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

[Callmejudith]

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

To be clear we will have some spotlights but more as mixed mode lighting!

That’s a great light @Sewfrickinamazeballs. I didn’t think of that type of design but will now have a look!

@Mofrad15

Almost finished with our extension. But haven’t got a kitchen sorted! Any recommendations for bespoke kitchen companies in the North ? Tom Howley and places like that have been about 15k over our budget. TIA

We are going to look at this company which is a bespoke kitchen maker based in Newton Le Willows. Might be useful for you?

Www.customhousecabinetry.com/

I agree about the neighbours, you have to crack on. We were at ours this morning taking photos of their wall as they are so worried about us effecting their 1970's extension. We will be careful near their property but we bought this house with extending in mind. Wait till we have to take part of the hedge out...

I am also struggling with kitchens. Solid wood or MDF or ply carcasses with solid doors.. Everyone has an opinion and I am losing the plot as I can see the wood for the trees.

@Yellownotblue

I’m very envious of the 12 week builds! Ours is a projected 40 weeks. We’re on schedule so far, steel frame in, garden room done, timber structure starting to get in next week. First masonry wall went up last week, it’s so beautiful I nearly cried! I christened her Muriel 😁. She’s big, strong, black and gorgeous.

I love our builders and project manager, my neighbours are great too. But I’m very bittersweet about our architects, feeling quite let down about how little support they are offering (while still sending monthly invoices 🧐).

12 weeks sounds glorious! Although I don't think I've ever heard a 12week build finish on time - usually around 16-20. I have my fingers crossed for you all though. We have a 28week schedule although I think that is ambitious. Due to finish August but I think we'll be lucky for October and possibly more likely snagging into December. Main builder seems to have it in hand though and says we are currently 3days behind schedule due to a delay in steels and the wrong bricks delivery but is confident we will make up the time.

Sounds like I need to start drafting the lighting design. I think the conventional wisdom is to have 4 light sources - task, spot, natural, ambient.

I haven’t been anywhere near as thoughtful or planned about lights as you all seem to be. Random pendants, spots, some under lighting. Lots of switches. LEDs around the roof light with diffusers but not as diffuse-y as I was hoping for.
Hopefully it’ll all work out.

As for timescales, I’ve given up asking mostly. We started this phase in April 2021.
We are making progress but I’m feeling like we’re pushing it to finish by school holidays in July. Just feels never ending.

So good luck to anyone with short timescales, I’m envious!

I know building projects are notorious for running over, especially so now with scarcity of materials. We’ve already had to amend plans to accommodate lack of bricks in our colour, so if 12 weeks actually happens that will be amazing. We’re extending a detached non period house which I think makes things much easier, no party wall agreements to deal with.
Interesting to hear that lighting is a bit of challenge for many of us, albeit for varying reasons. I’ve been trying to research a bit more and found this article useful if it helps anyone else.
www.homesandgardens.com/spaces/decorating/kitchen-lighting-ideas-203134
My biggest challenge with lighting is not having any wall units on a 5m run and I’m keen to avoid shelves. I’ve now added wall lighting to the list of products I’m obsessively googling in the wee hours. 🙈 I’m also keen to have a feature light over the dining table but as it runs behind the island which will have 2/3 pendants I’ll make a call once I see the space built.
In other news our concrete was poured today for the foundations, a working day earlier than expected. We’ve also had a builders yard of materials delivered which is blocking the pavement, much to my embarrassment. We were both off work today and took a rather disappointing trip around local bathroom showrooms, will definitely purchase online. Any tips for websites for counter top wooden vanity units gratefully received. We’ve discovered www.tikamoon.co.uk/ and love everything!

@LivingInaBuildingSite sorry I only seen your comment after my post. How long was your build meant to take?

I've been on previous threads and we are 15 months onto our renovation/extension. It is adding 80% to the house but it's gone on and on...I wish all those starting out all the very best . We have lived in for the whole process except for 1 month when we were in 9 Airbnb! Thankfully we are 2 late 50s adults so pretty adaptable but it's been hard.

[quote JoanDarc]@LivingInaBuildingSite sorry I only seen your comment after my post. How long was your build meant to take?[/quote]
Don’t think we ever had a timescale tbh. The company do a lot of school work in the holidays so we tend to lose them then. So summer holidays last year was pretty static in terms of progress on-site. The boss has promised he won’t take on summer work if they haven’t finished here. But I know how school work gets commissioned and it’ll be before they know if they’ve finished here, if that makes sense, so I’m sceptical.

They’re good builders just not speedy.

But also not speedy with invoices so win some lose some. 😂

We have 3 DC and 3 cats so not very portable. I’m glad we haven’t moved out as I’ve spotted odd bits as they’ve come up but it hasn’t been easy!

@JoanDarc ours is a 32 week build. We are adding on around 130sqm though and the ground worker keeps telling me the extension is the same size as most 3 bed houses. We are just starting week 4. That is meant to be completely finished, fully decorated with all
outside work done though. We have to move out soon so I'm packing, packing, packing. When I should be making decisions on finish and ordering things. We have decided to get a storage unit (luckily our drive is big) so we can just put all our stuff in. They were cheaper than I thought they would be. It's slightly cross fingers and hope for the best on money though.

@LivingInaBuildingSite I hope your work finishes before the summer holidays.
@nomoneytree that’s huge! I can imagine it must be stressful to pack and temporarily relocate when you’re trying to make plans.
We’re living in the house throughout but will have a period of time without the kitchen/ downstairs wc/ utility will be knocked through to the new build. I know I should be concerned about the lack of kitchen but I’m more bothered about not having a washing machine!

The builders arrive tomorrow. Is it normal to be absolutely freaking out the night before? I've been so excited and desperate to start and now I want to runaway.

I think we have decided to put all our belongings into storage and live here throughout as we can't afford air BnB and no one will rent to us for just 6 months. I hope we can do it. Lots of stays at local hotels in-between.

Current state of mind - what problems will digging foundations find? Will this bankrupt us? And can we actually live through it argh!

How old are your kids @GardensandGrandDesigns? I’ve done both and it’s easier to live in with young kids or no kids. With teens you have to move out. Ditto if anyone needs to WFH as the noise and interruption to utilities would be constant.

By the way, I empathise entire on the rental front. We are paying twice as much as we’d like to so we get a break clause at 6 months. As things stand, we may well be here until the 9 month mark.

Morning, they are 7 and 4 and at school and nursery all day and our head office is very close so we intend to just sleep at the house. We also have parents in the same town (flat so we can't stay) but we can shower and go for meals. Hope it is ok. Any tips for living in?

You will be fine then! Mine were a similar age when we lived without a kitchen for many months and they barely remember it. They really are adaptable at that age and are fine. We set up a “kitchen” with a microwave, electric 2 ring hob and a fridge and it was all very doable, plus it was the spring/summer so they spent many after school evenings in the park with tea from the cafe there.

@GardensandGrandDesigns

The builders arrive tomorrow. Is it normal to be absolutely freaking out the night before? I've been so excited and desperate to start and now I want to runaway.

I think we have decided to put all our belongings into storage and live here throughout as we can't afford air BnB and no one will rent to us for just 6 months. I hope we can do it. Lots of stays at local hotels in-between.

Current state of mind - what problems will digging foundations find? Will this bankrupt us? And can we actually live through it argh!

How disrupted will the build be? Ours has mostly been outside until the last few weeks, so inside only for the last 6-8 weeks. We are ripping apart the whole house, moving stairs etc so no small job but surprised how long we could stay for. There were chunks of the house with no power from the start but we worked around it and it did get pretty miserable the last few weeks (and cold and dusty).

Our DD is 6 and has mostly rolled with it. The toys going into storage has been the biggest issue for her but she has been brill otherwise. We have 'big' storage for 90% of our stuff. A removals company packed crates on the drive and are storing them for us. We also have 'small' storage, a big yell unit that we put the last of our bits into last week before moving out to mums for Easter then onto an air bnb for a month. We simply couldn't afford rent, council tax and bills on top. We needed every penny for the build.

@LivingInaBuildingSite

I haven’t been anywhere near as thoughtful or planned about lights as you all seem to be. Random pendants, spots, some under lighting. Lots of switches. LEDs around the roof light with diffusers but not as diffuse-y as I was hoping for. Hopefully it’ll all work out.

As for timescales, I’ve given up asking mostly. We started this phase in April 2021.
We are making progress but I’m feeling like we’re pushing it to finish by school holidays in July. Just feels never ending.

So good luck to anyone with short timescales, I’m envious!

Can I ask about the led strips around your roof lights? Are they inside the well or around the bottom on the ceiling? Having similar as we have a right puzzle with joists and beams that mean positioning of lights is tricky. Did you source the strips and diffuser? Which did you go for?

I'm amazed how well you've all coped with it all. We have a 3yr old and an under 1 and are finding it quite tough going. Kitchen is now out of action (week 7) until August now. Tempted to get a 2ring hob but going to see how it goes (I have an instant pot, microwave, and grill so hoping we can survive with that).
The major thing I've found tough is nap time - we are having to do little and often but it is wearing.
I'm searching everywhere to try and find somewhere to stay in may or June. A week here and there is just a challenge with how much baby kit we have to bring and may cause more hassle to be honest so ideally somewhere for 2 weeks or more would be best.

Thank you, you are an angel for saying such positive things! @Sewfrickinamazeballs

I remember how much baby stuff there is and we don't have nap times anymore so I feel for you, that is definitely harder! @BlueMooMoo

We're in it together!

So we are starting week 3 of our very small side return infill. Photo hopefully attached of (now dry) foundations, so you can see how small it actually is!

Can't quite believe I'm spending £40k doing this but it will almost double the size of the existing galley kitchen, we'll be able to fit a table & chairs in there & the current walk-through dining area will become a study as we both WFH now.

I feel so clueless. I'm waiting on kitchen quotes, one wall of units and a tiny island. I've had one back so far from an independent business my mum used, £15k for solid wood doors, quartz worktop, including fitting, vat, sink & tap (but not appliances). My mum commented that we must be going "really high end"... is that price really high for wood?

I've done a similar plan on DIY Kitchens which came out around £9.8k inc vat for the Norton wood door range & quartz worktop but I'd have to find a fitter & the ones I've spoken to so far only want to do Howdens/ Benchmarx etc. We are getting a Howdens quote too although expecting that will be far higher.

Will your builders not fit the kitchen @awkward?

A friend had her side return done and honestly it has made the world of difference to her house. It really is worth it!

@GardensandGrandDesigns we started today too. Race you!

Our two were 6 and 4 when we did a side return extension that ended up causing chaos to the whole house - they only have fond memories of it now, and the "not-kitchen" we set up with a camping table and single hob in the spare room :)

I think the trick is to massively lower your standards on everything - dust, organisation, meal plans etc all out the window for a while. And get away for short breaks as much as possible.

We're only 2 and a bit hours in and it's amazing how much they've done in such a short time. Garden cleared, about to start demolishing the conservatory, ready for the digger tomorrow. Hoping it continues. Just another million decisions for me to make now...

@BlueMooMoo their joiner only likes Benchmarx, begrudgingly fits Howdens. He's getting the Howdens quote for us as the Benchmarx wood range didn't come in the colour we liked.
Not sure I'll have much luck persuading him to fit DIY....