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

[Sewfrickinamazeballs]

Hi! New thread!

@Newhome321 are our husbands related?? Sounds v familiar! DH faffed about for ages choosing doors, eventually I had to step in, shortlist and give him two options to choose from.

We're living in for the whole thing 🙈 I do have the option of going to my mum's or MILs when baby arrives but to be honest I'd be happier in my own home even if its dustier than the Sahara. The bathroom is only two steps from our bedroom door so I'll just hole up in the bedroom I think.

DH did manage to get a summary of next steps from our builder this morning. The builder & his team have been great, to be fair - the ambiguity has mostly been availability of materials and subcontractors.

Roof has been finished today! They'll be popping back to finish the guttering but that's another job basically done. Just need to motivate myself to start sorting and packing up the kitchen & downstairs bathroom. Going to try and condense down to one or two cupboards of essentials to keep us going...

@Newhome321 is your husband just not interested?
That must have been so annoying. I remember reading on one of these threads from a while ago a poster ended up splitting. I can see how it might happen with all the additional work, the financial pressure, and the challenging living conditions.

We moved out of Our airbnb today but think in about 2weeks I'm hoping a bedroom will be ready so we can move out of the living cum play cum dining cum bedroom.

Excuse my filthy windows 😂 but roof! An actual roof!

He goes to office full time so has great excuse too. Usually it works great as I make decision, I wanted to move and chose the house and chose the builder, work with architecture etc.

Its a mammoth work though, the stress and I work full time too.

Anyway, it was planned for 14 weeks but it must be 4 weeks more minimum now (planned for mid June but now could be till mid July).

Reading everyone’s chat here about kitchen and realised I need to have the kitchen, extension at some stage too.

Hi, I’ve lurked for a while but can finally join because our work starts tomorrow. Is it normal to feel utterly terrified?

it’s been hard work and costly to get to this point and I’m hoping the actual build goes smoothly…

We are having a single storey side extension to create a dining room, small study and utility space. Estimated to take 8-12 weeks, then as soon as that’s finished straight into loft conversion/second floor reconfigure estimated 4-6 weeks. I am hopeful to have no builders and usable (if not decorated) rooms by Christmas.

I am so scared they are going to turn out to be awful or do something wrong or end up costing a fortune to put right. I’m terrified of spending the money, though it’s here for this purpose, and we desperately need the space.

It will feel better in a few days won’t it?!?!

We are using Prime Glass for roof lights and other (non specialist glazing). We had lots of quotes and they were very competitive and thorough.

@Timwith2noses , welcome, congrats and yes, totally normal!

What surprised me was how fast the demolition was initially, followed by weeks of seemingly very slow progress, then all of a sudden walls appear as if from nowhere, and they’re ready for the first fix! It’s very stop/start. Good communication with the builders is key - there should be no surprises.

Stay around, this thread is very instructive and friendly ☺️

good luck for tomorrow! If it helps, we haven’t had any nasty surprises so far. Not every project does!

Welcome @Timwith2noses Here be dust and doubt!
Totally normal to be nervous right before you start. Prepare for the panic once they draw out the foundations and it looks so tiny too.
Agree with @Yellownotblue assessment of what seems to happen. The digging seems to go on forever and be so noisy.
We've had some minor issues where we've had to depart from plans but nothing major yet.

I’m watching them laying out the protection over the driveway right now and I’m going to work in 10 mins. The in charge builder says it will look a lot different when I get home…. This is so nerve wracking. I had no idea. Never done major work before!

What surprised me was how fast the demolition was initially, followed by weeks of seemingly very slow progress, then all of a sudden walls appear as if from nowhere, and they’re ready for the first fix

This, absolutely. Weeks of ripping down ceilings, taking down walls, creating an incredible amount of dust, then seemingly nothing (things like pouring concrete and then nothing could happen for a day or so while it set!) - and then suddenly within 10 days or so we have walls and a roof.

Now I need to make lots of decisions & order stuff & seeing it as bricks and mortar rather than on paper has changed my mind about the few decisions I'd made in advance 😅

Lovely roof @AwkwardPaws27 you'll get so much light in that room.
What's it changed your mind on - colours?

Welcome @Timwith2noses . It’s a real rollercoaster here but occasionally the graduates pop back in and always say it was worth it!

@AwkwardPaws27 i think you’re amazing doing all this while so pregnant. It is not easy when not so can only imagine!

As we don’t (can’t!) live at ours, we’re finding that we’re back a LOT at the moment. Most of the top floor is studed out and the first fix going in. There’s still a long way to go though.

I love it, they've just taken down the plywood wall between the extension and existing kitchen and it's so great to see the whole space.

A few things - I was going to have two radiators in the main space but I'm now thinking just one slightly bigger vertical one. Then a much smaller one in the laundry cupboard area for drying (there's a window in there so can ventilate it too).
Where to site the spotlights - we're now going to get ones you can angle, and have them on the pitched roof over the table.

Spent a couple of hours yesterday consolidating all my separate lists etc into one spreadsheet to better keep track of the costs.

Just waiting for the updated costs for the floor - it seems we've had a leaking water pipe under the floor for quite some time and even after weeks of drying out it's still soft & sagging, so they've recommended digging it all out, new concrete and insulation, for the whole room rather than just the new area. Hopefully the water bill will come down a bit now though!

Does that leaky floor get incorporated with the levelling floor quote you said was needed too? Hopefully it's not a double cost.
It's so amazing isn't it seeing it all as one room? We've had the separate dining and kitchen for the last 5years so it's been amazing just wandering around the -huge- medium space!

I need to update the spreadsheets too after all of the bathroom and tile orders. It's almost a full time job in itself - Head Spreadsheet Manager and Chief Money Grinch 😂

@BlueMooMoo yes it will be instead of trying to level it, rather than in addition to it. I think it's for the best and not entirely unexpected; I knew the existing floor was pretty bad from what I could see / feel walking on it just waiting to see how much it adds on now.

Looks great @AwkwardPaws27 must be fab to get to that stage.

Welcome @Timwith2noses it is petrifying before they start, I wanted to change my mind! However we are week 6 now and living in a building site feels weirdly normal!

Photo of progress...

@Timwith2noses welcome. Remember that stage well. It really will fly by! If it helps, I love our builders. Genuinely lovey people, I speak to the builders wife who is on-site most days more than I speak to my DH and have had no problems at all so far! I think I will actually miss them when they are gone.

Loads done this week. Plastered have done two and a half bedrooms in a day, tiler cracking on with the bathroom, kitchen fitter mostly done just waiting on the worktop, utility room half in (DIY kitchens, cento concrete, very impressed with the units), chippy putting the finishing touches to door frames.

Next bits - two bay windows to replace, roof lights in extension on, and decorators starting Monday!

All this means that we need to be out a further week. Our Airbnb is up Tuesday so back to my mums for a week. We are all a bit homesick now, I miss my bed (which I haven't seen since December 23rd) and the cat is going nuts being kept indoors.

We also find ourselves going over at least once a day if not more to make decisions, pick up deliveries and post, check in and see what's been done and what's next. So much can happen on a day, I find it's best not to let them do too much without me checking!

@HouseyHouse21 thank you for the sink recommendation, that looks a lot larger than the Howdens stock. 👍

@Sewfrickinamazeballs oh wow you are sounding so close now to the end!
We've had the same as well whilst we were living out - having to go back near daily to check in on things. That's one positive I am trying to keep in mind as we live back onsite is that I'm here to make decisions and check the work.

@GardensandGrandDesigns great pic! Have the doubts about the size eased now?

Can I just ask anyone who needs kitchen appliances to order them 4 months in advance? There is such a backlog - the worst for any aspect of this build to date!

Even ao @NewHouseNewMe ? I had been waiting hoping for bank holiday sales?

Howdens novice here just lost half an hour in the PDF catalogue. This is for our utility room, so quite a small space. Our builder can fit. How annoying no sniff of a price! Thinking of Chelford paintable. Anyone gone Chelford paintable in a utility or kitchen?

Sorry nope @Littlemissweepy our Howden unit were gloss handle less.

Having problems with the waste pipes and joists. Having to make adjustments to bathroom layouts but hoping we can still get what we need. May mean we have to rethink the main bathroom storage but have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Getting distracted by fancy furniture and lamps! When I still have a bathroom to order for and decide on.
Still no quote yet for finalised electrics or possible patio area. Hoping I can catch boss builder tomorrow to chase. Not too worried about the patio as we can take it or leave it but the electrics I do need to know as it will affect the current budget.

We looked everywhere across a range of manufacturers- Neff, Siemens, Bosch - and found the same.. We had to buy a hob based on what we could get.