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!

We went for built-in wardrobes in the 2 walk-in wardrobes because of angles but to be honest they’re pretty basic. We had a carpenter put them in for about 2 grand in total. We decided that we can upgrade at some point if we want more fancy but time and wallets were against us. We supplemented with sets of ikea drawers.

One of the kids has double pax and hers are amazing - integrated drawers, tonnes of space for folded stuff. For the first time ever with that dd, there is more storage than even she can fill!

Our build has slowed down as everything is almost done - sigh. The skip and Portaloo have both gone😎but the plumber never came to mount a radiator despite two days waiting for him and the glass guy never showed up to measure.

We do now have a date for the stupid floorboards I went to major effort to save and which the plumber cut into all over the place. In retrospect I should have called time on the floor and replaced it with Amtico as I have elsewhere. As it stands the new guy will be the 3rd to attempt it as it’s quite a specialised job and it’s costing much more than anticipated without knowing if it’ll be worth it at the end.

The things we do sometimes to ourselves.. Sigh..

So I’m close to the finish line but not over it yet!

Hi everyone, hope you all had productive weekends. Our final skip has just gone, we spent all weekend painting and flooring to come next week. Then a huge gap until the kitchen comes sometime in January (I am not enjoying having no kitchen!)
Here’s to a good week for all!

@nomoneytree thanks, He made everything drawers included, he had to buy the soft close runners but other than that all made to my own spec.

This week I am working away from home, been ages since I did that, however a few days in London is always nice. Have spent far to long this morning, looking in West Elm, and liberty's Christmas dept, to see what I could buy - with what I have no idea, however I do like seeing Christmas set ups and table sets all done for Christmas.

Back on Wednesday night, and then my new table gets delivered on Thursday - bit the bullet on Friday and called up and paid the £60 for them to assemble it all in situ when they bring the replacement - the thought of it being broken again, and me and DB trying to put it together, did not five me the warm fuzzies!!

First Monday off as I’ve cut down my days to just 2 until I move jobs next year. Have mostly been enjoying lack of other people in the house as builders not here today.

Due back tomorrow to get on with the glass railing fixings, then can order glass.

no news on old window…

To Do List:

The original old sash window halfway up the stairs - waiting for it to come home, have been told it will be soon
….no news……

Stripping back the old front door and waxing
 DONE ✅ very happy with it

Oiling 3 new doors
 DONE ✅

Security cameras - have a new number to contact

Patio glass balustrade - builders to fit fixings this week, get final glass measurements, order glass, wait for it, fit it

Downstairs loo: pick a mirror. Long bare walls atm - thinking maybe a large wallpaper sort of mural thing?

extra silicon around hallway floor - DONE ✅

I keep adding bits
Including:
Broken tile in upstairs bathroom to be repaired

Broken edge of tile in kitchen to be repaired

couple of broken kitchen bits/edges of shelves type thing

door seal of bifold door is loose

touching up edges of storage area once builders have moved their stuff out

tidying up random piles of crap in the back garden - old bits of tiles mostly I think?

Deep clean post build, need to find a company - have a recommendation, not contacted yet, may wait until Jan and post Christmas mess

Kitchen completed today! Kitchen fitter also fitted a desk in our new office and completed the entrance hall fitted furniture (also from DIY kitchens)

Tomorrow morning the carpenter will be here just finishing off a few bits.

I've taken tomorrow off work to unpack more boxes!

@GardensandGrandDesigns lovely bench! You didn’t waste anytime putting up it to good use 😁. It looks like it’s meant to be there - the seal of great design.

Our kitchen was fitted at the weekend, however today we had a lovely surprise of discovering that a steel beam runs exactly where the extractor fan is meant to go. So now we’re scrambling around looking for a solution - either moving the hob to another location or having the extractor, which is meant to be flush with the ceiling, dropped. We will make a decision tomorrow, as I’m all decisioned-out for today.

Our DIY Kitchen units for the scullery and utility are due to be delivered this week. I’m bracing myself for lots of headaches when they get fitted, as the builders have put a manifold and various other plumbing things where units are supposed to go. So it’s going to be a riot fitting everything in.

My Ikea-hack fitted wardrobes are almost finished, and they look lovely. Just a bit of snagging to do later this week.The DCs had lots of fun planning them to their exact taste, so I won’t hear any complaints.

I’m also chuffed with my utility room Marmoleum flooring - an off cut bought on eBay. It’s very jolly, just what I wanted in the most hated room of the house.

The wardrobes look amazing! Love the colours.

Hi all...haven't checked in for a while because it's been manic! Our build has been going super fast (which I don't want to complain about when I hear the opposite from others), but I'm honestly finding it hard to juggle everything.

The extension - bricks, roof, skylights, insulation are pretty much done. Next they want to knock into our existing (galley) kitchen. We've had to scramble some boxes together, pack up everything in our kitchen and find space in our living room. We should have a couple of things to cook with but am thinking whether I should move with my DC to my DP's home for a couple of weeks.

Aside from that, been ordering stuff for the kitchen and we need to decide on flooring and lighting. Sounds like they're keen to finish everything before Christmas (including our utilities space) and I wonder how realistic that is...

Nice to see the progress everyone is making here!

Sounds like great progress curlyrebel.

seems like lots of you have the extension built before the knock through to the original house starts. Our builders are doing it the other way round. Saying they need to knock through first so that’s what they are doing, and the extension, despite the foundations being dug in august- is still just a big expanses of concrete foundation base. Impatient for the extension to begin to form, but don’t think it will be until after Xmas. The builders are taking 2 weeks off.

Tomorrow is the big day - building inspector coming for sign off!

@curlyrebel , that’s great progress. Sounds like you are a similar stage to us, although our sliders won’t be here until Jan so that’s slowing us down, as the builder won’t knock through until the extension is fully sealed. Our roof is being finished this week, new windows installed throughout house next week, and work begins on subfloor then too. Meeting electrician on Monday to discuss lighting and socket placement.

Builders then down tools for 2 weeks at Xmas, so our kitchen knock through will happen in early Jan, and new kitchen install booked for late Jan. Given there are only 2 weeks until Xmas (3 if your builders work up to the wire), i’d say it was unlikely it will be finished by then, sorry :(.

Gardens, 🤞for sign off. The bench looks amazing btw.

@SheriffCallie yes very similar stage! I'm with you on that - seems pretty unlikely that everything will be done. Be great if they can get the new kitchen up by then but there's all the plumbing and electricals, the doors and windows to install too...we will just have to live with our makeshift kitchen till the new year otherwise!

Hope sign off went well @GardensandGrandDesigns

Sign off happening Monday now but fine by us as we enjoy our new space. Hubby and I have spent the morning cleaning all the glass (can't recommend leifheit products enough!) Hoovering, mopping, cleaning everywhere ready for our first family get together tomorrow. Can't wait!

Does anyone have any packing/storage tips? We've got the keys to our flat now, building work will begin in the new year. Feeling overwhelmed with where to start with packing! We'll have 2 rooms left in the house we can use for storage so she furniture (guest bed, dining table, bookcases and books) will be going in these and the rest is coming with us to the flat as it's unfurnished. I just don't know where to start. Trying to declutter but I've also got all the Christmas presents and paraphernalia!

@thedust i did a similar move quite recently, and though to a semi- furnished flat and a couple of storage units.

I had a spreadsheet for major items of furniture per room - to storage 1 (stuff we will be bringing back as is, storage 2 (stuff we are being back but getting reupholstered / repainted first), items to throw out, items to give away etc, items to take to rental.

Then for possessions for each room we had 2 sets of boxes. Items for rental (that we will need/ use in next 7 months) and items for storage (that we won’t use). Tried to be ruthless and aiming to live “lighter”
in flat. Labeled every box in really detailed way - eg not just “games”but a list of every game. Used coloured stickers to let removals know destination of item/ boxes.

good luck!

Do you definitely know how long you'll be there for? We divided stuff up into will need in next 6-8 months and longer term stuff.

Which would have been fine if we'd been in temporary accommodation for up to 6-8 months. We're now in month 14 and haven't had access to some of it since. I did manage to extract the summer clothes when it became apparent we'd need them!

On site we've decided to move the loft staircase (long story) doing so will give us a bigger bathroom than we originally planned. Any recommendations for reasonably priced bathroom suppliers ?

@reno22 we’ve used sanctuary bathrooms in the past and they were good, also drench. Current bathroom was from Lusso stone and whilst couldn’t say it was reasonable it was reasonable for the quality and style (although our plumber said the bath waste was cheap but he did like the bath and the taps).
No heating here today as they do something with the boiler so am in a heated throw - hope everyone is keeping warm and cosy! Final push now before Christmas!

@reno22 I used Victoria Plum and Victorian Plumbing which were great, shower screen from Drench, and taps from amazon.

Hope the sign off went well - mine will be January now as the electrician's compliance certificate still not come through!!!

Dining room table and chairs arrived, and I was so glad I paid for assembly - took them 15 mins to put together, and then 20mins to show me how to extend it, and watch me extend it to a table for 10 and back to a table for 4 before they were happy to leave. - Very thorough!

Had a friend over at the weekend, she is an interior designer, and will be doing a mock up of some designs for the living room, quite excited at the prospect of that coming together now!!

Hope everything goes well for those going into rental and those hoping to finish by Christmas!

We have loads of snow so sign off is rescheduled for tomorrow.

Regarding bathrooms I love CP hart stuff. We bought cheap in the past and you just buy twice so if you can afford something higher end then do.

Finally heard that we got the council tax exemption for a house undergoing structural work. At this point in the year, and given how much we've already paid, that means council tax is now £26 a month which will help the budget.

Fixings for the glass railings and the boss guy came today to finally measure for the actual glass. He’s meant to be ordering that today and hopes it can come before Christmas.

And in big news, the old window has been finished - it’s 100 odd years old stained glass and has been put between two layers of modern safe glass.
It’s a sash window that needs slight resizing because of the side extension outside. Everything crossed it fits the hole when it eventually comes back!!
may even be next week…

Building inspector came today to sign off. Think he was here for a whole 2.5 minutes and just requested electrics certificate. He didn't even step into the garage conversion side! It was not a thorough check at all.