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?

That's a result rebl! Electric velux sounds well cool. I just put a photo of this weeks progress on my profile, we have the ground floor wall posts up now so we can now see the space we will be getting, sort of! Amazing to think that there wasn'teven a single brick laid at the start of the week.

hi all,

another good week here. walls mostly done, and roof timbers went up today, including the space for the velux. we are having an ordinary one but very large (130x140).

washing machine is in new location where utility room will be.

had dramas at Wickes with ordering a kitchen before the sale finished. but it was ok in the end.

you are sounding chirpier ILYS, long may it continue!

great to see this thread still going

Hello all! Well, have been away for ages and unbelievably (or maybe quite believably) the kitchen is still not quite finished! The units are now in, all appliances connected, worktops on, floor finished etc. However, the stud wall with sliding doors was very late going in so is only getting its first coat of paint today. We also had to install new ceiling lights in the back of the living room where there were only wall lights so that new plasterwork is also only being rubbed down today. As a result, I still can't do any cleaning or bring back any of the stuff from storage as there is still going to be loads of dust and mess. However, decorator is now here until beginning of next week, electrician has just turned up to finish off a load of his stuff (he has been the most difficult person to track down!) and I really think by end of next week, we'll be back to normal-ish. I hope my next post will be some pics of the absolutely finished product!

Hope everyone else is doing well, we are loving our new kitchen, even in its half-finished state and I'm looking forward to the first dinner party.

Sorry, not read replies. Feeling rather low today. My little dc's started school yesterday and ds isn't settling well and had a bad pick up. Get up to home to be greeted by my PM telling me that my beautiful roof hasn't been passed by the building inspector and it has to come down and be redone . PM has tried to assure me that I won't have to pay because the joiner didn't do it to spec on the building reg drawings so it the joiners fault and he'll have to pay but I've spent all afternoon watching the labourer bringing it all down . I can't believe it.

rebl that is very crap not surprised you're feeling low.

Oh Rebl what a nightmare! Does the whole roof have to be taken apart? Tiles and everything? What a complete pain but if there is any plus side at least you won't have to pay for it. Seems crazy that the joiner didn't follow the plans though. Hope it can get redone fairly quickly.

annh well done in being pretty much there now, yes make sure you post lots of lovely piccies once it's done.

It was absolute torrential rain here today so the builders left at lunch time as they were soaked through. They managed to get the rafters in the ground floor ceiling up though and all the wall panels are on too (done last Friday) so the downstairs timber frame is pretty much done I think. The scaffolding is here too so I think they will put that up tomorrow and start the upstairs floor.

Sorry to hear that Rebl - but at least you have a PM who is getting it fixed in the right way, and better now than when further along the road.

I had an annoyance today. (Building work coming along great - walls done right up to the corners, rafters all in and the gap where the velux will be is there. Roofing the next couple of days.) Called Wickes to ask about organising my kitchen delivery: bloke in the shop had said while we were putting the order together that delivery was 3-4 weeks. Bloke in the shop said 3-4 weeks when I called to get the customer services number. Customer services said 6 weeks.

ARGH! kitchen's being ripped out next week so we'll have to have old sink etc rigged up in the new layout somehow. I did get the delivery split so I can have the sink sooner which will mean I can get the worktop people to come and do the templating.

appliance buying next. god. what are the delivery timescales on ovens?

Hello everyone

Just trying to catch up a bit on everyones progress. We moved to my parents last week and have only just managed to sort out broadband.

Rebl oh what a nightmare for you but at least you won't be paying

Things do seem to be flying here. All our steels are in and welded and blockwork almost finished. Work starts on our roof tomorrow (both new roof and replacement of existing roof). They've knocked through to our kitchen now so we're very glad we moved out already
Lexi I'm also in the process of ordering kithcens and getting very scared about the costs of everything. The money seems to be running out very quickly, and we'll be getting the next bill from builders tomorrow.

Looking forward to pictures Annh

I am having a small meltdown.

Trying to move everything out of the kitchen but I have nowhere to put it all. Am incapable of properly objectively thinking through what we need as a minimum in our 'living room diner kitchenette' we've set up. So far it's the microwave, coffee machine and fruit bowl.

washing machine pipe/valve/attachment has leaked and a stretch of floor about 3m long is sopping wet.

DH is coming down with something and has been moping around the house like my resident eeyore.

DS is whinging non stop but neither food nor water nor singing at to him will pacify him.

The french doors are being delivered tonight and I'll have to help carry them off the van. (once they're in, they'll break through to the kitchen, hence moving things out)

DH, bless him, has manned up and taken DS out for a walk. Although the fold-up buggy is suddenly missing two nuts/bolts and therefore won't lock into place. So they're out in the mountain buggy which is great but doesn't fit in the car. I had a small broken-buggy-meltdown in the front garden just as neighbours arrived home though.

And I keep looking at the spare bit of roof insulation lying around brand-named 'recticel' and reading it as Rectocele. which I never would have done pre mumsnet.

Hello all (Mooki here) - we're done!

Carpet fitters, builders and painters all out last Friday in time for 6 three year old princesses to spread cake crumbs and chocolately finger prints over the whole place on Saturday.

(Except for the ensuite sink, which hasn't arrived yet; the bathroom cabinet, which arrived but was damaged and the velux blinds which should have arrived today.)

Looking back through this thread, the first day of the build was 24th May so that's 16 weeks for a double storey side extension and single storey utility room. The builders have used up an entire 500g bag of sugar and about 12 bog rolls in that short time.

We were on a fixed price build so haven't had any budget issues but we have had some scary moments with builder bancruptcy, lost council permissions documents and currently I don't have a washing machine in the utility room because the sewerage pipe isn't where it was supposed to be. The washing machine is ok in the kitchen but Dh is determined that the builder will return and work out a solution that doesn't involve digging up the kitchen floor.

My best building bargains were tiles from www.themosaictileshop.co.uk and having almost fainted when told how much we were going to pay for electric velux blinds (double height ceiling in bedroom), was pleased to get them about 30% cheaper from Vale Blinds Direct.

I spend a lot of time and energy trying to match the existing paint colour (how can there be so many shades of slightly brown-y grey?) where the door to the new room had been knocked through at the top of the stairs but in the end the builders had to repaint the whole of the hallway as we couldn't make it match.

Will update the gallery with some pics soon.

Good luck to everyone currently picking plaster dust out of their breakfast cereal.

Can't remember when I last posted on here. My extension, new kitchen & downstairs loo building project is finished. It was 11 weeks from start to finish. The disorder & disruption of the building work is a fading memory. Unfortunately the problems with nightmare neighbours will never be resolved. They think I'm rude & unreasonable and I think they are.

Argh bloody computer! I just wrote a huge post then my computer crashed!

Breifly then... Rebl & lexi I hope things are better for you now and that your roof and washing machines are all fixed.

Mooki & brightwell yippppppeeeee for being finished! Sorry to hear about your neighbours though brightwell,hope things will improve.

Things are progessing here, the timber frame is now up including the roof (trusses) which they did today. It's just been the joiner for ages though, I'm not sure why the brickie can't be working at the same time to speed things up? The extension looks soooooo close to next door, I am hoping they won't feel too hemmed in, we feel OK as we have space at the other side of our house though. They seem Ok so far even though their garden is full of scaffolding...eek.

ilikeyoursleeves...it was the scaffolding that caused all the problems, the joys of living in a terraced house. Good to hear that your neighbours are tolerant.

We have had a very slow couple of weeks. DTwins settling at school over the last 2 weeks has been horrendous so much that there have been days when I've not even noticed whether anyone has turned up to do the house.

Anyway, the roof tiling was finished today and they're knocking through next week.

Hello

We're finally moved in, and finally re-connected to broadband/life in general. I pinch myself every day (metaphorically only), everything is so lovely and new and spacious...I need to read back old posts to fully realize how far this house has come!

Amazing to see, in a few weeks, how much has moved on for the rest of you - am never going to catch up, just wish you very very well for the next phases.

Rebl, re ds, its horrid when they feel so unsettled - dd1 took a week to not cry going in (Y2), though she loves school. I think the move plus new class was a bit much. I hope your ds is happier soon, and the roof gets handled well by your PM.

Still not posted photos, but only just got my computer up and running - will try asap. And there are still bits and pieces to do/unpack.....

Well done Elibean at finally being in! Looking forward to some pics.

Is anyone else on constant weather watch? I am so depressed as it's pissing down here all week by the looks of things. I just feel things are so slooooooooooooooooow and the weather won't help.

Can they lay bricks in the rain?

:(

Thanks, Sleeves. I seem to remember our lot did most of the bricklaying in the rain - not very heavy rain, but rain all the same. Concrete in the rain isn't good, but I think bricks are ok?

Hi

Brilliant to hear about people finishing yay to Elibean, Brightwell and Mooki

Looking forward to seeing some piccies.

Things here have been pretty busy, feels like I've been rushing around making lots of decisions, and with the limited broadband we have at the moment then hasn't been any spare time for MN!
Anyway our builders seem to be going well, the main structure is up and the existing and new roof has been completely re-battened and insulated and flat roof will be finished this week. I never knew I'd be so interested in insulation and hopefully when this is all done I'll have to change my name!
The plumbers are due here at the end of this week and sparky next week, then I'm hoping the rest of the decisions will be decorating ones rather than the size of a trickle vent or the position of water stop-cock.

Sleeves the weather hasn't been too bad here but I've been keeping an eye on it all the same. Builders are from Wales so they're used to the rain and have carried on regardless including bricklaying and concrete.

Oh and just when everything seemed to be going so easily, they found a 30ft well in our kitchen

Hi all,

we are now in week five and all's going well. Last week was the biggie - in the first three weeks it was dug, built and roofed, and then last Monday they put the French doors in. Rest of last week was knocking through and putting the steel in where the kitchen window used to be. Instantly felt like a fantastic new space. You can even see in a straight line from the front door through out to the back garden, which is cool.

Problems which popped up in week four included:
*wrong size sill sent with french doors
*2x water and a gas pipe embedded in the wall which we wanted knocked out (had to be re-routed)
*original kitchen fireplace uncovered behind old units - just had to be bricked up.
*washing machine leak (again - lost its washer when moved across the room.)
*gas plumbers fitted new pipes etc, then did the leak test with a blanking cap still in the pipe coming out of the meter into the gas pipes! this is like "testing" that the drains work without pouring any water through them.

A couple of those things will cost a little money, as they involved a bit more work, but mostly we are still ahead.

This week the plasterers are here for three days to do most of the walls, the gas was checked over today and I presume is no longer leaking (but haven't had it confirmed), and the insulation/UFH/screed will be done in the new room. So, at the weekend we will have to keep the patio doors open so that the screed can dry out as much as poss - I'm hoping for a hot or at least non-humid weekend!

and good luck to everyone still building.

Yes, bricklaying can be done in the rain. It's quicker in the dry, but not impossible in the rain.

Humidity is generally not your friend when there is mortar, plaster, paint, screed, (etc) that is laid down wet and has to dry out.

That's why summer is preferable to do these parts of big jobs.

Well, we're now officially living in just our living room and hallway. Assuming the scaffolding comes down 1st thing in the morning the doors and windows are being fitted tomorrow morning and 1st knock through tomorrow afternoon and we will be camping in the house as we will loose the kitchen.

We've had all our cooked up frozen meals defrost with a failed freezer so all prep has been thrown in the bin so I think we'll be very friendly with the chinese down the road! DTwins are on school dinners and will have to learn to like them!

FMAO 30 ft well?!!!!! OMG, what's happened with that then? Has it been covered over or something? Yeeks.

Lexi, you seemed to have done loads! That's great that you are still ahead despite the things that have gone wrong.

Rebl, how did the knock through go? Any tips for minimising dust? And how many takeaways have you had this week? :o

Things here have progressed despite the rain- at least the rain has been on and off and not persistant through the day so they have managed to get some things done. The roof is now on and covered with something (whatever is between the roof panels & the tiles) and the rest of the timber frame is almost complete (just need the single storey roof on now). The brickie was out today doing some brickwork under our ensuite window so that the joiner can build the roof for the single storey. A team of brickies are starting on Saturday and will apparantly get the whole brickwork done within a few days (!) then the plumbers and sparkie can start inside.

Not quite sure how they will do it though... They currently access the extension via the open spaces where the windows will go, but once the windows are in how will they get upstairs? ie they can access the ground floor via the new front door (our back door is in the original house which is completely blocked off from the extension) but I have no idea how they will get upstairs- unless they leave a space in the upstairs floor and use a ladder? Or will they need to knock through sooner rather than later? Anyone know?

TBH I am dreading them working inside the house as it will be all dust, noise and blokes everywhere. Is that bit worse than the working outside bit?

Oh and we picked our new front door today, just a basic upvc one as our funds can't stretch to a nice wooden one...

I need to now hunt for decent cheap sanitaryware for the ensuite and downstairs loo, anyone know good sites / shops?

Hi all forgot about this thread for a bit, great to hear those who have finished and even those who have actual building work going on. We are waiting on the building warrant to come through although there's no rush as we aren't starting until spring next year. Have already stressed myself out about it, are we kidding ourselves that we can live through a major building project with 4 DC one of which will be crawling and learning to walk and a 2 yo.

Hello All,

I'm very late to the party but this thread is incredibly helpful so I'm tagging along if that's OK!

We are currently getting quotes from builders and architects with a view to a two storey side extension plus one story extension across the rear. Sounds a lot like Sleeve's original post.

It's been great to read others' experiences and quotes - so far we've had 8K from one architect with a lead-in of a year before building starts and are awaiting two more quotes.

We are in two minds over letting a well-recommended builder do the whole lot or getting an architect on board, maybe even to project-manage as I've been ill recently and could do without stress (yep, so we're doing an extension...!)

Anyway, great to be here! Jules :-)