Support thread for those crazy enough to be extending their homes this year!

[ilikeyoursleeves]

Hiya, after hijacking another thread about massive extensions (not massive erections LOL) there seems to be a few of us who are about to embark on building projects this year. So if you are one of them come join in so we can share all the excitement, nervousness and bewilderment at everything that needs done!

We are currently awaiting quotes from builders for a two storey side extension plus a single storey at the rear. We had our first quote in today which is £64k. Not sure if this is good or bad, it will be interesting to compare the quotes when they are all in. We are also awaiting planning permission but should get it fine as our house already has planning for the extension that came with the sale of the house (but we had to resubmit as we have changed it a bit). Awaiting a building warrant too.

I'm very excited but frankly crapping it re the costs as we are going to have to remortgage plus DS2 will start nursery so we will have 2 lots of chilcare costs too.

ARGH!!!

So I for one need my hand held throughout all this process I just keep thinking of the end product and hoping it will all be fine.

What's everyone else doing and when?

Rebl amd Sleeves, you must be understandably livid. Is anyone answering the phone?

We've been waiting for some custom bookshelves now for 8 months and it's just the entire lack of truthfulness that gets to me, our chippy will agree to anything to get me off the phone, without any intention of sticking to it, it seems.

OH double balls and bollocks, I spoke to soon about ours. Our sewerage drain wasn't where they thought (possibly someone should have checked earlier???).

So now the washing machine can't be in the utility room (!) unless they dig up the (italian stone tiled) kitchen floor.

So they plumbed it into the kitchen instead, which is fine. But I had to put some sheets in to wash and it's leaked out the back behind the cupboards and through to the new studio. Which is not.

Just checking back in - I'm sure I'm not going to catch up with this thread...

Day 1 and things are remarkably easy so far with the conservatory, I almost feel guilty saying this after everyone's trials and tribulations above! The guys turned up on time and got on with it! Patio slabs lifted and stashed to one side to make the new bit of patio, flower bed removed and levelled for new patio area, foundation trench started. All dug out chalk/soil piled on huge tarp on front lawn (as we'd agreed OK) and first lot already removed, second lot being taken first thing tomorrow.

We gave away a shed and a bike shed on Freecycle - the conservatory guys gave the people taking both items a hand lifting them out of the garden, and even drove the bike shed down to the recipient's house as it wouldn't fit his van! They have also dug a hole in the garden to put my rotary dryer socket in as we are on solid chalk, and he offered to do it while he had the jackhammer. It's all going so well, dare I say that?

Sorry, have not managed to post for several days. So much happening with everyone, I think I'm a bit lost!

Rebl, what a complete nightmare with the builders and skips. Hope that things go a bit more smoothly now that the PM is back and that some time is made up, not good to be so far behind at this early-ish stage of the project.

Housemum, good news with your builders. We also had truly lovely, helpful guys who helped move furniture, sprayed wasps nests nowhere near the extension bit, etc. I only really realised how reliable they were when the boss went on holiday last week (fine, as the build is very nearly complete) and the minute he left, the plumber, LX etc started acting "independently" and fouling up all the timescales.

Lexi, congrats on signing and getting underway soon.

Auntie Bulgaria, scary moments for you with your builder, glad it seems to have worked out.

Sorry to everyone else whose posts I have been avidly reading and haven't mentioned, I love hearing how everyone is doing.

As for us, the build is finished apart from some patio, guttering and the building of a stud wall with sliding doors between the living room and extension part of kitchen. This should already have been done but the track for the doors wasn't ordered in time so will now have to go in next week.

The kitchen cabinets were all fitted this week but no worktops will go on until end of next week so unfortunately this means we still have no hob or sink and the cookers haven't been moved in from the garage so actually there still is no kitchen! The cabinets look lovely, even covered in dust and bits of plastic.

We are approaching the end but the closer we get the further away it all seems and I am seriously running out of patience. It is not fun doing everything in the living room and everywhere is covered in plaster dust and general c**p. I am off to visit my family abroad next week which is rotten timing as that is when we should be thinking about snagging and getting all our stuff out of storage in order to unpack into the kitchen but dh will still be here so has almost two weeks to put everything right and clean everywhere - yeah, right! Anyway, good luck to everyone, I feel ungrateful moaning as I know we are very lucky to have the wherewithal to do a project like this and by Christmas (sorry for mentioning that word!) it'll all be a memory! I have already mentally placed the decorations in new spots.

Sorry, I've been AWOL for a few days too - just busy with work, DS, ttc and - oh yes - a new kitchen in progress!

rebl - does sounds like a nightmare. Hope your PM kicks some butt and things improve dramatically.

annh - yay for kitchen units being fitted :) Won't be long til the worktop is on too!

Housemum - sounds like you've got the perfect team on the job!

Lexi - hope week 1 goes to plan!

sleeves - hope you've had some progress?

AuntieBulgaria - that must have been scary for a few days Your photos look great!

Progressing steadily here. All the roof tiles are on and the gas pipework was sorted yesterday. Windows are ordered and window frames made and base coat on!

I know this isn't a ttc thread but that's what is stressing me out at the moment. AF due today but no sign of it and spent today feeling nauseous. Two BFNs though :(

Anyway, as you were....!

Quick question to all those who have started already. Exactly how much clearing and sorting did you do before the builders arrived? Ours will be here on Monday and I had lots of intentions to clear away everything except the bare essentials (or move to other rooms) but haven't done nearly as much as I intended. Please reassure me it'll be okay. Aapparently they won't start knocking down internal walls until about a month in, and we are intending to leave by then, but I won't find out their work schedule until Monday and I hope that won't be too late.

We're going away for the weekend too (something that was planned ages ago) so I'm having some last minute panics

Freezing, I can't remember what you are having done but we did very little clearing before the build started. Ours is a kitchen extension which ultimately broke through the back wall of the kitchen and also joined up to our L-shaped living room but the initial four weeks were all outside so I continued operating as normal in the kitchen. The only clearing I did before the guys arrived was to move everything of the patio, ensure access from the side of the house was clear and clear some space in the garage for them to store their stuff. The hard work of packing everything into boxes came much later on and the builder gave me fair warning of when things needed to be moved. So I wouldn't worry too much about what needs doing before they arrive.

Thanks Annh I feel much relieved. We're doing similar to you but with an upstairs extension to. We're exiting completely when they start knocking down internal walls, because they're doing the roof as well and changing boilers and changing radiators in everyroom so it's too much to cope with!

Freezing and annh - similar kitchen extension here with outside being built first before previous external wall being knocked through. I'm guessing that's imminent as part of my kitchen is cordened off with chip board and tape!
We're lucky in that half of the existing kitchen isn't going to be affected by works as it's being transformed into a utility room once the new kitchen is in place so we have most of our previous units anyway :)

Hope everyone else is having a good day!

SES Sounds exciting having your kitchen cordoned off!

Our PM was much more with it today, definatly was suffering from jetlag yesterday. Anyway, we were due to pay our next installment to the builder on Monday, the PM has successfully argued that if the builder is 2 weeks behind due to laziness then payments will be 2 weeks behind . So there's incentive for the builder to get his arse in gear. We're off next week to visit friends and relatives. Will be nice to get away from the build for a bit. I'm feeling much more relaxed now I have my PM back. I know now it will all get sorted.

Hi all, typing this on my phone while in my car, I'm going out for dinner this eve and I'm a bit early so thought I'd catch up on here. I can't read previous posts though so apologies for not answering other posts just now.

The bloke with the digger came out yesterday and has pretty much cleared the site now of all the bricks, hooray! He couldn't come back today but is coming tomorrow, saturday, instead to finish and dig the foundations. Then we should actually start to see things getting built instead off being demolished next week! Can't wait to actually see some walls getting built!

How's everyone?
Hope you all had good weekends?

Our head builder is off this week but the other 2 made a good start today. They started knocking down the previous external wall. They've done a great job sealing the rest of the house off - no dust!

I've got my PILs over from Ireland next week - hope they don't mind living with a minimal kitchen!

Hello all, hope the work is all going well - am looking at the grey skies here and hoping they pass! Conservatory work is going great - bricks are a good match (we live in a modern house where whatever batch of bricks the developer had in the 90s don't exist any more, typically!) It's all going quick - they have been here 4 days and have dug/concreted foundations, cleared a flowerbed (solid chalk underneath so needed their digger) and are halfway done with the outside bricks of the dwarf wall.

Hi all
Well its finally started here, and the builders appear to have been pretty busy. Old brick outhouse knocked down and footings nearly done. The garden is full of diggers, dumpers, bricks and soil!
DD (aged 2) is loving watching the diggers at work, and doesn't seem bothered at all.

I can hardly believe it's actually happening after 1.5 years of talking and planning and pondering.

Builders seem really nice and not too heavy tea drinkers either.

Hope all is going well for everyone else.

arrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It's all going horribly wrong here :(

Foundations were dug yesterday and the builder said that it looks worrying. Apparantly our house is built on 'pile' foundations which means that the house is sitting on soft material which needed to be supported by the piles (kind of like vertical pillers that the house sits on). He didn't know why the house had these type of foundations so today I have spent the afternoon calling the architect, the structural engineer, the builder and building control. All of whom are pointing the finger at the other to sort it out. The long and short of it is that building control said that if the structural engineer didn't cerify that it as safe to proceed just now then they weren't going to allow us to build a single brick. So the SE came out tonight (for £150!!!!!!) and took one took at the foundations and said that we can't build on them. He has said we either need to get piles put in the extension foundations (££££££££££££££££££ - just watching the Beeny on Ch4 and the folk on that just got an estimate of £10k to put piles in their foundations wail wail wail fuck fuck fuck excuse the French. Or we could do a 'raft' thing for the foundations where they need to dig up the whole area and pour concrete in it all, again ££££££££££££££££ but I don't know how much yet.

Building control are coming out tomorrow AM and so is the builder. The SE said he will do an amendment to the building warrant and that will need to be resubmitted but it won't hold up the building work as it's 'just an amendment'. I am just bricking it re price. So much I had a headache on my way home today and had to stop the car twice cos I thought I was going to faint / puke. Don't know if it's something I ate or all this stress but frankly it's a nightmare just now.

Please tell me it will be OK!!!

I feel sick. Just did a google search for the cost of these feckin foundations and if it's as much as I think it will be then we will literally have no money left to even floor the house or put the bathroom in.

And that was post 666.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ilikeyoursleeves - :( I'm so sorry, that sounds rubbish :) I'm afraid I really don't know enough about these things to be able to say anything constructive. My DH on the other hand is an engineer and loves building. He is still at work at the moment but if he gets home at a decent time, I'll ask him his thoughts.
In any case, I hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

Doh! They were both meant to be :( faces!
Certainly doesn't sound like you're smiling at all...

Oh sleeves what a nightmare. I'm sorry that it all seems to be going wrong.

Firstly, here have a very big glass of wine
Secondly, step away from the Google.
Finally, it WILL be better in the morning. Things will have calmed down a bit then you'll find a way to sort it out. Yes it might cost more than you planned, and yes it will probably take longer than originally estimated, but between everyone a solution will be found and it probably won't be nearly as bad as you think right now. You're not thinking straight because you're reeling for the shock (which is pretty understandable).

Let us know how it goes tomorrow, fingers crossed for you

ILYS sorry it's looking bad. Fingers crossed here.

sleeves What a complete nightmare . I can't believe it. Thats horrible. I'm really sorry.

We're away . A week of not thinking about the house. We've heard 1 thing from our PM, its apparently good that we're not there this week, they've blocked the front door with a mountain of hardcore and you now can't get in and out of the house unless can use the cat flap!!

Well we are now £400 worse off courtesy of the structural engineer, the architect and building control all wanting money off us for their 'work' this week. Basically the SE said we have to do raft foundations and the building control man said that we can't do any work until the architect redid the plans so the builder knows exactly what to do. Luckily the architect agreed (reluctantly) to redo the foundations plans quickly and he gave then to us today, so we can pass them to the builder tomorrow.

The builder is still figuring out what he needs to do and therefore how much it will cost (he won't be able to get a price til he sees the plans tomorrow). So I am still dreading what he will say about how much ££££££ it will be. I am actually physically affected by all this as I have been on the loo with the runs for days now and I am sure I am having a constant overdose of adrenaline & anxiety! (sorry TMI....)

The digger bloke is coming out tomorrow or Saturday to dig up the rest of the foundations and I am then hoping that all will be Ok and they can start putting bricks down next week.

We also needed two new tyres for the car today (£250) and the feckin phone bill arrived today too (£150).

So not a very good day for the purse. And that's all before the builder tells us what these raft foundations cost. :(

ilikeyoursleeves - I have everything crossed for you, and hope that it's not as bad as you're fearing. at the phone bill - is it a quarterly one? Do you have lots of relatives abroad?

Back yesterday, so much to catch up on

Quick skim, Sleeves, I see you're having unexpected problems and am so sorry...what a nightmare, I really hope you get some good news. Crossing everything for you.

FMAO, hurrah for the PW issues and commiserations on the extra cost - we had, and will still have (she wants a flower bed now ) a few of those!

Essence, I'll upload photos asap...I have 10 days to get place halfway liveable in, and two dds around my ankles/helping! Busy. But its looking great, and I've worked out how to use our new microwave and the Quooker (sp?) tap.

Holiday was lovely, though dd1 had a high temp the first week and the weather was not great...friends came with us which made it much more fun, and it was great to have a break from the house!

well, a skip, a mini digger and a portaloo arrived between 0745 and 0800 today. excellent start. some swarthy lads are moving all the paving slabs to the bottom of the garden now. I have made the first and last pot of tea they'll get from me and placed it next to the big plastic box of mugs, biscuits and a 5 quid tesco kettle. From now on, boys, you're on your own.

Excited!!