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

[Sewfrickinamazeballs]

Hi! New thread!

@BlueMooMoo everything is in storage and it feels great! I don't think I want all my possessions back! We are living upstairs for 4 weeks. We have 4 bedrooms so there is quite a bit of space now they are empty. Builders want to build the DS extension before starting on the inside. Imagine we will be moving into the travel lodge in July for around 6 weeks.

Our builders are doing really well but I just want it built now! Week 5 and I just want to see walls. It's been a lot of digging holes and I want visible progress. Can someone send me some patience please!!

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@GardensandGrandDesigns I found it incredible what takes up the most space when you're packing - we had so much bedding and linens!

Have they started on the external walls?

They started on the exterior walls yesterday, no idea how long the brick laying stage will take. I guess it's 4 weeks as that's the timeframe they have given before they move inside.

@BlueMooMoo , yes our architect (who seems to think I shit money) designed bespoke joinery for every bedroom, bathrooms, study, scullery, both living rooms, utility and kitchen. I don’t dare say what the quotes were, I nearly had a heart attack.

I’ve now decided that some of it will be from DIY kitchen, some will be IKEA with custom fronts, and we will keep the bespoke stuff to an absolute minimum. It’s still bloody expensive though!

@Yellownotblue Jeez! We are hoping to keep the custom joinery to 2 wardrobes and 1 window seat. Everything else like you we are going to do a combo of stylised ikea and premade at a point we can afford it! I will be scouring ebay as well for ex display items too.

I went for some face cream product today and decided to delay my treatment and the cream, cleanse etc. until next month wheb I have the decorator quote 😂😂😂.

I am keeping everything crossed for the plasterer to come next week and our conversation about the legendary porch!

Well, I am in a good mood today, the window was lowered and looks great.

Not too sure why the photo turned sideway

@BlueMooMoo and @Yellownotblue

Have you seen Jali? It's a website where you can design bespoke wardrobes, drawers, shelves etc. Super easy to customise, ready in two weeks, MDF and can be primed or painted by them or you. Loads of options. This is about as bespoke as our joinery will get. But more expensive than IKEA but much less than getting a joiner to do it.

I can relate. Haven't had my hair down since Christmas as every penny was going on the house.

Love the window!

@Newhome321 beautiful window! I can see why you paid the extra to have it on show. Do you have a period home?

That's super helpful! Thank you! I'll check it out this evening.

I'm going round in circles with everything at the moment.

I think I've picked all the downstairs bathroom suite, but can't decide whether to tile halfway or to the ceiling. It's a very small room. I'm thinking white brick-type tiles/metro tiles with a patterned floor tile. I like the half height look but will I be forever painting the top half??

Kitchen - I'm worried I'm going to pick totally the wrong thing in baby brain / newborn haze. I want dark green doors, white marble-effect quartz worktops & brass handles.

My main two options are Howdens Fairford or a lovely solid wood door from a local supplier who make to measure (the units themselves are not wood though, just the doors).

Can't do DIY kitchens as can't find a good fitter who will fit it and I've run out of gusto to look any further!

I'm hearing mixed things - some people seem to say painted wood is better and more durable, other saying the Fairford would be better with pets & small children. Any thoughts?

I know people say wood is better as can sand and repaint but I'd rather it just didn't bloody scratch 😅

Also - very hard water area. I'd love a water filter to cut out the limescale in shower, taps etc. Mainly for ease of cleaning! But then I hear kettle taps are an absolute must have. But don't think we can afford / justify both!!

Fairford I'm probably looking at £10k ish inc fitting, worktop, excluding appliances, flooring etc.
The wood doors option is about £15k for the same...

@AwkwardPaws27 I hear you with the going round in circles. We’re getting our kitchen from Howdens (thinking chelford) but one of the main issues I have is they aren’t really set up as proper showrooms so can’t see examples of each door in a kitchen. I should stop looking at Instagram/ Houzz as keep changing my mind when I see a pretty picture.
What quartz are you going with? We’re between a white sparkle quartz and white marble. DH wants any marbling to be quite subtle but fear this could look dirty instead of patterned.

AwkwardPaws that sounds exactly like my kitchen design. I’m using a local independent company and going for painted wood (no pets or young children though). I can’t wait, my current kitchen is a hovel.

I’m also looking at bathroom designs just now. Downstairs bathroom is just a loo here, doing wood paneling bottom half and wallpaper top half. Tiles just as a behind-sink splash back.

@JoanDarc I see all these posts on here of people saying their kitchen was only £5k and I don't know where I'm going wrong; it's not a big kitchen at all, but we're easily going over £20k once you add appliances, flooring, tiled splashback etc.

I liked more subtle marble but DH prefers a bolder vein; I'm not too fussed tbh, as long as it's white rather than cream/yellow toned, so I think we are going for Calacatta Leonardo which has a strong grey vein on a white base.

@AwkwardPaws27 here are some decisive thoughts for you! Feel free to ignore!

Bathroom - go half height. If you do find yourself painting frequently then tile the top half at a later date.
Kitchen - go solid wood if budget allows. We had a solid wood kitchen and it was great. We repainted it and it easily would have done another 10 or 20 or however many years.
Tap - what's the price of a filtering kettle tap? Is it about 300 more? I would probably go for a filter as I drink more cold water than I do tea/coffee. If it's less than £500 difference to get both i would compromise on something else to pay for that

Although our kitchen was fully solid wood - carcasses plinths pelmet and doors.
How many doors is it in total? Assuming 20 doors then that's £250 per door extra you are paying for solid wood. Do you think it's worth that?

I also think people only tend to remember the headline price of a kitchen and forget the extras - taps, sinks, splashbacks, etc.etc.! I know I've definitely been guilty of that even now - I think oh the bathroom only cost 6k but then I forget how much the tiles cost, the valves, the basin wastes etc. I just remember the main order of the shower sink and toilet! 😂

That's a great way of thinking of it! It's about 20 doors and I don't really want to pay that much extra each when you put it like that.

DH is talking about moving in 5 years or so (although whether that will actually happen is a whole other story...) & as much as I like the idea of being able to repaint them in future, would I actually want to/have time to/be able to make a decent job of it?

Tap - what's the price of a filtering kettle tap? Is it about 300 more? I would probably go for a filter as I drink more cold water than I do tea/coffee. If it's less than £500 difference to get both i would compromise on something else to pay for that

I'm not really bothered about filtered drinking water - it's more for cleaning and hair washing. The shower, taps & showerscreen are constantly covered in limescale spots - I clean them but it's back within a day or so - & we both found our skin and hair was far better when we were on holiday in Wales where the water was very soft.

Kettle taps - I don't know. My head says you could buy a lot of kettles for the cost of the tap! But then having immediate hot water would be great - we have to run the tap for 10 seconds or so before it gets warm so it does waste water.

I love my boiling water tap (Qettle), don’t know if that helps though!

we have very hard water and the boiler man put in a thingie where the water goes through that first. He services it with the boiler once a year. I don’t know what it’s called though! And sat downstairs tired after a migraine this morning. If I remember next time I’m upstairs I’ll look for you. But we still get limescale marks so it’s not perfect.

The tiles I’d spent ages choosing are not available until end of July which would delay so much else. And tiler might not be free then. So asking tile people for suggestions, at this point I’m less fussy than I was!

It sounds like a limescale inhibitor? Apparently they work pretty well in moderately-hard areas but we're on the outskirts of East London so basically as 'ard as it gets 😂
I'm looking at water softener systems that attach where the mains water supply comes in; you add salt blocks to them regularly. My step-mum was singing the praises of hers but equally enthusiastic about her boiling water tap...

@AwkwardPaws27 I agree with @BlueMooMoo some people only quote the cost they paid to their main kitchen supplier for units and don’t cost in appliances, flooring, tiling etc. FWIW our Howdens quote is £9k for a large (to me!) kitchen, however we’re only buying about 50% of carcasses as we remodelled a few years back so reusing these and replacing all doors, it does include 2 x 1000mm larder units which are expensive with another few sets of pan drawers. For context is two x 5m runs plus a 2m island. I’m confident our quote is on the lower side as our builder is a good friend so we’ve got his discount built in.

Quartz from another supplier about £4k, flooring estimated about £2/3k for LVT. Appliances we may reuse some so unknown. This is before any decoration, tiling, lighting so £20k doesn’t seem out to step with that given your buying everything new. It’s scary how much it all adds up to!