Extension thread 2021 - countdown to Christmas

[Callmejudith]

New thread for continued celebrating, moaning and commiserating

Day 48 of where the fuck is the builder??

@Callmejudith oh no not again! How frustrating.......again!

My god this is frustrating. The nice builder turned up, the foreman had given him no details about what needs to be done for the door opening. Phoned the door guy and he's on about wood in the cavity. Builder confirmed that there is wood in the cavity. Door guy wants him to cut back the plasterboard but he doesn't want to do that because he doesn't know exactly where the doors are going to go and it'll look completely shit if he cuts it back too far.

The issue now seems to be the base of the doors is currently a hole but needs to be filled with concrete to a certain level. Builder said that's an hour's job but he needs to get the stuff and is working on another extension now. I said as long as it's in and dry for Friday morning he can come and do it at midnight for all I care!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

@Callmejudith I'm now joining you in ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHing........just been told we need to empty a room now so they can take the floor up! We are both working however it needs doing now!!

Aaarrgggghhhhhhh

Anyone here love ikea and fancy designing my work alcove?! Kitchen fitter came last night to plan everything, and has said he can sort me some other jobs. It's in my living room so trying to make it look less out of keeping, as I am going to stay working from home. Am really torn between having a long stretch of wood spanning the alcove, with 2 nicer looking chairs tucked under, so dc's can use it to sit together to do colouring or school homework as they get older. Vs do up the kallax which is there now and have a nicer chair and desk. The kallax is full of things I don't really want in my living room, like dog leads and bike helmets :S But could be repurposed for paper work, pens, craft items. Hate having to decide things quickly :S

@Indecisivelurcher just today I was telling dp how we actually need a whole bloody coat stand for the amount of leads and harnesses we have for ddog. I like the idea of the desk across the whole thing so potentially 2 could sit down (do they ever though?) and maybe shelves above that for all the crap that comes with life?

have a rare day WFH today and went to get a coffee and walked past the builders a few doors down. Asked whether they would be done by Xmas. he said 'next Xmas at this rate with the amount of additional things to be done' . Hope it's not one of your builds!

Thanks for the reply @StrongArm! I am stalking facebook market place looking for a coat stand!

Dc do sit together and colour etc at the moment but they're only 4 & 7 so that could change! I've got a vision of being able to leave my monitor and laptop set up unobtrusively in one corner, then when it's not in use being able to slide chairs together to do colouring or homework. One of the compromises in our renovations here was deciding not to include a work from home area, meaning it has to stay in the living room. I suppose I still find it weird.

I think it depends on how messy you are! A long desk and open shelves would be a disaster here, I prefer the kallax to chuck stuff into, especially if it's in the living area and you might want to hide stuff away for guests.

I think a deep desk is also good for comfort and being able to have the monitor, lamp, pens, paper, cuppa etc. DS has the ikea peg boards above his desk and they are good for organising

I prefer the long desk and shelves look. Maybe even an under desk filing cabinet or something.

I have had kallax in some form for ages and look forward to getting rid of the last of it soon, the boxes are just too big ppa do stuff gets lost. Or not big enough for board games for eg.
Eket is slightly better as it has a slimline version. I’d prefer a half-depth kallax, but even then I remind myself about stuff sinking to the bottom of any storage box.

I know people have talked light switches before but I’ve been putting it off and need to decide soon, what have you gone for and from where?

I’ve been looking at Wandsworth and the prices range so much.

Do I want screwless now I know it exists but didn’t before?! 🙄😂
Do I want shiny silver looking (what I have already) or some kind of brushed effect? I don’t want white plastic that’s all I know and that’s what I’ll end up with if I don’t decide!

I prefer a square edge look to a rounded corner but can’t find square edged screwless.

Have already over invested time in sodding light switches & sockets!

Oh and screed is nearly finished, yey! Have blocked off cat flap so hopefully no paw prints 🐾

Thanks for more desk thoughts, proves its subjective doesn't it. I've drawn up two designs to show dh later.

Oooo now I want to swap all mine for screwless, they are lovely.

Have a look at TLC-direct - they have a good search on there and are quite reasonable. Mine were all Nexus and our electrician said they're good quality.

They both look good!

Wonders may never cease, the foreman is actually in my house putting down bricks for the door opening. I am stunned.

Wow! Hope they get the opening ready for the doors in time. It was my point of stress with my doors, feels silly looking back now as it was totally fine.

The screed is finished but I can’t look as they’ve kept the side key for the evening - I was out when they left so not blaming them, just have to wait til tomorrow. It looked good at the halfway stage though.

Re light switches, I’ve dithered and looked at soooo many, and can’t decide so have decided I like what we already have 😂

So have emailed the builders with a link, don’t know if I can get all the different types we may need, but at least can reuse a few bits (some switches downstairs are still the old style white boxes sticking out of the wall, looking forward to them going!).

These ones (this is a dimmer example, most have toggles, which is what I already have)
www.thevictorianemporium.com/store/product/Stepped_4_Gang_Dimmer_Switch

Also, most of our downstairs switches are behind doors as we rehung the doors years ago, really looking forward to being able to easily turn a light on!

If anyone is still planning electrics, the best thing I did was put different zones of lights on different circuits and they can all dim too. I'm very chuffed with myself everytime I turn the lights on.

Also 5AMP circuits for lamps are great (and I think tres posh)

There was a lot of noise from our builders today and they asked me for print outs of the kitchen plans first thing. So when they left I went round excited to see hit far they’d got with installing it.
Not one single bloody cupboard is up!

I’ve no idea what they’ve been doing. There’s an area of wet screed but otherwise I’m puzzled.

The templater comes on Friday 🙀🤦‍♀️ DH is sure it will be fine 🙄

@Terracedtardis how annoying!! Are the cabinets pre-built? Ours went up in 2 days so you should be fine for Friday

Behind on the messages 😆

I need to order switches and sockets!!! Any tips of where to look?

Good luck @Terracedtardis with hopefully a speedy kitchen fit!!

Quick question... my builder is buying materials and presumably paying VAT... then he's paying those costs to me and adding VAT?

Is that how it's supposed to work? Why can't he just give me the receipts and I pay him back for what he's paid?

That should say *passing the costs to me

Most builders will add on a mark up if they are sourcing the products. You may well find that if they source them and add on a mark up there is only a small difference in cost than you doing it. They might get a discount being a business customer rather than a private customer.
You could arrange to source the materials yourself but that involves a lot of time and then the logistics of having the right stuff at the right time is on you rather than them.

I would have thought the builders buy materials in bulk and at trade prices so probably tricky to just pass on the receipt. Not sure though. Our materials are all included in the overall cost.

Two sleeps until doors and rooflight! Flooring going to start on the 18th. Our friend is installing it and has suggested hiring a proper dehumidifier for a week once the doors are in. It doesn't feel particularly humid or anything but I do trust him.

Not sure if I mentioned this already but we've decided to have two arm chairs and a small coffee table instead of a sofa which I think will work much better in the space and I think I'll be able to get away with bright coloured ones

Screed has dried enough to walk on, so plasterboarding maybe finished today, or if not tomorrow I hope.

Kitchen guy coming later, have changed a few things, (again!). Dh decided he didn’t need the 2 pull out spice cupboard things either side of the Hob, so I think I can shorten the island but change one end to overhang for stools. Plus some stools opposite, then take a space for a drinks fridge.