More than a year after the builders arrived on site to build our new extension we are almost finished. Years in the planning I really thought it would be done by Christmas – last Christmas. Little did I know that it would take more than twice as long to get to a place where we have a functioning kitchen and utility room.

On day one the garage block disappeared and the footings and foundations went up very shortly afterwards in one of the hottest summers on record. All looked good.

The first real hitch was the roof height, we needed to increase it by 300mm to ensure the tiles were at the right angle to stop the rain getting in. A key function for a roof! As we are Grade II listed and in a conservation area we had to go back through the planning process delaying us by almost four months.

This fed into our second challenge, pouring our concrete floor in a wet December. It took two months longer than planned to dry out sufficiently for it to be finished and polished.

The third big hold up has been the kitchen. The units were installed in April but the finish on the cupboard doors was wrong. They were also having trouble turning into worktops the wooden rafters we had rescued from the garages and were keen to reuse. Andy from The Plywood Kitchen Company, who also trade as 3rdedition, had the great idea of sealing all the woodworm, nail holes and joins with black resin then sanding it down to reveal some of the wood before finishing it with oil. It looked stunning but took ages to complete each stage. As a result they only came back to fit the doors and worktop in July, immediately after our return from two weeks holiday and only a couple of days before we were hosting M’s family for lunch!

Until the kitchen guys had done their bit we couldn’t connect up the gas that had taken so long to move from one side of the house to the other or get the sink and dishwasher plumbed in. Thankfully our heating engineer came out to connect the gas hob while they were still fitting the kitchen. However, our plumber suddenly wasn’t available and didn’t answer my calls. It turned out he had a bit of a meltdown with too much work and loads of problems with his own house. So we’ve had no water to the kitchen.

Thankfully the utility room was finished before we went away complete with sink and working tap and drainage. The dishwasher in our old kitchen was still connected so between the three spaces – the new kitchen, old kitchen and utility room we had a great lunch with M’s family showing off all the work we’d had done and our new kitchen space.

Last week our plumber returned and we now have a fully operational kitchen. There’s still the inevitable snagging including a draw beneath the sink that doesn’t fit now because of the pipework and the skirting board yet to install. However, we have really enjoyed moving into the new kitchen and unpacking boxes of glasses, crockery and kitchenware we haven’t seen for a long time. To complement this excitement we have invested in some new cutlery which we were able to get with a gift token I received as a leaving present from work.

The end result is stunning and a great example of co-creation with our kitchen people who turned our ideas into reality. M can’t wait to stop work and spend all his time in there creating wonderful meals although that won’t help my diet!

There are still two small rooms that need to be finished – the shelving in the pantry and the toilet and hand basin to be fitted in the downstairs cloakroom. Like all the tail ends to this, or any, project it’s a question of the time consuming process of chasing and trying to pin down people to come and do their stuff.

We also need to get the garden back in shape. The first step was to set out the hard landscaping and particularly the decking. After some extensive research we went for Accoya. It is a soft wood sustainably sourced which is treated with a process called acetylation which gives it the qualities of a hard wood by changing the cell structure. This means it will last and is guaranteed for 50 years which will see us out!

So it’s all looking good and time to relax and enjoy the space. Well, not yet, as we decided to keep going and start the renovation of the old house. A very different type of project and the start of another story.

 

 

With work slowing down on the new extension and the renovation of the old house booked to start on 15 July we planned in a two week break at the end of June/beginning of July. We decided on a complete contrast and had two weeks in New York City doing the sites. It also meant we could visit my godmother and family who live just north of the City.

We crammed in all the iconic locations from the Empire State Building to the Statue of Liberty; art galleries including the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum, which is vast; and walked round all the main areas of the City with an essential stroll through Central Park and a nice stop for lunch at The Loeb Boathouse on the lake.

One of the highlights was understanding much more about the history and importance of immigration to the USA. Interesting given the current political focus on the issue. It was clear from those we spoke to that immigration was seen by many locals as a good thing with a third of New Yorkers classed as immigrants, a number that hasn’t really changed over the years.

We gained a real insight into the life of Irish migrants in the late 1800s at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side and saw how crucial they were as domestic servants in the life of middle class New Yorkers at the Merchant’s House Museum. Our trip to Ellis Island, which was the main entry point for immigrants to the US from 1892 to 1924, was fascinating and absorbing. The process of getting into the country usually took a few hours including a very cursory medical examination. For the US it meant much needed labour, for the migrants it was an opportunity for a new life and to leave poverty and starvation behind. Those not considered fit enough to work were sent home often separating families.

For a more recent event our visit to the 9/11 memorial and museum was very moving and poignant particularly as it was history we had lived through.

I was delighted we could fit in a trip to Broadway and we saw Hamilton. It was great to see it in New York where the action is based.

It was lovely to have a couple of days outside New York City visiting my godmother, a school friend of my mother’s, and talk more about their youth and her life in the US. It also gave us a chance to get to know her daughter, my mother’s goddaughter, and family better as they kindly hosted us for the weekend. It was really nice to have some family time and we also had a great tour of the Untermyer Gardens, more than 40 acres of park land which include a Paradise Garden. It’s an amazing space on the Hudson River that is being restored and which we would never have found on the standard tourist trail.

Unexpected and unplanned by us we happened to be in the City for the 50th Pride Parade which was massive. An estimated three million people visited for the event. The parade itself started at mid-day and was still going strong when we went back to our hotel at 11.30pm! We also saw the 4 July Independence Day fireworks which this year were set off from the Brooklyn Bridge and from barges on the East River. The closest we were able to get was a side street so we didn’t get the full display but we certainly lapped up the atmosphere. Earlier in the day we were lucky to make the walk across the Bridge before they closed it for the evening.

It was certainly a complete break, and contrast, from life at home on a building site. Before we left for New York on 22 June the kitchen still hadn’t been finished. We were expecting the team to be back on site on Monday 8 July, two days after our return from holiday and only a week before the next set of builders were due to start. We were also hosting M’s family for lunch on Sunday 14 July making a working kitchen essential. So a packed week awaited our return. An update on how it all went and where we are now one year on is the topic for my next blog!

Finally, after six months of negotiating and planning, our gas supplier Cadent arrived last week to dig up the road, our drive and, as it turned out, the village green to install our new gas supply. With metres of safety barriers and traffic lights on the only road through the village we are not the most popular people at the moment!

We did make sure we warned all our neighbours first so, thankfully, we are still on speaking terms. And at least they didn’t have to close the whole road which had been an option at one point.

The team were very considerate and kept checking in with us, particularly when they had to cut off our existing gas supply a day earlier than scheduled. They were concerned that we would be without gas until the new supply was connected. We knew this was going to happen and had planned for it although, as I know now, nothing goes to plan.

We had expected our new kitchen to be up and running long before the gas team arrived. We had disconnected our oven and microwave in the old kitchen ready to be moved and wired up which, along with the new gas hob in place ready for our plumber to connect the pipework, would have given us fully functioning cooking facilities. Neither has happened.

Our plumber has a dodgy knee so won’t be on site for a couple of weeks to make the final gas connection. Although installation of the new kitchen started at the end of April, and was only meant to take a few days, there was a problem with the liquid metal finish on the doors. We want them to look like an old metal cabinet we found in a salvage yard a few years ago which gave us the design theme and will be part of the finished kitchen. The sample they prepared was perfect but when it came to doing it at scale the intended speckles of rust turned into big blotches of orange. They agreed with us it didn’t look right and went away to work out a different approach. They came back last week to take the doors to finish them off in their workshop. No news yet as to when they’ll be back to complete the job and get our ovens in and up and running.

In the meantime all we have is one electric hot plate. We are managing to do all our cooking on that although the range of meals is turning out to be very limited. It’s a good thing we have a number of local pubs that do good food!

Although we’re heading into summer it is chilly with no gas central heating. At the moment the two warmest rooms are the bathrooms with electric underfloor heating. The infrared mirror panel in the old bathroom is working very well reassuring us that infrared panels are definitely the right long term solution for the old house. At the moment we’re resorting to using our log burner to keep the temperature up in the main living rooms along with the electric emersion for hot water.

Better news, the sliding door company finally came back to replace the two glass panels which had bowed. They now move more smoothly although they forgot to bring the trim to finish off between the frame and the concrete floor so yet more phone calls to try to get them back to do that. Hopefully this will be easier to organise as it won’t need six men to carry and fit which was the case with the glass panels. One thing we discovered from the guys as they were replacing the glass was how best to remove the remains of sticky tape and builders dirt – Zep Commercial Multi-Task Wipes which are not caustic and yet successfully tackle the grime. A very useful tip particularly as one of the features we wanted most is the feeling of seamless transition between the inside and outside.

One issue I hadn’t really thought about is how obvious all the weeds and overgrown shrubs now look in the garden. It’s been a building site for nearly a year now and needs urgent attention to get it back to looking half-way decent. With small windows in the old house it wasn’t so visible and you could avoid looking at the worst bits. No escape now with the whole side onto the garden a glass wall.

We have made all the design decisions on the utility room next to the kitchen. Although there is a door between the two rooms we do want it to complement the kitchen design as well as be it’s own space. We also wanted a more economical solution than the hand built approach in the kitchen so have gone for a local kitchen company recommended by our builder.

We’ve gone for pale blue painted doors, plain white carcases, a black granite worktop and a butler’s sink for all the big messy jobs. With the units ordered and the installation date in the diary it will be interesting to see which room is finished first – the kitchen or utility!

With the last main jobs the gas connection, kitchen and utility rooms our focus is moving to the finishing touches. All the internal doors are in and handles on so no danger now of accidently shutting ourselves into a cupboard and unable to get out.

M made use of the bank holiday weekend to replace the newspaper on the ensuite bathroom window with an opaque plastic film from a local DIY store. It gives us our privacy and looks just like frosted glass for a fraction of the cost.

We also need a cabinet for storage and headed off to a salvage fair at the weekend to see if we could find something. I found UK Fairs – a guide to fairs, auctions and centres throughout the UK – through a blog and as Knebworth is just down the road from us we thought we’d give it a go. Nothing was quite right but it gave us some ideas for both the house and garden and it was a nice day out.

We’re also getting quotes for shutters for the ensuite and bedroom windows and blinds for the sliding doors. One challenge with the size of the doors, 2.3m for each panel, is our options are limited. We do need blinds though to limit the sun during the day as it’s south facing and already warming up and that’s without any heating!

It’s hard to believe that I gave up full-time work a year ago to manage this project. I thought we’d be done by Christmas (last year!) and we’re now heading into month 11 with no clear end date in sight. We’ve never set ourselves a hard deadline so we have been quite relaxed about the delays. However, we do need the new build finished before 15 July when the next phase – restoration of the main living rooms in the old house – starts as we’ve been using these rooms for storage and swing space during the building work. They have to be cleared before the next set of builders arrive. The cliff hanger ‘Grand Designs’ moment approaches!

 

 

 

 

It’s been a busy time with the most exciting development – the installation of our ensuite bathroom. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy task because of the space, particularly fitting the Kinedo shower. We chose Kinedo because it is a self-contained cubicle which means it won’t leak even if there is floor movement which can be a risk with upstairs showers fitted against tiled walls.

Initially we thought the main challenge would be getting it to fit under the sloping ceiling as some of the frame had to be shaved off to squeeze it in. In fact, it turned out to be far more complicated than that with instructions in pictures only and all in the wrong order, fittings provided for all their models with many not needed for ours and a make our plumber hadn’t installed before. He managed to persuade the Kinedo technical advisor based in Bedford to come and help out. A great relief for all of us as it took him, even as an expert, all day to do it.

There is no door to the ensuite yet, that should go on this week, and we have covered the window with newspaper for privacy until we can sort out some shutters. Yet it is still a joy to use and we’re delighted with the end result, a hotel style ensuite bathroom which is the approach we wanted to create.

The same week work started on the ensuite we also went to look at our kitchen being built by The Plywood Kitchen Company. As the name suggests it is built completely out of plywood with a mix of wood and metal veneers to help give that industrial look. Although they’re based in Swindon and some way from us it was worth the trip as we were able to finalise all the details in terms of finish, lights, positioning the sink, etc. We’re delighted with the result and are really excited about how it’s going to look in situ. We think they’re excited too as they’ve posted our kitchen on their Facebook page!

Back home I’ve been busy getting ready for the kitchen including painting all the architrave and filling in and painting the inevitable chips around light fittings and switches left by the electrician. It’s good that I can do this sort of stuff myself rather than pay someone else to do it. A small saving but it all helps.

We’ve also taken up the protective Ramboard revealing the finished polished concrete floor for the first time. After a number of emails and telephone calls with the flooring company I’ve had to accept that there is nothing more they are going to do to improve the finish. I’m still exploring if there is anything we can do ourselves although we’re going to wait until the kitchen is in, that could make all the difference and the perceived imperfections may look fine once the room is in use.

I’ve still had to chase the door company to come back and replace the bowed glass in the two sliding panels. It’s either a phone call or an email every other day at the moment. A more fun task has been moving all our wine into the cabinet and there’s still space for more!

Outside we have planted an Amelanchier Canadensis to replace the Laburnum which gave up the ghost earlier this year. It shouldn’t take too long to bush out and it will have beautiful white star like flowers each spring. M remembers the one in the front garden when he was a boy so it’s a nice link with a different type of past.

With the ensuite done and the kitchen about to go in we feel the end really is in sight. Although it is, in fact, only the end of this phase. It was always the plan that once we had built the new extension and moved the kitchen and utilities into this space we would start restoring the old cottage. Apart from making the space more comfortable and enjoyable for us we feel we are guardians of this house and the work we’re doing will help preserve it for future generations. Investing in restoring the old building also helped secure the support of our local conservation department in getting our plans approved.

Initially we thought we’d have a break between the two phases of the project but, despite all the continued disruption it will bring, we’ve decided to keep going and start the renovations almost immediately. We found a specialist restoration builder through the Listed Property Owners Club some years ago who fixed some of the rotten timber frame. We used him again to restore our chimney and hall last year and are happy with his work so we’ve booked him to start in July.

This next phase will focus on the sitting room which is currently on two levels consisting of the lean to that was the actual smithy less than a hundred years ago and a room in the original cottage at a lower level. It was knocked through in the 1960s and for some reason they didn’t even out the floor leaving a 50 cms difference between the two with steps. When I was in a plaster cast and on crutches a couple of years ago after fracturing my ankle it felt like trying to climb Mount Everest. So part of future proofing our home for old age and opening out the room so that the ‘smithy’ end is more than a corridor to the bedroom and dining room we’re going to take up the floor and see what’s there. As we’ll be lowering the ‘smithy’ floor to the level of the rest of the cottage we will also need to replace the stairs down to the dining room and up to the bedroom above. It is a bit of an awkward house with every room on a different level!

To complete this phase we’ll install the underfloor heating in the dining room which also means replacing the floor. Finally, we will need a permanent link through to the new extension and kitchen although I am quite fond of the rough steps made out of scaffolding board that Ken and Joe, who built our extension, knocked up as a temporary solution to ease our access to the new space.

As we are obviously gluttons for punishment we will repair the outside sitting room walls at the same time as the work inside. Our builder advised us it was sensible as once they take off the concrete render they don’t know what they’ll find underneath. If they have to have to restore some, if not all, of the timber frame and wattle and daub walls this will inevitably impact on the internal work. This phase will take a minimum of three months and experience says it’s bound to be longer. So already another Christmas deadline looms!

 

It has been an eventful couple of weeks. The extension is now painted and it looks stunning and we love the colour. Although it’s not quite what either of us had expected with a slight green tinge, possibly reflecting the garden outside, it complements the floor and lights beautifully. We also have electricity, the first of our utilities to be connected and fully functional.

More dramatic were efforts to connect the water. Very sensibly our plumber wanted to pressure test all the pipework before fitting any of the sanitary wear. First we’d knocked the end of the pipe fitting for the shower resulting in water spraying out across the ensuite. Although the water supply was turned off in less than a minute it still managed to cover half the room and leave damp patches on the ceiling of the dining room below. More serious, as you can see in the film clip below, was the discovery that the floor polishers had managed to slice through the main water pipe feeding the kitchen and ensuite. A genuine mistake as it was hidden behind the stud wall, they must have nudged the polisher under the wall nicking the pipe in the process.

 

I wasn’t there at the time which was probably a good thing as the only way to fix it was to dig up my cherished floor to seal the pipe. Thankfully the damage is in the pantry off the kitchen and it will be hidden by a cabinet.

Continuing with the utilities theme we had our third visit from a Cadent Gas surveyor. This was to confirm the work needed to install the new meter in our preferred location next to the extension. Unfortunately the main gas supply is the other side of the road from us so they will either need to tunnel a hole under, or dig up, the road. Our preferred option is the tunnelling mole, however, they won’t know if it will work until they are on site and trying it out. If it doesn’t they’ll have to go for a road closure adding another 12 weeks delay.

We’ve decided to go for both options, apply for the road closure now and, if the mole works, cancel it. Either way the work will take about a week and the earliest they can start is mid-May. At least it will be getting warmer and switching off the gas to the old part of the house, in order to re-route it to the extension, and consequently losing our gas central heating shouldn’t be too much of a hardship.

Our electrician has installed the infrared mirror in the bathroom and in the first few days it is warming up the room better than the heated towel rail running off the gas central heating. So it looks like electric infrared heating will be a good solution for the old house when we lose the gas supply.

A couple of long running issues continue. The concrete floor company has decided there’s nothing more they can do to improve the polish on the floor. The variation in finish is particularly visible alongside the sliding doors so I’m now exploring other solutions including giving it a go ourselves.

Something we can’t do ourselves is replace the glass which has blown in the two sliding doors and repair a scratch on the frame. The company have committed to coming back to fix them, and I haven’t paid the final bill, but getting a date out of them is proving challenging. Neither of these issues is serious or holding us up from getting other things done, it’s just irritating that we can’t yet tick these off the ‘to do’ list.

On a more positive note we’ve ordered the tiles and underfloor heating for the ensuite and the tiler and plumber should be on site to complete this room next week. We’re also planning to sign off the final kitchen design next Tuesday with a date from them to fit it the following week. Having the kitchen, even without gas until May, will be a massive leap forward.

In the meantime I’ve ordered the skirting and architrave. I’ve gone for MDF as it’s going to be painted and it’s easier to fit as it keeps its shape better than real wood. There are a good range of online suppliers and I’ve gone with SkirtingBoards.com as they had a very useful website, excellent Trustpilot score and supply them primed and ready to paint. It’s good now we’ve got to the stage where I can start doing more of the work myself although I’ve also had to focus on the garden spending time cutting back overgrown shrubs and hedging before the birds start nesting. Reclaiming and restoring our garden is going to be more of a priority over the coming months, particularly as much more of it is visible now through the wall of glass along one side of the new kitchen.

 

 

 

Suddenly over the last week things have started coming together, we’re really making great progress and overcoming some significant obstacles.

First out of the block was Cadent, our gas distributor. Initially they told me that they would not deviate from their policy to fit new gas meters to the front or within two metres of the front of the property. This was despite our local planning officer saying that it would not be acceptable on a Grade II listed building and in a conservation area. I asked the design officer to try again as their own surveyors had said the current meter was not in a good position and had identified the new location. Suddenly, the next day, I received an email agreeing to go ahead with our preferred siting and I’ve now signed off the design and am waiting for a date for the works. A massive relief.

More visible has been the installation of our reclaimed electric lights. With internal scaffolding, a great deal of effort and some manoeuvring they are now in place and look stunning. The wiring for the three in the kitchen is in metal tubes and we had to guess at the correct lengths by holding a bamboo pole up to the beam to give us a sense of the drop. I’m really pleased with how they’ve turned out although we haven’t been able to switch them on yet – no bulbs or electricity!

The kitchen lights date from the 1930s so we’ve had to order an imperial socket set off the internet to undo the bolts on the glass shades so we can fit the bulbs. We can’t turn the electricity supply on until all the wires are connected to the appropriate fittings which should be done next week. Hopefully it will all work!

The Polish factory light which has pride of place in the utility room is particularly mad and heavy. To make sure it wouldn’t fall our electrician took his feet off the scaffold putting his full weight on it to make sure the fitting would hold, brave man. Thankfully it didn’t budge so we feel much more confident now it will stay put.

We’re having ongoing problems with the floor. I don’t feel the edges have been finished off to the same degree as the rest of the floor which is a particular problem along the edge with the sliding doors where it is very visible. I’ve asked them to come back to complete this and I’m waiting to hear. We’ve also had problems with the valve connecting to the underfloor heating manifold. It turns out it is left threaded going in the opposite direction to normal, our plumber managed to solve that one.

I’m also waiting for a date from the sliding door company to come back and replace the two glass panels that have blown and repair a scratch on the outside frame. I have been surprised with how much suppliers have to put right the things they get wrong. Surely it would be better for them, and less costly, to get things right first time. It would also mean less grief for me as it all takes time to follow these things up and keep on their case.

In advance of the decorator starting this week we took ages to decide exactly which shade of white we wanted. For a few weeks we’ve lived with patches on the wall and ceiling looking at them at different times of day and in different lights. M still isn’t sure. Too late, the painting has started! Once we put in the fittings and furniture I’m sure it will just look white.

Talking of fitting out the extension, our first item was put in place last week. No surprise that it was the wine cabinet! As many of you know we do like our wine and regularly bring supplies back from our trips to France. We do have a few bottles waiting to go in.

A couple of friends have fed back that a layout would be helpful to visualise what’s going on where – thanks Lindsey and Viv. It’s something I’ve been meaning to add for a while. The core of the old house is the kitchen, hall and sitting room downstairs and the bedrooms and study upstairs. The downstairs bathroom is probably an animal shed added at a later date and then converted by knocking through from the kitchen. A two storey extension was added at right angles in 2004 with a dining room on the ground floor and a bedroom upstairs. We’ve now divided the bedroom to create an en-suite bathroom and walk-in wardrobe. Access to the new extension is through the ground floor dining room with an arch replacing the former outside door. Old workers cottages like ours in this area tend to be one room wide making for some interesting layouts as we journey from room to room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re at the ‘bitty’ stage of the project. Some days we have a number of trades on site and it’s all go, then on other days no one at all when it feels like it will never end. The dependencies between the different elements are more acute with the electrician needing to complete his ‘first fix’ tasks before the plastering can be finished and the plumber needing the utilities to be connected so he can test and sign off the heating system.

Despite some days when I feel like nothing is happening we have made great progress. The back door and windows are on making the building secure. It also meant the rest of the cladding could be added along with the guttering. Due to the size of the roof we needed deep flow guttering to ensure it could cope with a heavy downpour. After a bit of searching we found this in cast iron which we have to use as it’s one of our planning conditions to preserve the heritage feel of the property.

The big news is we have a finished floor. More than two months after the concrete was poured it was dry enough, finally, for the sealant to go on. Although it will take a couple of weeks to harden work can continue if we put the Ram Board – heavy duty breathable cardboard – back down and ensure nothing is left on it overnight. This can affect the sealing process and leave marks which, although they will disappear in time, is something we’d rather avoid. We have a set of maintenance instructions and we’re good to go.

 

I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time on errands to ensure we have all the fixtures and fittings necessary to complete the build from switches and plug sockets to extractor fans and smoke detectors. The electrician wasn’t happy with our choice of fan for the bathroom and, as he needed to do it immediately, we dashed out to the local plumbing merchants to buy the one he suggested. A useful lesson to check what’s needed with the expert first!

We had an enjoyable day out to Bristol a couple of weeks ago to get our salvaged lights which will help cement the industrial look. We visited Source Antiques last summer on a recce and returned for this more serious shopping trip. We went via Chipping Norton to look at wine cabinets and Swindon on the way home to see how our kitchen is coming along.

Source is a treasure trove of reclaimed lights from factories here and across Europe. In a cluttered warehouse with lights everywhere it’s quite difficult to see the wood from the trees. Tom helpfully hoisted a number of lights up on his fork lift so we could see what they would look like from our four metre high beam. It did the trick and helped us make a decision. Three lights from an old cellophane factory in Bridgewater for the kitchen and one from a Polish paint factory for the utility room. The only challenge now for our builder and electrician is how to fit them!

As for our kitchen we found our man at the Homebuilding and Renovating Show in Surry last summer. He’s a cabinet maker and makes kitchens from plywood which we thought were stunning. They will be finished with a mix of oak veneer and metal. He’s making the worktops from the rafters that came out of our garages knocked down last summer to make way for the extension. As they have a fair amount of woodworm and holes he’s going to seal them first with a black resin, sand them down and then finish off with a wax. It should look stunning and certainly unique.

Some more good news, our gas hob and sink with tap have arrived in the UK from Italy and will be delivered next Tuesday. So that completes our kitchen which we hope will be installed by the end of March.

With luck we should be done by April except, probably, for the gas supply. We’ve put in an application to move it closer to the extension. Our local planning officer helpfully agreed that the meter cannot be fitted to the front of the house as required by Cadent Gas, our distributor. So I’m back with Cadent to get a deviation from their own policy so it can be fitted at the back of the house and out of sight of the road. If their policy people give the okay it could still take up to three months to get it moved as they’re going to have to dig up the road to connect to the main supply. So there is light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a very long tunnel!

 

 

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!

 

 

This much delayed update is not because of an extended Christmas/new year hangover (as might have been the case some years ago!) but due to problems on site, mainly our polished concrete floor which was poured in early December but couldn’t be finished before Christmas as planned. Unfortunately, a bit like the roof a couple of months ago, nothing else could progress until the floor was done.

Work restarted on the 2 January with the concrete guys back to do the grinding and finishing. Initially booked in for two days, by the end of the third day they’d managed to take off the top layer to reveal a speckling of aggregate, our requested finish, but had not been able to polish it off or seal it. After five days of trying to complete what should have been a two day job we were told the concrete was too damp and they arranged to come back for another two days in mid-January. In the meantime we installed dehumidifiers and heaters and at the third attempt they managed to finish the polishing but it was still too damp to seal, despite our best efforts.

 

In the meantime the builders, who were champing at the bit to get on inside, kept busy by putting up some of the weather boarding and digging a trench for the water and electricity which has increased the matrix layout on our lawn. We’ll need to keep a record of where all these trenches are once the lawn has recovered so we don’t accidently dig into one of them!

 

In the end we agreed with the flooring company that we’d protect the floor, finish the inside work and get them back to seal it when it’s drier and warmer and just before the kitchen is due to be installed. Not ideal but better than another two month delay. So we’re looking at March before we have our finished floor.

Once let off the leash our builders Ken and Joe have made massive progress this week and in just four days have the inside walls up and most of the kitchen plastered. They have been very careful to protect the floor with Ram Board, specialist cardboard on a roll which is breathable and allows the concrete to continue drying out while they work, only placing plastic on top to prevent unwanted stains while they plaster. It’s wonderful that they care about this project as much as we do.

The other massive leap forward this week was going ahead with installing the sliding doors that run along one side of the kitchen and open out onto the garden. Although this has also had its problems. The glass has bowed in the two sliding panels making them difficult to move which means the glass will need to be replaced. They’ll also need to repair a scratched frame. I’m now waiting for a date for that to happen. However, they look wonderful and really give us a sense of what it will be like when it’s finished.

Along with electricity and water we will also need gas to power the underfloor heating, hot water and hob. Our existing gas supply is too far from the extension to feed a new boiler and hob without increasing the flow or moving the supply. In November I started the journey to find the right solution. Starting with our supplier, British Gas, I put in a request for our local gas network distributor, Cadent, to carry out a site survey which was on 2 January. We agreed the best solution would be to move the metre closer to the new extension without increasing the supply and I submitted a second request complete with plans. Following a second Cadent survey I’m now waiting for the designs and then it could be another 12 weeks before the new supply is in place. It all takes time.

At least it should be warmer by then as we will be turning off the gas supply to the old part of the house when it is switched over to the extension. We always planned to move to a new heating solution in the old house so we can remove the boiler and all the central heating water pipes and radiators which are damaging the wattle and daub. This means we’ll need to bring that phase of the work forward and I’m now fast tracking my research into suitable solutions. The front runner is infrared heating and portable plug in electric heaters when we need a quick boost. Infrared heats things rather than air which should work much better in our old, misshapen house.

I’m in awe of people who manage projects like this and hold down a full-time job. I am fortunate that I’ve been able to take a break from work and can focus on all the details that will give us our dream home. Two funerals in the last week of two much loved, out going and fun loving individuals who died far too young have emphasised to me the importance of making the most of the time we have.

Well, the builders are gone (temporarily) and we’ve had our home back for a couple of weeks. Although all the people we’ve had on site have been lovely it is nice having the space to ourselves for a bit.

The roof was finished on the Tuesday before Christmas which meant the scaffolding could come down the next day. For the first time we were able to see the extension footprint in relation to the rest of the building and the garden. Once the black weather boarding is on it should receed visually even more and look like the farm buildings dotted around the village and surrounding countryside. We’re delighted with the roof, the hand made clay tiles are all unique and some have handprints on from the maker. Not that they’re visible from the ground, but we know they’re there.

The other main piece of work before Christmas was to finish off the concrete floor. The polishers were here for two days but struggled to make any progress with the two machines they had. We agreed they would come back at the beginning of January to try again with a better machine. It’s not a big problem as it’s weather proof and it will be done before Ken and Joe, our main builders, are back on site on 7 January ready to start fitting out the inside. All the under floor insultation and heating is in and the concrete poured which were the big tasks. We took pictures of the layout of the underfloor heating pipes to ensure that when fixing the internal walls and doors we don’t accidentally puncture a pipe! It would be hugely expensive and disruptive to dig up the floor to put that right.

The biggest problem we faced was with the satellite dish which had to be moved to fit the roof tiles in. On the phone to Sky about getting someone to reposition it the earliest they could do was 31 December. A Christmas without telly – a catastrophe. I phoned round for a local TV aerial person and one very kindly came out on a Sunday to adjust it. After a false start a couple of days later when we thought we’d lost the signal again the standard IT department advice of ‘switch it off and switch it on again’ worked and our holiday TV fest was restored.

Our final piece of work on the house was to get the hall ready for Christmas, my one target I was keen we stuck to. I’d sourced a company who could strip the beams without damaging the wood. In a day and a half Beam Clean and Restore used a gentle soda blasting system to take off the years old heavy black paint. It’s a massive improvement, the only downside was the incredible amount of dust the process created which managed to find itself into every nook and cranny across the house. I’m still cleaning it up!

We picked up our curtain poles from the blacksmith and our new curtains and on the Sunday before Christmas worked out how to fit them to our misshapen house. The last set went up on Christmas Eve morning and then we were ready to relax and enjoy the festivities.