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

[Callmejudith]

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

Found you all!

Been awol for a few days.

All progressing here, can’t remember what I said last.

They have knocked through for the doorway from the old kitchen into the utility, keeping it extra big for now as they have loads to go out:

The 100 yr old ceiling has come down (ie dust storm from hell)
There are random bits of old defunct chimney to come out (ditto dust)
And a concrete hearth from the fireplace in the first floor that was taken out but the hearth left behind (even more dust)

The hearth has to come out as a new joist has to go in above where the chimney was.

Naively I didn’t think about the dust as they’ve boarded up the gap between their current workspace and the new kitchen. And covered over the doorway.

But it’s travelled upwards into the bathroom above which is a disaster zone! I’ve done the first clean but the airing cupboard (all the clean towels, even spare loo rolls) was full of dust. 😱 kind of made me want to cry a little as feels like being back at square one after so long.

I’ll get over it, once I’ve washed and dried everything!

[quote Callmejudith]@TommyShelby definitely share your plans when you have them, I love a victorian terrace plan! We put our utility right in the middle of the house with a downstairs loo, sounds odd but it really works[/quote]
New to this thread and have been lurking for a few weeks. We've just had our planning permission granted on a kitchen extension so at the very beginning of our journey. @Callmejudith noticed you have your utility and downstairs wc in the middle of the house, snap! Ours is a Victorian semi and we're planning to have a wc, utility then walk-in pantry where our current kitchen is then knock through to current utility and extend 6m for a new kitchen diner. I'm equally excited and terrified with what's to come but hoping it'll all be worth it in the end.

@Sewfrickinamazeballs

The bath I ripped out had wall mounted controls and a deck mounted handheld shower that retracted into the bath. I think it was all from Crosswater.

Love herringbone metro tiles. Just be aware of additional tiling cost. I went brick bond in the end. Look at mandarin stone website, as I'm sure I've seen dark herringbone.

@Sewfrickinamazeballs I have wall mounted taps but completely cocked up by not having a shower hose for freestanding bath! I have a seperate shower and totally forgot about actually cleaning the bath. My cleaner is less than impressed with me........ So I'm getting the taps changed to wall mounted but with shower but too.

Ensuite has floorstanding - I just keep the hose outside of the bath bit. One of the things I'm learning ----way too late is to think everything through properly a bit more. That's the good thing with current builder delays. Luckily I got the kitchen right with decent storage.

Hi @LimpLettice - where are you sourcing your crittal style doors? We are at the same stage but debating aluminium versus steel and can’t decide if the latter is worth the extra expense!

@NewHouseNewMe Much as we would love to have spent oodles on beautiful steel doors, oodles we do not have! Our doors are Climadoor aluminium. Due in about 3 weeks. Hopefully they will be lovely.

V interesting to see other budgets/costs too - we've been told £300k minimum so hoping it doesn't go much above that!!

HopelessOptimism this is what frightens me about making the decision to go ahead.....we'd want to do a double-storey side and back extension as well as house refurb (rewiring, plumbing, damp issues) and there's no way we could cope with it costing more than 300K. Yours seems so expensive!

Whereabouts in the country are you, roughly?

@HopelessOptimistism and @Quebeccles we are 11 months into a 2 storey side extension and single storey rear plus full rewire, replumb and total renovation. We are in the NW and now over £300k despite our architect saying £150k!!

[quote MissFritton65]**@HopelessOptimistism* and @Quebeccles* we are 11 months into a 2 storey side extension and single storey rear plus full rewire, replumb and total renovation. We are in the NW and now over £300k despite our architect saying £150k!![/quote]
I'm hoping your builder quoted realistically!
Or have you had to sell a family member!!

So I have just booked our DIY show room visit for the 14th Feb. What a valentine's Day treat!

I'm in the NW too @MissFritton65. Realistically I can see it coming to 300k but more than that? Eek.......

@GardensandGrandDesigns - The DIY show room is brilliant and lots of inspiration to be found. The drinks and biscuits station half way round is very useful as we spent 2 hours there twice. They leave you to browse and snack on your own too which is great but you can find them if you want a chat. We are 3/4 of the way through installing our units ourselves and been very impressed with the quality and customer service.

@GardensandGrandDesigns our original quote from the builder was £220k however we have added additional things but certain materials have risen in price plus we needed to add the kitchen etc.

I don’t know where you are @Quebeccles but in the SE, that would be around 300-400k unless you take serious shortcuts with the finish. Of course it depends on the size of the house/extension, access etc.

@Quebeccles

V interesting to see other budgets/costs too - we've been told £300k minimum so hoping it doesn't go much above that!!

HopelessOptimism this is what frightens me about making the decision to go ahead.....we'd want to do a double-storey side and back extension as well as house refurb (rewiring, plumbing, damp issues) and there's no way we could cope with it costing more than 300K. Yours seems so expensive!

Whereabouts in the country are you, roughly?

We are in Northern Ireland, which I presume is on the cheaper end of the spectrum for the UK but no idea tbh!

My main fear is underestimating the cost so £300k is hopefully enough to cover everything (inc new bathrooms/kitchen). We have quite a big house to refurb (3500 sq ft) so think that adds to the cost.

@MissFritton65 I hope that doubling of price was manageable for you, I just don't know how we'd cope with that

Building regs came over yesterday, he was very happy apart from a bit of water pooling inside the track of the sliding door so he'll contact the door company.

@Callmejudith that's exciting, is it a final sign off? I've never met our BC guy, as he always meets the builder.

Shit things...currently sat in work office, which is beyond pointless as no one else is here. Bloody Boris trying to distract everyone from the fact he's a lying shitting asshat!!

Also the post-build cleaners just cancelled tomorrow booking 😭 I'm going to book 2 days off work and do the cleaning myself I think. Whilst considering how to spend the £600 I'll be saving 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

Happy things...Currently shopping for ornaments and fake plants for my new shelves and bookcase 😂 Super happy with my homeware hauls from:

Dunelm
The Range
Zara Home
M&S
Wayfair

Recommendations welcome for shops I may have missed 👏

@HopelessOptimistism Gosh, that does sound like a big job. 3500 sq ft is pretty sizeable and more than double the size of our (detached but still quite small) existing house.

@NewHouseNewMe We're in the NW and our proposed extensions would come to roughly 40 sq m in total for both (the side one is small, just filling in an awkward shape; the main one's at the back). There's unimpeded access for any works through at the side of the house with ample parking/storage at the back, so quite good in that sense.

@PoshWatchShitShoes if you’re not too bothered about the environmental side of things I can highly recommend the big grime wipes that you get from b&q etc. they pick up dust amazingly well

Thanks @Callmejudith. I don't want to use my leave to clean 😭

But the cleaners are fully booked till next Thursday and I really can't face pushing back our move in date!!

Can I join? We're currently awaiting quotes back from a few builders for a small side return extension. We've got architects drawings, structural engineers plans and planning permission in place so ready to go as soon as there is availability.

I know everything has gone up but the one quote we've had so far (which we were expecting to be cheapest) is about 20% over the architects estimate (excluding vat) so a bit apprehensive about the others now!

It's only a small infill (about 7sq m) but would just give us room for a dining table in the kitchen. Our current dining room is now being used as an office as we both work from home (DH permanently; I'll be doing at least 3 days at home in future).

Oh, & to add to the fun, after 3 years of TTC and several miscarriages I'm now 21 weeks pregnant so can't even have for the stress...

Even though I know what I'm doing the cost rises meant that it we have overshot the budget. Mainly due to timber prices more than doubling. We had some contingency in the budget and thankfully due to the delays we've earned a bit more money to cover it all so we haven't had to borrow anything more.
The volatility of supplies and pricing has made it much more difficult to budget than it was say 2years ago. Even daft things like the IKEA kitchen units have gone up a lot since I bought them in august and when I went back for an extra bit last week.

[quote sluj]@GardensandGrandDesigns - The DIY show room is brilliant and lots of inspiration to be found. The drinks and biscuits station half way round is very useful as we spent 2 hours there twice. They leave you to browse and snack on your own too which is great but you can find them if you want a chat. We are 3/4 of the way through installing our units ourselves and been very impressed with the quality and customer service.[/quote]
So looking forward to it! Glad the install is going well for you.

Evening all, has anyone purchased this type of frameless wide sliding doors. Just wondering how much they are. I would really like them for our 6m space if not too budget busting...

[quote PoshWatchShitShoes]@Sewfrickinamazeballs

The bath I ripped out had wall mounted controls and a deck mounted handheld shower that retracted into the bath. I think it was all from Crosswater.

Love herringbone metro tiles. Just be aware of additional tiling cost. I went brick bond in the end. Look at mandarin stone website, as I'm sure I've seen dark herringbone.[/quote]
Thanks!