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!

That sounds bonkers. Are your water meters all buried??

We did this last year. Not by choice. Was meant to be 2 months but ended up being 7. We have been back a year but the outside of the house is still only half painted.

@Jesusmaryjosephandtheweedon in the past when water went into older village houses there were no regs as to how is our reason, we have the pipe in but don’t know where it joins the mains, it’s clamped beside the extension….

I have an entirely standard water meter but a pebbled drive and is somewhere on the edge of it about a foot or so underground

@CountryCob sending solidarity. It bloody sucks!!!

The tiling in our open plan kitchen/living/dining now underway - I’ve just had to go choose grout (who knew it came in so many colours?!).

kitchen fitting allegedly starting tomorrow.

we’ve picked paint now for most rooms

so bored of having to make decisions every day and wish we’d just stayed in our old house!!!

@sickofbuilders it will be worth it in the end! That's what I am telling myself looking at my now unliveable house!!

@pashmina696 i hope so. We will literally not have a penny to our names. However, we do love being home so hopefully worth the investment!

I have no idea about water meters. The only time we’ve had one was in a new build and then it had a sort of mini-manhole cover for access. You’d think they would be marked on the water companies pipe maps, but thinking about it, there aren’t any marked on the map we purchased for planning, even for the new builds up the road.

We have finally given in and decided to stay put, at least for the first two months. Having had a chat with the builder. They are going to put in the upstairs bathroom first, then build a temporary stud wall across a strategic point downstairs, so that when they knock through, most of the dust will - hopefully - be contained on the works side. We will then have the whole of upstairs and the living room, plus secure access into the back garden with the dog until June, when we will be moving out to house-sit for a month for my PIL’s. Anyone’s guess from there, but I we will probably be staying put from then to the end of the build. At least there will only be two weeks of school runs left to contend with by that point.

The other thing we have decided to do is buy a large-ish garden office for dh and use it to store furniture until after the build. If we do that and also double the storage space we already have at a local storage facility, we will save thousands on removals and storage and have an office to show for it at the end, rather than just a hole in our bank-balance. Now we just need to persuade some of our strongest friends to help us do all the lifting and shifting.

Evening all. Hope the stress levels are ok. Had a minor spike in mine yesterday when I got a call from our neighbour that some cracking had appeared in one of their bedroom ceilings  He'd seen that the back of our house is essentially gone at the moment and been afraid that it was caused by subsidence. I rang our builder straight away and he called around immediately to inspect and talk him down - looks like it's just the vibrations from the demolition causing some plaster to crack and they'll sort it out as soon as the heavy works are finished. Neighbour seems ok with this (and my profuse apologies), I might drop some flowers around tomorrow.

Otherwise everything is ok. Must thank @Jesusmaryjosephandtheweedon for the kitchen recommendation - we went down to DWK at the weekend and were really impressed! Quote a little higher than IKEA but would be a nicer kitchen overall.

@AppropriateAdult oh god that would have sent me over the edge now, my neighbour would have lost the plot over that. Thank god ÿours seem decent and reasonable.

More words had with neighbour yesterday. Every time I see her she accuses me of trying to hide her away so nobody can see her. Yesterday she referred to the extension as a bunker that Donald Trump would build I just have to accept that she won't be happy about the extension and move on. Nothing I do will make her happy. She said yesterday that her architect told her walls can be knocked down, insinuating that we should knock down the extension that's built exactly to the planning permission because she doesn't want it there. I give up!

Ah thats great, glad you are happy with dwk. We found them brilliant and are having our site survey on Friday. It's all ramping up.

16k bill this week and last - nice

Just instructed party wall surveyor - expecting next door to want to instruct their own.

Mortgage offered finally. Now just waiting for everything to fall in place.

Hello fellow extenders…I’m sorry missed this thread! We are moving back home saturday after a 6 month renovation which has taken 7 months so far. All internals completed and probably another month on the externals. I think that’s pretty good going…everyone else I know has gone months over plan. I’m excited as the house is looking great. Snagging done (at least the stuff we can see….sure more will come out when we actually live in).

Has been mostly really good except for a costly asbestos find, a two month delay on the windows and we’ve managed to pick an entirely hopeless shower enclosure but that’s the worst of it. 2 storey side extension and full refurb of electrics windows, flooring, heating, kitchen bathrooms and redecoration. It feels like a totally new house (although I’m worried when our old furniture goes back on Saturday it’s going to look very shabby).

I am SO BORED of making decisions. Today it was what doorstops? Decision number 70 billion of the build

@JennyLake I've heard about the decision fatigue alright, not quite there but can see myself getting there very quickly.

Lots of decisions and purchases to make this weekend so that won't help 🤣

But they broke into attic this week so we'd a few decisions to make there too. Two biggest structural things are almost done so down to the finer details from here on out I guess!

Yes the decisions are relentless…the kitchen and sanitarywear is the fun stuff but then it starts getting ridiculous. The doorstop question for example has been about 4 days of weighing up the relative merits of rubber door stoppers that sit in the floor v the ones that come out of your skirting board v those little half moon ones and then positioning…near the hinge, near the handle… then second guessing yourself on whether that’s the best type/position and wondering if you are going to be forever stubbing your toe on them if make the wrong choice. I fully admit to being on the verge of going insane 😂 I can’t even decide what I want for dinner anymore and I am a decisive person!

I confess that doorstops are one thing I have never considered, @JennyLake - I'll add 'em to the list. Congrats on being back in the house, though - that must feel great!

@JennyLake must be a lovely feeling to be at the end and moving back in. I am already fed up of making decisions and we haven’t started yet.

This week has been all about kitchen and bathroom planning. Our house is small, cottage-like and also our forever home, so we wanted something to fit the style and last. I wanted in-frame shaker, but prices have gone up so much since we first looked into it. Now torn between in-frame, solid-wood freestanding pieces and keeping our existing under-stairs pantry/cupboard or just giving in and going for a cheaper fitted shaker kitchen. I am leaning towards the freestanding plus pantry, as I feel it suits the house (and our family’s) quirky nature, but am also stressing over how it would affect the sale if we did ever find ourselves in the position of having to move.

The bathroom quote came back ridiculously over budget too, so I’m now lowering my expectations there too and sourcing the pieces myself , which is saving a fortune.

I have done so many 3D plans this week that I have lost the plot and totally confused myself.

@Driverpicksthemusic we ended up going to a local carpenter direct for the kitchen …I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted (shaker not in frame though) and I’m delighted with the craftsmanship. So much better quality than the chain kitchen manufacturers and price was aligned with mid-end kitchen suppliers but quality is super. Was cheaper than I thought it would be and we were able to get it exactly how we wanted. Kitchen was my favourite part of the build :)

That’s good to know, thank you. My parents had their kitchen made by a carpenter and wanted to know if I wanted his details, but I assumed doing it that way would be even more expensive. Mum did tell me how much it cost, but I thought she was either remembering wrong or Dad hadn’t told her how much it actually cost in the end as it seemed unrealistically cheap for such a beautiful kitchen. Might be worth a call then.

Our project manager is actually a master carpenter, but it doesn’t seem like he wants the work, probably because he has enough to do managing the build.

The issue with the design is that it’s only a small space, but we have a washing machine, tumble drier and a dishwasher to fit in, which doesn’t leave much space for storing, pans, dishes, food etc. We have been without a dishwasher for 21 years now and dh and I have had enough, so fitting one in is non-negotiable.

Thank you and sorry for taking so long to reply! The online consultation was cancelled as we are still finalising the kitchen and living room design. We will book an in person meeting. That's not bad at all for a kitchen and utility with appliances.

Well, today we have broken ground! Just an inspection pit for foundations and drainage to make sure Building Control are happy for the ‘dig proper’ to begin after Easter.

He has also pegged out the size of the external dimensions and for some it looks a lot bigger than we were expecting.

We’ve finally sorted our storage out as well and the, much needed, declutter has begun. Trying to avoid paying for a skip, so we are filling the boot of dh’s massive estate car and be running to the tip and back on a loop until we’ve dealt with everything. Sadly some things are just going to have to go because the local charity shops always seem to be overloaded these days and I don’t have the time, energy or brain space to list it all online.

Just discovered the route between PIL’s and dd’s work experience placement has a major road closed the week of her work experience, so that’s going to be fun, as it was already quite a drive. I might have to insist dh works from home that week, so he can deal with getting her there and back.

Our existing double garage is now down and footings being dug today. Very exciting. Supplying the builders with endless brews and biscuits to keep them sweet 😂

Dh is on brew duty for our builders today, as he wanted to work downstairs at the front of the house away from the noise, so I am stuck upstairs with the dog. Dog is not impressed with the noise and has buried himself under a big pile of blankets. You would think he’d be socialised to it, as they were doing next door for the whole summer when we brought him home as a puppy.

Found out why it looks bigger, apparently the outside line is the trench line. That’s a relief as it looked like we had walls thick enough for a medieval castle at first look!

How exciting! Progress progress especially at the start is so satisfying 😁

I can’t decide whether I’m excited, ridiculously anxious or both. It’s just such a lot of money and so many things can go wrong. This is my childhood home too, so lots of feelings around that.