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

[Callmejudith]

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

@Newhome321 that does help. It's hard spending so much money and having to not have what you thought.
Pleased with the progress though and really looking forward to the roof being done. Dont think they will finish this week due to the tile delay but hopefully early next.

The dead wheelbarrow that was growing some science experiment has gone from the patio!
if I’d known they were just going to throw it in the skip as it’s actually broken I would’ve done it months ago 🙄😂
anyway, lots of the patio cleared, steps haven’t actually been started on so it’s unclear what 3 men have been doing for a morning other than move a few bits 🤔

hey ho, I try not to get too involved anymore and just roll with it!

Agree that compromise is the name of the game here! It’s annoying as if you were just renovating one aspect like installing a new kitchen, you can be fussier. Doing a major job means compromises everywhere.

Happy Bank Holiday everyone. We've all survived another month!

@LivingInaBuildingSite hoping you see visible progress next week - they may have been doing all the prep work ready so they can get cracking first thing on Tuesday!

Roof tiling should be another 3 days work so Thursday next week. Not sure if the roofers will turn up on Monday but I know the main builder has asked if we're OK to have people on site on Monday. I've said yes as I'd rather keep going and make progress.

What's been everyone's big thing that's happened this week and what is the next milestone you are excited for?

Happy bank holiday (although our builders are working too so only bank holiday for some!)

Our new front door is in, old one blocked up, last remaining walls demolished, staircase ordered, roof lights in, roof watertight, plumber starting the replumb and electrician has wired the new hit. Woop! Next big thing is the floor insulation and screed of the new area so the kitchen can get fitted on the 27th ish of May.

Worried about floor levels still. Builder thought we were lying laminate and was saying it will be fine over the existing concrete floor, but I did say LVT such as karndean and the floor in the living room is lower due to us lifting the parquet, and I think the penny has now dropped. There is talk now of a shit load of latex to bring the living room up to the height of the rest of the floor.

Also have electric meter being moved in a week or so. Praying that goes smoothly.

Just need DH to sell his last few shares so we can pay for the remaining stuff. It's getting super close on budget and we simply don't have any other cash reserves to call upon after this!

Sorry for the typos

Also, my vintage light from eBay arrived. It's enormous (80cm round) but I'm so pleased with it. We have a 3m tall window in the hallway and this will hang from the top

I can concur with the skip situation! Ours hasn't been collected which I assume is because they don't have a replacement empty one yet!

On good news, the building inspector signed off the foundations and the concrete was poured this afternoon yay! Brick laying starts Tuesday...

Looking at the garden, we wish we had gone bigger! Sure it will feel larger when it has been knocked through.

The staircase was fitted(not properly but enough for the loft access and this is the situation of the boiler system. I am asking the builder to change the plan and we dont want velux window there anymore to still a sort of saving space for the wardrobe.

@Newhome321 @BlueMooMoo we have got beautiful brosley tiles on our roof currently. We need to reroof the existing house and put a roof on the extension too so have gone for Beauvoise instead. They are still flat but a bit bigger which means over our whole roof they are nearly £20k cheaper when you take into account the material and faster labour. I really hope we have done the right thing but we had to pull the budget in a bit somewhere. 2 years ago I would have told you snatching our existing tile was the most important part of the build!

@Newhome321 that posted upside down and totally flummoxed me 😂
hope you can resolve it.

having a minor meltdown over money.
latest bill in from the builders leaves us with £18k borrowed from brother, so already in debt for this with him.

still left to pay for off the top of my head
tiles - approx £5k
glass railings - approx £5-7k
utility room fitting - unknown
worktops - £2.5k
painting - unknown
moving internal old light switches - unknown
extra flooring to match hallway flooring - unknown
screed for patio - unknown
and the biggest cost - all the labour involved.

we aren’t going to make it, so have some choices.
stop - tempting but not actually doable!
go back to brother to borrow more - unpleasant but doable and relatively easy
sell our rental property - always been a backup and selling it should pay off my brother and the rest of the build but then no investment for the future?

DH grumpy in the corner about it. I’m resorting to prosecco and denial!

If it helps, I know we won't have enough either and the concrete isn't dry yet 🤣 we don't have a rich family member or another house! Could you remortgage a bit more now your house is bigger? We will probably end up doing the last bits like laying flooring, painting and tiling ourselves. Maybe even fit the kitchen as we did a lot at our old house.

Sorry, the photo was in correct order, not too sure what happened. The megaflo is sitting where it was supposed to be my wardrobe. Task tonight. Think of a way to work around it for the so called ward-robe. I have asked the builder not to build velux anymore so I could still have hangers on the right. The boiler and the pump is very noisy.

Gave up, not too sure why its still up side down, in preview the photo looks ok.

I'm so with you here. We have about £85k still to go, and £80k available!

Any plans for carpets, paint, furniture have gone out the window.

LED strip lights are costing more than I thought but I think they will look fab so don't regret these but it's the odd £1k bill here and there that's a killer.

I think the floor and plastering (hadn't planned to do existing but the walls are shocking) will finish us off.

We borrowed a bit on the mortgage but reluctant to borrow anymore really.

@Newhome321 I can see the issue now from the photo. We had a similar issue in a previous house and from what I remember, all the talk was of building regs and minimum ceiling height for access to the devices. Your idea of potentially sacrificing your skylight to make room for wardrobe space sounds like a good way forward.

@LivingInaBuildingSite any way you can remortgage on your existing or investment property? I don’t know how much you’re short but divided by the term left, it might be more manageable than paying back your brother.

I hate our project manager. He's a slimy toad. He keeps telling me costs are going up because of my changes. I haven't made any bloody changes.

Can I ask what everyone is paying for windows? Ours seem extortionate.

He's also pressurising us to move out, - we are moving into my late parents house and I'm afraid I've neglected it since my dad died so there is soooo much to do. I'm trying to pack up 2 houses, look after 5 children and hold down a full time job. The price rises are sending me over the edge. Am about to combust.

Lantern advice …🙏
Our 4 x4m orangery style new kitchen extension is due to start on Tuesday. The builder has just sent us the info for the 1.5 x 2.5 solar neutral, white Aluminium lantern & is checking whether we want a vent, & if we do, manual or electric?
We had thought that we will swerve having an opening at all, because:

✳️ We already have 2 opening skylights in the existing kitchen and dining room, which will be combined.
✳️ We have a row of mature trees, which will ensure that the area will be dappled shade in the hottest time of the year by 2-3 O’clock.
✳️ It will save us extra expense

So if any of you have Lantern roofs - what would your advice be?
TIA

That sounds so stressful. Could you maybe focus on your parents house and get it livable then get a removals service to pack your house up and put stuff in storage? I would echo your builder in getting out if you can. It takes so much of the stress away in a way as 'living' isn't a chore on top of all the ordering/researching/general nudging along if they builder. Just do it in your own time.

Your a trooper for doing this with 5 kids! I struggle with my one.

@nomoneytree also, get him to put it in writing what changes your making otherwise just tel him your paying what was agreed. Sounds like he's trying it on a bit

We remortgaged a bit to have the cash needed for this behemoth of a project, so we now have two mortgage accounts. Has anyone gone back a second time to ask for even more (so ended up with three accounts). We didn't borrow as much as they were offering us and we were trying to be cautious but think an extra £30k would get us comfortably over the line but I'm just not sure it's a goer. Anyone?

@Sewfrickinamazeballs I don't know but you can but try I guess. Better to apply for the money from the mortgage co before eg putting it on a credit card.

There are some pretty low apr loans out there though which might be cheaper than paying arrangement fees.

Did you use a broker?

@nomoneytree We paid 38k for 17 new sash and case timber double glazed windows. Eye watering but I love them and the old ones were over 100 years old and unsalvageable.

@Littlemissweepy that's really helpful. Just for the windows in our extension we have been quoted over £30k. Problem is that will leave me with a mismatch with the rest of the house. I really don't know what to do.

We sold both of our ISA account saving over 10 years plus all our savings. We expected it to be £240k and this is only the first stage (loft and main house renovation excluding kitchen and 2nd living room). The wrap around, kitchen extension would cost about the same and we would need to remortgage for it. We dont know if that stage ever comes, no one came today because some prob with the train 😢.