Extension thread 2021 - countdown to Christmas

[Callmejudith]

New thread for continued celebrating, moaning and commiserating

What period is your house poshwatch and what style / flooring have you gone for in the hallway and kitchen? What is your front door going to be like and lighting?

Tiler sounds awful btw.

Can I join you too? Can boost the prosecco supply and have gin!

I spent night on the sofa as I couldn't bear to be in the same space as DH last night! He's such a stress head and completely flipped when I told him last night that our new dishwasher won't fit in the space currently as the hot/cold pipes were in the way. His reaction was "oh well we won't have a dishwasher then" and given the fact that not having a dishwasher started the whole kitchen replan/extension process that is definitely not happening!!

We had to switch the position of dishwasher as builders had positioned the drain outlet right under where it was planned, they put it roughly where the sink was going to be but in hindsight I should've measured exactly where each unit was to be placed when he asked. We had to swap it with the pull out bin which was planned for other side of sink unit but assumed D/W would have a service void similar to cupboards and not be as deep. I'm hoping that it's just a case of re-routing the pipes down to the floor so they can run in the recess at the bottom of D/W, but that also means having to cut into carcasses either side for pipes which he wasn't happy about. It was a total over reaction on his part and I got called all the names under the sun for overlooking the dimensions of the dishwasher and being a rubbish PM. He apologised for being a tw*t this morning and brought me a coffee but I know he'll still be stressing about it!! I know plumber will know exactly what to do.

@PoshWatchShitShoes

I've just confirmed the order to the worktop company...who has actually passed me on to the actual worktop company who is supplying it!!! So basically I'm being charged £7.7k by a middleman 😭 So upsetting.

If anyone wants to name of the actual supplier behind it, let me know. What a bloody con 🤦🏼‍♀️

Who have you gone for with your worktops? We've sourced ours through DIY kitchens who use Natural Stone Surfaces, although DIY are the middleman they get quite a good discounted rate rather than going direct to Natural Stone Surfaces. We're paying just over £2k (incl VAT and fitting) for our white quartz for our 2.4m worktop upstand and 1.2 x 2.4m island which was by far the best price we were quoted even by local suppliers/manufacturers.

We have covid in the house. Everything has ground to a halt. Hopefully they will come back on Monday. Everyone is double vaccinated so it should be fine but better safe than sorry. Sigh.
It is wonderful to have the house to ourselves for a few days. Don't underestimate the strain of constant presence of builders in your home.
It will all be worth it in the end!

Why are they all such drama llamas? DH said this morning "I'm no longer getting cross about it" and I had to bite my tongue.

Oh no @Hothammock that's the last thing you need! Covid is a massive PITA

Sorry to hear about covid @SunonmyFace and @Hothammock... hope everyone stays well!!

I'm at the office and stressing about grout. I'd agreed a grout colour and they went off today and bought "something similar". I need to explain more clearly that I don't want "something similar", I want the exact one I chose!!! Cos I chose it for a reason raaaaaaa 🤦🏼‍♀️

Floor tiling in guest bath is finished. He's going to grout it now 🙈

@PoshWatchShitShoes your tiles are gorgeous. I adore marble and have a similar look on my bathroom walls. Our floor was not stable enough to tile but I would have if I could have. Yours will look amazing.

That looks beautiful @PoshWatchShitShoes

Oh poshwatch. That is beautiful. Which tiles have you gone for, they are really lovely. Also yes please re worktop people - builder has budgeted £17500 to supply and fit kitchen and utility on our quote so I need to save every penny!!!

@Hothammock

We have covid in the house. Everything has ground to a halt. Hopefully they will come back on Monday. Everyone is double vaccinated so it should be fine but better safe than sorry. Sigh. It is wonderful to have the house to ourselves for a few days. Don't underestimate the strain of constant presence of builders in your home. It will all be worth it in the end!

Oh no Re Covid! Hope no one is too ill and it doesn’t cause any more problems.

Love those tiles!

I have some plasterboard up, a full ceiling and some of the upper parts of the walls. More tomorrow and Monday, then it’s glass time!

Roofer starting to tile the pitched part of the side extension roof, using tiles we took off the roof years ago that have been sat in the garden all this time. Happy to see them finally being used. Hopefully he’ll finish tomorrow.

Plasterboard makes such a difference!

DH just sent me a video of him turning the spotlights on and off and dimming them, I squealed at my desk.

@PoshWatchShitShoes beautiful tiles! Yours seems a very large job: what exactly are you having done?
@Hothammock bad news about Covid 🤞🤞 everyone relatively ok.

Not a great day here - no hot water......again, only 2 rooms with heating, still no windows. I'm totally fed up with the dust, cold and cramped rooms.

This has made me laugh. We have 7 circuits in the kitchen but 8 spaces on the grid switch. Why wouldn’t you just put a dummy one in??

Thanks ladies.

@nomoneytreehere here you go...I looked at so many porcelain marble look tiles. Happy with the ones I chose: www.mandarinstone.com/product/mimica-bianco-ravenna-matt-porcelain/

I just cancelled the middle man quartz order!! The woman at the actual quartz workshop was really stroppy, but I read the T&Cs back to her and explained she hadn't incurred any costs in the past 24 hours so I'd like my deposit back.

I've found somewhere else I like much better and a better price. I'll PM you the name of the new company

Impressive switch @Callmejudith. Is it brushed steel? Trying to decide on polishes or brushed

@MissFritton65 we're seemingly doing everything. Not extending, but refurbishing and changing layout. I think it would have been easier (perhaps cheaper) to knock down and start again 😂

Well done on the worktop @PoshWatchShitShoes I hate middlemen schemes like that

The switch is brushed chrome same as all the sockets and small switches. I love it

Wow that's a lot of buttons, but I agree I'd have serious OCD with that missing one! We've only gone for 4 lighting zones in ours but also went for brushed steel. All our downlight wires are behind the plasterboard waiting for sparky to do 2nd fix, he's apparently marked on his drawings where all the cables are so will know exactly where to cut out....I bloody hope so!

Just got home and the lights are weird! If you’re turning on a dimmer it goes clockwise yes? Ours aren’t right at all!

Plus the utility and WC are supposed to be on one circuit with the supplied silver switch and they’ve put a whacking great white one outside the WC FFS

We are going brushes steel too although I think that's ages off! After such a cr*p few days, we are meeting project manager and firm owner tomorrow to discuss exactly what's happening with time scales etc and wanting a full schedule for the next month. Wish me luck!

Ok I’m annoyed now. The outside light switch and coat cupboard switches were also supposed to be silver and were left ready for them. They’ve put a 3-way white switch in the coat cupboard and a horrid white switch for the outdoor.

Good luck Mrs F - stick to your guns don’t let them leave without a schedule!!

Thank you @Callmejudith and I hope you can sort out the switches; why are what appears to be straightforward to us and massive deal to others?!?

Oh that's so bloody annoying @Callmejudith. Hope they're back quickly to change them.

@MissFritton65 good luck with the schedule. When are you hoping to finish? I'm waving goodbye to last trade on 13th December...even if they're not finished 😆

Forgot to add that I went to site at 9pm last night...in my pyjamas 😂

The tiler was still there (to be fair he's always doing 6:30am to 9:30pm, as I can see the alarm system set messages come through on my phone).

Anyway he said sorry for yesterday and getting upset and shouting. We made friends 😊 He'd had everything planned in his head for the layout before I started changing everything. Impressed as it's never easy to say sorry, but he did.

He's a great tiler. He's already finished the boys' bathroom too 👏