Extension thread 2022 part II...demolition, delays and decisions, decisions, decisions

[Sewfrickinamazeballs]

Hi! New thread!

We were spooked into sorting the kitchen way ahead of time because of appliances lead times. Hope you don’t feel too compromised newhouse

I have just had to compromise on tiles because of supply delays (although it probably works out better in the end). Having been told a 4 week lead time for over a year, when I finally went to order them it was about 8-10.
got some different samples, rang today to ask about them, most are a 6-8 week wait.
they have enough internal ones of one of my choices in the UK already so I’m going with them, simply because they are here.

apparently some strikes in Spain have led to a shortage of shipments coming over.

but anyway, they are cheaper tiles than I’d originally planned and a bit lighter coloured too which is a good thing I think.
so they should arrive next week, tiler pencilled in for some time in June (that was another stress as he’s busy in July/august so tile arrival delay meant delaying so many thing until September).

Today there were plenty of guys on site.
2 x electricians starting on lights for outside steps
2 x other labourers cracking on with getting patio ready for screed. Supplies arriving tomorrow, not sure where being poured, or if it’s being poured in layers.
The cats will love so much wet concrete 🙄

boss guy was also here for a while - always helps to chivvy it along a bit.

Intrigued about kitchen appliance lead time... The neff ovens on AO say available so I haven't ordered early. When you order do they then say there is a delay?

We ordered our compact ovens in December. Won't be here until August.....maybe.

Sorry if I’ve caused appliance anxiety! The one we struggled with most was the induction job with a down draft extraction fan. We’ve had to get a more expensive model than we’d ever have wanted but it was at least available with a 2 week lead time.
Like @LivingInaBuildingSite i had the same with tiles which was only obvious when I went to arrange delivery as part of checkout and got a July delivery date. Cue rapid search of internet.. Still more tile ordering to do - stressful doesn’t cover it..

I’ve sorted the tiles!

had a meeting with the boss, spoke to the tile people, found a tile I liked that that have in stock and paid for them today.
they should be here next week and then the tiler can crack on, I hope!

Heading to the end of week 1 for me and impressed with the speed so far. All demolished, excavated, building inspector visited and said good to concrete. Concrete poured. Oh, and we had a wasp nest and a cow skeleton 🤔to deal with too. The builders gave kindly given us the bones. I’m not entirely sure what to do with them. Youngest child took a photo into school, not sure school would have wanted the real thing.

I had barely any sleep the first 2 nights with stress and worry, and this morning my elderly neighbour gave me our first complaint ‘we can hardly get on our drive most days’ I was a bit surprised. I said well it’s only been a couple of days! Then she said ‘here comes another one look!’ It was the bin lorry, which clearly is nothing to do with me, so I just smiled and said well I’m very sorry. Honestly!

just to clarify - neighbour can get on/off drive fine. She means they can’t just swing on and off when a van is opposite the drive way. They sometimes have to go to the bottom of the culdesac and turn around!

Lots of wins today.

Had a (likely hormone-fuelled) wobble this morning as I still couldn't work out how to get a radiator in the downstairs bathroom, with sufficient BTU to heat the space, but in a position that I would not burn my arse on it and still be able to open the door. Lovely plumber armed with a pencil & tape measure helped me see that if we basically just move it 30cm it'd be fine

Complete 'mare trying to find one that was a) not hideous, b) in stock and c) sufficiently high BTU, but have spent an obscene amount on a Crosswater one. Had to go for black as the chrome option is out of stock til late August but it's fine. Consoled myself by also ordering a lovely black framed round mirror from Next to go with it, & switched the loo seat for a black one too. It'll be fine...

Then spent so much ordering radiators for the other rooms, the bathroom suite & the tiles, that the bank contacted DH about the unusual activity on our cards

But it's done! It's ordered! No more stressing about trying to order toilets while in active labour!

The man from Howdens came, did not laugh at my plans and actually seemed quite impressed that I knew where I wanted everything. He was very positive about the availability of awkward size/reduced depth units too. Should have a first draft plan by the middle of next week.

@AwkwardPaws27 Sounds amazing! We’ve ordered and paid for the flooring today, not that we need it for months on end but good to lock in prices where we can to protect our budget.

@Martinisarebetterdirty flooring is next on my list - I've got tiles for the bathroom but was thinking LVT (Karndean) for the kitchen, hallway and study. What are you having?

I thought we'd chosen a wood effect one months ago, but then DH started suggesting tile effect ones for the kitchen/making noises about being unsure, and frankly I couldn't be arsed, so I've left it in the hope he'll forget and just agree to the wood effect when we revisit it

I also really need updated costs from the builders so I can decide whether to pursue the water softener (as if we have to pay £££ for the floor being dug up and done from scratch I'll have to scrap some of the "nice to have" options).

We’re having a really lovely fumed oak downstairs - I think it’s engineered wood which is what we have at the moment and I love it, but this is a much nicer colour. This will be all downstairs apart from the hallway which we had tiled last year.
I would just let DH forget too so that he would agree with me 😂
good luck with the updated costs - it’s frightening how quickly prices are rising.

If anyone finds any bargain engineered wood flooring do let me know. My best find so far is £39/sqm. I really like the pale lime wash look.

@Timwith2noses sounds like you've made huge progress in a week!

Who knew wood was so expensive!? Changed plan from engineered wood flooring to sanding, sealing and varnishing the original pine flooring here as price was really high.

Also wood for our carpentry has gone up 5% since we had the quote a few weeks ago so we’ve switched to an imitation oak veneer finish which is 15% cheaper. It’s all being painted anyway.

Well done. The one thing thing that got me when I ordered our radiators was the blooming cost of the valves! £60 each x 14! Ouch!

We are having karndean throughout the whole ground floor. Just waiting for it to arrive now.

Bit of drama yesterday. Our stairs were blocked off due to the lads knocking bricks back ready for plaster boarding so access upstairs was over the flat roof. This is also where our overhead electric cable comes in. Electrician spotted late in the day that when they came to move the meter, they basically left the main live cable exposed so anyone who may have touched it would have been a goner. Had to call it in as an emergency, and within a few hours had replaced the cable. Had to turn next doors power off for a bit but thankfully all sorted and no one hurt. I need to make a complaint to the network as they have done some pretty dodgy things in the house. The new meter had to go upstairs on the landing, and they should have buried the live cable in the brickwork but they haven't so it's just got plaster over it. Means we had to take photos and measurements so we never ever drill in that part of the wall.

Hello everyone. I would like to rejoin if I may as our scaffolding went up today and our single storey extension starts in a week! We are extending our bedroom and getting an en-suite shower room. Thank you to those who suggested Mandarin Stone as we are still undecided on tiling. I have however ordered in the sugar cubes and strong tea bags for the builders. Feeling nervous now about managing without our bedroom which is my haven!

Sounds like lots of people ordering this week. I'm all done with tiles now as same issue that one of my choices was out of stock. May need to pick up some more for the main bathroom depending on wastage but will get them to tile first and then see exactly how much I need - they are £70psqm so I'd rather not over order.
Kitchen appliances amd extras have been ordered so all done ✔ Hoping the sink arrives on time - went with the cheapest price but it said a 4-6week delivery so we shall see.

@Sewfrickinamazeballs that sounds horrendous and definitely worth notifying the company so they can change their processes - maybe something like a safety checklist before they leave the job might be worth implementing.
We thankfully managed to move ours within the 90cm allowance so didn't have to pay the 8k quote the grid said for moving it outside.
It is definitely things like radiator valves, sink and shower wastes, samples that have added to the budget and total up quickly.

Yay for all the jobs ticked off @AwkwardPaws27 . It must be a weight off your mind.

We are going with limestone tiles generally and vinyl in the playroom. We have engineered honey oak in the living room from Howdens and to be honest I have not been impressed with. We had had a much nicer job and materials done by an independent in our previous house but were under serious pressure with a new baby to get it sorted. I'm sure in maybe another 5yrs we may replace it.

It’s so interesting to read these updates - I feel like you are all so much further on than me. Except @DarlingCoffee (Hi!)

I haven’t even thought about flooring or anything beyond having the building up and usable rooms, but that sounds like it must be a nice stage to be at - ordering the finishing touches! We haven’t included any flooring/decorating in our building contract and have had a chat tonight about just how much painting is going to be needed at the end (too much).

Nothing happening here since concrete was poured on Thu, so needs to dry out, but they are back on Monday to start the walls. Told me damp course by Tuesday - which is when their next payment is meant to be paid. I’m away next week so I’m nervous/excited to come home next weekend and see what progress there’s been - though I guess it’s only 3 working days anyway so maybe shouldn’t get too excited!

@Timwith2noses you're deep in the exciting stage where visible changes happen everyday so I'm sure lots will happen whilst you're away.
The ordering phase creeps up fast and with delays to shipping I've been cautious and done some things early to make sure we have them. I did have to wait though until the screed went down and otherwise would have had nowhere to store them.

We also didn't originally ask for decorating to be done but the plumbers won't put up our rads until this is done (about half of them are column radiators) as it's such a palaver so having to get this done now.

If I was in the same position as you are with what I know now, I'd start making decisions on the known stuff. Will you need any new internal doors? If yes, decide what ones you want now. Similarly with handles, light fittings, skirting types etc. If your not sure on the exact floor, even just an idea on type (lvt, solid wood, tiles) helps make later stages easier with regards to floor levels, timings etc. Also, if you need appliances, order now!

We are nowhere near finishing touches - but due to a combination of trades needing to know dimensions etc, not wanting to try and make these decisions immediately postpartum, delivery times and rising prices, I'm hitting order as much as possible now. I have a spreadsheet of choices but it's so frustrating when you go back to order and it's now out of stock or increased in price.

It's definitely a good idea to think about - electrician was doing first fix of electrics (just running cables to various points, not actually wiring in any sockets or anything yet) but needed to know what our plan was for a light fitting above the island, for example. I was like, we didn't have a roof a few days ago and now I need to know what lighting we're having?? 😅

It was easier just to drag DH to Dunelm & pick a light now. We originally envisaged three pendant lights but didn't know if that would be three separate lights, or three on one fixture... as it happens he ended up changing his mind to one with 5 lights on one fixture.

Other things we've needed to decide on this week, for example, were radiators & bathroom suite (as all the pipes were run in to position, so they needed to see which ones we were having so they could be placed correctly), whether we were going full or half height on bathroom tiles (didn't really matter in the end, all the old plaster fell off anyway!), which kitchen appliances we are having (the fridge price alone has gone up £200 in a week, from around £700 to £900... I'm not hitting order on appliances til the kitchen plan is a bit firmer though, so hoping it willl go on offer!) so they can switch the consumer unit out for a bigger one.

DH spent most of yesterday afternoon fixing the washing machine so at least I can get some laundry done now. Need to try and pack up the rest of the kitchen today, apart from a cupboard of essentials. Struggling a bit to choose what to keep accessible. We've bought a microwave, haven't had one for about 8 years so need to figure out some healthier meals to make in that as its been a lot of takeaways and cheese sandwiches recently!

I feel so embarrassed and ashamed of how much stuff we have. DH has packed up some more of the kitchen and we've run out of boxes. It's all stacked up around the house and I'm struggling to manoeuvre round it as I'm a bloody whale now. There's just so much. The boxes seem to take up twice the equivalent cupboard space??

We should have got storage at the start - we were going to but the builders said they didn't need access to the spare bedroom so we stacked it all in there, bur then they did need a lot of access so we had to move it all again, plus DH is working in there.

We have a Mini so moving stuff to storage now would take so many runs and obviously I can't help much now. I'm just so embarrassed by the sheer quantity. I've been trying to declutter but it is stuff we use, even if some is infrequently (ice lolly moulds, picnic basket etc might only get used in the summer for example, but we do use them).

@AwkwardPaws27 it definitely is more volume in cardboard boxes rather than in cupboards. I'm sure there is some perfectly logical reason for it! Although of course packing material and bubblewrap is part of it. May be this can be a good incentive to really think about what you need. I love a good declutter and organise. Perhaps a resolution for Jan 2023!

And yes @Timwith2noses to @Sewfrickinamazeballs about making decisions early. I had a clear idea from the start (helped by waiting 2yrs for the builders!) Which has helped a lot when the builder inevitably gives me a week to get things. There's still a lot of research to get the best prices but at least knowing what you want gives a head start.