As in, taking up all the driveway space we have? That side?
An extension build
- Thread starter Karl
- Start date
I took he meant "as you have" but no columns protruding, flush walls from the existing into the new.
Essential you would need to reduce the steels to less than the external wall (or as you suggest "step out" in to the drive)
IF it was structurally possible it would be a.lor more expensive (to contain in the width of the wall)
Essential you would need to reduce the steels to less than the external wall (or as you suggest "step out" in to the drive)
IF it was structurally possible it would be a.lor more expensive (to contain in the width of the wall)
Ah I see what you mean. One side is on the boundary wall, and the steel has been brough in so as not to disturb the existing foundations, which are about 8 inches of concrete, compared to the 2 foot deep pad that's just gone in for the steels. Moving the steel out on the driveway side would've indeed swallowed up space that we use to drive cars up and down, and we wanted to preserve that space 
Some great looking extensions here!
@Buffman, is this an electric fire? How good/realistic does it look when running? I’m considering getting one for the snug for ambience only (i.e. not heat), as part of a refit to the room (which used to be a kitchen - needs completely gutting and starting again).
@Buffman, is this an electric fire? How good/realistic does it look when running? I’m considering getting one for the snug for ambience only (i.e. not heat), as part of a refit to the room (which used to be a kitchen - needs completely gutting and starting again).
No, mines a gazco studio 1 gas fire with a granite surround.
I find electric fires look incredibly fake.
Thanks for replying. That is the concern! I was hoping to find a realistic one but even the water vapour ones I’ve seen leave plenty to be desired. It’s looking like a fire-free snug, sadly.
Speak to SML Protective Coatings. I used Jotun on their recommendation. You can paint it yourself and use the supplied wet film thickness gauge to ensure the paint is deep enough. I just added and extra coat to get 60mins fire resistance even though BC only specified 30mins.
I also left it with just that painted on finish. Looked a bit cool and worked well with the LED strips. Never bothered with the 7016 topcoat.
It's really coming in well now, looking forward to more progress.
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Looks great! And you’ve created almost an identical space to us which is all kitchen/diner in our config.
On the steels front, our builder was excellent, almost too excellent, I presumed and planned for the same style of steels, two internal buttresses jutting out (side steels) and planned the kitchen around those.. The builder used our local steel supplier (3 miles away) who have a planning service for free (for our builder anyway!) and their structural engineer suggested it would be better to have a full picture frame (so steel along the bottom as well) and then offered for £400 extra to design it so it would sit flush with the existing internal walls so we did… this included picking up an existing steel that runs 90 degrees and supports the upper floor.
I’m in two minds if I prefer it, I liked the buttress idea as it demarcated the cabinets and dining area, but it does look more seamless with no buttress, albeit old vs new cavity wall thickness means I have 40-50mm gap behind the plaster board in the old part of the room!
I will say that the full picture frame steels look a whole degree more beefy than I expected, the uprights rest on top of the bottom span and the top span sits on top of the uprights, so as everyone would expect, although it was all welded together, no bolts which I thought odd, but building inspection signed it off..
On the steels front, our builder was excellent, almost too excellent, I presumed and planned for the same style of steels, two internal buttresses jutting out (side steels) and planned the kitchen around those.. The builder used our local steel supplier (3 miles away) who have a planning service for free (for our builder anyway!) and their structural engineer suggested it would be better to have a full picture frame (so steel along the bottom as well) and then offered for £400 extra to design it so it would sit flush with the existing internal walls so we did… this included picking up an existing steel that runs 90 degrees and supports the upper floor.
I’m in two minds if I prefer it, I liked the buttress idea as it demarcated the cabinets and dining area, but it does look more seamless with no buttress, albeit old vs new cavity wall thickness means I have 40-50mm gap behind the plaster board in the old part of the room!
I will say that the full picture frame steels look a whole degree more beefy than I expected, the uprights rest on top of the bottom span and the top span sits on top of the uprights, so as everyone would expect, although it was all welded together, no bolts which I thought odd, but building inspection signed it off..
End of week 8, and bit of a 'spot the difference' week this week. Not a huge deal has been done visually, just some 'making good' and plastering of the ceiling, velux areas, and wall. We've also had a hole cut out of the entrance from the hallway, ready for a new door + a 'peeky window' which'll shed some much needed light in to an otherwise quite dark hallway.
As we head in to week 9, we're hoping to get the downstairs toilet doorway moved about a metre and a bit out, which'll make the area a bit more comfortable as a 'restroom area', and then hoping we'll start to go in to the period where we start building things back up again, rather than smashing them down!
Looking at building a retaining wall outside the front of the extension ready for a small patio area and step down on to the lawn, fixing up the floor because lots of joists are still visible, and boarding out our small utility area because lots of insulation is still visible.
Week 10 will be interesting because that's when the kitchen is being delivered!!
As we head in to week 9, we're hoping to get the downstairs toilet doorway moved about a metre and a bit out, which'll make the area a bit more comfortable as a 'restroom area', and then hoping we'll start to go in to the period where we start building things back up again, rather than smashing them down!
Looking at building a retaining wall outside the front of the extension ready for a small patio area and step down on to the lawn, fixing up the floor because lots of joists are still visible, and boarding out our small utility area because lots of insulation is still visible.
Week 10 will be interesting because that's when the kitchen is being delivered!!
Yes we are going to do that. Done the form for it, so we know how much paint to order. Just haven't ordered it yet.
Okay now I've ordered the paint. You've reminded me
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No probs, I've got a few photos' just after they'd installed the beams and before the building inspector came out (they put some barrier behind, painted some of it with some extra surface and tied in the inner walls with some plates.Bolts don't do enough to tie steels together anyway
Can we see some photos?
From a design point of view, this extension was last minute, we had a side extension (double storey) built, and since the same builder was moving on to our neighbours (they also where having a ground floor rear extension), and having just seen our niece who'd had a small rear extension like this fitted, we came to a good arrangement with the builder, allowing him to trash our garden to speed up the groundworks for next door, and getting it done at the same time led to a significant discount, but it meant it's just a basic rectangular extension with patio doors rather than bi-folds since we ran out of funds to allocate, however for the measly £29k extra on the side extension, and of course extra for the kitchen/appliances/flooring (I bought/installed everything myself), it was worth it..
Entire pitcure frame steels after initial welding:
Here's the welded upright on one side (pre-treatment):
And tying it in to the existing small steel (From knocking the dining room/kitchen together when we first moved in).
Here's the welded upright on one side (pre-treatment):
And tying it in to the existing small steel (From knocking the dining room/kitchen together when we first moved in).
I took a few shots immediately after the end panels and worktops had been fitted (I fitted the kitchen/appliances etc, but worktops/accurate carpentry I always pay for!), since then I've put in a full run of plinth and under counter top LED lighting and we've been adding shelving/clocks etc to reduce the sterile aspect. The kitchen style isn't for everyone, but the Mrs showed me photos, mainly as next door (had an extension built at the same time by the same builder) had a handleless gloss white kitchen and she hates that..
To get over 3M out, and have larger (eletric) Velux windows, we have a small flat section where it adjoins the house, this stops it intruding in to the windows and allowed us to have that extra depth:
We put a vertical rad where the uprights would have been, so took advantage of the flush steels on one side.
Effectively the new kitchen area takes up the entire space our old kitchen/diner did, the extension just gives us back a dining space.
To get over 3M out, and have larger (eletric) Velux windows, we have a small flat section where it adjoins the house, this stops it intruding in to the windows and allowed us to have that extra depth:
We put a vertical rad where the uprights would have been, so took advantage of the flush steels on one side.
Effectively the new kitchen area takes up the entire space our old kitchen/diner did, the extension just gives us back a dining space.
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Wooow mate that is looovely. Some call it sterile, I call it tidy!
Do you mind me asking how much your floor was, installed? We just had a comedy LVT quote for nearly £8,000.
Wooow mate that is looovely. Some call it sterile, I call it tidy!
Do you mind me asking how much your floor was, installed? We just had a comedy LVT quote for nearly £8,000.
I had comedy quotes on everything.. So ended up fitting it myself.
We previously used laminate tile effect flooring and that lasted 12 years with no real issues, so did the same again, after many samples the Mrs settled on Stellato Granite Effect Laminate @ £13.99 per m2, the total order was £920 for 53m2 and corresponding 3mm combi underlay. I also used 4 tubes of clicseal (A simple glue like substance you apply to the laminate joints to make them extra water resistant, although the laminate we chose is already wax coated on all joints, but for £30 it was worth using the clicseal).
The underlay is key, you want enough height to allow you to not have to self level and refinish your existing floor (as some LVT needs) and not too much it allows too much movement/flex that makes it feel weird underfoot. so 3mm is perfect.
This opens up the people that can then fit it.. I DIY'd it, but my neighbour (Carpenter / Kitchen Fitter etc) fits it for his normal day rate of £160.. , so even allowing for regional variation, the entire job should be under £2k for 50m2 IMO (It took me 3 days but I took my time and fitted around all the cabinet legs/doorways really neatly and clicsealed everything).
I had quotes for £5k to supply fit the exact same flooring.. the karndean LVT quote was £9k which did include levelling the floor, but would have had a huge 35mm step to the hallway and well, £9k was ludicrous!
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I know the feeling, but looking at your progress and the space, you've spent the money where it's best placed..Thanks for that. Amtico / Karndean would be nice, but we simply can't afford that kind of money now. Already over budget!
I did the same 12 years ago with cheap B&Q tile effect laminate which lasted the course and was still in good condition when we ripped it up for this new extension!
Week 9 draws to a close, and the progress isn't that exciting really.
There's a trench outside now which'll form the foundations for the retaining wall that'll form the front of our little patio area:
We've now got the waste pipe for sinks, dishwashers etc:
The outside where the back door was moved and a window has been created, has now been scratch coated ready for the last coat of render:
We've now got more floor:
You can see the waste pipe sticking up in this one:
This weekend we're going to be painting some of the plastered area, just to get it prepped ready for the kitchen to go in on that side, and I think the builder is going to come in to dig in the gully and the rest of the soakaway so that's ready for our guttering to eventually go in.
Then for week 10, we are hoping to:
- Shell out the utility room with plasterboard and get it ready for installation of the new utility stuff
- Concrete in the foundations for the retaining wall outside
- Demolish our downstairs toilet (
) doorway so that we can bring it out a little bit and extend it (more dust!)
- Start putting the kitchen cabinets together
- Plaster out the rest of the extension
I don't know how much of that is actually going to get done, but it would be good to get cracking on it.
We also heard back from the kitchen company, and our worktops won't get templated until the 5th September, so there's going to be a bit of a delay we were hoping to avoid. It is what it is.
Also bummed out that our flooring quotes are LOL (Between £6k and £8k) so having to re-assess what we're putting down! Still not worked that out yet.
There's a trench outside now which'll form the foundations for the retaining wall that'll form the front of our little patio area:
We've now got the waste pipe for sinks, dishwashers etc:
The outside where the back door was moved and a window has been created, has now been scratch coated ready for the last coat of render:
We've now got more floor:
You can see the waste pipe sticking up in this one:
This weekend we're going to be painting some of the plastered area, just to get it prepped ready for the kitchen to go in on that side, and I think the builder is going to come in to dig in the gully and the rest of the soakaway so that's ready for our guttering to eventually go in.
Then for week 10, we are hoping to:
- Shell out the utility room with plasterboard and get it ready for installation of the new utility stuff
- Concrete in the foundations for the retaining wall outside
- Demolish our downstairs toilet (
) doorway so that we can bring it out a little bit and extend it (more dust!)- Start putting the kitchen cabinets together
- Plaster out the rest of the extension
I don't know how much of that is actually going to get done, but it would be good to get cracking on it.
We also heard back from the kitchen company, and our worktops won't get templated until the 5th September, so there's going to be a bit of a delay we were hoping to avoid. It is what it is.
Also bummed out that our flooring quotes are LOL (Between £6k and £8k) so having to re-assess what we're putting down! Still not worked that out yet.
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