Extension in winter - we are going to freeze aren’t we?

[Yummybumble]

We absolutely have to do an extension and realistically waiting until next summer just makes me a little bit miserable. This isn’t just about a fabulous new kitchen that I can’t wait for, it’s appropriate number of bedrooms for our family. It’s a massive problem and it needs sorting.

We have a great builder working with us and he surprised me by saying that he could start in 3ish months (they have a couple of other jobs on, small company but not one man band).

Now we have a one year old and a three year old. We have two open fires in the downstairs rooms, our central heating won’t be impacted so that will continue to function.

A large part of the back of the house is coming off. How do I stop us all from freezing. We live in a coldish house anyway and last winter with the fuel prices I went mad on bedding so we all have feather 13.5 tog duvets and quilts, baby has one of those super duper superlove merino 3.5 tog sleeping bags. Do I dress us all thermals? Hot water bottles? We can’t afford to keep the heating on all night.

How do we manage this in a way that we won’t all freeze all the time! I most worried about the babes.

I did major works with a one and four year old that meant there was no wall on the back of the house for 3 months over autumn and winter. It was cold, but you make it work, get yourself in the rooms with fires and wear coats and hats round the house.

Also - if your builders say start In three months - you can be fairly confident they won’t be there till spring 😉

We had a big extension that began in January. They didn't actually knock through to the main house until Feb/March, so it wasn't too bad. Also lucky we had a mild winter that year. Best thing was being done by spring and being able to enjoy it all in the summer ☺️

Talk to your builder about how they could make things better. While the back of our house was open ours built temporary wood and insulation walls so that it was dry and surprisingly wind tight until the new part was water tight and then they came down again. It also kept the building site secure.
Will you have a kitchen still? It is currently not great having everything cooked in the air fryer/ microwave/ single pan hob but I imagine it would be way worse in the winter.
Another consideration is where the children will be in the day - in the summer you can be out a lot, but it would be miserable to be inside and cold/dusty/noisy all day. I have to hide in my office all day with the dogs as the builders are in and out all day and that is bad enough. But OK if you are at work/nursery all day.

Yes this is another pro for us! We have a fab garden but would be very restricted in it if there were vehicle movements etc over the summer. This we see as ‘an added benefit!’

That’s a good idea, I’ll chat to them about that.

Forest School nursery so they are used to being cold I suppose 😂 we have lots of gear!

Husband can hide in his office with the dog and I can work from the library when am not in the office.

Am liking these replies, it sounds manageable!

We started a rear extension end of November and it didn't finish til May! Lots of delays for various reasons and luckily they hadn't knocked through at Christmas.

It was cold downstairs when knocked through, even in the living room with the heating on, as they'd be in and out the front door (kitchen door was boarded up) if they needed the toilet or to turn electric on and off etc. So I used to work upstairs from my bed to keep warm and when I sat downstairs had lots of blankets.

We waited 2 years for the building work to start as we had to find a new builder when ours stopped replying about a start date, so I didn't care in the end and just saw it as a temporary thing that would be worth it in the end. Don't get me wrong it was depressing at times with no washing machine and making tea and toast on the floor in the front room for what felt like ages, but I wasn't going to delay the start any longer and we have been able to use the garden in Summer. It was well worth it!

I had an 8 year old rather your younger children so was probably easier but a lot of the problems (apart from the weather) would be there in Summer too. Just go for it to get it out the way!

I meant to say it was cold but not unbearable. The kitchen door was boarded up to keep as much dirt and cold out.

We had an extension done over the course of last winter and it was so cold. I'd come down into the kitchen in the morning and see the steam from my breath! We also ended up with rats coming in through gaps in the brickwork left open for pipes who were looking for food!

Just to add, it was worth it and you get used to it quickly. We just saw the extra heating as an additional extension expense and used our log burner as much as possible/kept internal doors shut to trap the warmth.

Talk it through with your builder. He isn't going to leave you with no walls- it woudn't be secure, for one thing. When we had the roof off an old knocked-through extension, we boarded up between there and the rest of the room. Was not warm in that inner room, but really not too awful- we just used the rest of the house as much as possible.

We’re just having the same debate. Planning has taken forever for no apparent reason, as there were no objections from neighbours and it was approved with no queries, we just had an incredibly long (months past the LA deadline) wait. Having lost our original slot as a result, we were expecting the builder to say March/April at the earliest now, but he’s had a cancellation and can start in October.

Builder suggested possibly just doing the groundwork and shell and not knocking through till the spring, before which we’ll move out, but I’m not sure at all.

My main worries are:

• The back garden will become a quagmire through the winter and we will still have to take the dog out there multiple times a day.
• Dh works from home 2-3 days a week and ds and I are home 24/7 due to chronic health issues (which is why we need the extension in the first place) so we were planning to move out for the whole build, but can’t really do this twice. (Having said that, we lived through our attached neighbours whole house remodel and renovation last year and I doubt it’s going to be any louder than that.)
• We won’t be able to knock through, because we will lose use of the kitchen and only (gf) bathroom (although we will still have a toilet room). The house is currently too small to relocate the kitchen elsewhere temporarily.
• As a result of not being able to knock through, the back of house will be ridiculously dark and depressing throughout the winter.

On the other hand:

• Better chance of the whole build being over and done with by the summer next year.
• I am sick of waiting for the work to be done and we desperately need what the end result will give us.
• Splitting the build will mean the second half will be after dh’s annual bonus, which will give us more contingency (less stress about costs rising).

I honestly have no idea what to do. We have just been through an incredibly stressful few months and part of me wants to just put it off until the spring now to give us a bit of breathing space, but on the other hand I REALLY want/need the space it’s going to give us.

Builder has gone off to redo his quotes according to current costs and incorporate a couple of changes and we have to make up our minds when we want to go ahead.

We did this. Started November. First thing to go was the oil tank (no heating or hot water) and last thing to be finished was the new boiler ( in Feb). Kids were 1 and 3.

We camped in the front room and used a fan heater and electric radiators. We cooked in a microwave and a gas camping ring. It was cosy! We only went upstairs to sleep. Hot water bottles warm beds up well - and can be removed when you want to put children in them.

Our builder was gold - and plumbed the washing machine in for us every night (not always in the same place, and sometimes with long water/drain hoses but really valuable with 2 small children, both in real nappies. At Christmas he also insisted the kitchen fitters plumbed in the dishwasher too!

We were actually ok - and it was ok at the time too - not just in retrospect. Given it was DSs first winter at nursery we were bug free too (too cold for bugs to survive). Kids don't remember it at all.

I think it's totally do-able. Good luck!

our builders put insulation board up, we put up thick curtains over doors. Slippers and hats. The worst bit was we lost the cat flap and had to leave a window chocked for him. It was fine.

Decide what room you will live in and make it warm.

Fill in the open fire and invest in a wood stove with a decent flat top to cook on. Some even have ovens https://chillipenguin.co.uk/products-stoves/. The open fire allows 95% of the heat produced to go straight up the chimney.

@Yummybumble ”We can’t afford to keep the heating on all night.
How do we manage this in a way that we won’t all freeze all the time!”
Have you not been reading the threads on cost overruns?
Paying an extra £20 a day in heating is likely to be the least of your worries.

I am experienced in managing building works budgets and we have contingencies. However keeping the hearing in all night would come out of our money, not our building allocation.