Loving on a building site - anyone else?

[Notcontent]

My house was undergoing a much needed full renovation and small extension. For various reasons, there have been delays, which means that we (me and one dd) had to move back in before it’s all been finished. That was not the original plan and I am finding it very stressful. All structural stuff has been done and messy stuff like plastering but they are still painting, finishing kitchen, etc. We are basically living in two bedrooms and bathroom. Anyone else going through similar?

I’d change your title. I was expecting something a little more racy....

And yes. But we moved in Feb 2020. Disaster. Have been living like this for far far too long. Hopefully builders coming back soon. You have to develop blinkers. I literally say to myself “I do not see it....”.

I wish that wasn’t a typo!!!!

@BeardyButton that sounds stressful - what terrible timing. Hope your builders sort it out soon.

@BeardyButton me too😆😆
@Notcontent great typo 😂😂

You could nip behind the portacabin?

Top tip: dont do it on a pile of builders sand. Gets everywhere!

We have just spent 3 weeks having the house replastered while living in it, so I feel your pain!

We're five years into our house renovation and extension. I expected it to be a couple of years tops but it's an old house and every time we start on a new phase, we uncover something we didn't expect.
Our kitchen was demolished six weeks ago so I'm currently using a toaster, kettle and microwave in my sitting room and it will get worse before it gets better.
My husband revealed to me yesterday that the 'deadline' of the extension being habitable by Christmas won't happen now due to the nationwide lack of building materials.
One of my children is autistic and the noise, dust and lack of continuity in our home is making his life so difficult. I feel so bad for putting him through this but he is very tolerant.
And the next person to say "but it will be worth it when it's finished" will get a poke in the eye
I have a lot of patience but I'm so close to running out now! You have my sympathy OP.

Oh ugh this will be me soon! The house I'm buying needs a downstairs loo put in, new kitchen, refitting both bathrooms, all new flooring, new windows, new deck and front wall. I'm trying to get trades lined up but have no real dates other than July. I'll work top down, but putting a gas fire in the front room and as soon as that is done I can decorate it and put flooring in and that will be one refuge (windows and built ins can wait). But it depends on trades, plus lead times. I'm a serial renovator but usually do not live in the property.

I started renovating my little Victorian terrace last Jan. then obviously covid hit and a 6 month project is now 18 months.

It’s driving me up the wall, holes from chasing in new sockets, half plastered bits, holes in the floors, shit kitchen.

Hoping to be done by xmas, but sick of by the bloody thing now! Was planning on conceding the attic and putting new windows in but will leave it for a year so I can just live in a finished house for a bit.

Converting the attic*

I’m teaching the final stages with wallpaper and skirting boards being put in from
Tomorrow but am so tired of it all
The dust
Plaster
Displaced stuff
Builders stuff

Just can’t be arsed with it - it’s been three months for us

Me! 2 kids (3 & 2) and due number 3 in July!

We moved out for a couple of weeks because there was no heating or water (hot or cold) though my poor DH lived here throughout as he is doing a lot of the work.

We are adding a 60sqm extension and reconfiguring almost the entire ground floor. Fortunately, although the slaps have been done through the stone work (1 x 1.5m wide and 1x2.5m wide), they managed to maintain the plasterboard, so so far we can keep the extension separate (albeit a tad drafty).

Our old kitchen is completely gone and our bathroom and pantry. My DH is a genius though and has built a full on working kitchen (including dishwasher) in what was previously our bathroom and will be our hallway. Its not pretty and there is no plasterboard on the ceiling and the walls are back to blocks but it does work. Good job cos the work will be going on well after the baby arrives.

Windows were ordered far too late (main contractor was reserved because of various delays) so they are now due for delivery the day before the baby! Which is a pain cos it will really hold up the current progress.

My favourite bit so far though has been the fact that the morning DH left for work for 2 weeks, our one and only toilet packed in (macerator). Which resulted in 33 week pregnant me elbow deep in poop trying to fix it (because we have exactly 0 spare cash to get someone in). That was fun!

What I wouldn't do for a very stiff drink!

I’m disappointed I thought this was a thread about a new dating show 😂

I feel a bit better now. Thank you.

You're not alone. I'm nearly 30 weeks pregnant too and fluctuate between excitement about the progress, FML what have I done/I can't find anything/why is everything so messy/I should have bought a done up house.

Hoping it will be worth it!!!

And mine has been delayed by 8 weeks, we've gone through a builder drama and it's also going to cost a fair bit more of money that we don't exactly have right now...so yeah, the stress of it all has been ridiculous! I really sympathise.

@SpareUsTheCutter

I sympathise - my little autistic boy thought that we were knocking the house down completely and was also stressed at the noise and builders stomping around.

We went away as much as possible to relatives houses. Also explained everything daily about what they were doing that day which helped but OMG the stress !

@WeIcomeToGilead sounds like you’re doing everything you can to support your boy, I’m sure it will have helped ❤️

Another one here falling for the click bait title.

This probably doesn't help OP but if it makes you feel any better my house was a building site when DD3 was born, due to poor planning and bad timing. We only had a couple of usable rooms. The visiting midwives had to fight their way through dust sheets to see the baby and try to hear me over drilling. It was hideous. Good luck.

We definitely had no loving on out building site as they knocked through the bedroom 😁

Nice to find some kindred spirits! We started in February 2020 and were meant to be done by July 2020. Still going... We moved out for two months in October/November 2020 while they were knocking through/demolishing chimneys but have been back in since then.

We were hoping to finish up next month but two disasters are delaying that:

1. The electrician has gone AWOL. Really worried about this one as the floor is going down soon.
2. Building material delays have increased lead time from a couple of days to 12 weeks on some materials so that final pieces get done until August.

As BeardyButton said - you just need to develop blinkers to the dust/etc.

if you have anyone prone to asthma or chest complaints, you can't ignore the dust and grit.