Is there a 2021 extension thread?

[Yellownotblue]

Just that really, I found it very informative (and exhilarating and at times heart breaking!) to read the 2020 extension threads. I couldn’t find a 2021 extension thread. Please can you direct me, or if there isn’t one, let’s start it! All welcome.

As for us - we’re awaiting PP for our extension and our architect said the work might start as early as March (ha! I’ll believe it when I see it). It’s a large extension and we will need to move out for about 9 months so I’m a bit flustered at the thought of moving out in 7 weeks’ time. We’re extending over the garage, in the garden and in the loft, and doing a shedload of other stuff from electrics to roofing and redecorating everything. We’re in SW London.

Can I join?

We are mid loft conversion and living in. It's chaos

Trying to cheer myself with paint charts etc

@cancancan I feel you there. Sounds like we are planning a similar sized project on a similar budget and in the same boat. We haven't gone out to tender yet but I'm thinking we get our plans drawn up and then sit on it for another year or 2. I doubt prices will go down in that time, but I'm hoping they will at least stabilise and we can add to our savings. It does make me painfully sad, I had next Christmas at our new dining table all planned out in my head! :(

Our builders have badly damaged the pavement outside our house by driving their bloody digger over it. We’ve just got home from a day out and discovered it. It’s completely cracked several paving slabs and caused a major trip hazard 🤦‍♀️

Oh no terraced! Are they going to rectify it?

@cancancan what area of the country are you in? If you asked me last year I'd have thought that was too high as sounds very much like our extension but I was surprised at what was coming back for our quotes earlier this year and sounds very much in line with what we were quoted. We wouldn't have been able to afford a full build service so we ended up getting a builder to just do the shell (groundworks/brickwork/steels/knock through) and we're doing roof (timbers and EPDM) and internal work ourselves, luckily have friends to cover electrics and plumbing. Saving money on build has meant we've been able to spend bit more on kitchen and finishing as we didn't want to compromise. Get a few more quotes in though to see how they stack up, we did get some crazy ones.

@TakeMeToYourLiar

Can I join?

We are mid loft conversion and living in. It's chaos

Trying to cheer myself with paint charts etc

I would be very interested to hear how things are going with your loft conversion TakeMeToYourLiar as we are currently looking towards doing ours in the next year or so. I have convinced myself that living in the house during the work will be no bother at all though!!

@Callmejudith No idea as they had left by the time we go back. I’m not even sure they are allowed to fix it. One of our neighbours has already taken photos and reported it to the council.

@cancancan, another to say that it sounds about right. We have a similar extension included in out build. Just to say we got our quote last December and have just been through our jobs list ready to start and there has been a significant increase in certain materials which have increased our total build by around 12%. We knew it was coming as builder in the family ( to far away geographically to do our job ) had warned us our builder would have to re quote some of the cost of certain materials like wood and insulation, so I wouldn’t think too badly of the architect .

Dd opened the door this morning to find a smartly dressed man delivering a brick. Delivery from the brick merchant to confirm the colour match of our extension…

@TakeMeToYourLiar if it's any consolation, the loft extension was the thing that added the biggest value to my last house! even though I think I breathed in about 100 years of dust in the process!

dp had a friend round last night, no doubt had a few drinks and decided to dead lock the front door with the only key that there is before he went to bed. I got up this morning to take the dog for a walk before work to find that I couldn't get out the front door and the key for the dead lock was missing . At least I have now realised there is no way out of the house other than the front door (the front windows in the lounge have been painted shut I discovered!). So the dog is pissed off, I have now had to call work to say I can't come in and dp is feeling a bit silly as we wait for the locksmith!

I have so far resisted pointing out that he was meant to get more keys cut and forgot (!).

@SunonmyFace how exciting! are you happy with it?

@strongarm, delighted!

@RebelGeek76 we are sort of south east/ east of England.

We could potentially go that route but the thought of project managing something like while we work full time fills me with dread! And not sure DH would go for it.
I've got a cleaner starting today as we don't have the time ( or inclination) to do it! Even though we are both WFH 🤣

Out next door neighbour is a builder and he will be doing us quote.
It might just mean we rethink the lay out? To get it in budget... but not sure. Will have to see.

@purplebutterflybiscuits we lived in the house when we did the loft a few years ago, it was fine really. The worst bit was when they broke through to do the stairs and I stayed at a friends with the kids for a couple of nights.

We got measured up for the back doors today whoop! 8 week wait lead time though. He also suggested a 2800x1200 rooflight which seems huge but I'm sure will look amazing - just got to get the quote through.

Also went to see my neighbour who has all sorts of fancy lighting in their house to get some ideas.

Tomorrow our floor guy is coming for a final reccy and then we can order the floor.

I've also done some electric socket and lighting plans which are my finest work ever in MS paint

@purplebutterflybiscuits

The worst bit is definitely when they break through. Our new stairs are going through what is currently our bathroom so that's an added excitement

The builders have been accessing via scaffolding but now it's water tight so they are having to come in to get there.

It's definitely the dust that makes like hard really though.

Builders should be out next week, but the. We need to decorate

@Callmejudith that is a humongous roof light! Is it flat or sloping or a dome like thing?

It’s flat but I think it’s too big. I can’t seem to get this roof right in my head

DH is adamant he wants the big roof light

I’m researching air con

@Callmejudith we've gone for a 2500 x 1500mm roof lantern and for ages kept thinking I should go bigger but now we've created the opening in the roof timbers I realise how big it actually is! I'm looking forward to all the light as we're NE facing and our old extension used to feel a bit gloomy after the morning sun disappears. Here's a pic of our roof timbers in progress, my OH has been working hard on this all week, just got a bit more in utility to do but need to get a cold water pipe moved first then we can build our warm deck 😊.

@RebelGeek76 thank you so much that's actually made me feel better! How big are your doors going to be?

What is everyone doing about extractor fans? #boring

@Callmejudith our bifolds are just under 5m, again don't appreciate just how big they would be until the opening was made....don't think we'll struggle for light now 😂!

Re extractor, we're having our hob on island and roof lantern will be over it so we've gone for a venting hob but it'll be too much aggro to vent it outside so we're putting a standard wall mounted extraction fan (like a bathroom fan) to comply with building regs as think we need external ventilation.

Just had to make the decision between kitchen fitting on 27th September or 18th October. Painful but I had to go for 18th October as I'm just too worried about everything else being ready. We move out of our rental on 1st October so it's going to be 3 weeks without a kitchen however the room will (everything crossed) have windows, doors, plaster, flooring and power and a radiator. We'll also have the washing machine plumbed in and the downstairs loo done. We didn't get rid of our old fridge/freezer so I can put that in the room. We also have our dining table and chairs so somewhere to sit.

It's just cooking really but can do microwave and use our neighbours oven. Actually if we source the oven and new fridge elsewhere we could fit those earlier. The only thing is a sink but I'll ask the builders if we can do something temporary.

Really really trying not to freak out.

I’m feeling really downhearted about our build now. It’s been 2 weeks and we’ve not even got the foundations done yet. I know the rains we had delayed things but our builders didn’t even work today. They say they are dismantling our kitchen this week so that they can break through while we are on holiday next week. But since there’s not a single brick been laid I don’t see how that can happen?! Plus our velux roof lights won’t be here until September. Shouldn’t they be installed before breaking through??