Extension Thread 2022....plaster, panic and pics

[Callmejudith]

Slightly naff title but I haven't had enough coffee yet

Scaffolding going up and front gable roof tiles coming off. It's amazing what you get excited at nowadays
Can not wait to see the last of sloped ceilings!

@BlueMooMoo

Scaffolding going up and front gable roof tiles coming off. It's amazing what you get excited at nowadays Can not wait to see the last of sloped ceilings!

Exciting times! Big chunky changes are ahead.

Our scaffolding came down today so just on the other side.

Hi all

Not been on here much this week, had an operation on Monday for an umbilical hernia (thanks kids) but my recovery hasn't been made easier by the builder's quote now up 40k. Now we have building regs, he's been able to quote properly and of course hubs has added on air con, mechanical ventilation, full digging up of the concrete floors for our ufh. Gosh I am getting quite worried that we can afford it all. It's a rather big loan we will need. Please tell me it will be ok!

@GardensandGrandDesigns

Hi all

Not been on here much this week, had an operation on Monday for an umbilical hernia (thanks kids) but my recovery hasn't been made easier by the builder's quote now up 40k. Now we have building regs, he's been able to quote properly and of course hubs has added on air con, mechanical ventilation, full digging up of the concrete floors for our ufh. Gosh I am getting quite worried that we can afford it all. It's a rather big loan we will need. Please tell me it will be ok!

Are they must haves or nice to haves? I'd keep options open in case prices rise even more. Presume some of this stuff can be decided at a later date once you've started. I'd leave yourself slack for the nice to haves and make sure you can cover must haves in the first instance.

Oh, and it will be ok! Time, cost, quality - something has to give if you want to have the other two, you just need to make sure your ready for what needs to be compromised

@GardensandGrandDesigns

Hi all

Not been on here much this week, had an operation on Monday for an umbilical hernia (thanks kids) but my recovery hasn't been made easier by the builder's quote now up 40k. Now we have building regs, he's been able to quote properly and of course hubs has added on air con, mechanical ventilation, full digging up of the concrete floors for our ufh. Gosh I am getting quite worried that we can afford it all. It's a rather big loan we will need. Please tell me it will be ok!

And hope your op went ok.

@GardensandGrandDesigns

Hi all

Not been on here much this week, had an operation on Monday for an umbilical hernia (thanks kids) but my recovery hasn't been made easier by the builder's quote now up 40k. Now we have building regs, he's been able to quote properly and of course hubs has added on air con, mechanical ventilation, full digging up of the concrete floors for our ufh. Gosh I am getting quite worried that we can afford it all. It's a rather big loan we will need. Please tell me it will be ok!

Agree with @sew on what are absolute musts now and what can be done later or even after the build. Hope you are ok and your recovery goes a bit easier than it has been. When are you due to start?

In all honesty we have bitten off more than we can chew but which was realistic with pre covid prices. Our architects estimate is way off (we could afford what he estimated) we are just trying to build all the space we need and then make it beautiful in the future. So much is the expensive but doesn't look very nice! Like rewiring, all new windows as well as the double story extension.

Thanks about the op, it is my first ever surgery and it is even worse than I thought! Moving about is a nightmare.

Oh starting next month!

Hi @GardensandGrandDesigns. Snap. 5 years later my scar is a little teeny dimple. Take it easy though, it took me longer than I thought to get back to normal.

We have absolutely had to compromise. We ended up with less glass (actually a good thing, we would have boiled alive with the originals) and lots of unfinished work which we will be tinkering with ourselves. Cover the must haves and work with it has been our motto. The must haves have changed, I must say! Sorting out our flooring at the mo and reply stressing at pricing. It has to go down soon though as the current dust levels are driving me to drink. I've had a glass of wine with dinner every night this week after being teetotal for about 4 years...DH keeps buying me a delicious Shiraz and I can't resist.

@RinklyRomaine please tell me how long it takes to get to the moving out of a chair without feeling like my stomach is splitting stage!

I'm wondering whether to compromise on our kitchen. The cabinets are 10k but in 2 years time will I regret it. Might drive myself mad!

@GardensandGrandDesigns It took me about ten days. Incision was about 8-10cm. It's a few years ago now but I remember the horror. My ExDp is a real peach and refused to have DD, she got a dose of impetigo the day before which I got...wasn't fun.

Honestly? My lovely mum worked for Moben for many years and says 70% is in the fitting. We went B&Q which sort of horrified me but if we need to replace in say 8 years will be fine. It had to be a compromise. We did spend on the quartz tho, and I don't regret it, it's beautiful.

[quote RinklyRomaine]@GardensandGrandDesigns It took me about ten days. Incision was about 8-10cm. It's a few years ago now but I remember the horror. My ExDp is a real peach and refused to have DD, she got a dose of impetigo the day before which I got...wasn't fun.

Honestly? My lovely mum worked for Moben for many years and says 70% is in the fitting. We went B&Q which sort of horrified me but if we need to replace in say 8 years will be fine. It had to be a compromise. We did spend on the quartz tho, and I don't regret it, it's beautiful. [/quote]
You poor thing that sounds incredibly rough. Glad you are all better now and it's not causing you problems.

Long forgotten, really, thank you. Two more babies and the diastasis is bigger than ever but you wine some, you lose some!

[quote GardensandGrandDesigns]@RinklyRomaine please tell me how long it takes to get to the moving out of a chair without feeling like my stomach is splitting stage!

I'm wondering whether to compromise on our kitchen. The cabinets are 10k but in 2 years time will I regret it. Might drive myself mad![/quote]
Could you compromise maybe on the scale of wet ufh or only do ac in some rooms?
I would be so so so gutted to lose the kitchen after all the effort and waiting but everyone has different pinch points.

@RinklyRomaine

Long forgotten, really, thank you. Two more babies and the diastasis is bigger than ever but you wine some, you lose some!

You wine some! Loving the typo 🍷

Not a thrilling week here:

Monday - screed poured in side extension
Tuesday - nothing as screed drying……
Wednesday - come home from work to find they’re putting the internal wall in between the laundry & bike shed bit. But with the doorway in the wrong place 🙄
So that’s a day wasted!

It will never end….!

Just had an offer accepted on a doer-upper, which was more my husband's vibe than mine, however I do love the space and think we can make it lovely.

We need to shift bathroom upstairs and do a new kitchen, which will leave space for a downstairs loo/utility where the bathroom was.

Last night before bed I showed him a nice downstairs loo on Pinterest and he commented, "that's lovely, something to think about in 5 years" and I was like, errr, what do you think will be downstairs in place of it for now then? He seems to think we will just have an empty shell where the loo will go, whereas I had been sold the idea of having work done before we move in.... now I can see how stressful this process is going to be 🤣😭🤯

Ps. I'm six months pregnant 🤰 FUN!

Day 4 in the nomoneytree house. Horrible old spider house utility is demolished. Ground worker appears to be just moving mud around the garden. Skip is full. Driveway is full of stuff for the grab lorry. First invoice due tomorrow.

I have so much stuff to choose like bathrooms and windows and flooring etc but I'm gripped with an inability to actually choose anything. Super stressed.

How many weeks/months are you in the build?

@nomoneytree

Day 4 in the nomoneytree house. Horrible old spider house utility is demolished. Ground worker appears to be just moving mud around the garden. Skip is full. Driveway is full of stuff for the grab lorry. First invoice due tomorrow.

I have so much stuff to choose like bathrooms and windows and flooring etc but I'm gripped with an inability to actually choose anything. Super stressed.

Do you have a schedule of works so you can prioritise what to choose first? Take it one decision at a time - often as well once we make one decision, other decisions flow from it. I also prebuild made a spreadsheet broken down by each room with lines for each item I needed to buy - flooring, sockets, etc.etc. and then had a column for weblinks. That helped me narrow down options and also see if there was a particular theme to the things I liked.

Quick question as well for those further on : what week did they break through from external to internal? And if you had a second storey extension did they break through ground floor and first floor at the same time?

Downstairs knock through is week 6 for us. We are moving out though. Upstairs
not until week 12.

I have a timeline and spreadsheets if stuff. I just can't make a decision!!

Thank you @nomoney
Think we are similar on downstairs at least but we have a complicated roof so not sure yet on first storey knock through - tiles already off. Sounds like it won't be the same time though.
Re the decisions : what about eeny meeny miney mo?

@BlueMooMoo, in our case they first knocked through the loft and first floor walls, then ground floor. That was about 4-6 weeks into the build (first had to demolish various other parts, dig and pour new foundations and add new supporting beams).

20 skipfuls of rubble later, it’s beginning to take shape.

I can't believe how quick knocking through is!

I would share pictures but it won't seem to let me. Very visible progress this week. Garden and drive now officially become builders' yards.
Exciting to see the space come to life