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?

aha. pics on profile.

Lexi pictures look good. So [henvy] of your finished extension.

Our underfloor heating was put down today. The size of our extension is unbelievable, I'm still [hshock] when I walk into the family room. The floor is being done tomorrow.

I bought all the lights for the kitchen today and have gone and set my heart on a fabulous statement main light which is £500 [hshock]. So I'm trying to find money elsewhere like cheaper rugs for it. My kitchen spots were a total bargin, £5 from B&Q just because there was 1 missing and the box was in pieces. I didn't even want the missing 1 so very good bargin [hgrin].

rebl lights- woo hoo! What's the £500 one? Do you have a link to it? And can I ask- what is a soakaway???

lexi your photos look great, it must be great to be at the snagging stage!

Today the brickie was out and has done quite a bit of the brickwork so that should keep the neighbours happy. Our bathroom stuff also arrived today but I haven't taken anything out boxes yet, it's all stored in the extension ATM. We need to decide on bathroom tiles soon- argh I don't know what to do! Thinking white anyway, not sure whether to have white walls and white floor or white wall and black floor?

Still around, unbelievably still waiting on two of the four quotes!!

Which means that in my book at least one of those two have now lost the job due to sheer disinterest on their part. The other is coming over next week to discuss his pricing/thoughts in person - he was a late addition to the quotes parade so I guess that's OK.

Then we will finally make a decision and get moving. I hope.

We are down to one architect/PM plus a builder, one building firm who do it all and one designer/PM plus builder.

This is the light I've fallen in love with for the family room. I've seen it in the flesh in BHS but its £500 there. Found this one online £100 cheaper last night.

The room is so massive and the ceiling so high and I really think the room can carry something of that size. I'm finding wall lights that compliment it difficult to find though.

Rebl, I saw that light the other day in BHS too - lovely! I just had to touch it, I thought the wires would make a sound like a harpsichord (they didn't) but when I saw the price label I looked around scared that someone was going to throw me out of the shopping for pawing at what I couldn't afford....!!!!

Hi All

Rebl did you get the light then? I'm a bit daunted about lighting decisions, can't seem to find anything I like, so if you have seeen something that you love, go for it I say.

Choccy good luck with choosing the builder. My advice is go with your first instincts if you can.

Things here are flying along. House is finally sealed with all the windows and doors now in. Floor tiles arrived on Friday and should be going down very soon. I ordered the bathroom tiles and now am finalising paint colours both externally and internally. I'm rubbish at that kind of thing so am a bit nervous about getting it wrong.

What's the latest with everyone else?

Thanks for the advice. Seeing final person tonight for their quote. I'm definitely down to two of them, I reckon and of course my 'first instinct' is the more pricey one...

Anyway hope to know by the weekend and have set someone on with the planning etc tasks by then:-)

Jules - When i was deciding on my builder, advice a colleague gave me (Royal Engineer, lets contracts for £M construction projects, has done his own house ext too) was that it is not the price, it's the feeling you get from the builder. If you can 'do business with' the guy/company that's worth more than a cheap quote. You need to be an intelligent customer - not chopping and changing your requirements, look for all the possible variations in the work beforehand, and get prices up front so you're not surprised when an extra 0.5m of foundations costs an extra £x thousand.

But I wouldn't trouble a builder to quote up front for really dramatic 'what-ifs' like the case ILYS had with the pile foundations and needing to do a raft...!

FMAO, I am at that difficult stage too, deciding on what tiles to get, what flooring, lights etc ARGH...! What tiles have you gone for? I am getting big white ones that have a subtle metallic sheen on them, then a border using these tiles. And a black floor I think. Our flooring came today, got an oak laminate floor from Wickes that with an online discount and their special offer was only £7ish per m2 :)

I have also bought lots of lights but have just decided I don't like any of them so I'm taking them back to the shops . I'm finding lighting to be really tricky!

We have more bathroom stuff arriving tomorrow, all the taps etc. BIL works for a tap company so we got our shower, taps, sink, vanity unit etc from him and with his discount we saved £1k! :o

Good luck choccy for your final quote.
Rebl did you get your light?

Sleeves we have gone for some retro metro jade tiles in our bathroom (which is being redone while we've got the builders in). I saw them in Fired Earth originally, having told myself not to go in there because I would fall in love with some tiles and then not afford them. Fortunately MN has come up trumps as usual and I have got them much cheaper online. For our new bathroom (a small ensuite) we're getting a matt white brick shaped tile, with a neutral coloured mosiac border (using another MN recommendation. We're going to just continue the bedroom carpet into the ensuite because I can't be arsed to choose more than one flooring for the upstairs.

I'm going to wait on buying the lamps until it's finished because I'm running out of motivation to make any more decisions remotely. We need to move back in to get a better feel of the place once it's all done up.

FMAO what websites have you used for your tiles?

Think I will head to Ikea at the weekend to check out their lights too. I have also seen a sofa I like online and the sale ends this weekend so that might be something else to order...

sleeves I used tons of tiles for the retro metro ones, and johnsons tiles for some white matt tiles.

Sorry it's too late to do links for you.

Have fun at Ikea

I bought tiles on ebay. Most places have sent samples to me for free or just 99p. If they wouldn't I've refused to buy from them. We've just got 12m2 of slate floor tiles for £186 off ebay. Saw the same ones in Fired Earth for a small fortune so I'm very pleased with myself.

Yes, I bought the light. Should be delivered tomorrow or Tuesday and fitted towards the end of the week . We were away this week and came home to a beautifully fitted kitchen, very happy with it . Its all coming together now and I can see all the stress will have been worth it. Got a lot of painting to do now. Also got a lot of floor to lay!

Ooo congrats on the light Rebl!

I bought a sofa & chair today which should arrive in about 4 weeks :) Also bought some lights in Ikea but have changed my mind about one of them now.

Plastering started upstairs today- yee ha! Brickwork is also finally done and the roughcasters are waiting for decent weather to start on that.

sleeves Glad that your brickwork is finally finished. Plastering means the end is in sight .

Final electric fix tomorrow for us. My light was delivered about an hour ago. About to go and open it, the box is MASSIVE!!!

How's the light REbl? Have you seen it in all its lit up glory yet?

Our roughcasters are here- rough indeed, one looks like Vinnie Jones and just snarls, eek!
The breaking through has started too (or 'the slap oot' as they call it here in Scotland it seems). They have only done the outer brickwork so far but nonetheless our kitchen has a horrid film of black dust everywhere, I dread to think what it will be like when they break through completely!

Rebl we will need a picture of the light in situ you know that don't you!

Things here are going pretty fast. Our builders want to be finished up by the end of the week and so have been putting 12hr + days in. He's still grouting now

Decorators want to start next week and I still haven't decided on paint colours yet - I'm getting a bit stressed out on that one. Any suggestions! I want to go for one paint throughout but have been staring at too many off whites

Freezing Yippee!!!! That will be brilliant for you.

Electrician will be fitting light tomorrow. We've nearly finished decorating now. We're just missing the kitchen wall tiles, floor tiles and laminate flooring. Will all be done in a couple of weeks from when it arrives by us.

The builders will be gone by Friday . We're not getting our patio done because of running out of money but then its now not the best time to do it anyway with the frosts.

Pictures will be posted when the light is up.

Freezing - having gone through a million off-whites we went for Dulux trade white. Not Brilliant white. Just white. I think it looks great.

I'm doing brilliant white throughout.

Just had to tell the laborer his work this morning is not acceptable . PM should be here this afternoon to check up on him and the electrician but I couldn't watch more terrible work go on and know that it would all have to be taken down. I'm a bit annoyed because we are expecting it to all be finished tomorrow, won't be with this mess of a wall going up. The wheelbarrow he has with the mortar in it is swimming in water and the bricks on the wall are all hickledy pickeldy with mortar running down the wall. As I say, total mess.

Labourer was laid off on Friday. He was taking an age to finish the garden wall and BBQ and his work on Friday was awful. This weekend we've finished the wall and BBQ and considering until then neither of us had ever laid a brick I'm impressed, it looks good . I'm rather proud of myself.

We've started tiling the kitchen and done about a third of it. Again, I'm rather proud of it .

I can't wait to finish this but we've so much to do ourselves now and I think we're going to kill ourselves doing it. We don't fancy tiling tonight but we know we have to otherwise we we'll fall behind on our rather tight schedule that gets us in by Christmas.

Rebl how frustrating for you. I'm v impressed though, that you are bricklaying and tiling yourselves. I'd love to have a go but wouldn't trust myself to do a decent job, and we'd never ever be ready to move back!

I decided to go for dulux subtle ivory 3 in the end. Tick, another decision done. Carpets and curtains left. If necessary we can live without curtains for a while until our balances recover

freezing we're living without curtains for a bit, as you letting the balances recover. Its been an expensive year .

Getting totally fed up. The electrician was meant to come last week, no show. Then was meant to come at the weekend, again, no show. Then today and again no show. We've got final inspection booked for Thursday so it needs finishing, plus I would like electrics in the extension so we can get the heating on and use it properly.

We're tiling again tonight. DH decided we're going to do 1.5hrs a night otherwise we risk burning ourselves out.

rebl bad news (and good news since he was sacked) about your labourer, he sounds rubbish. You on the other hand, sound fab! I am so impressed that you are tiling and bricking! What is tiling like? I did think of giving it a go seeing as the labour is so £££ but think I would make an arse of it.

I know how you feel too about no shows. The plumber was meant to here all last week but didn't come. Meanwhile we were FREEZING our arses off (FMAO I should have your name LOL), no joke it was like camping when we went to bed. We had loads of layers on despite the heating being on. We have only had one radiator for the entire ground floor and our bedroom is baltic as they have broken through to the extension upstairs (via our bedroom) and there is no door in place yet, so the heat just escapes. Thankfully a plumber turned up today and fitted a radiator in our kitchen so it's toasty downstairs now.

I am getting a bit worried though as the blokes who are in just now are well rough. I don't want to judge but they just growl and look like they have just stepped out of jail. They have our keys and when I checked the front door tonight they had left them stuck in the door on the outside! Talk about security risk! We have decided to try to stay in as much as poss when they are in as they are all working indoors now and can easily get into our existing house. Did any of you worry about your builders and them nicking stuff / selling your keys to dodgy folk down the pub? Maybe I'm just paranoid!