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

[Sewfrickinamazeballs]

Hi! New thread!

Ah the deflation when you see the builders arrive but to pick things up for another job and then leave boo ☹️ hopefully they will join us this afternoon!

Love love love the scullery idea now I understand it. Can I start calling my utility room (cabinets, washing machine/dryer stack, sink, small freezer) a scullery or does the presence of laundry stuff rule it out? (I flirted with calling it a boot room as I'm hoping people will use the exit rather than my lovely main back doors). Total FWP of course😄

@JoanDarc I haven't quite finalised the walk-in wardrobes but will share when we have. In one of the WIW, it is just an alcove/eves type room we've closed off so it might give you ideas.

Okay you've convinced me on the need for electrical supply to the pantry which are full high cabinets rather than a room. I would love to call it the breakfast pantry but I suspect it'll have all kinds of stuff in it!

Your dimensions are very similar to mine @Yellownotblue although our utility is a bit smaller than your scullery (jealous again!) and has a back door. Now it's built I can see what the architect meant when he said it was large.

Hi all, I've been absent for a while as moving and arguing with dh was taking up all of my energy.

I'm looking forward to a good nose at everyone's progress!!

We are making astonishing progress. The shell is all but up now (both floors ) and the back of the house has been knocked through and my hallway fully opened up. I've posted a picture from my front door of my hall looking through to the kitchen!! It won't be quite as big as the downstairs loo has to go in yet. Most of the steels are in and on Thursday the roof steel is coming and going to be craned over the house.

I have decided on tiles for the floor (hall, study, boot area, downstairs loo, kitchen and utility all the same) and I'm going for Wexford buff from mandarin stone. I couldn't decide between a more traditional limestone effect or a wood effect tile (we are having ufh) and then went for this one
As I think it will hide the dirt from the 5 kids and dog.

We have made a lot of design decisions over the last few days but I'm so overwhelmed with what is left to be done.

@Yellownotblue your floorplan is amazing! I've heard the scullery described as a 'dirty kitchen' before - I imagine if you were having a dinner party, your chef would be back there doing all the actual work, while you swan around enthralling your guests with witty anecdotes! 😁

@JoanDarc same as your DH, I was worried about seeming indulgent (my builder has also questioned me as he only ever installs 2 dishwashers in kosher kitchens), but as I'm not the only one I'll go for it.

Now I'm thinking two washing machines isn't such a crazy idea either! But our laundry/boot room is tiny so don't think I can afford the space this time around.

We did have a fridge and a freezer in our plans originally, but another designer recommended changing them to 2 x F/Fs, as if one breaks you still have the other for backup.

I must remember to post my kitchen plan here for critique. Don't think I can go ahead without the MN seal of approval!

@GardensandGrandDesigns I'm sure they'll tell you this but don't forget to account for underlay (like I did originally). I needed to add another 3mm on top of the thickness of the planks. Fingers crossed that everything's flush when the doors arrive.

@nomoneytreehere wow!!!! Looking very exciting!

@NewHouseNewMe @Newhome321 @HouseyHouse21 thank you! Very kind of you to approve my plans 😇. Seriously, it means a lot coming from people who are doing similar work!

@NewHouseNewMe you can definitely call your utility a scullery. I think traditionally a scullery is primarily for washing, so by all accounts that’s what you’ve got!

Sadly I don’t have a chef, so I will be the one in the scullery doing the hard work while DH dazzles our guests with his wit in the kitchen...

Think I've picked the floor. Calico plank by Ted Todd. £63.99/sqm does that sound standard for engineered oak?

@GardensandGrandDesigns , that’s a good price I think. How wide are the planks and how thick is the veneer?

By veneer, I mean the actual solid wood bit

14mm total with 3mm real wood. We need quite thin for the ufh.

I think that’s a fair price. There are cheaper options for sure, but the super cheap ones can look a bit plasticky and be really slippery. At least that was my experience when I ordered dozens of samples during lockdown ☺️

Thank you @Yellownotblue I've got some cheaper samples from an online shop but they look a bit naff now I've seen Ted Todd samples!

Hi everyone. I've been reading in the background when I can (and when I can get internet as this is still not in!). Amazing progress everyone. Can't believe all the changes in just a few days.

Scullery! What a fab idea, and a great size too.

We are starting to see the end I think (touches wood).

Bits of plastering to do, floor in the downstairs 3/4 done, then it's skirtings and architraves, bit of tiling in the utility (with my handmade tiles) and quite a few 'quick' jobs that keep getting put aside for more important stuff. Kitchen fitter here to do his last bits tomorrow like plinths and the last remaining ovens (not having 2 dishwashers but I am having 4 ovens!).

Decorators finished three bedrooms last night (but used my bathroom sink to clean there stuff and scratched the sink in the process), carpet fitter doing our daughters room tomorrow so we can start to give her some space back, then will follow the decorators down the stairs. Work outside has started and will be about 5 weeks to get the driveway and patio sorted.

Our builders have been amazing. The whole team and all the subs amazing.....but I am pretty spent mentally now and just need my house to be empty of people. Im an introvert and being 'on' for all the trades and the main builders is exhausting. Work is pretty busy and we are still 'camping' in one bedroom so there is literally no where to go and sit and chill. My daughters behaviour is all over the place understandably and she is really craving some stability.

I just need it done now. 2.5 years living in a rundown house then 7 months planning with architect, 4 months to find a builder, 7 months wait for them to start and so far 7 months into the project.

Moaning aside, I'm sitting with the lights off looking out over the garden with the cat on my lap and am just so grateful we have been able to do it and get to enjoy the house afterwards. Many will never be in this position.

On a separate note, I need to see this pink sink!

Love this view! I have similar from our front door. Once it's all done it will look amazing!

I am pretty spent mentally now and just need my house to be empty of people. Im an introvert and being 'on' for all the trades and the main builders is exhausting

@Sewfrickinamazeballs this is exactly how I feel. I just need some peace! I feel like I have to have my "customer service face" on every time I leave the bedroom.

Having a baby has been a great distraction actually and I have a very good reason to go out for a bit most days, which helps (midwives no longer do home visits here due to covid, so I have to take him to their clinic, we've had a couple of hospital trips as he dropped too much weight - but thankfully gaining now - plus inevitable trips to Boots for nappies, wipes etc).

I'm running out of steam though. I've agreed to a couple of changes to the design just to make life easier (plasterboarding over a steel we'd planned to have exposed, for example), whereas pre-sleep deprivation I probably would have pushed harder for a solution but i just want it done now.

Today I've got a GP appointment to check my stitches as I might need antibiotics, a Howdens appointment to firm up kitchen design, & there's an infant feeding cafe I'd like to go to if we get back in time.
We also need to go to the council offices and try to find an actual human being to discuss parking with as no one has responded to the emails & online forms I've completed over the last three weeks... they won't let me buy any more visitor permits online so I don't know what we'll do with the builders vehicles when we run out on Monday!

@LivingInaBuildingSite exciting so many of us have moved on to tiling.
@AwkwardPaws27 very classic. I'm still waiting on some tiles and wastes too which have been promised for next week....
@Timwith2noses having the boss builder makes such a difference as we found too. Our one also does all the ordering at the trade merchants so everything was held up if they ran out of supplies.
@Yellownotblue plan looks great and great use of space for the dark area. I've often seen second kitchens for entertaining or my kosher friends but what a good idea.
@NewHouseNewMe also getting 2 double sockets in our larder. Hoping it means things like the slow cooker can go in there out of the way and out of sight. Still unsure on whether I'll put the microwave in there. With young children we use it so much I think we'll probably end up putting it on the counter.
@JoanDarc yes I too would love to see picture of the sink and also any other items!
No tips yet as I'm still struggling myself. But I am contemplating a slat wall system for the utility room and may get ikea carcasses but buy retail/commercial fittings. Have got to approach painter to find out if he does independent work and if he would paint ikea doors.
@GardensandGrandDesigns sorry our wood floor was part of an all in quote and in the immediate newborn stage so I don't remember anything from that time at all!
@Newhome321 have you managed to finalise the porch design?
@nomoneytreehere fab view! We have similar and based our whole design around the front door sightline. Wexford buff are gorgeous - I actually had a sample but went with a more limestoney look in the end.
@HouseyHouse21 oh a kitchen plan! *waits in anticipation 😂
@Sewfrickinamazeballs totally understandable. In fact it's a recognised psychological phenomenon called the 3rd quarter - that bit where you are close to the end but not quite on the home straight. Keep taking it day by day and I've found practising gratitude helps me.

I'm trying to post pics but it's not working at the moment but we continue with painting. Had to stop tiling still awaiting doors! They are starting to clear some of the large supplies from the garden. Trying to work out if it's possible to host a family birthday at end of July as lots of us are in town for a family wedding. We'll have no kitchen but it's how child dangerous it might be which is my major concern.

@AwkwardPaws27 it must be challenging especially with a newborn. Have you tried buying permits off your neighbours as an interim solution?
(Not the right forum but depending on your issue I actually found YouTube and I think it was kellymom or the iblc (?) unbelievably helpful for latch issues as you could really see an actual nipple and an actual baby)

I've been very thankful our building team keep to themselves and are totally independent. They only need me to make decisions. Of course they are friendly and happy to chat but I walk around in my pjs and rbf and it's no issue at all. Quite a lot of days there is no conversation at all beyond the daily debrief/tour with boss builder

That would have been my go-to solution but they switched to an online system last year, so you have to purchase virtual permits online & issue them each day via an app. There's a limit to how many you can buy and we've hit it unfortunately!

If it was one consistent vehicle I could probably find a work around / pay one of the houses further down the road with driveways to let us borrow it, but today for example we've got a plasterer, tiler and plumber onsite. I already made a mistake last week with the app so we've got a parking fine to pay (well, I'm appealing it on the basis of having given birth 72 hours earlier but I'm not holding my breath!).

Unfortunately, still no sign or plan of porch build, plumbing, electrician, floor and decoration will have to wait after it so I feel like I have gone crazy. The uncertainty kills me as even if they just tell me, in 2 weeks, in 3 weeks blahhh which is still better than having no date at all.

The thing I am looking forward to is the bathroom fitting next week. Cant wait to have a clean, private, proper bathroom. Will take pics when its done.(but need to figure out how to post them properly as they are always up side down).

We also have the same situation with parking(exhausted the parking book, then the apps). Great idea about asking neighbors, we are although new to the street so will have to beg in the street whatsapp group. We have been paying some fines too😢

@BlueMooMoo yes we designed downstairs around that too. I'm going to put oversized glass aluminium (crittall style) doors between the hall and the kitchen so as to keep the look through. We had a fireplace in the hall previously and my husband took a lot of convincing that it needed to go. Lots of people sucked their teeth at me about removing an original feature but it made the hallway so dark and oppressive. It's a real wow point now and Im so pleased I stuck to my guns.

Unfortunately my architect made a mistake and we can't remove a (different) chimney breast from the hall without spending ££££ and wrecking my living room which means I can't put a giant sideboard where I was hoping to but I think renovation is actually a succession of compromises and hoping you don't run out of money.

@BlueMooMoo If you get a sec could you post a pic of your limestone? Is it a mandarin stone one? I've been so torn. Fired earth have some on sale currently.

We are having a bespoke double glazed oak framed door put in so similar idea to you too @nomoneytreehere !

www.stonesuperstore.co.uk/charterhouse-bianco-antique-effect-porcelain

We had real limestone flags before and they were honestly a nightmare to maintain and always looked grubby. We never did get one oil spot out so we went with porcelain this time. This is a picture in full sunlight but is slightly more muted and neutral in artificial light.

@nomoneytreehere I think renovation is actually a succession of compromises and hoping you don't run out of money.

Never a truer word spoken!

Completely agree!

Along with deciding to spend £500 on a new hob on a whim while ordering other appliances, instead of reusing the old one. A purchase you would previously have agonised over now feels like a drop in the ocean compared to the overall cost!