Extension thread 2022 part III.. celebrations, crises and will it be finished for Christmas?!

[NewHouseNewMe]

3rd thread of 2022 - can't believe I'm still here!

Sorry to hear that, Martini. What sorts of things have cropped up?
Builders were back onsite this morning, although I then left for work so no idea what will be done. It was lashing down too, so a miserable day for them :(.

Thanks Sheriff, things like the window firm deciding to change the type of windows we ordered between quote one and us paying a deposit without telling us, realising that the gas to the kitchen is not in a compliant pipe, birds nests of electrical wires to strip out and roof tiles being screwed in and exposed to the elements 😁 we will get there and it will be worth it, but a lot of wine is being drunk at casa Martini at the moment!

That sounds tough @Martinisarebetterdirty It’s possibly better to get a completely unmodernised house than a house done up in the 90s/00s as the standard was a shocker back then. Mind you I didn’t say that when I was dealing with a green bathroom quote from the 1970s..

Bit of a rush on here and tomorrow I think we have about 6 builders or tradesmen here. That will be relaxing.. But I’m all for them falling over each other if it means it goes faster for me.

But there’s no way the window company should be changing the windows on you without a discussion. That wouldn’t stand up in court..

We are at the “I wish I’d bought a new build” and “I’m getting close to losing my shit” stage. The plan for this week was worktops being fitted while I decorated another room. The worktops got delayed by a day and were installed today. With no hob splashback. Despite it being specified on the quote. The company is on it, but it’s yet another bloody thing to sort out.

Then we have had a carpenter here all day, who helpfully decided to box in some radiator pipes. Although said radiator is being removed tomorrow and replaced by a smaller one. Which we are also having an argument about as the builders expect us to pay for the smaller one despite never having been consulted on the original size and now every time we open the washing machine door, it hits the radiator.

And said washing machine has been plugged in but despite a maintenance wash, it is spitting brown gunk over everything so is not actually useable.

I was also supposed to be decorating today and tonight but the carpenter left all his tools here and obviously I couldn’t get anything done today due to the cast of thousands.😫😫😫

@MyBuggyIsOutToGetMe yes why didn't we all buy new builds!! Sorry to hear you've had some problems today. Hopefully lots of solutions tomorrow!

Ha! Yes I was wondering that though if it's any consolation, apparently new builds are worse for things going wrong!

Met the builder yesterday - he said at the moment, our house is in the top 3 in his lifetime of 'problematic houses'. They were just finishing the roof tiles when the guys who came to replace the wooden rafters arrived and pointed out that there was a gap at the top of the rafters which is what is causing the roof to bow. The structural engineer had recommended a whole load of steel to fix it but the roofers and builder have looked at it together and actually what will really fix it is the roof rafters being replaced and aligned properly. The structural engineer agrees and the builder has recommended we do that which means taking all the roof tiles off (that they had almost finished putting on), replacing the rafters and moving on from there. SCREAM! Good news is that it is cheaper than putting steel in!

they are going to redo the project plan by tomorrow and we will have to reassess the cost (again). He said there is also a wall at the back that is looking v dodgy and if that goes, we will be top of his list for problem houses

All go here. I let dh loose with a paint sprayer as the decoration quotes were all obscene and we are already £50k over. He did a great job spraying the outside render and all of upstairs. Only in white for now, we will roller the final finish i think.

The downstairs loo has been panelled and looks amazing. I just need to decide on colours now.

Next is annoyingly out of stock of the warwick light i wanted for our hall.

I bought some really nice lights from
M&S as well (monroe) for our ensuite and downstairs loo.

Tilers back next week and then we can start second fix on the bathrooms.

The plumbers have lost the expensive radiator valves

Little Green sold me
the wrong paint to paint the kitchen with and don't want to know. Its my fault i guess as i just relied on what i was told in the showroom rather than reading all the tech specs myself.

Worktops being fitted today!! Woo hoo.

Still so much to do. House looks like a bomb went off.

Will i be in for christmas????!!

@BananaChunk we reroofed. Its so lovely to not have a bow in the roof anymore and not to be worried everytime it rains.

It cost a fortune though.

Has anyone used howdens for built in wardrobes. I was chatting to someone the other day that said they used tall larder units.......

@nomoneytreehere I think I need to change my name to yours! I'm hoping I don't get the new cost estimate till Monday so I can enjoy my weekend at least!

Our builders recommended using IKEA for the built in wardrobes - you can buy the kits and they will fit it for you

I have a stair carpet!!! Such a difference now there is a lack of noise going up and down stairs, and so much nicer under foot!!

Joiner back into today to check through everything, and will be back on Monday to fit the hall window, and other bits and bobs.

Still no downstairs shower room - its not even funny any more!!!

I've used Ikea for built in wardrobes before, but when I costed out them, compared to my joiner making exactly what I wanted with no compromises, was only a couple hundred more.

@BananaChunk thats massively frustrating but ultimately good that you won’t have to pay for steel. We found that structural engineers were unbelievably fussy and specified for a bomb proof structure. Where is the dodgy wall? Is it an external wall or something in the garden?

@MyBuggyIsOutToGetMe We also had worktops in but had to send away the plumber as weren’t allowed to touch the kitchen while the damn thing dries. So I still have a fake kitchen!

Hi all

I've been buying kitchen appliances today and thought my experience might be useful. First I ordered 2 Neff ovens with the self cleaning feature. On AO they were £839 each but if anyone has reward gateway through work you get really good discounts through the Neff shop. I bought the ovens at £600 each! They showed as our of stock this morning but by the afternoon they were back and are being delivered on Wednesday.

Secondly I treated myself to a Bora hob and found that the independent kitchen shops hold some appliance stock and they gave me trade prices. So if you can't find kitchen goods online then definitely ring round your local kitchen shops!

Next on the shopping list is a Neff dishwasher...

Have one guy here today.

has fitted the missed dado rail in the extra bit of hallway, they had to get it made as couldn’t find the same anywhere to buy.
made out of resin which was cheaper than other options.

plus he’s starting on the understairs shelves for shoes and bags, hoping that will be life-changing or at least hallway-changing when it comes to the kids shoes.

Flooring day came and went. Screed still too wet. It is 4.3 and needs to be 3.5 absolute max. Our screed was poured in Aug!

I know I had a meltdown when they said about how long our screed would take to dry. I thought they meant no one could even walk on for all of the 9 weeks (i think it was 9) and had visions of sod all happening for all of those weeks.
I think it was a week per mm of screed?

Then our tiles took forever to come anyway so we lived with concrete floors for ages.

electrician appeared but not sure he actually did anything?
carpenter guy finished putting up the missing dado rail and got started on the understairs shelves, not quite finished.

He should be back on Monday to finish them, and the painter is coming on Monday too to attack any missing/knocked/rough patches.

Need to restore the snagging list for the painter as I won’t be here when he starts.

So the garage conversion part of our work is now plastered and pretty much complete. We now sit and wait for January for the kitchen to arrive and it being installed etc
Builders are now in the dining area so the back wall is knocked out and the steel is ready for installation. We then have 4 weeks to wait for the bifolds. The room is freezing so we will just have to power through!
It was nice having a few days away but we had a good clean yesterday as the plaster dust is everywhere!

Just dusted all the kitchen units and they look so good. Really enjoying cleaning for the first time in my life! We've come so far from the Travelodge days!! ☺️

Filling in the form for the 50% council tax discount whilst major structural work goes on! Anyone else done this?

Our council doesn't do it - don't think it's everywhere

It only seems to apply in limited circs - it doesn't apply for new kitchens/bathrooms or extensions.

I got the 100% rebate on council tax. Took ages for them to agree it though, about 6 months.

Thanks for the tip on using a work discount @GardensandGrandDesigns. I've been looking into appliances and didn't think to check but I can get an 8% discount at AO.com. I might hold out till Black Friday though.

Last week our builders made good headway on digging our foundations. Thanks to the rain it's filled with water though and looks like a festival site in our garden! Hoping it will be a bit drier this week.

I’m only popping back for a moan that we are still not finished and I’m fed up of living in such a dusty, dirty house. So very close now that we have ordered carpet for upstairs and booked a painter/decorator, and ordered the furniture we need for the bedrooms. I’m hoping we’ll be completely finished in terms of the builders by the end of this week (everything crossed) then it’s deep cleaning and putting back together time.

if there is any delay and they are still here this time next week I will cry.