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

[Callmejudith]

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

@awkward oh that is a bit awkward. Fingers crossed benchmarx/Howdens can come back with a price closer to 10k then.

Windows and doors all ordered now. Hope I'll be happy with the colour combinations. It's difficult when we don't have the money to replace some of the existing windows so we're having to mix and match for probably about 5years. There was also too long a wait for a bespoke ral colour so we have had to pick from the suppliers standard colours.

Our one done room downstairs which we were hoping wouldn't be touched now has a hole in the ceiling where they will need to put a steel. Slightly frustrating but not a lot we can do. They uncovered an existing with an existing wall which now means a new steel has to go in that wasn't planned for.

Is it a room within a room? After a thread here I dreamed of finding similar but there was absolutely nothing to find. Does it mean that room is now bigger?

@BlueMooMoo thank you! I will check them out. So exciting that you’ve ordered windows too.

Need a bit of a handhold today! Someone on our street (not an immediate neighbour) had a huge go at me today, saying what we are doing is immoral, illegal, and she should seek an injunction to stop our building work.

The thing is, I know it’s a massive pain with the noise and dust and parking restrictions. The scaffolding has been going up this week, and the old foundations are being broken down, so that’s all very noisy work. But we’ve done everything completely above board - no cowboy builders here, and we’ve got PP and all the party wall awards that we need. So I know what we’re doing isn’t illegal, and I know her injunction threat is hopeless. But it’s really brought me down to be branded an immoral person. 🙁

DH said I shouldn’t care so much what others think. I’m struggling to move past it and I’ve been stewing all day.

This is the worst period for neighbourly relations I think: they’re in shock, the ground braking is noisy (although tile removal sometimes as bad) and their lives are disrupted. It tends to calm down when they accept it a bit more.
What helped us:

• Builder insisted neighbours complained to him. If they complained to me, he went around. That really worked because he knows when they’re due deliveries/on holidays/drilling - not us


• Boarding and sheeting everywhere so it’s hard to see in and contains the mess/dirt. Not cheap though


• See If their complaints have merits. Bridge club on first Tuesday of every month? The builders will park on another road.. Or whatever. But only the big stuff


• Do they need to work Saturdays? This is a big deal where I live for religious reasons so we aren’t.

I’ve been on the other side of it too and it isn’t easy. But as long as you are sympathetic but firm, it will work out.

Hi everyone
Not sure if it is safe to join you all yet, even though our extension process started a good ten months ago…
The building plans are to put a 4m x 4m kitchen extension on our bungalow, to knock the existing non-load baring wall down separating the current Dining room and to block up the large archway into the lounge. This will leave us with an ‘L’ shaped kitchen.
The original rooms will hold the new kitchen and island, the new Orangery style extension will hold the dining table and be an adjoining eating area.
Our plans are tiny compared to most of you already here, I don’t know how you do it!
The architects plans have gone through permitted development, and their stipulations added to the plans.
The builder was due to start two months ago - he has just emailed delaying by a further 8 days, but promising that he would not alter the date again.
Watch this space

Good luck @Fifiesta !

I’ve decide on a basin and tap for the downstairs loo, after much deliberation. Was stressing overnight that the plumber wouldn’t let me put the pipes in the wall for the tap but he was fine about it. The wall is old and plenty thick enough.

still have to find the right toilet though…

I'll hold your hand as I've felt rubbish all week for upsetting our neighbours so I know how you feel. This morning I had an email from them about boundaries and legal dispute this and that. I rang the builder and next door came round to discuss with the team. By the way this is only day 4! It seems to have worked and I'm going to drop wine around tomorrow. So absolutely horrendous but seems to have settled a bit quite quickly. Like @NewHouseNewMe said it is the shock and I think they are very sensitive 😬

Newhousenewme you mention sheeting? I need to buy the neighbours something after the hedge fiasco to give them some privacy. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Heras fencing and black sheeting.
(although I always call it Harris fencing)

Thank you @NewHouseNewMe and @GardensandGrandDesigns 💐. Today I ended up being comforted by my next door neighbours - the ones who are suffering through all the worst noise, vibrations and dust. They sent me the most lovely messages, saying to ignore the people up the road who are just trying to stir shit. I’m lucky I’ve got such amazing neighbours.

Our road has a WhatsApp group, with a really strong community. I used to love that. Now I’m living in fear of yet one more person complaining about our build blocking the road - while refusing to move their bloody cars whenever the builders need a bit of space to reverse a lorry. Some people always oblige, while others systematically refuse, saying they’re too busy and can’t take one minute to move their car just a couple of bays up the road.

Then I get people complaining the road is blocked. On top of that, people are blocking our drive, and moving any cones the builders put in place when we’re expecting deliveries. But apparently I’m the immoral person here...

Honestly I had not expected parking issues to be the most stressful part of our build! It’s worst than sanctions against Russia, firing our architect or having no timber frame design whatsoever (when we’re meant to start building the timber frame in a few weeks).

*worse not worst 🙄

Sending support for those with neighbour issues. We had a few bumpy moments, particularly when we had to park outside the neighbours houses to keep the drive clear for the endless stream of trucks and deliveries. One neighbour told us off for doing the work, that we didn't let him know (wrote notes in Xmas cards, put my number in it and his wife called me about it soon afterwards!), and it's not the sort of thing 'we' do in the road. 

Our attached neighbour (semi) did pop over a few weeks back as they hadn't realised the extent of the bedroom extension upstairs and were worried we'd be able to see into their garden. Happily walked them around to show them and they were fine with it in the end. It's tricky managing neighbour politics but at the end of the day, as long as stuff is done correctly and considerately, not much they can do.

So this is our house at the moment! This is the view half way up the existing stairs (which will be moved). I can see both upstairs, downstairs and most of the rooms all at once Just a few weeks until the kitchen is fitted.

....and we thought we could stay living in throughout!

Budget wise, this has been completely blown. They need three more skips (£1100), plumbers quote is higher than expected (£8000), I hadn't factored in the cost of radiator valves to the radiator costs (£600), the only floor that was being left is uneven so need to be dug up and screeded with the rest (£who knows!), electrics costing extra (£3000).

About to sell some shares which is our last pot of savings. All our cash is then gone so has to be done with what we have left!

In other good news, big sliding doors arrived early and DIY kitchens confirmed utility is in production and ready for delivery in a couple of weeks.

Now back to looking for toilets

"not the sort of thing we do in this road" made me giggle. Sounds like you've started up a weekly swingers party not building an extension! Honestly these neighbours!!

Great pic, what week of the build are you in now?

The irony is the neighbour who complained lives in a bungalow built in another neighbours garden and is one of the 'newbies' by our roads standards (15 houses, all but four have been there since they were built in the 60s).

We started jan 4th so week 16 I think

@Sewfrickinamazeballs wow that looks like real progress! They’re fitting the kitchen early if you’re getting the kitchen delivered in a few weeks. Is one part of the build ahead of the other? My whole house looks like your picture sadly. I hear you on budget - plumbing and electrics both much more than expected.
Off to London to see more kitchens.. Will it ever end?!

To be fair @Yellownotblue if people WFH they won’t be able to move cars. I would be fired if I dropped off most video calls for 5 mins! I can’t even answer the door some days.
Re moving cones, you can usually apply to the council to block off the road parking for major deliveries for this reason.
Are you in an area with mostly on road parking?

Right what are everyone's goals for the week ahead? I would love to get the foundations finished and first building inspection signed off! No neighbour drama would be good too!!

The roofers come this week even though the roof doesn’t look fully formed yet. It sounds like they’ve been pressurising the builders to start because they’re storing an insane amount of tiles as my house has a lot of roof!
Besides that, measure for new windows and make progress on kitchens (still 😉).

@NewHouseNewMe I wish! How exciting if it had been! I meant to type an issue with the existing wall. Rather more boring to do with a previous reconfiguration of that wall.
The steel is now in though and was meant to ask the builder about the schedule but totally forgot! Need to start keeping a list.

@Sewfrickinamazeballs oh goodness. That is a lot of unforeseen cost. I hope it's workable for you. Sounds unavoidable though

Sorry the app is busted and I haven't been able to respond!
This week :
Roof to be fully tiled
Old kitchen walls to be demolished
Try and get somewhere anywhere to stay!

Yes, I agree with this - my OH wfh and wouldn't always be able to just stop what he is doing to move the car. I work shifts and I wouldn't be happy at all about being woken up after a night shift to move the car, particularly because the noise would probably already mean I'm not sleeping well. Not meaning to have a go at all @Yellownotblue, just offering another perspective as to why people might not seem to be cooperative - if you've had one neighbour be an arse it can be easy to interpret all the other behaviour in the same vein when it might not be.

What you are doing is not illegal or immoral at all, and that is a ridiculous thing to say from your neighbour, don't give them a second thought. The truth is that building work is horrific to live through when it's your own property but also often very shit for the neighbours - it's noisy, dusty, there are builders vans everywhere and you have absolutely no idea what is happening when, all for something that has no benefit to you. But most people, at some stage or other, have had building work done and so I'd say most people just grit their teeth and remind themselves that they were the ones with the building noise/dust/vans everywhere a couple of years ago. And then you get the odd arse like your very strange neighbour.

I realise this message might not seem very supportive on first read but it is honestly intended to be, you're doing nothing wrong and as I said while most of your neighbours won't be over the moon they won't be holding a grudge against you or thinking awful things, don't let that one idiot alter your view of your whole street.