Extension and Loft Conversion Build Thread
Discussion
I've mentioned a few times on here that we're starting a build soon, well soon is next week (hopefully) so I thought I'd start a thread as I know I like to see other people's builds so I hope this might be of use or interest to a few of you.
We live in a 1972 bungalow in a village in North Yorkshire, 4 bed when we bought it but we converted to 3 beds with an office and a bigger garage (I know, understanding wife) with a view to doing a loft conversion to replace the fourth bedroom.
We love the village, location and consider this house to be the place we'll grow old in. We've realised we don't need 4 bedrooms very often, so have stuck with 3 larger ones but added a sun room/hobby room/occasional bedroom on the extension for times when we do.
My wife and I will have a bedroom, bathroom and squeeze-in wardrobe (you can walk in, but not when many clothes are hanging I fear) in the loft space. Ignore the layout, the architect just plonked stuff in there.
We're doubling the size of the sitting room with a vaulted extension with the ubiquitous bi-folds and rooflights, plus a hobby/fourth bedroom and a 'garden store' for washing machine, chest freezer, tumble drier etc. while for my daughter, an en-suite bedroom (Bedroom 2) made by combining two smaller rooms with external access.
Red lines are where existing walls are coming down.
My daughter is 7 years old currently and has Cystic Fibrosis, this is a chronic condition that affects the lungs and digestive system and often means that by young adulthood sufferers are not able to manage independently so we've deliberately designed my daughters accommodation around the possibility that she will return home at some point - one end of the house, currently the three bedrooms will be set out so she will have her own self-contained 'wing' if she needs it - two exiting bedrooms will become one (her new bedroom) and the remaining one (bedroom 3 on the plan) will be a guest room but capable of serving as a sitting room if she needs it, she'll have external access to the garden and can shut off 'her' end of the house from the rest to give her some privacy.
This may all sound a bit premature, but we don't want to have to move again and we want this to be the time when we do the work so in the future we can concentrate on family time. None of it will affect the way the house works for us now so to me it makes sense to build it in and forget about it until it's required, if ever.
The ground workers are due towards the end of next week to start the extension, they hope to have that done by Christmas (but that's very weather dependent) and then the inside of the house from January onwards.
I'm doing a lot of the final fix, I've fitted a kitchen and built a camper van so I'm looking forward to doing the finishes myself - in order to aid me in my building exploits, we paid a handsome sum (£800) for this, with a year's MOT and a healthy appetite for oil, not to mention quite a few missing horses:
It means we can buy from ebay etc. at a moment's notice and so far it's repaid around half it's cost with a glass shower screen and some sinks that have cost us peanuts compared to retail. It's also great for tip runs, now my wife has finally solved the puzzles, leapt the ravine, avoided the poison darts and the rolling boulder to obtain the requisite permit from the council to drive a van onto a household waste site to put some old tat in a skip.
More when we start, feel free to comment, criticise, suggest stuff we can do to make this easier (and cheaper!).
We live in a 1972 bungalow in a village in North Yorkshire, 4 bed when we bought it but we converted to 3 beds with an office and a bigger garage (I know, understanding wife) with a view to doing a loft conversion to replace the fourth bedroom.
We love the village, location and consider this house to be the place we'll grow old in. We've realised we don't need 4 bedrooms very often, so have stuck with 3 larger ones but added a sun room/hobby room/occasional bedroom on the extension for times when we do.
My wife and I will have a bedroom, bathroom and squeeze-in wardrobe (you can walk in, but not when many clothes are hanging I fear) in the loft space. Ignore the layout, the architect just plonked stuff in there.
We're doubling the size of the sitting room with a vaulted extension with the ubiquitous bi-folds and rooflights, plus a hobby/fourth bedroom and a 'garden store' for washing machine, chest freezer, tumble drier etc. while for my daughter, an en-suite bedroom (Bedroom 2) made by combining two smaller rooms with external access.
Red lines are where existing walls are coming down.
My daughter is 7 years old currently and has Cystic Fibrosis, this is a chronic condition that affects the lungs and digestive system and often means that by young adulthood sufferers are not able to manage independently so we've deliberately designed my daughters accommodation around the possibility that she will return home at some point - one end of the house, currently the three bedrooms will be set out so she will have her own self-contained 'wing' if she needs it - two exiting bedrooms will become one (her new bedroom) and the remaining one (bedroom 3 on the plan) will be a guest room but capable of serving as a sitting room if she needs it, she'll have external access to the garden and can shut off 'her' end of the house from the rest to give her some privacy.
This may all sound a bit premature, but we don't want to have to move again and we want this to be the time when we do the work so in the future we can concentrate on family time. None of it will affect the way the house works for us now so to me it makes sense to build it in and forget about it until it's required, if ever.
The ground workers are due towards the end of next week to start the extension, they hope to have that done by Christmas (but that's very weather dependent) and then the inside of the house from January onwards.
I'm doing a lot of the final fix, I've fitted a kitchen and built a camper van so I'm looking forward to doing the finishes myself - in order to aid me in my building exploits, we paid a handsome sum (£800) for this, with a year's MOT and a healthy appetite for oil, not to mention quite a few missing horses:
It means we can buy from ebay etc. at a moment's notice and so far it's repaid around half it's cost with a glass shower screen and some sinks that have cost us peanuts compared to retail. It's also great for tip runs, now my wife has finally solved the puzzles, leapt the ravine, avoided the poison darts and the rolling boulder to obtain the requisite permit from the council to drive a van onto a household waste site to put some old tat in a skip.
More when we start, feel free to comment, criticise, suggest stuff we can do to make this easier (and cheaper!).
Also, a request: Does anyone know where we could find gas stoves, similar to woodburners but that don't try to look like they are a woodburner, ie. fake logs or coal with gas flames coming up behind them?
We can't have a woodburner because of my daughter's condition but want a focal point, my wife hates the inset fires ('too James Bond villain') and we don't want a fake woodburner but depressingly that's all that seems available.
We can't have a woodburner because of my daughter's condition but want a focal point, my wife hates the inset fires ('too James Bond villain') and we don't want a fake woodburner but depressingly that's all that seems available.
Thanks. I'm pretty sure that's been catered for in the specs, the builder's sister is a thermal whatever-they-call-the-people-who-do-thermal-calcs and she helped him choose the rooflights.
The bifolds will be west facing, currently the sitting room faces south and gets a lot of light and heat, the extension will shield us from the direct sunlight and the rooflights were put in by the architect to maintain light into the room. We did some experiments with Lego (I kid you not) and the light shjould be good without being dazzling.
We're planning on putting up a kind of pergola in front of the bifolds to baffle the evening sun into the room without stopping the daylight, whether we'll have anything left to do the garden or not when we're finished is another question entirely.
Might not work, but we're hoping we won't roast.
The bifolds will be west facing, currently the sitting room faces south and gets a lot of light and heat, the extension will shield us from the direct sunlight and the rooflights were put in by the architect to maintain light into the room. We did some experiments with Lego (I kid you not) and the light shjould be good without being dazzling.
We're planning on putting up a kind of pergola in front of the bifolds to baffle the evening sun into the room without stopping the daylight, whether we'll have anything left to do the garden or not when we're finished is another question entirely.
Might not work, but we're hoping we won't roast.
Oakey said:
So a gas stove that doesn't look like a woodburner but also isn't inset? This was the best I could find;
https://www.direct-fireplaces.com/fires/gas-fires/...
Exactly. It's surprising how little choice there seems to be, I'd have thought there would be someone designing stuff that was a bit more imaginative but I'm stumped. Worst case we'll probably end up with a fake log burner but I'd hoped for something a bit more interesting.https://www.direct-fireplaces.com/fires/gas-fires/...
Digger arrived this morning.....
Wife getting nervous, he's very close to the patio doors (that we intend to reuse).
It feels good to finally get started though. Working from home the temptation is to spend all day at the back of the house watching (and I really want a go on the digger) but I need to get on with some work.
Van will be pressed into service tonight, my wife has found an enamel bath on ebay for £150, we were at a homebuilding show in Harrogate last week and the oneshe er, we liked was well over £1000, so even if this one needs refurbing we could be well on the way to the van paying for itself.
Wife getting nervous, he's very close to the patio doors (that we intend to reuse).
It feels good to finally get started though. Working from home the temptation is to spend all day at the back of the house watching (and I really want a go on the digger) but I need to get on with some work.
Van will be pressed into service tonight, my wife has found an enamel bath on ebay for £150, we were at a homebuilding show in Harrogate last week and the one
We're off to a place nearby that does gas, electric and real fires, stoves etc. at the weekend as we really can't decide.
I want inset, it's just a focal point as we'll have UFH and rads so the heating aspect is irrelevant really. But my wife was set on a stove so at least if we go to a physical showroom we can get an idea of each of the types in situ.
Can't believe it's that difficult to choose.....
I want inset, it's just a focal point as we'll have UFH and rads so the heating aspect is irrelevant really. But my wife was set on a stove so at least if we go to a physical showroom we can get an idea of each of the types in situ.
Can't believe it's that difficult to choose.....
Day 2, first snag this morning - they uncovered what looks like a drain that isn't on the plans, encased in concrete looking old and unused but substantial enough to be a proper PITA to move.
Groundworkers called building control who, to their credit were here within the hour and who decided that we could lay the foundations around the existing concrete.
So digging complete, and hardcore just delivered - things are moving on quickly at the moment.
Old drain just to the right of the Tony, the man in the trench with his hands on his hips.
Groundworkers called building control who, to their credit were here within the hour and who decided that we could lay the foundations around the existing concrete.
So digging complete, and hardcore just delivered - things are moving on quickly at the moment.
Old drain just to the right of the Tony, the man in the trench with his hands on his hips.
Week 2, footings poured yesterday. Having the fence taken out has been a good decision, access would have been enough for a mini-digger otherwise, meaning digging out 60 tonnes of soil and barrowing it round to a skip would have taken a lot longer and cost a lot more.
Likewise the concrete pours for the footings and the floor, with the help of a drain pipe, the footings took 10 minutes to pour straight from the truck.
Likewise the concrete pours for the footings and the floor, with the help of a drain pipe, the footings took 10 minutes to pour straight from the truck.
Not sure there's much interest, but I'll carry on, if only to document it all somewhere.
Week 2 ended with the slab pour, self-levelling and dry overnight:
So the footings and slab were done about a week quicker than expected thanks to getting the large digger in through the back fence. This meant we had a few days wait until the brickies were ready.
However, they arrived yesterday and the blockwork went up quickly, even in the rain - we can now see room dimensions for the first time.
Then back today and the view has completely gone from the sitting room. But, we can start to feel the dimensions of the new room, it's going to be a decent size, although the photos don't really show that.
We've plumped for an inset gas fire, I managed to convince my wife with one in a local heating showroom - it's black and square and the fake coals inside don't look too fake.
The van meanwhile has been pressed into service several times, latest purchase was a cast resin shower tray for £40, retail £300. It's almost paid for itself now I think (including insurance and tax), so a good buy.
Week 2 ended with the slab pour, self-levelling and dry overnight:
So the footings and slab were done about a week quicker than expected thanks to getting the large digger in through the back fence. This meant we had a few days wait until the brickies were ready.
However, they arrived yesterday and the blockwork went up quickly, even in the rain - we can now see room dimensions for the first time.
Then back today and the view has completely gone from the sitting room. But, we can start to feel the dimensions of the new room, it's going to be a decent size, although the photos don't really show that.
We've plumped for an inset gas fire, I managed to convince my wife with one in a local heating showroom - it's black and square and the fake coals inside don't look too fake.
The van meanwhile has been pressed into service several times, latest purchase was a cast resin shower tray for £40, retail £300. It's almost paid for itself now I think (including insurance and tax), so a good buy.
Yesterday the brickies finished up to ceiling level.
We have a wait now for the external bricks, which as part of the planning consent have to match the existing ones. We tried for render, cladding etc. just to break up the design but they insist, in fact they insist so strongly they made it a clause in the consent. The square we live on is a group of houses that won awards in the early 1970s and they don't want to change the 'character' of the square so, even though all the work we're doing is at the back and seen by one neighbour - we have to have matching brickwork.
The award was for innovation, not design but the planners don't seem to care.
The innovation was cavity wall and under-floor insulation (good) and over-ceiling heating.
Yes, over-ceiling heating - In 1972 nuclear power was going to make electricity 'as cheap as water' apparently, so the people who built our little square 'future-proofed' the houses with the technological marvel of the age.
Our house has electric foil between the ceiling plasterboard and loft insulation. It still works, so if I wanted to heat my loft for an extortionate sum I could turn it on and bask in the knowledge all our junk, baby clothes and stuff we have no use for but can't throw away is toasty warm.
We tried it once, just to see what happens. The top 18" of the room is lovely and warm so standing means your head is just in the heat, but sit down and you're in the 'cold zone'. Maybe they stood around a lot in the 70s.
Whatever, It's being ripped out when we do the loft in January.
So all of that means our current delay is down to the fact that the bricks they used in 1972 aren't made anymore, so the brick company man ("I live and breathe bricks" apparently. Each to his own.) has come up with a close match, but they're not in stock. End of this week, beginning of next is the current estimate so that'll be 2 weeks then.....
We have a wait now for the external bricks, which as part of the planning consent have to match the existing ones. We tried for render, cladding etc. just to break up the design but they insist, in fact they insist so strongly they made it a clause in the consent. The square we live on is a group of houses that won awards in the early 1970s and they don't want to change the 'character' of the square so, even though all the work we're doing is at the back and seen by one neighbour - we have to have matching brickwork.
The award was for innovation, not design but the planners don't seem to care.
The innovation was cavity wall and under-floor insulation (good) and over-ceiling heating.
Yes, over-ceiling heating - In 1972 nuclear power was going to make electricity 'as cheap as water' apparently, so the people who built our little square 'future-proofed' the houses with the technological marvel of the age.
Our house has electric foil between the ceiling plasterboard and loft insulation. It still works, so if I wanted to heat my loft for an extortionate sum I could turn it on and bask in the knowledge all our junk, baby clothes and stuff we have no use for but can't throw away is toasty warm.
We tried it once, just to see what happens. The top 18" of the room is lovely and warm so standing means your head is just in the heat, but sit down and you're in the 'cold zone'. Maybe they stood around a lot in the 70s.
Whatever, It's being ripped out when we do the loft in January.
So all of that means our current delay is down to the fact that the bricks they used in 1972 aren't made anymore, so the brick company man ("I live and breathe bricks" apparently. Each to his own.) has come up with a close match, but they're not in stock. End of this week, beginning of next is the current estimate so that'll be 2 weeks then.....
More movement in the form of an outer skin, the bricks came pretty quickly and Mark and Kit, the brickies got busy at their usual swift pace:
With 'matching' brickwork (OK, it's not great close up, but it's the best we can find and hopefully will placate the planners):
All done in 2 days, they were here from 8.15 until after dark on day 2 to finish - can't fault them.
That was last week, this morning the scaffold guys arrived and put this up:
In readiness for the roof to go on.
So all is progressing well, we got our first bill for November's work - just got to query on one thing, the groundworks were a lot quicker than originally planned which I'd hoped would save us a bit.
The bill seems to be the same as the estimate, which, while I'm not unhappy with the work, seems a bit much given the compression of the timescale and the reduction in labour over barrowing 60 tonnes round the house (which was what the estimate was based on). I haven't caught the boss when he's been onsite to ask, but hopefully he'll be around tomorrow.
Not sure if I'm being unreasonable, after all I was happy to pay the estimated amount - thoughts?
With 'matching' brickwork (OK, it's not great close up, but it's the best we can find and hopefully will placate the planners):
All done in 2 days, they were here from 8.15 until after dark on day 2 to finish - can't fault them.
That was last week, this morning the scaffold guys arrived and put this up:
In readiness for the roof to go on.
So all is progressing well, we got our first bill for November's work - just got to query on one thing, the groundworks were a lot quicker than originally planned which I'd hoped would save us a bit.
The bill seems to be the same as the estimate, which, while I'm not unhappy with the work, seems a bit much given the compression of the timescale and the reduction in labour over barrowing 60 tonnes round the house (which was what the estimate was based on). I haven't caught the boss when he's been onsite to ask, but hopefully he'll be around tomorrow.
Not sure if I'm being unreasonable, after all I was happy to pay the estimated amount - thoughts?
Groundworks - I mentioned it and he sugested that since the digger will be back in Jan to tidy up and he'll get them to do some landscaping he knows we want done at no cost to us. There's quite a bit to do so we shook on it and all is resolved.
Progress has been a bit slower - we were waiting for the steelwork (how Grand Designs!) and the weather hasn't been kind, which is always a risk doing this kind of thing over winter.
They'd hoped to have the roof on by the end of this week but that may not happen now - the chippy was busy on Monday, but yesterday the heavens opened and he had to stop.
They haven't broken through into the loft yet, as they want to make sure they can get it watertight before leaving it which I think is sensible and very much in keeping with the thoughtful way they've progressed so far, we're pretty happy with them all told - can't half drink coffee though!
The sitting room extension and the sewing room/bedroom are quite cathredral like under the skeleton roof - can't wait to get cracking on the interiors.
Progress has been a bit slower - we were waiting for the steelwork (how Grand Designs!) and the weather hasn't been kind, which is always a risk doing this kind of thing over winter.
They'd hoped to have the roof on by the end of this week but that may not happen now - the chippy was busy on Monday, but yesterday the heavens opened and he had to stop.
They haven't broken through into the loft yet, as they want to make sure they can get it watertight before leaving it which I think is sensible and very much in keeping with the thoughtful way they've progressed so far, we're pretty happy with them all told - can't half drink coffee though!
The sitting room extension and the sewing room/bedroom are quite cathredral like under the skeleton roof - can't wait to get cracking on the interiors.
Haven't had much progress recently, we've had a hiatus since Christmas waiting for the bifolds, someone missed the order and 3 weeks lead time turned into 6.
Builder didn't want to start the loft conversion until the extension was further along as he'd leave himself a lot to finish off and we'd be living in more of a building site for longer.
Over the Christmas break I thought I'd get started painting the 'garden store', it's not being plastered internally as it's for the washing machine, chest freezer and bikes etc. so I bought a £50 sprayer from Screwfix - made the job incredibly easy. With the trestles and scaffold boards the builders left onsite I managed to do 2 coats on blockwork right into the pitch of the roof in about 2 hours start to finish.
So much easier and quicker than a roller, well worth the investment if you have a lot of surface to cover.
Roof on and velux rooflights in before Christmas:
Scaffolding down and bifolds in today:
Next stage is for the patio doors that led from the old living room to the garden to be removed and re-used for the hobby room, then the hole enlarged and the extension will then be part of the house. Should happen over the next couple of weeks....
Builder didn't want to start the loft conversion until the extension was further along as he'd leave himself a lot to finish off and we'd be living in more of a building site for longer.
Over the Christmas break I thought I'd get started painting the 'garden store', it's not being plastered internally as it's for the washing machine, chest freezer and bikes etc. so I bought a £50 sprayer from Screwfix - made the job incredibly easy. With the trestles and scaffold boards the builders left onsite I managed to do 2 coats on blockwork right into the pitch of the roof in about 2 hours start to finish.
So much easier and quicker than a roller, well worth the investment if you have a lot of surface to cover.
Roof on and velux rooflights in before Christmas:
Scaffolding down and bifolds in today:
Next stage is for the patio doors that led from the old living room to the garden to be removed and re-used for the hobby room, then the hole enlarged and the extension will then be part of the house. Should happen over the next couple of weeks....
Another good week's progress, all boarded now - the light is amazing in the extension:
Plumbers have laid the UFH pipes and the floor was screeded today:
The metal frame in the background of the last pic will house the inset gas fire, we've gone for one which looks a bit like a multi-fuel stove, you can see by the frame that it'll sit in a fabricated chimney breast 60cm off the floor, the model we went for is this:
Plasterers next week, then we're about done on stage 1. We're slightly under budget too - which is nice.
After we finish stage 1 the builders will start on the loft next and we'll start final finishes on the extension.
We've bought a load of wooden flooring which should just about match what's down in the existing part of the sitting room. Unfortunately the wood merchant doesn't stock the stuff we bought from them 5 years ago so we've gone for the closest we can - the colour and width is identical but the tongue and grooves are slightly higher (about 1mm) which might be a problem as I'm planning to merge the new and old rather than have a line straight across the centre of the room. I have an idea though, and the joiner on site thinks it'll work.
Need to let the screed dry before we can do anything with the floor though so it'll be a few weeks before I have to cross that bridge.
Plumbers have laid the UFH pipes and the floor was screeded today:
The metal frame in the background of the last pic will house the inset gas fire, we've gone for one which looks a bit like a multi-fuel stove, you can see by the frame that it'll sit in a fabricated chimney breast 60cm off the floor, the model we went for is this:
Plasterers next week, then we're about done on stage 1. We're slightly under budget too - which is nice.
After we finish stage 1 the builders will start on the loft next and we'll start final finishes on the extension.
We've bought a load of wooden flooring which should just about match what's down in the existing part of the sitting room. Unfortunately the wood merchant doesn't stock the stuff we bought from them 5 years ago so we've gone for the closest we can - the colour and width is identical but the tongue and grooves are slightly higher (about 1mm) which might be a problem as I'm planning to merge the new and old rather than have a line straight across the centre of the room. I have an idea though, and the joiner on site thinks it'll work.
Need to let the screed dry before we can do anything with the floor though so it'll be a few weeks before I have to cross that bridge.
jrinns said:
Looking good. Intrigued as I'm hoping to have a project this year... Met the Architects who have completed the as-is, the to-be will be 4 weeks time.
Forgot to reply to this, sorry - one thing we found with architects is that you give them a budget for the build, they nod and go away.....and come back with something that will cost 50% more than you said you were willing to spend.It seems to be their DNA, they cannot design to a price (well, OK some can but I've met more of the former than the latter).
When you get your drawings, if you can get them to a builder and have them give you a rough ballpark estimate of build cost before you sign off the drawings then at least you'll know your grand design is achieveable (better still, we got the architects and our builder to sit down together).
This week's update:
I spent last Sunday running Cat6 cabling through the loft and down the wall in the sitting room - we're bringing the 1970s house into the 21st century. I've also run a cable back up the wall into the loft ready for mounting a Ubiquiti WAP on the ceiling between the dining room and the sitting room which should cover the whole house.
The plasterer has been, he couldn't do everything we needed as the gas fire people aren't installing until the 15th, so he'll have to come back for a day to finish off the fireplace, but the majority has been done and we've taken the opportunity to have the existing ceiling skimmed to get rid of the 1970s Artex.
Also this week, Graham the digger man has been back to do the landscaping the builder promised us thanks to the foundation and slab dig being cheaper than expected. We're having a large patio area for entertaining and the remainder will be grass.
The garden has gone from a scrubby mess:
To something much neater:
We have a dehumidifier running in the sitting room at the moment to help the plaster go off, hoping to mask everything over the weekend so my wife can go nuts with the paint sprayer next week, then we can move back into the older part of the room until the floor cures fully and I can lay the wood in the new bit.
I spent last Sunday running Cat6 cabling through the loft and down the wall in the sitting room - we're bringing the 1970s house into the 21st century. I've also run a cable back up the wall into the loft ready for mounting a Ubiquiti WAP on the ceiling between the dining room and the sitting room which should cover the whole house.
The plasterer has been, he couldn't do everything we needed as the gas fire people aren't installing until the 15th, so he'll have to come back for a day to finish off the fireplace, but the majority has been done and we've taken the opportunity to have the existing ceiling skimmed to get rid of the 1970s Artex.
Also this week, Graham the digger man has been back to do the landscaping the builder promised us thanks to the foundation and slab dig being cheaper than expected. We're having a large patio area for entertaining and the remainder will be grass.
The garden has gone from a scrubby mess:
To something much neater:
We have a dehumidifier running in the sitting room at the moment to help the plaster go off, hoping to mask everything over the weekend so my wife can go nuts with the paint sprayer next week, then we can move back into the older part of the room until the floor cures fully and I can lay the wood in the new bit.
Edited by Mark Benson on Friday 1st March 16:11
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