Build thread: Large extension and renovation
Discussion
After asking if there was any interest in another build thread it would seem there is so here is the first post as it all kicked off yesterday.
We moved to our current house 4 years ago now, a typical Aberdeenshire stone cottage built in 1880. The house has a nice large garden circa, 1 acre with an outbuilding which quickly filled up with crap and a detached double garage with leaky roof. We have one close neighbour and the rest is a nice open outlook over the countryside.
Not long after moving in we quickly realised than the field next door constantly flooded with heavy rain and was making the garden quite soggy, so approached the land owner to see if we could buy a section off her with the aim of building a pond, which we did and there is a short thread on that here
At the same time we were not happy with the layout of the house, particularly the kitchen which is at the back of the house and is quite small and fairly dark only having small windows, we also would have liked an en-suite so time to speak to the architect. As often happens with these things especially when you don't give the architect a budget to work with they come up with a scheme that is far larger than you ever envisaged, of course once you see it you tend to want it so planning went in on that basis and was subsequently passed without any issues.
Now I would love to put the plans up for you to see however the architect is old school so they are all hand drawn and on A1 paper so trying to scan them in is a challenge however I'll try and get something worked out and them up at some point.
Roll on to yesterday, builders are appointed to start on the 18th March, so I got in the same digger driver who created my pond to clear the garage and start prepping the site:
Some (dark) photos at the end of the day, garage gone, most of the rubble been taken away and the roof and most of the trees that had to come down been burnt, not bad for a day.
Next stage is for the digger to come back next week and dig down the site for the levels, we have to go down about a metre so will create yet another large mound to get rid of later and then the foundations should start to be dug on the 18th, which is also about the time I have to go offshore for a month, great timing there!!
We moved to our current house 4 years ago now, a typical Aberdeenshire stone cottage built in 1880. The house has a nice large garden circa, 1 acre with an outbuilding which quickly filled up with crap and a detached double garage with leaky roof. We have one close neighbour and the rest is a nice open outlook over the countryside.
Not long after moving in we quickly realised than the field next door constantly flooded with heavy rain and was making the garden quite soggy, so approached the land owner to see if we could buy a section off her with the aim of building a pond, which we did and there is a short thread on that here
At the same time we were not happy with the layout of the house, particularly the kitchen which is at the back of the house and is quite small and fairly dark only having small windows, we also would have liked an en-suite so time to speak to the architect. As often happens with these things especially when you don't give the architect a budget to work with they come up with a scheme that is far larger than you ever envisaged, of course once you see it you tend to want it so planning went in on that basis and was subsequently passed without any issues.
Now I would love to put the plans up for you to see however the architect is old school so they are all hand drawn and on A1 paper so trying to scan them in is a challenge however I'll try and get something worked out and them up at some point.
Roll on to yesterday, builders are appointed to start on the 18th March, so I got in the same digger driver who created my pond to clear the garage and start prepping the site:
Some (dark) photos at the end of the day, garage gone, most of the rubble been taken away and the roof and most of the trees that had to come down been burnt, not bad for a day.
Next stage is for the digger to come back next week and dig down the site for the levels, we have to go down about a metre so will create yet another large mound to get rid of later and then the foundations should start to be dug on the 18th, which is also about the time I have to go offshore for a month, great timing there!!
Quite a lot lower than the pond level, the pond stays up as it is dug into clay so retains the water really well. Looking into the well in the garden I'd say the water table is at least 1.5m lower than the floor level of the house.
We are well under way with the kitchen design and probably going with a Callerton kitchen, thanks for the offer though.
We are well under way with the kitchen design and probably going with a Callerton kitchen, thanks for the offer though.
Ha, no football team, just the 4 of us so a bit excessive really.
The garage is a very good sized double, internal dimensions of 7m x 6.8m similar to the one we've just knocked down. Comfortably fit a large workbench down the back and 2 cars with room to work on both sides of them. Was considering getting one of those scissor style lifts sunken into the floor as well, does anyone have any experience of doing something similar?
Just come across Silvelox garage doors, they look fantastic but probably a bit expensive, hmmm.
The garage is a very good sized double, internal dimensions of 7m x 6.8m similar to the one we've just knocked down. Comfortably fit a large workbench down the back and 2 cars with room to work on both sides of them. Was considering getting one of those scissor style lifts sunken into the floor as well, does anyone have any experience of doing something similar?
Just come across Silvelox garage doors, they look fantastic but probably a bit expensive, hmmm.
Been a bit of a break between demolishing the garage and anything else useful happening while I waited for the digger driver to come back. So, he was back yesterday and dug out the site down to the bottom of slab level and all the earth was taken away to the building site over the road which luckily needed some backfill so all I had to pay for was the haulage. Amazing how much a decent size digger can get done in a day.
Although we have luckily avoided the snow it was the most bitterly cold day I think I've experienced, not enjoyable to be standing around in at all.
Today will be marking out the foundations and then the builders arrive on Monday to start digging them out and hopefully get the concrete poured Tuesday or Wednesday, should be fairly quick progress from here on.
Although we have luckily avoided the snow it was the most bitterly cold day I think I've experienced, not enjoyable to be standing around in at all.
Today will be marking out the foundations and then the builders arrive on Monday to start digging them out and hopefully get the concrete poured Tuesday or Wednesday, should be fairly quick progress from here on.
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