Extension thread 2021 - countdown to Christmas

[Callmejudith]

New thread for continued celebrating, moaning and commiserating

@LivingInABuildingSite our builder said he is using some kind of screed which dries way way quicker than that - though of course he could be lying out of his teeth. We're not flooring it until November (because of the wait for the sliding doors) but we do need to put kitchen units on it pretty swiftly.

I'm on the wine.

Welcome @LimpLettice Definitely agree to add at least a third of the time on and try as hard as you can to get your builder to agree to a schedule of works. We are here for you!

@Indecisivelurcher I got my builder to open a trade account with Best Heating. I then log in as him and order with my credit card. Saves 15% and free delivery

@LivingInABuildingSite sorry to hear your job is dragging. It's so upsetting when your expectations get squashed 😞

My Christmas tree is going up on 1st December!! I might push it to 3rd...but that's as far as my tolerance goes 😆

Same as @Callmejudith we're using a faster drying screed.... I can't remember though if that goes down before or after the wet underfloor heating. I'll ask him actually.

Sending hugs and 🍷 to everyone living through the building stresses at the mo!!! Also never planning to do this again 🤦🏼‍♀️

Poshwatch you've just given me an idea! When they block up the opening while we wait for the sliding doors I'm going to put one of those nets of fairy lights and pretend that's the look I was always going for

Thank you both! The boys are already in love with the builder, from some preliminary works and meetings. I'm under no illusions, as had some fairly extensive work done 12 years ago when i was heavily pregnant. I still remember sobbing like a lunatic on the phone to M&S, absolutely distraught because my last remaining readymeal was covered in a thick layer of pepper under the plastic, it was ten at night and snowing, and I was too fat to do anything. They finished with about 4 days to go and I swore never again 

Planning on using DIY @sluj. The showroom
Is miles away, would you say it's a necessity? My DM was a kitchen planner for 25y, so I'm letting her loose and hoping for the best!

@PoshWatchShitShoes Wow that is a very high architect's bill! I have also been focusing on the interior deco to keep me enthusiastic about the project and to push through the mess. Not been too messy though as stairs breakthrough not yet opened up.

@Callmejudith I didn't know Pooky had a store. I have my eye on a light from their website to put over the stairs to the loft but at £400, I can't seem press the buy button just yet. I plan to have wall lights in the two larger bedrooms in the loft and the bathroom over the vanity mirror. Not found ones yet that catch my eye.

@HappyBackHome We did exactly the same thing as you. We sold our lovely 3/4 bed ex-LA house to buy our current 2 bed bungalow. We have started with the loft conversion and then we shall do the downstairs in a few years' time. We loved our previous house but it was limited by what work we could do without surpassing the ceiling price of the road. The bungalow is also on a quieter no through road which is lovely. It has been great watching Dh training dd on her bike out in the road.

We are having both down lights ad wall lights in the rooms in the loft conversion. I will share mine when I make the decision. We initially were going to have them sort of bedside level but now we shall have them a bit further up and apart on that wall to allow for flexibility.

@StrongArm I agree with you. The whole point of a utility room is to be able to close it off from the rest of the space. Definitely change it.

@Indecisivelurcher We are going over with regards to btus. I hate feeling cold. I can always turn it down on the valve if it is too warm.

@RebelGeek76 That space looks fantastic.

Loft conversion has now got the point where the partition walls are all up. Site has now been handed over to the electrician and Plumber whilst carpenter finishes off the ferrings and boarding the dormer. Plumber is very keen to start 1st fix ASAP next week so hopefully he is here nice and early next week. Ideally he wants to do his bit before the electrician.

Our roofer was keen to start mid next week but was put off by carpenter as he believed he might not be ready for him. I hope we don't get to regret it if roofer is caught on another job when we are ready for him. I just want to keep the current momentum going whilst I still have the enthusiasm for the project. Also whilst I'm on maternity leave. I go back to work in January so it is also important I have my new office space ready-ish by then since I am losing my current one to the staircase.

The very good news - We can re-use the roof tiles we currently have which is a small step in being less wasteful and it should also save us almost £2k. I have hated seeing tonnes of good timber end up on our skip.

@callmejudith I like those . I love seeing other people’s choices, as I have no natural sense of style!

Hi, fingers crossed we start our kitchen extension on Monday, builder says will be finished well before Christmas so keeping my fingers crossed. This is my first ever build so it will be an eyeopener..

@Notyetthere it’s quite a small showroom in Chelsea but was good to see the finishes up close.

@Butwhhhyyyyyyy good luck!!

I've been irritated all night because I've realised the pipework for the w.c. basin has been put on the wrong side of the corner. I hadn't specified and they didn't ask. Got to decide whether to get them to change it or live with it.

@LimpLettice
I wouldn't say you need to go but I definitely benefitted from our 2 hours as I saw some things I hadn't even known existed before. This is despite getting 2 new kitchens previously and spending lots of time in Wren etc.
Things have definitely evolved since my last kitchen. We are having an unusual G shaped kitchen and also a wall full of units and fridge so I was particularly interested in corner units and pull out units.
We are 3 hours away so used some expiring Tesco vouchers to book an overnight hotel then enjoyed the following day in Leeds.
Having said all that, you could easily do it without visiting if you have your plan in mind and don't need inspiration.
We bought lots of door colour samples home and that's going to be the hardest part for us. Torn between white and dove grey ( old hat?), though DH prefers cornflower blue! I am taking my samples down to my NW facing extension this morning to have a look before continuing with my mist coat painting.
DIY kitchens are not supplying appliances at the moment but, apart from the sink trasher, I have all mine already.
What do you all think about dove grey? Am I considering something that's already on its way out? I'm not 100% sure if I will still be in this house in the next 5 to 10 years.

@Indecisivelurcher sorry to hear that. Hope you can get it sorted or make it work as is.

Sympathies though...It's a lesson I'm learning every day!! They make assumptions without asking and on some things I haven't known to stipulate!! I think I should take my laptop to site every morning and start working there, as it's such a risk to be away, as they do stuff so bloody quickly before I get chance to intervene!

Thankfully on Friday morning I managed to change the position of wall socket for a tv that they'd put off centre on the wall 🤦🏼‍♀️

@sluj I like dove grey, but cornflower blue sounds wow!! Are there other things you really want on the build? Cos I'm letting my DH have some impression of choice on things I'm not too bothered about... but mainly cos there are things I'm just not compromising on 😂

Mainly wallpaper in my case, which he hates. I'm just going to have it hung in certain rooms and not mention anything about it in advance lol

@Butwhhhyyyyyyy What kind of extension are you having? Our single storey kitchen extension was supposed to have taken 8 weeks but 10 weeks later and they are still doing the roof.

Thank you @sluj I don't think it's worth an away trip! I like grey but I'm sick of it. I love the idea of corn flower blue though. We're hopefully having a custom green. I've had a million lick samples all over the existing kitchen for months and are going for a pale pewter green with black, white and tan. I think.

@Indecisivelurcher that would bother me. I'd think it wouldn't and decide I was being fussy and then point it out to everyone any time the work came up for decades to come.

@Indecisivelurcher I’d get it changed, it’ll annoy you for ever.

@PoshWatchShitShoes I’ve been wfh from the building site and it definitely helps.

Love the kitchen cupboard chat! I think grey is absolutely timeless and can be made to look a million different ways with handles etc.
I love the idea of pewter green and also cornflower blue. We are going navy which I am still in love with

@sluj we are going for the cornflower blue on our island and a bespoke navy for the L shape around the walls. We are having oak worktops on the navy and a navy quartz on the island as it's housing the sinks.

Can I join. I'm currently in the middle of an extension. No downstairs sink or washing machine and pregnant. Due in December, works are supposed to finish in December and living in squalor

Interesting to read all the discussion of DIY kitchens. We are looking at their shaker kitchens too and are currently debating between alabaster and cornflower blue at the moment . We had provisionally decided on the mussel (a sort of greige colour) but diy kitchens no longer sell that colour!

DH liked alabaster (he wanted white!) and I do feel it is the more 'sensible' (boring?!) choice as it goes with everything, and if we did ever decide to sell our house it's a less unusual colour...

...but we plan on staying here permanently, and when I got the sample doors DH decided alabaster was 'a bit boring' and he was surprised to find that 'he quite liked' the cornflower blue... . My heart says cornflower blue and this is our one and only chance to ever choose our own (new!) kitchen I think I will push for it...

We've agreed on the granite worktop (this may need to be a later purchase though, depending on remaining budget, as it adds about £2000 onto total kitchen price compared to laminate), and we've moved onto debating upstands vs. tiles currently.

Does anyone have any experience/thoughts about upstands? We've always had tiles before, so it's all new to us .

Do you still need to tile above upstands? Are the taller or shorter upstands better? I prefer the look of the 100 mm upstands, but I'm not sure if taller (150 mm) would be better behind the sink/everywhere?

If we do go with upstands I think we'll also go for a granite backsplash (?) behind the hob too and not tile at first to see how we get on...

@MissFritton65 you are a genius! I've been so torn between oak and white granite. I love oak but am worried about the upkeep around the sink, which is going to be in the island. You've found the solution. Cheaper that way, too.

@NatMoz been there and you have my sympathies. We did finish before I brought DD home, by about 3 days. Was also December and snowy, and all I wanted was hot food and somewhere to nest.

@HappyBackHome we’ve gone for upstands (white quartz) and then our range will have a steel splash back (which DH is in charge of cleaning). I couldn’t decide on tiles and a few people suggested upstands and a hard wearing paint is a good combo

Good heavens, lots of surprising love for cornflower blue. This is so hard !!

@LimpLettice thank you!

Hello new joiners and good luck to those starting out.

I have a section of wood counter atm and I won’t be replacing it, it’s more work to look after than the granite (marble? Not sure what I have!). And we cba to wax it or whatever you’re meant to do.

I’m going for boring white in the kitchen, to add light as north facing and previously has been very dark in there. Hoping roof lantern and bifolds will help with that too.
But also because I can’t commit to a colour as I’m worried I won’t like it later 🙄
Which is why nearly all of my house is white or off white (calico the painter called it). Weird as we used to have loads of bright colours in a previous house.

After my disappointment with the boss guy yesterday I had to rush out (as he came late too), by the time I got home I found out DH had rung him and had a rant. Not happy with dh at all for doing that, he hadn’t even waited to hear what was said from my POV (he came in at the end of the disappointing meeting).

I still doubt we’ll finish this year but maybe things will speed up a little. I had complained that often we just have one or two guys on site. He says he’s short of labourers but he also knows I’m a bit of a pushover. Dh not so much.

Anyway, I’m annoyed with builders and DH now, so that’s good 😂

Oh and someone mentioned the fancy cat flap, I have one in the front I put in when they started building at the back and I have another one they are building around at the back. I really like them, even if they are stupid money,