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?

Yes you would think that the costs for materials and labour should be the same everywhere, but London is £££ for everything because they can get away with it.

Have you decided to go with a particular SE then?

I'mso, yes, London building rates are definitely higher....bummer, I agree . Even materials are more expensive around here - we were visiting a relative in Somerset the other day who had quotes in, massive difference!

Thanks for the offer, Sleeves, but its ok...I think she's feeling beaten up all on her own without any help, unfortunately! Such a shame. Hey ho, onwards

We have had some prelim. plans in from our architect for a second project today...loft extension (including a hip to gable)...dormers are teeny though, under permitted development, so think we might take that one to planning. That should be fun

I am going to be living in a building site for at least 18 months: very glad you lot are here to (attempt) help retain sanity!

We're going to go with the structural engineer recommended by the architect. I have called a couple of others and his costs look not out of kilter with the others in the area. And I am prepared to pay a few quid to ensure the house foesn't fall down

We are basically taking the whole back of the house out on the lower floor, and also knocking one whole room through (external wall) on the first floor, so I think there is quite a lot to do.

Architect also sent updated plans through earlier and DH and i are happy with them! So he is going to start on building regs drawings...

He has said to start picking out tiles and thinking about lighting and kitchen design and nitty gritty - all v exciting!

Maybe your rates are higher too ISNT cos you are doing so much structural work? We are 'only' knocking down a 2m section of an external wall plus a door width upstairs to make access to the new bedroom.

So my builder man is coming on Friday morning with his joiner to discuss the plans and what is exactly included in his quote. I said over the phone that I heard his joiner wasn't that great and he knew I was going to say it before I did so the neighbour has obviously said to him that she wasn't happy with the finishing touches. He said that joiner was in a rush to finish the job as he was moving house himself, plus he no longer uses him and he said the guy he uses now is great. At least he knows that someone wasn't happy with his previous joiner therefore he will hopefully ensure this new one is exceptional quality! I hope anyway

Going to type out all my questions for the builder tonight...

That's interesting ISNT that you are picking out tiles and the likes already, I'll need to ask the builder if we need to decide on all the things we want just now. Haven't even thought about lighting, radiators etc...

elibean is your other project in the same house or another one? You sound like you have a lot on your hands!

he said that he wanted to put some details - styles of doors etc on the building regs plans - presumably as then if we get quotes from them they will all include more or less the same stuff?

Also i think (and read on anotehr thread) that when it all kicks off they want to know the stuff to order much earlier on than you'd expect - someone was caught offguard by being asked about kitchen tiles right at the start of the build and wished she'd had some more time. So i guess there's no harm in thinking about all this stuff.

We haven't thought about lighting at all TBH it's the one thing where we just look confused at each other. We are going to end up with a room about 7m square and we've no idea what to do - the usual one dongley fitting in the middle probably won't cut it.

My architect has put spotlights in various places in our plans and as we already have mainly spotlights in our house we will probably stick with that. Though I'll need to think about it...

Our BIL is getting us the doors, radiators and bathroom stuff on his trade account so I'm going to ask the builder how much he is budgeting for these things and then get him to take it off his final price as BIL will supply although the builder will fit. I'll need to also ask about things like are they planning on fitting standard white sockets etc as I fancy silver steel ones.

So where do you start looking at doors etc? Online or do builders have brochures?

Actually come to think about it I don't particularly like our spotlights! I never put them on as I always have more atmospheric lighting on with table & floor lamps etc... Mind you I'd imagine most folk do that?

We've just been looking on the wickes website for an initial idea, have ordered their catalogue as well. I think that builders usually have their places that they like to go (?), so maybe they will have catalogues for their places IYSWIM but no harm in knowing more or less what you want.

I'm not keen on spotlights either! but i don't know what else to do in the kitcheny bit of this big room.

Thing is I've never had a big room like this before so I don't have a feel for how to do it all IYSWIM. Back to the magazines maybe...

What size will your kitchen be?

Sleeves, we only own one house - currently living in rented one, whilst building in owned one. Loft would be in that one, but after we move in - which we'll do as soon as the extension and new kitchen are functional!

Been scrutinising loft plans (only initial sketches) tonight, and we think a loft company might be a better bet...the one we used in our old house. I also think we may need to go with full planning permission this time, otherwise we're stuck with smallish dormers...ho hum, you're right: too much on plate, might put this one off

Very exciting to hear talk of tile choosing - we have chosen kitchen unit materials, and work tops, but not splashbacks. And not chosen anything for the cloakroom yet either. The whole of the ground floor will need redecorating by the time the work has been finished....scary thought...far too many choices!

Question: anyone found the best way to protect stair carpet from dusty, dirty feet? For some reason, builders are traipsing upstairs to bathroom (for building as opposed to personal purposes ) and new stair carpet is taking a beating...will dust sheets do, d'you think?

I think we are going to get a new carpet after the works done so my answer would be to get a new carpet LOL! But since yours is new that wouldn't be a good idea...

Yes dust sheets will prob be fine taped down with heavy duty tape?

Oooo a 'cloakroom' sounds grand! What's in that then? All your cloaks? Or is it a cupboard?

ilike we're starting off with a small house, so to double it doesn't mean that much really! I think it works out at around 45sq m so quite a lot smaller than most of you are going for!
our entire house is only 100sq m.
(ok, so maybe not double, but it'll certainly feel like it!)

Not sure how big the kitchen will be - maybe about 1/4 of the room? So more or less the same size as our kitchen at the moment.Sort of 3.5m square. Maybe

Has anyone thought about kitchens? I see some people upthread are having kitchen designers but we were thinking IKEA - our builder says the price he has quoted includes fitting a kitchen but not buying it and i don't think we can afford anything flashy...

Cloakroom is downstairs toilet?

We are having stuff done upstairs as well so they're going to be all over the house it's going to be dreadful. The kids are 2.5 and nearly 1 and I'm back to work soon as well. DH says it will be a breeze

I think Ikea kitchens are great if you are on a budget, that's what we were thinking about getting until we decided not to even get a new kitchen... They seem like a great price compared to others that cost at least £10k and over!

Re lighting, maybe you could have spotlights over the cooking area, on the extractor fan, at the window, and also some in the ceiling (that's what we have and our kitchen area is about 3x5m I think).

Yes our work will be all over the house too (kids are 2.5 and 9 months, we are the same person LOL) but I am hoping it won't be too bad (I'm sure I will read this back in a few months and cry laugh). We have just bought a huge tent for our holidays (no money left to go abroad this year) so we can always camp in the garden...

ISNT we've started looking a kitchens even though we have finalised on our builder. We've gone to a few kitchen places, some way out of budget, but they've given us some good ideas on layout, so we'll probably use a mix of their ideas. Found one independent kitchen shop (recommended by our architect) who seems to talk the most sense and can do it within our budget.
She said for lighting put lighting directly over the sink, hob and preparation area (in our case island), and then fill in the gaps placing spots between 800-1000mm apart. Any more or less in spacing doesn't really work. Make sure the spots aren't too close to doors (either normal or cupboard doors, in case they get left open and then the spot burns the top of the door) Also think about zones and have them on dimmer switches so you can change the lighting according to your needs. She also said small lights under any wall cupboard work well, but they will have their own switch and can't be on a dimmer.
Hope that helps. I didn't really have a clue about lighting either (still don't).

I think we're going to move out while ours is done because basically the whole of the back of the house (plus the roof) is going to be changed, and that covers the kitchen and bathroom so we'll be a bit stuck for cooking and washing etc.
Have also started to think about decorating too because I'm rubbish at this sort of thing so need to give myself masses of time to come to any sort of decision.

(Sorry for long post)

Also meant to say everyone I've spoken to about kitchen fitting (including some builders) say get a kitchen fitter not a builder to fit it. I heard IKEA kitchens have an unusual space at the back of their cabinets for pipework/wires etc that many fitters are not so familiar with, so might be worth getting IKEA to fit as they used to it.

We're also going to try Howdens for a kitchen just to see if we can get something significantly cheaper.

One of our potential builders recommended Howdens, Lawsons and Covers for materials including things like doors. Howdens don't have a brochure for joinery (only for kitchens) so might be worth popping along to your local branch to get an idea of what they supply.
Am very glad that I've found other people going through the same thing, I think I'll need lots of hand holding through this.

Sleeves, LOL, somewhere in between - think converted downstairs loo (ie small) into teeny room to put coats/boots/mess in to unclutter the hall! Bit more than a cupboard, but more fleeces than cloaks...

Yes, heavy tape and dustsheets it is then.

Our 'designer' (my brother) says IKEA kitchens are great, and yes to fitters rather than builders, unless your builders are v experienced and trusted in that department.

Just had text from DH: neighbour has agreed to let surveyors in next Tuesday for condition of survey, after which hey presto we will have our party wall awards. Yeay!

Hello there, we are also extending this year and I'm reading the kitchen stuff with interest as we are currently trying to decide about this.

We are having a one-storey extension, taking out the whole back wall of the house and knocking through an interior wall to create a big living/dining/kitchen kind of space instead of a tiny kitchen and reasonably sized dining room which has its doors in stupid places.

One thing our architect said re kitchens is that IKEA ones come flat-packed whereas Howdens etc come built so the labour for an IKEA kitchen may be more. Plus Howdens and poss others offer quite big trade discounts (up to 60% in some cases) so if you purchase through your builder you may get a higher quality kitchen for the same price as IKEA. Having said that, I quite like the IKEA ones so we're really undecided about what to do.

Hello horton

I am currently experiencing door grief and general fear. We are going to ikea tomorrow to look at bathrooms and kitchens. And lighting I guess...

Wish me luck

I agree re the fitter V builder thing- my BIL is a plumber and said his team will fit our bathroom as a builder won't do nearly as good a job as it's not their speciality IYSWIM.

elibean fantastic news re the party wall- you will need to have a party (wall LOL)!

FMAO I have a Howdens kitchen brochure and there is a bit at the back full of doors and flooring.

Have ordered meself a Wickes brochure which I am excited about- how sad am I????!!!!

Good luck, ISNT!

I am v undecided about flooring, too.

Actually, I'm pretty undecided about everything bar lighting (which I have no input into as it's DH's decision, being his job).

Feel slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices and horror of getting it all wrong.

Join the club Horton! I am both excited / confused / nervous about flooring, decor, doors (internal & external), bathroom, loo, shelving, decking, window types etc etc etc etcccccccccc....

DH has taken the easy way out and said that I can decide everything. I quite like that though but it's loads to think about!!!

I'm joining in - not because we're having an extension built but that we doing our last major refurb. It's a pre-existing single-storey area at the back of the house, but this structure dates back to goodness knows when. Half of it was originally outside the main house and partly open to the weather, but we had it closed in when we moved in some 20+ years ago. The other half is our current kitchen.

The work involves demolishing an interior wall, digging up the concrete floor to put in damp-proofing and underfloor heating, digging outside two walls to put in exterior damp-proofing, and building up a block wall inside the third wall to put in interior damp-proofing. The upper part of the single storey has flooring which will be removed to open it all up, insulation will be added, an oak beam will go in to support the roof once the internal wall has come down, and existing beams and purlins will be enhanced.

I haven't got the measurements to hand, but we'll end up with a new kitchen area that's big enough to put a table and chairs in the middle. (We haven't yet worked out what to do the existing kitchen area, but probably more storage)

We've had drawings done by a structural engineer; we've got the go-ahead from the planning department as we're not adding anything new except for a new window. We've chosen which builder to use (all three quotes came from people who we'd either used before or came on personal recommendation) and we liked him, not just because of his quotation, but he got quite excited about the project (the house is about 150 years old and a bit quirky) and suggested we have an oak beam instead of a steel beam.

Construction work is due to start in the next three to four weeks. Today we had a guy from Howdens come round to have a look and he will give us some preliminary ideas.

I'm exhausted already. The excitement is beginning to kick in, along with the realisation that we'll have to have the existing kitchen units removed before the new one goes in because they need to be removed to dig up the concrete floor, so we'll be coping for three to four weeks with a microwave and a George Forman grill in our dining room. Fortunately we have a water supply in our accessible laundry room, so that won't be a problem.

But I've realised one amazing thing. There's only one wall where we can have tall units, and if they're all pull-out larder units, I'll never ever have to stand on tiptoe to try and reach into wall units ever ever again. (I'm 5'2" and shrinking.)

We've got an independent kitchen designer coming tomorrow morning to give a second opinion. I may go into happiness overload.

Sleeves thanks for the tip about the Howdens catalogue. My DH has also taken the easy way. I petrified as I'm crap at decision making, and he's a bit of perfectionist.

Hello, Horton and Ugly

Thanks, Sleeves...I'll party when I see a signed copy, I think, but its a step in the right direction!

Another dh who abdicates any 'interior' decision (he's happy to have input into the structural side of things, but not colours etc). I'm utterly overwhelmed if I think about any of it, Horton, so tend not to with the result that I get texts/emails/phone calls along the lines of 'which burner, 500 or 700mm please? I need to know NOW'

At which point I panic and say 'um, 500 of course! what burner??'

Not to be recommended. Though I long to buy a new teapot (for instance) to go with my green glass splashbacks. Its just...I can't quite believe we're even going to have an extension, let alone the splashbacks, iyswim.