A week of highs and lows

What a difference a week makes. In some areas we’re racing ahead and in sight of the finishing line, in others I feel we’re going backwards.

The momentous change was knocking through from the extension into our dining room making it into one building for the first time. It really gives us an idea of the space and how it will work. Unfortunately, it also means there’s now a fine film of dust everywhere and our builder free space is diminishing by the minute. Even if I spent all my time with a mop and a duster – and I don’t – it’s impossible to keep everything clean, so a day out in London on Thursday was a welcome relief.

The dining room floor is 45cms lower than the extension floor so we always knew we would have to have steps up. With a low dining room ceiling as well there was a risk that the steel needed to support the wall and floor above (our bedroom, so very important!) would mean ducking every time we moved from one space to the other. We’re used to this in the old house but one of the benefits we wanted from the extension was a contrast of height and space. Our builder was able to work it so the floor joists went into the steel rather than on top of it so the bottom of the steel is level with the ceiling. It proved to us yet again the value of using an experienced builder who can interpret the vague architect and structural surveyor plans and adapt them to what is needed and will work on the ground.

Another leap forward has been creating what will be an ensuite bathroom and walk-in wardrobe out of our existing bedroom. Our current, and only, bathroom is at the other end of the house. Although we are used to that walk in the middle of the night with torch in hand it will be nice to have facilities closer at hand. It does make the main bedroom quite small although much more in proportion with the old house.

All this progress is exciting and we can start to imagine the end state. It also brings many more demands as we need to finalise urgently light fittings and switches, extractor fans, tiles, paint finishes, etc. With both the electrician and plumber on site they need immediate decisions if we’re going to have everything the way we want it.

It’s also been a week of deliveries, the back door and two windows which will be installed on Monday; the boiler and hot water tank which just about squeeze into one side of the downstairs cloak room, they will be hidden behind doors but an earlier change to make a bigger pantry means they are no longer in their own room; more plasterboard and plaster; and the internal doors. Initially Jewson’s delivered the wrong ones. After a series of phone calls over a couple of days it transpired they had delivered what we had paid for but not what we had ordered due to a computer mix up. The ones we wanted were significantly more expensive. They volunteered that as it was their fault they would replace them with the ones we wanted at no additional cost – great customer service.

Possibly the most stressful moment so far has been to do with the gas hob and sink which have not arrived yet. We fell in love with an Italian make not easily available in the UK and I could only find one Italian distributor. I went ahead and ordered paying by credit card so I have redress if something goes wrong. After three weeks I was seriously concerned it was a scam. For the first time I looked at Trustpilot, a platform for personal reviews of companies. It reassured me the distributor was a proper company, however, some of the reviews were damming of their customer service and timely delivery. It’s the first time on this project I wish I had known something earlier, if I had read the reviews I probably would have tried to find another supplier. After a week of emails and phone calls I finally made contact with someone on Friday who said they were hoping to get the appliances from the manufacturer next Friday. I’m keeping my fingers crossed we will finally get what we’ve ordered, even if it is a couple of months late.

By contrast the other online sites I’ve used including Appliance World; Discount Appliance Centre; and the Long Eaton Appliance Company have been excellent, delivering when they said they would and keeping me updated on progress. I researched the items I wanted first relying heavily on Which for product recommendations and then searched online for the cheapest prices.

The other major set back has been on our gas supply. Cadent Gas have been extremely helpful in trying to find a solution to meeting our gas needs. I mentioned in my last blog that we’ve decided to move the supply to serve the new extension only. We agreed a location for the new meter with the gas surveyor and I was waiting to sign off the designs.

Cadent has now told me that their own policy says all meters have to be fitted to the front of the property or within two metres from the front. This would mean fixing it to the old house in full view from the road, something we want to avoid. They can seek a deviation from their own policy if the Council says it can’t be placed there. My heart sank at the thought of going back to the Council in case they ask me to submit another revision to our planning application, it took three months when we had to do that to increase the roof height by 300mm. I’ve emailed the planning officer and I’m hoping for their support without too much bureaucracy.

Finally, we were lucky to avoid a potential disaster on Monday when, after a night of heavy rain, the dying laburnum in our front garden decided to give up and fell onto our fence and across the public footpath, just before the afternoon pick up at school. Thankfully no one was around when it fell and I was able to remove the worst of the branches before the kids came running out of school. Another, unexpected, benefit of being on hand when things happen!