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!

Are everyone's builders really lazy or just ours? Ours have been great at building the extension but the renovation inside has been pretty poor. Things like insulation and plumbing are just absolute basic and move on. Hubby is pissed off as he is well researched in energy efficient houses and wish he had done it himself. I am really entering the 'get them the hell out of my house' stage!! Don't get me started on plasterers... Thanks for the rant 😊

@GardensandGrandDesigns , I hear you in terms of “just get them out of my house” stage! I have just had enough. We have a tantalisingly mostly fitted kitchen (missing a few bits) but now waiting for templating for worktops. The entire downstairs is a tip.

Most of our trades have been pretty considerate apart from the carpenters, who left mounds of mess yesterday - I’m sure because I’d appeared to try to make the downstairs fit for the kids, but I’m talking no dust sheets or covers on the floors and enough bits of wood and shavings that I had to sweep before I could hoover.😡

On the plus side, we now have internal double doors which really keep the heat in!

Well today some of weeks ambitions moved forward:

Coving man has been and gone, all coving done, and 2 ceiling roses done. Did seem to make a heck of a mess, again!
It’s all made from plaster which I did not appreciate I don’t think, have any of you ever seen similar actually being put in? I missed it as was at work, but plaster dust everywhere again.

And the tiler came, tiling looks finished, just grouting to finish tomorrow I hope.

TO DO:

The hallway; open shelves for shoes and school bags

The original old sash window halfway up the stairs - waiting for it to come home, have been told it will be soon

stripping back the old front door and oiling

oiling 3 new doors

security cameras - have a new number to contact
patio steps to be tiled - nearly done, just grouting to finish
patio glass balustrade put in (not ordered yet) - have sent details to the boss builder guy as the company need certain measurements now the tiling is done, boss guy is due to take final measurements soon…

Downstairs loo: pick a mirror. Long bare walls atm - thinking maybe a large wallpaper sort of mural thing? Needs a shorter tap for the basin, has been ordered.

+last bit of bespoke coving & 2 ceiling roses to match original - ✅
Broken tile in upstairs bathroom to be repaired
broken edge of tile in kitchen to be repaired

Snagging list of tiny things - mostly decoration, to be done after coving

deep clean post build, need to find a company

The initial building control form turned out to be a pdf that couldn't be edited, and the formatting went seriously wonky when I tried saving it as a Word doc. So I printed it off, wrote on it, scanned it and emailed it back to them. Anyone else's council do this?!

I then got an auto-reply saying they had resourcing problems and were taking a lot longer than advertised on the website to do anything.

Any recommendations for finding a private/independent? building control person?!

Even weirder after that auto-reply - I submitted application at about 10pm last night. Just found an email at 6.43 this morning(?!) saying we'd missed something off the application.

Who at the council is working at that time in the morning?! The missing thing is also wrong - it's asking for evidence of our disabilities. Which we don't have? And which has no bearing on our application although the house was originally extended for a disabled person so maybe they've mixed it up with that?!

Morning, so the painting in the hall is moving on, as is the staining of the internal doors. Joiner just left, I thought that he was going to fit my hob, no just put it in place, need a builder to drill through to outside for venting, and the Sparkies to wire it in. He did say that he would be in on Friday, to start the snagging etc.

Builders arrived yesterday, to clear the front, and arrange for skip removal - hopefully next week.

I am still missing a very large window in my hall which seems to have gone missing, they brought the wrong ones the first time, back in May and we are now onto the third one, as they have delivered to the wrong place the second time. so here is hoping!!

Have orders from ikea scheduled tomorrow, which should contain the correct size sofa cover, they sent the wrong one the first time, and I need to go to the store to return in, not easy as the nearest ikea is 2 hours away. Ordered another one which should hopefully be here tomorrow!!

So much still to do, however as long as I am further along each night than I was in the morning, I am looking at is as a positive.

Hope you all have a great day!

So many problems this morning - plumber is not skilled enough with our heat pump and water ufh system all going tits up. Bit late in the day for him to admit this now!! FML. On a positive note, I've got more fight in me today so must be feeling better!

Great photos @HouseyHouse22 you must be so pleased! I can't wait to get to that stage. I've had a row with the boss builder and plumber today. I've had enough.

Oh no @GardensandGrandDesigns what's going on with the heat pump and UHF? We're getting both so I need to be prepared for any horror stories!

We just have a plumber and builder that don't have any interest in insulation or heat pumps so they don't have a clue, they don't even follow the architects instructions in the drawings. No perimeter insulation, pipes up to the walls and then not knowing how to get the ufh commissioned. Heat pump trained installers are like unicorns, certainly the good ones. I hope you have better luck than us. Wunda have been useless too.

@RidingMyBike can’t help with that sorry but does sound weird.

@plumstone - v annoying about the window, hope it arrives soon.

@GardensandGrandDesigns - the UFH heat pump stuff sounds complicated and a bit of a nightmare, I’m sure they’ll find a solution somehow.

tiler came while I was at work and finished. As far as I can tell anyway.

it’s great when people finish, then you get their bill. Eek.

money pit - did anyone ever watch that film? I’ve forgotten most of it but this house feels like one!

TO DO:

The hallway; open shelves for shoes and school bags


The original old sash window halfway up the stairs - waiting for it to come home, have been told it will be soon


stripping back the old front door and oiling


oiling 3 new doors


security cameras - have a new number to contact

patio steps to be tiled - done ✅

patio glass balustrade put in (not ordered yet) - have sent details to the boss builder guy as the company need certain measurements now the tiling is done, boss guy is due to take final measurements soon…


Downstairs loo: pick a mirror. Long bare walls atm - thinking maybe a large wallpaper sort of mural thing? Needs a shorter tap for the basin, has been ordered.


Broken tile in upstairs bathroom to be repaired

broken edge of tile in kitchen to be repaired

Snagging list of tiny things - mostly decoration, to be done after coving

deep clean post build, need to find a company

I absolutely love your place @HouseyHouse22 . How have you managed to get all the furniture as well as delivering the build? I am impressed! What are your kitchen tiles/splashback? Is it the same as the countertops?

Morning all, hoping for a better day but I've started it with a stroppy email to roof maker for replacement glass that was ordered in Aug on a 7 day delivery. They just give you made up delivery dates and then nothing appears.

Builder messaged to ask about the heating last night and it is lovely and warm now.

Electrician, carpenter and plasterers here today.

Two skips' worth of stuff have been stripped out now. First fix electrics scheduled for next week!

Have ordered the bathroom. Except company can't actually place the order until builder confirms location of soil pipe.

Morning All!! Tiler is back grouting today, which means I hope there is an end in sight for my downstairs loo.

Painters are in, one is painting my pantry, in readiness for the joiner in tomorrow to hang the door, fix the skirting and facings. The other is attacking my stair woodwork with a heat gun and sander, the dust and smell are out of this world.

@LivingInaBuildingSite apparently the hall window is 3-4 weeks away - which means they can't finish painting the hall, which means I won't sign off on the Joiners work, or the painters work till its finished.

Spent yesterday evening wondering around placing pictures and mirrors on different walls in prep for the joiner in tomorrow to hang them. Also really want the electricians in tomorrow for the hob being wired up. Its now annoying me, it looks amazing, I just cant use it.

UFH is amazing, I am loving mine - took about to week, to work out the "zones" but think I have cracked it.

Hope you all have a fab day!

Ah thanks so much, @NewHouseNewMe A few minor regrets / things I'd have done differently, but I'm pleased with it on balance.

Yes, the splashback is the same quartz as the worktops - it ended up costing not much extra to do both that and the waterfall edge as I was already getting two slabs anyway. In fact, the waterfall edge cost the same amount as the end panel, so I sent that back and used the quartz instead.

For furniture we have our old dining table which isn't quite the right size / shape / material - it'll do for now but I still need to shop around for a new one. And the sofa is just IKEA - we figured the kids are at an age where it will get trashed anyway, so best to go cheap and cheerful for now. But it's comfy, and on the plus side, they deliver in 1-3 days😀

Also, you asked about bio-ethanol? We went for one from Imagin Fires - the Malvern, I think. We really like it - no smell or fumes. Tbh it's mainly decorative as it definitely wouldn't be your main source of heat, but it's a good compromise under the circumstances (non-working chimney, and didn't want the cost and mess of removing the chimney breast).

@HouseyHouse22 beautiful space. You must be very pleased.
@plumstone wow you are at the exciting bit. Pictures!!!
@RidingMyBike i think we are on skip 16. Including one that had nothjng but plasterboard offcuts. So so expensive. Exciting about the bathroom though.
@GardensandGrandDesigns that is so frustrating about the glazing. our glazier put in a bill for an extra £500 for "extras". I was a bit wtf. Literally made it up as he went along.
@LivingInaBuildingSite totally here you about the bill arriving. Luckily the tiler wanted half his money upfront so im not panicking about his bill quite so much now. Its all a psychological as its the same amount of money 😂

We have told the pm that wwe are doing most of the decoration. and that we might need to leave 2
Of the ensuites for abit.

I cant even look at the budget as that isnt going to conjure up an extra £40k in my bank account.

Anyone reading this and planning a build try and fully nail down your spec down to door handles before you start. Our costs have been insane and it really affects things as you start running out of money when you are buying the products that everyone sees. I had no idea that the insulation we had specced by the architect was so expensive. We also have a slightly complicated roof and i wish someone had explained to me how much extra that was actually costing me (around the £40k overspend for anyone interested).

Tell me about your complicated roof @nomoneytreehere. I had 20k tiles on mine and it took about x10 longer than anyone’s on here! Sadly (at the time) it’s the design of the original house but I love it now.

@HouseyHouse22 i never thought of that option for the worktop/splashback. The kitchen goes in next week so can mentally envisage what it looks like then. I have yet to choose tiles..

I totally agree with nailing the spec @nomoneytreehere

Although we had a detailed spec, the builders added and subtracted stuff from it in their quotes and wouldn’t budge. So now I am trying to find a “mastic man” to seal bathrooms that could otherwise be used now. When we started, it all seemed a long time away, we were moving house and I wasn’t paying attention. Now I’m trying to fill in the gaps.

Our bank has just emailed to say that they are organising our reinspection to value the house but if it isn't deemed habitable they will close our application for additional borrowing 😳😳😳 we need this money to keep going.

So stressed, we have 1 roof lantern that hasn't turned up so it is just boarded with wood. Do you think if we put any old piece of glass on top whether they would notice??

My head is thinking what else might they pull us up on??

@GardensandGrandDesigns oh no, - can you get a copy of your lenders policy on habitable so you know what you are dealing with.

Usually it is having an operational kitchen, bathroom, central heating and weatherproof (so roof and windows).

We had our last house valued with just a utility room rather than the kitchen

So we have kitchen with sink and hot and cold running water but no ovens or hob. We also have quite a few wires hanging out the walls as we are in the middle of the second fix. And the missing lantern currently boarded up in the utility. I am worried!

Could you get a cheap electric oven with hob off of marketplace. And shut off the utility maybe?