortages partly due to brexit as well as COVID :(