About to start a 6-month extension build...

[AppropriateAdult]

... and moving in with the in-laws for the duration. Come join me on this wild ride!

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 did you find any online shops particularly good/reliable for remnants? I have looked at the Wilton online remnants and Burts, but don’t know anyone who has bought from them before.

@Driverpicksthemusic not sure where in the country you are but there are a few carpet warehouses around - I used one to carpet a lot of my old house - my only tip with stairs is to try to choose a carpet that isn't too wide so you reduce wastage, it's worth trying a couple of shops as some are better at working out the cuts than others in my experience allowing you to get away with less carpet. Or do a runner on the stairs? Most shops now will bind or whip the edges of any carpet

Obviously it's the stairs that are creating so much waste. Even the guy who came to measure yesterday said it. We will have loads left to use for bits. Rugs or carpeting the side of the attic etc! Such waste.

How is everyone getting on?

Our steels are in and internal walls will be coming down next week.

Still receiving daily photos and videos from the builder, which I really appreciate, but also find a bit unsettling - seeing my home as a literal building site inside and out.

It’s all felt a bit slow the last couple of weeks, but I suspect things will speed up now. There’s a couple of new internal walls to go up and then the new layout will become clear. I think windows and doors are coming the week after next, so it will probably start to feel better from then.

We had some good news this week. The one place we needed our builder to thoroughly check, after an issue with next door’s roof caused a leak on our side, found all the timber dry and undamaged. Huge relief, as it would have cost quite a bit sort that if it was damaged. Next door had to have all the roof timbers on that side replaced. (Leak was in the valley between our houses on their side, after they were scammed by awful unskilled roofers.)

We have finally, definitely, decided on the fixtures we’re buying for the bathroom and en-suite, but still not sure on tiles. We have to hang out in a nearby town tomorrow while dd attends an event, so I think we’ll see if we can find a couple of tiling stores to peruse while we wait for her.

Sitting with the doors open at my PIL’s house this afternoon, with the dog wandering in and out of the garden and loving it, has made me really excited for when we will be able to do the same at home. (We used to have to go with him every time before, as there was no line of sight unless you stood at the kitchen window and only side door access.)

Well the painting is just about finished, snag list done. Not much on it to be fair. Will send to the builder on Monday/Tuesday when I'm finished cleaning the house.

The dust is unreal. I've mopped the floor about 3 times today and it barely touches it.

Anyone got any suggestions for quickening the process?

Mine has slowed slightly now the roof has started, and it looks like I might have been overzealous booking the painter/decorator when I did.

Oh try and leave the painter til the very last second as even the builder coming back to snag will leave things that need to be touched up. Our builder was gone before we got the painter in and I'm glad I did it that way now. Do a big snag with builder then get those bits sorted and then get the painter in

@Jesusmaryjosephandtheweedon maybe look into hiring an air scrubber dust filter for a few days? Can't link now, as am out and about, but I found them for £98 per week plus filters in local hire shops. They're a bit like mobile air conditioners with HEPA filters to remove dust particles .

For those who moved out entirely during their build, when did you (or when are you planning to) move back in - was it when the builders had completely finished, or were you able to move back in at an earlier point and start putting the house to rights? We're trying to book annual leave for around the new, amended time the build is supposed to finish, and I'm not sure when exactly would be best...

We are moving back this week. I wouldn't have been able to move back before now as every time they came the place got filthier. I couldn't live in the dirt. At least now they've gone the dust gets a chance to settle and I can vacuum and then mop...over and over again. I wouldn't like to try live in the dirt. It's just horrific. Plus if you start moving furniture in and they aren't finished then you risk getting bits of stone/sand/cement from their boots caught under furniture and scraping the brand new floors etc. Also your furniture gets full of dust/beds/curtains etc and you have to then wash all of that again. Obviously if it's a financial decision then move back in but if you can stay out until its done then I would.

We are abroad this week I feel really anxious about leaving the builder in our home when we aren't there but it was that or probably pay him to not be there. On the plus side he said downstairs should be pretty much done by the time we get back and I bloody hope he's right and they don't spend the week slacking ! I told him last week we have now spent more than we planned and more than we want to so we need to get this wrapped up. It's frightening how much we've spent in 3 months . Upstairs is finished and we love it

@AppropriateAdult I plan to move back when at least 3 of the bedrooms can be occupied and the re-plumb and re-wire is done - if there are still bathrooms to finish and stuff to paint that's fine if as we will have one working bathroom and the services.

I’m planning to move back in when everything bar the kitchen is finished. Oldest two dc will stay with my parents until it’s all done, but I want to be in there to start the clean-up and get on with decorating everywhere. (We’re only paying for mist coats and undercoating.)

Ideally I want to be back in, at the latest, the weekend before the kitchen is being delivered, as the delivery window is 8 am till 10 pm and it would be a disaster if no-one was there when they turned up.

Bedrooms will be finished first, so as long as we have those and at least one bathroom finished we’ll manage. In fact it will be easier than having to do two 1hr 20 minute round trips a day to take dd to school and pick her up, like we are at the moment.

Loft work is at the insulation stage today, spent all day yesterday finalising all the locations for lights, switches and sockets.

It's so hot here! I'm giving the builders tea and loads of water...snacks wise on this weather what are we all giving?? I'm stumped 🤔

@newtoitalldammit We’re not at home anymore, but when we had a few days of really hot weather while we were there dh did a Cornetto run once a day. That was greatly appreciated.

Received photos of the kitchen yesterday. All the steels are in and some of the walls are partially down, so we’re starting to get a sense of the space. I was worried it was going to be a bit small, as we can’t open up the whole back of the house due to needing a ground floor bedroom, but actually, even from being in there at the weekend before they started knocking through, it feels like a nice space and a million times better than what we had before.

Good idea @Driverpicksthemusic I might just buy a whole bunch of ice lollies!

We are in Spain and builders sending updates since we left the scaffolding is down, it's been rendered , we have a front door and the garage door is in, gym room is plastered mist coat and rubber matting in and wc plastered. So excited to see it when we get home

@mrssunshinexxx Brilliant! You’re almost there!

According to our builder, the worst is over for us, with the exception of the couple of internal walls that were still only half down yesterday. I am very sceptical of this myself, having been in there at the weekend and seen how bad it really is.

I kind of see what he’s saying. Once the walls are gone the build stage is essentially over and then it’s a case of putting it all back together, but the end still feels a looong way off at the moment. Dh is speaking to the builder tonight specifically to ask if we are still on schedule and if not, how far out we are.

We are at the roof insulation stage. Tiling next. Electrician out Wednesday next week. Very excited now.

I'm on the app so can't Thank individual posts, but thanks to all who advised on when to move back in! I'd imagine I'll be very impatient when the time comes. I'm hoping we might be able to get into the original bedrooms - they aren't having any work done but are obviously messy and furniture etc moved - before the job is finished so we can start putting those to rights, even if we don't actually move ourselves back in.

@AppropriateAdult I think we are going to have to move back in before everything is finished also. We are waiting for the kitchen countertop, then the top units and larder can go in. The kitchen (and all the walls downstairs) still need to be painted.

The floor is finished, and we will get the carpet for the stairs fitted in ten days after we've done the post build clean. The place is a mess. Builders were not meant to go into the rest of the house while we were away (it was boarded off by them, so they just had access to the back). However they took all the boarding down while we were away and carted through the rubble as it was easier. Stored all their tools there, and wrote on our decorated hallway walls. The dust then got through to everywhere else.

Would have been better were we there to supervise, it we were away for a month

Tiles going on roof today. Windows going in Monday, and sliding doors moving to be the extension rear doors. Then wall cut out, electrics next week, plasterer week after. Decorator week after. Then a week break before they are back to put in the kitchen and then the utility and shower room starts.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 sorry to hear that, I would be livid. It is difficult when you aren't there and want to get on so that they will finish but still. We had a year and a half's renovation and extension we are coming out of now into the decorating and final carpets/ built ins/ curtains/ driveway and garden stage but the rubbish and intrusive entitled way some contractors were at times still annoys me. I found that when there were a few contractors in at once it got much worse and there was normally a ring leader. Then geniune surprise that I would not be happy to pay someone hundreds of pounds a day and then pick up their lunch wrappers and single broken shoes off the floor as well. We didn't fall out massively but it is a major reason I will never do it again. Have you told the builder it is unacceptable?

Hi all. Hoping to join the thread at some point! How long did it take everyone to get planning permission? I know this varies from county to county and what’s actually asked for. We were advised 2 months and it’s now 3 months without news and looking like a while longer… We want to do a two story side extension, raise the roof and reconfigure throughout so big job!

@Rapunzel91 our planning permission took far longer than we were told it would. Architect said they usually get things through in 8 weeks with our LA. Then the LA said they had delays and it would be 12 weeks. In the end it was over 20 weeks!

Absolutely no reason for it, neither neighbour objected and it’s a very simple design. We only got it after 20 weeks because our architect pulled strings and spoke directly to our case worker, who rubber stamped it there and then. We had been calling and emailing him for months. As far as we could tell from the planning portal, nothing under that case worker’s name was processed from a week after our plans went in.